The sky was still painted in the faintest gray when Mariella finally stirred from her half-sleep, the events of the night replaying in her head like a fever dream. The laughter from downstairs had long died out, replaced by the deep, uneven breaths of her roommates passed out in alcohol-induced oblivion.
She sat up, her heart pounding again when she turned and saw Paul now sitting calmly on the edge of her bed, his shirt buttoned despite the missing buttons. He looked completely out of place in her tiny, mismatched room, too composed, too clean, too him.
“They’re all asleep now,” she whispered.
Paul’s lips curved into that faint, knowing smirk. “I noticed.”
Mariella cracked the door open just a little. The hallway was silent except for the occasional snore echoing from downstairs. She
