My eyes shot open and I lifted my head up to find Robert looking down at me, a smile on his face. I must have rolled over at some point in the night because I was now lying on top of him. My arm lay across his chest and his arm was wrapped around my lower back. Blood rushed to my cheeks as I sat up and pushed away from him.
“Sorry,” I said, clearing my throat as I shuffled to the other side of the bed. The sheets felt cold from the lack of body heat and I fought the urge to roll back into his warm arms.
The same voice from my dreams yelled again and the doorbell buzzed, dashing away any hope of five more minutes of sleep.
“Alright, alright, I’m up,” I grumbled. I pulled myself out of bed and went to open the door.
“Where the hell have you been?” Becky asked and stormed right in.
“What're you talking about?” I asked while rubbing my eyes, still half asleep.
“I’ve left you a million messages. I thought something happened to you.”
“Messages… shit, my phone!” I walked over to my purse on the table and started digging. “I'm sorry, Beck, I’ve just been really busy with this project.” I pulled my phone out. It was dead.
“I’ll say,” Becky replied. The tone of her voice caught me off-guard and I turned to find her staring at Robert, who had clearly just rolled out of bed, my bed.
“I can explain.” I hated how cliché I sounded.
“Uh huh,” Becky mumbled, raising an eyebrow in my direction.
“I’m going to make some coffee,” Robert said, excusing himself.
“You better dish,” Becky said as soon as Robert was out of earshot.
I sighed and motioned her to the living room. How was I going to explain to her what was going on when I couldn’t tell her the truth? I wanted to tell her about my parents, about what really happened to them. I didn’t want to lie to her again — I just couldn't do that to her. Maybe if I stayed away from anything Magical I could tell her just enough without having to lie.
“It’s kind of a long story,” I began as we sat on the couch.
“I’ve got time,” Becky replied.
“It’s not what it looks like.”
“You said that.” She rolled her eyes, wanting me to get to the point.
“I’m serious. He was just comforting me.”
“Oh, is that what you call it now?”
“Knock it off, I’m being serious.”
“Okay, what was he comforting you about?” Her eyes went up and down as she searched me suspiciously.
“My parents.”
“Your parents?” She balked.
“Yeah, turns out they didn’t die in a car accident.” The initial shock had worn off and even though I was still upset about what had happened, I was better equipped to deal with it after my breakdown last night.
“What do you mean? What happened to them?” Becky asked.
I was dabbling in dangerous waters. How much could I tell her without giving anything else away? I had to keep the Magical parts secret, but I wanted to stick as close to the truth as possible.
“They were murdered,” I said, my eyes closed as I took a solemn breath.
“What!” Becky exclaimed as she gaped at me.
“It was a robbery, at our house.” It wasn’t exactly the truth. Their murderer did break in and kill them but not with the intention of robbing the house.
“On my God, Violet. I’m so sorry,” she said, wrapping her arms around me. “Are you okay? I mean, of course you're not okay, but how are you dealing?” She pulled away from me and her loving expression nearly made me lose it all over again.
Robert walked into the room with two cups of coffee. He handed one to me and offered the other to Becky.
“Thank you,” I said, feeling the warmth of the dark liquid radiate through the ceramic mug.
“No thanks, I’ve already had enough caffeine this morning,” Becky said and waved him off.
Robert kept the second cup for himself and sat down on the loveseat to the right of us.
“I’m dealing the best I can. I mean, it doesn’t change the fact that they’re gone,” I noted.
“Do you know who killed them?” Becky asked.
My eye flickered to Robert for half a second. I did know but how was I supposed to explain that to her. “There are a few leads,” I sighed and admitted.
“And how do you fit into all this?” Becky asked, looking over at Robert.
“My family stumbled upon Violet and the truth about her parents,” he explained. That was mostly true, I thought, taking a sip of my coffee. They did stumble upon me. He was much better at telling careful truths than I was. “When I told her, well, you can imagine her reaction, so I offered to stay with her if she didn’t want to be alone.”
“You should have called me,” Becky lamented as she turned back to me. She didn’t like being out of the loop. “Although, I can see why you didn’t,” she added under her breath as she tilted her head toward Robert.
Leave it to Becky to lighten the mood with sex. Looking at Robert over the top of my coffee cup a small smile spread across his face as he took a sip.
“I know I should have called you. I’ve just been so preoccupied with my parents and with this rush project I’ve been working on the past few days. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’d forget about me too in your… err… situation.”
“Still, I didn’t mean to make you worry.”
Becky waved off my apology and added, “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you because I wanted to make sure you didn’t forget about the Yosemite trip this weekend.”
Every year Becky, myself and a couple of our girlfriends took a trip to Yosemite before the summer was over. It was nice to get away from the city, even if only for a couple of days.
“Damn, that’s right.” When it rains it pours, I thought. I had so much going on right now with the winery shoot and the sudden emergence of the Magical world the Yosemite trip never even entered my mind.
“Thanks, I did forget about it," I said, glancing at Robert.
“Well you can’t bail. Christy will kill you if she has to hear from me about your preoccupations.”
“I'm not bailing, I just need to get some things done faster than I had planned.” I knew that now was probably not the time for a trip but a part of me relished the thought of getting away from everything.
I sighed, if not for editing pictures yesterday morning before my life had blown up I’d be way behind schedule.
“Alright, well now that I know you’re still alive, I’ll let you get back to whatever it was you were doing,” Becky said and stood up. Robert and I both stood as well.
“Sleeping,” I noted with a roll of my eyes and a shake of my head, “and I think that ship has sailed.” I yawned.
“Why don’t you come by later? We can talk more and maybe catch a movie. I know Aaron would love to see you again,” Becky suggested. She glanced at Robert. “You’re welcome to come along too.”
“Thank you,” he said. It wasn’t a yes or a no.
“Yeah, sure. I’ll call you later.” Becky and I exchanged a quick kiss on the cheek and she headed out the door.
With the door once more locked, I plopped back down on the couch and let my head fall back.
“She’s something else,” Robert remarked.
“Yeah, she’s a little high-strung,” I added. I sat up and reached for my cup on the coffee table.
Everything was still a little awkward between Robert and I and neither one of us knew what to say to each other. I wondered how long I had laid on top of him and how long he’d been aware of it. My heart started to pick up in tempo and I fought a smile as I remembered how warm and relaxing it had been sleeping next to him.