Chapter Thirty-Four:
4:17 A.M.
God, my head really hurt. I woke up immediately clutching the temples of my forehead. I didn't remember what happened to me except being completely blacked out and that was that. I was shook.
"Sleeping Beauty is finally awake." I heard a low voice in the distance.
I grimaced at the sound because of the throbbing pain in my head. I slightly tilted my head and looked at the person sitting in the armchair next to the bed I was in.
"Wha-what happened?" I asked, my voice trembling.
He slouched over and studied me for a second. His hands were both cupped into one another while his elbows pressed into both his knees. "How do you feel?" He asked.
"I feel like crap." I tilted my head down, rubbing my temples again.
"First." He got up, walked to the desk and got a glass of water with a pill and handed it to me. "Take this. It'll ease the pain."
After I took the aspirin and took a few sips of water I asked him what had happened to me.
Skylor sighed. "Some guy spiked your drink."
I tensed up. "What?" Chills went down my spine. I started examining my body. "D-did he-" I stuttered.
"No, he didn't touch you. I was with Mia but fortunately I went outside and saw you fall." His mouth was set in a thin line.
After hearing it, I just sat there. I was in utter grievance at the thought of my naivety. I questioned why I was the only person bad things have happened to. All being within a year. I didn't intend to break down, but I was at a low point, thinking to myself about all the screwed up things that could've happened if Skylor hadn't showed up.
One tear turned into two tears. Two turned into three, three then four, and after that I stopped counting because they weren't single tears anymore but streams. I covered my face and sulked. I wiped my eyes and before I could tell, Skylor was on the bed with me, comforting me. "No, no, no. I'm fine." I shook my head.
"You're not fine. Ivy, it's okay." He wrapped his arms around me.
I don't know why but him holding me made me cry a little more. I gave in and laid my head on his chest near the crevice of his neck. "I'm so tired of this." I exhaled.
"Shh. It's okay, you're okay. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise." He told me. I could feel his cheek on mine, then a gentle kiss on the forehead left me silent. The tears stopped. He gripped me tighter and only then did I feel like I was in the safest place I could ever be. His hands rubbed up and down my arm.
•
8:07 A.M
"I didn't want to worry your parents so I texted them from your phone saying you were staying at that chick Meredith's place." He pitched my phone to me.
I caught it. "Thanks." I mumbled. "What about Jonah and Bonnie?" I asked him.
"They left this morning before you woke up and went back to your apartment."
'Knock Knock'
Skylor got up and walked towards the hotel door and looked through the peephole. He released an audible sigh and opened it.
"Where is she?" Clay asked, anxiously walking through the door.
His eyes then landed on me. "Ivy." He rushed towards me. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He asked, holding both my arms.
"I'm fine." I hugged him.
He shook his head in anguish. "Wait until I see who did this to you!"
"Already taken care of." Skylor commented.
We both looked at Skylor with questionable looks. He only told us not to worry about it and assured me that Dan wasn't dead.
"Come on, let's get you home." Clay took his jacket off and wrapped it around my shoulders.
As we were leaving the room, I stopped and told Skylor thank you. His eyes were on mine and it felt like he was staring into my soul. He glanced at Clay and then back at me, only giving me a small small and nod.
•
It was early in the evening and I wanted to talk to Clay before his workouts today. I did not feel like creating some form of preface to the conversation I was about to start so I just jumped right into it.
"Where were you last night?" I looked him straight in the eyes. He hesitated and didn't say anything. I started getting really irritated. "I could've gotten hurt last night." Water started surfacing in my eyes.
"And the person who I least expected to come to my rescue did." I shook my head. "You ditched me last night, and last week. So tell me where have you been going? And don't say you were with Aaron because I know he was with Meredith all night that night." I finished my rant.
Again. No answer. He kept looking at the ground.
"I'm waiting?" I folded my arms.
He ran his fingers through his hair "Im sorry, but you just wouldn't understand."
I stood in silence. After these past few months I thought that I'd actually come to trust him, but I guess the jokes on me right. I faked laughed. "I wouldn't understand? Clay what's so bad that you can't even tell me?"
He exhaled and scratched the back of his neck. He didn't say anything for a moment but then he shook his head and started walking past me. "I have to go."
"Wait." I tried to stop him but ended up catching the end of his nike duffle bag which made it drop and some of the contents fell out.
I furrowed my eyebrows at something in particular on the ground and immediately picked it up. It was a medicine bottle with pills in it. I examined the label. "You're taking steroids?" I gasped.
"What? No." He grabbed them from my hand. "They're performance enhancers."
I sighed. "Which is banned from athletics. Clay if they give you a drug test on the spot you can get kicked off the team at Duke. You know that right?"
"They're not gonna test me until I officially move in for the fall. I'm only using these temporarily just to get ahead in spring practice."
I rolled my eyes. "So is this what you've been blowing me off for? Getting pills because you can't play good on your own?"
That must've been his trigger point because I began to see the anger flash in his eyes. "Ivy you don't know anything about how I practice and what I do alright? So just stay out of it." He clenched his jaw and began to walk away.
"Clay. Don't walk away." I held onto his forearm, but he broke away.
"Just. Leave me alone. Okay?" He told me.
•
I found myself wandering around the city and paused for a moment in the lobby of Skylor's hotel. I don't know why, but I just wanted to talk to him.
After what just happened between me and Clay I didn't want to go home because I didn't want him looking for me. I took the elevator up to Skylor's suite and knocked on the door.
I heard a small click noise and the door opened. Skylor was on the opposite side. "Hey, what are you doing here?"
"I was just on this side of town and thought I'd stop by." I shrugged. My transparency seeped and he could tell I was lying.
He chuckled. "Sure." Skylor gestured for me to come inside as I did. I sat down at the same spot as this morning on the edge of the bed.
"So what's really going on huh?" He asked, putting on a hoodie from his closet.
I exhaled. "Well me and Clay just had a small argument and I don't know what to do." I looked down and played with my hands.
"Well I mean, if it was a small one then you shouldn't have anything to worry about. You'll get through it." He replied.
"But that's the thing. I don't know if I want to get over it." I mumbled, looking down again. When I said that, he stopped what he was doing and looked at me. He asked me what did I mean. "Maybe me and him aren't meant to be."
There was a shocking turn of events that followed my comment. At first we just stared at eachother, not saying a word, but then he walked over to me.
He sat next to me and turned towards me. "Ivy." He looked me in the eyes, then glanced to and from my lips. "I've been wanting to do this since I saw you." His hand rested behind my neck, his thumb moving across my cheek. Part of me wanted him to stop, but the other part didn't want this moment to end.
"Tell me if you want me to stop." He whispered, leaning in closer.
I broke away before he could do anything. It just didn't feel right. I was still with Clay and I couldn't do that to him.
"I can't." I spoke in a hushed tone. "Not right now."
"I understand. I shouldn't have done that." He rubbed his fingers through his hair, gazing at the ground.
"It's not your fault." I reassured him it wasn't.
There was a short silence between us two until I saw a small box on the edge of his bed. "What's this?" I reached over and grabbed it.
"It's just some stuff my mom wanted me to look through." He shrugged casually.
I was looking through the pictures and pitching my commentary. I saw a picture of Skylor as a kid. "Oh my gosh." I burst into laughter. "Is that you in elementary."
He quickly took the photo from me and held it so I couldn't reach it. "No. It's not."
"Well let's see what else is in here." I continued flipping through a small book of pictures. My eyes automatically landed on something eerie to me. I could feel my heart beat and it felt my stomach fell.
My eyes were glued to the picture of a five year old me.
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