[Anima Sola]

Fortsetzung von Kapitel 5:

Rory woke up several hours later, cuddled against Finn’s chest, his arm holding her tightly, the bed sheets holding her warm where his skin wasn't touching hers. She inhaled his scent deeply, opening her eyes slowly. Her room was still dim, so she couldn’t tell what time of day it was. She still felt a little dizzy due to consuming Tequila in the morning and her lack of sleep, yet there was something inside her stomach that felt good, that made her smile.
“Still smiling, love?”, she heard Finn mumbling.
She looked up at him and smiled even wider, leaning closer to kiss him. Looking quickly past him at the clock on her night stand, she leant back, shaking her head. It had finally sunk in how much time she had wasted today – even though it didn’t feel like a waste. Yet she had missed at least three classes plus breakfast and lunch. It was almost three o’clock when she sat up and pulled the bed sheets around her. Looking down at Finn, she noticed that he had fallen asleep again, breathing deeply.
She sat on her bed, watching him, and smiled. She didn’t know why, it just felt right. Rory got up after a while, leaving him the bed sheets and quickly gathering some clothes from her closet to slip into. She threw a last glance at the sleeping form of Finn, before she quietly left her room. Once she was outside her dorm, she headed straight to the next coffee stand, ordering a large coffee cup. She just turned around, taking the first sip, when she saw Logan standing right behind her.
“Oh”, she said, almost spilling her beloved coffee. “Hey, Logan.”
“Are you feeling better?”, he asked and it felt like a stab of a knife.
She merely nodded and walked away from the line in front of the coffee stand. When she reached the corner, she felt his hand on her shoulder. She turned around again to face him.
“Logan, I’m okay. And I thought you would forget about yesterday”, she added, avoiding his gaze.
“I just wanted to make sure, Ace”, he said. “Where have you been today?”
“What do you mean?”
“I missed you at lunch.”
“You did? Well, I wasn’t hungry. To be honest I hadn’t even had breakfast, I was in bed all day”, she said, telling the truth. “I haven’t felt well…” she added, creating another lie.
He watched her, so she added quickly: “But I told you, I’m fine again. I had my coffee, now I’m good!” She smiled at him.
“I’m glad”, she heard him whisper, as he leant closer to grab her hand – pulling her across the street.
“Logan!”
He quickly stopped and pushed her into a small entrance area, pinning her against the wall. “Hi Ace”, he said with a smirk.
“Hey”, she whispered, watching him closely, her skin tingling.
He then leant in to kiss her rather hungrily. She leant back after a while to catch her breath.
“Ooh, Huntzberger, you did miss me”, she said quietly, grinning at him.
With that he dragged her along until they stood right in front of her dorm room. It was then that she had the weird feeling that something bad was about to happen. What if Finn was still lying in her bed? Logan just kissed her neck, shoving her slowly against her door, when she pushed him away gently.
“Sorry, Logan, I can’t”, she said.
“What, you didn’t clean your room?”
‘Sort of’, she thought.
“I don’t care, Ace”, he went on. “I like it messy!”
“Oh I know that”, she said, mockingly. “But I can’t because –“ ‘Give me a reason!’ “Because Paris is there!”
“I don’t care about her either, Ace!”
‘Damn it!’
“And I have classes this afternoon.”
“You do? But you missed your other classes as well, when you stayed in bed the whole day, why don’t you miss the whole day?”
“I can’t, you know that!”, she said, looking at him pleading.
“When’s your first class?”
“Later… I don’t know exactly, I have to check that. There’s – there’s been a change. I don’t know the new times yet.”
Logan raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask any further.
“I’ll go check it, wait right here!” With that she slipped inside her dorm, sighing as she closed the door behind her. She quickly walked over to her room and opened the door.
Something inside her cracked as she saw Finn still lying in her bed. She bit her lip and walked over to him.
“Finn?”, she whispered. “Finn! Wake up!”
He didn’t move. She bent closer to check his breathing. Normal. Slow and quiet, but normal.
“Finn!”, she pleaded, shaking him by the shoulders. “Please wake up!”
“Ace?”, she heard Logan’s voice from the common room.
“Oh no”, she mouthed, quickly getting up and walking to the door. “Oh no…”
She opened the door and quickly slipped through it, making it impossible for Logan to look inside her room.
“You checked?”
“Yes, yes, I did, and I’m already late”, she said, her heart pounding against her chest in panic. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry, maybe later?”
“I –“ She bit her lip. “I don’t know, Logan. I really need this night to sleep”, she said, suddenly very much aware of the fact that she tried to avoid Logan. What drove her? She liked him. But apparently she liked somebody else a little bit more.
“Fine”, he said and kissed her a quick goodbye. “See you then, Ace!”
Did she just disappoint Logan Huntzberger, the one that drove her into this weird situation in the first place? The one who neglected her? She smiled from the inside as he left her dorm. She did as he did. They were even. She didn’t even feel guilty anymore. When she turned around to go back into her dorm, she even felt good about disappointing Logan. How evil she’d become.
