You Were Always Mine

Shaken

Vivian stirred in her sleep, her eyes barely even open.

There'd been a thunderstorm last night but something wasn't …clear.

At some point she felt arms wrapped around her protectively. At another point, it felt like fingers had traced the lines of her side and her back in a soothing way.

Other times, she felt she was alone.

And opening her eyes to the morning sun slipping through the curtains of her room, she knew she'd been alone.

Vivian laid there, blinking.

Her head was blank and she allowed it stay that way for a couple more seconds before finally sitting up on her bed slowly.

Her head ached badly, making her wince in pain.

An early morning migraine, great!

She adjusted the duvet, her hand slipping to the space beside to find warmth.

She paused, eyes still drowsy with sleep as she turned towards the space beside her.

It was warm.

That's …odd.

She'd been on this side of her bed all night. She wasn’t a restless sleeper and she often wakes up on the same side of the bed she laid on the night before.

Her hands ran down the length of the bed as her eyes began to push past the sleep, it was undeniably warm.

When she extended her hands beyond where a potential second person might have laid, it was cold.

Her eyes darted wide open. Does that mean…

She yanked the duvet off her body, slipped into her bathroom slippers and hurried out of her room.

The door swung open as she stepped out to see Oscar pulling a stop in front of his bedroom door.

“Oscar?”

His hands froze on the door knob.

She stared at him for a moment, not sure if her next question was even a possibility.

There's no way he was in her bed last night, right?

…right?

“I..” she swallowed, rubbing the back of her neck slowly as her gaze went down to the floor and then back to the bare back of the man who stood several steps ahead.

“Were you here last night?”

He glanced over his shoulder, giving her a glimpse of those beautiful eyes that seemed to dim in the early mornings.

He'd been sleeping. She could almost tell in an instant.

“No.” He said.

The silence that followed was deafening and for some reason, the duo stood there still.

One couldn't believe the words that just slipped out and the other wasn't sure what to believe anymore.

“I..” she cleared her throat. “I thought you were so I..”

He turned the knob and walked into the room before shutting the door quietly behind him.

Vivian stood there, even more confused than ever.

Was it all in her head? She could swear she felt someone hold her through the storm last night.

She ran her fingers through her hair slowly, brows furrowed in thought as she paced.

She remembered her nightmare, it has remained the same all these years but she couldn't seem to remember anything else aside from the dream.

She paused, it was in her head.

It had to be.

Her gaze wandered off to the door of the man she'd thought consoled her all night long; why would he even care?

She chuckled, shaking her head in disbelief as she turned back to her room.

“Ridiculous.” She muttered as she shut the door behind her.

***

He watched her pace, hands in her hair as she tried to make sense of whatever she thought had happened last night.

And he had stood here, watching her through the small gap between his door and the frame (because for some reason, he didn't shut the door fully behind him) and said absolutely nothing.

Hell, what was he supposed to say?

I watched you all night and I wanted to make sure you're safe. I hate you for what you did to me and the mockery you made of my feelings but I can't help but worry about you…

Then she stopped pacing, chuckled in disbelief and walked right back into her room.

Of course she couldn't believe it! Heck, even he couldn't believe it.

He had told himself he'd stay until the storm was over and slip out before she could notice but he ended up leaning closer to her until he could feel the heat of her skin against his.

Somewhere in between, he had fallen asleep.

He shut his eyes, leaning his head in the door frame; why did he think it was some brilliant idea to stay in her bed till dawn?

God, he's been doing a lot of things that make no sense lately.

Why was he doing this to himself? Reliving those feelings after telling himself never to revisit them.

His mind went off to the way he had kissed her too.

He ran his fingers through his hair; every time he kissed her, she made him feel something different.

He never could tell what to expect when they kiss but that one from last night, that one kiss, was the one hoped never happens.

He never wanted to feel the rush of loving her again. He never wants to give her the power to ever hurt him again.

Oscar reached for his phone and dialed a number he hasn't dialed in God knows how long.

“Oh s**t!” Echo, his very old friend from college responded. “The dead do come alive, uh?”

“Where are you?”

Echo shakes his head. “Not even a ‘hey how have you been?’ kind of greeting?”

“I'm in a mood right now.” Osccar advised.

“Still not an excuse. We haven't spoken in what? Three, four years?”

Echo and Oscar used to be roommates and he was the closest to him in their four man friend group.

After college and all that crazy drama with Vivian, they sort of lost contact.

Seeing Oscar calling his phone was indeed a bloody miracle.

“Yeah. We'll talk. Where are you?”

Echo paused.

They might have lost communication years back but he knows damned well when this man needs to release those demons before he does something he’d regret.

“I'm at the ring.”

Oscar nodded, that was exactly what he needed at the moment.

“I'll be there in twenty.”

“You okay bro?”

Oscar glanced back at the door. “No. I'm far from okay.”

He was f****d. More or less.