Closing her room door behind her, she knelt down next to Finn again, touching his arm gently. Still there was no movement.
“Finn?”, she said again. “Finn!”
She shook him again but there wasn’t even a groan from him. What was wrong with him? He hadn’t drunk as much as she has, this couldn’t be a normal hangover. Yet she didn’t know what else he did the last night.
“Finn, damn it, wake up!”
Suddenly she panicked. She leant back in shock, before checking his breath. He was breathing, right? Or was she just imagining it? But why shouldn’t he not breathe? He was fine. He was fine when she had left him, not just an hour ago. What happened in that time? Did Paris kill him after all? But why would she do that? Rory checked Finn’s pulse and again she was questioning its liability. Her breath grew quicker, her hands began to shake.
“Finn? Oh god, please, wake up!”
She leant back again, closing her eyes, trying to breathe normally.
It was then that she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up in shock and was about to scream – when she saw Finn look at her.
“You alright, love?”, he asked, stretching his limbs.
“If I’m alright? I thought you were dead!”
“Dead?”, he frowned.
“You wouldn’t respond to my calling your name and shaking you and such and I was really afraid –“
“Oh love”, he said with a smirk, and climbed off the bed to sit down next to her on the floor, pulling the sheets behind him to cover them both. “I told you once I’m asleep, nothing can wake me. I’m sorry, love”, he added and placed a kiss on her temple.
“But – but you were awake just an hour ago!”
“I know, but as soon as I hit my REM state, nothing can wake me, love”, he said with a smirk, noticing her furrowed forehead. “You know, I missed very much in my life because of that. I’m glad you’re still here!”
“Well, this is my room”, she said. “And guess what, I had trouble fighting Logan off.”
Finn’s smirk immediately vanished. “Logan?”
“He found me at the coffee stand and we somehow came back here, but I quickly enough remembered that you might still be lying here. Just imagine how that could have ended!”
“Well, I wouldn’t have noticed, love”, he grinned, even though a little forced. “Murdered in my sleep, that’s a nice way to die!”
She just threw him a glare.
“I’m sorry, love”, he whispered and kissed her cheek. No more bloody jokes from me now.”
Rory leant back against her bed and sighed.
“So you told him –“
“I told him I had classes, which is not true at all and I really hope he doesn’t find out.”
“You lied to dear Logan?”
“Yes, what else should I have done? Lead him right here, shoving you off the bed so we had some space?”
“You would do that?”
“Of course not!”
“Relax, love, he won’t find out.”
“At least not that you were here…”
“He doesn’t care”, Finn said, causing Rory to look at him in surprise. “I mean, yes, he likes you – but he also likes, um, what are their names, Kimberly, Sophie, Julia and I-can’t-remember-her-name. So what I want to tell you, darling, he is much worse than you. Next week there might be Susan, Cindy and Clair or whoever else he’ll pick up. You might shag his best friend, but he is shagging half Yale.”
Rory looked away in disgust.
She didn’t want to be one of many. She wanted to be special. Just like Finn had said. She lowered her head and stared at her feet. She then felt Finn’s arm around her.
“I don’t know if it makes you feel better when I’m telling you that you still have me, love, so…”
Rory smiled at her feet. “It does, Finn”, she said and looked up.
She met his gaze and quickly leant in to a passionate kiss. He then got up and gathered his clothes, slipping into them, before he knelt down beside Rory again. He closed his lips around hers, while his hands wandered down her arms to the pockets of her coat.
“Hey”, she said against his lips, when he pulled out her cell phone. She watched him, flipping it open and quickly putting down some number. “What are you doing?”
“I’m leaving you my number, love”, he said, his tongue sticking out between his lips while his thumbs flew over the small keyboard.
“But –“
“Don’t worry, love, whenever you feel sad or just want a little private party, dial this number and –“ He gave her back her phone, still open, with a name and a number on the display. “Felicity might help you.”
Rory giggled in surprise. “Felicity?”
“Couldn’t think of another girl name starting with an F”, he said, shrugging.
She just leant in to kiss him. “Thank you, Felicity!”, she giggled.
“You’re welcome, love”, he kissed her again before getting up, his hands deep in the pockets of his coat.
Rory got up as well, watching him walking over to the window.
“Finn?”, she asked, holding him back.
“Yes, love?”, he turned around.
“I’m going to dump Logan”, she simply stated, convincing herself by speaking the words that had been in her head for a while now.
He grinned at her. “I feel special”, he said, walking back to her to kiss her goodbye.
She watched how he climbed out of the window, vanishing around the corner, winking at her. She flipped shut her cell and slowly closed her window. A smile on her face, a bad knot inside her stomach.

...to be continued...^^