Disclaimer: I own nothing; everything belongs to its rightful owners.
AN: Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read and/or review my stories, it really means the world to me! And a BIG special thank you goes to the amazingly talented purpleplasticpurse for beta reading!
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XXXI
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A Taste Of Something Beautiful
(The Color In Anything/Fourth Meeting)
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I'm bored," Emily declares with a heavy sigh, staring up at the clear blue sky from behind her sunglasses. It's a beautiful afternoon in the middle of summer, but Emily couldn't care less.
"You always are," Sarah mutters and Emily shrugs.
"Maybe," she admits, before sitting up on the lawn. "We could call Julian," she suggests. "Maybe he got plans."
"No," Sarah groans lazily from her place on the sunlounger. "I'm too tired."
Emily rolls her eyes. "You're not tired, you're just hungover."
"That's the same thing, Em. Besides, I can't believe you're not. You had much more than me."
Emily shrugs. "Maybe I didn't."
Sarah scoffs. "Yeah, right."
"Here," she utters a moment later, throwing a tiny plastic bag in Emily's lap. "David gave them to me last night."
"What is it?" Emily asks and frowns, eying the red pills suspiciously, trying to remember if she took those before.
She doesn't.
"I don't know," Sarah tells her, trying to hide a yawn. "But you're bored, so try them and find out."
"Do you want me to keep you one?"
"No," Sarah mumbles, waving her off tiredly. "I just want to sleep."
Rolling her eyes at her friend once more, Emily stares at the pills for another moment, a strange unease building. But then she shakes her head at herself and takes them anyway. She's bored as fuck after all.
Laying back down on the lawn, Emily keeps watching the horizon in silence.
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She can't explain how it happens. It just … does.
One moment it's broad daylight, but when she blinks, it's the middle of the night.
Sitting up slowly, Emily realizes she's alone, Sarah nowhere to be seen.
Staggering to her feet, Emily stumbles once, regaining her balance shortly only to stumble again. The darkness around her spinning dangerously.
Taking a step forward, the grass under her bare feet feels wet and cold and strange and Emily frowns. It hasn't rained in weeks.
She blinks and turns and then stops. Staring at the pool, her eyes grow wide in confusion.
Dropping to her knees, she reaches for what had been water once but has now turned into black ink. It feels thick and warm, almost like blood and Emily bends forward, mesmerized, allowing her arms to slip deeper.
The urge to throw herself into the unknown is overwhelming- and impossible to fight.
With a smile, Emily gives in.
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When her eyes flash open, someone's bent right over her. A tall figure with dark hair and dark eyes and the most serious expression she's seen in her entire life.
Him.
Of course.
He's everywhere these days.
She blinks and coughs, water spilling from her mouth and she wonders where her sunglasses went and why she's all wet.
She frowns at the brush of his fingers against her chin when he tilts her head, forcing her to look at him. He's soaked too, his suit ruined yet again. Droplets of water dripping from his hair and cascading down his stoic features.
He's talking, his lips moving, but there's no sound but the thunder roaring in the distance.
It's impossible to tell if it's even real.
She throws her arms around his neck without thinking, catching him completely by surprise, and even more so when she pulls him down, closer and closer, until she can press her lips against his. And for the fraction of a second Emily feels ... something.
He pulls back instantly, his brows furrowed and his eyes stricken with something Emily can't grasp.
Behind his head lightning rips the horizon apart, setting the dark grey sky on fire and Emily allows her finger to trail down the side of his face, longing for something she doesn't quite understand.
Rain starts pouring from above and she's lifted into his arms effortlessly, carried off towards the house.
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"You don't remember?" Sarah asks disbelievingly, when she shows up the next morning.
"No," Emily muses, her eyes fixed on her flawless reflection in the mirror while she starts applying her makeup with steady hands.
Sarah goes on about how Emily almost drowned in that stupid pool and how she would kill David for those damn pills, while Emily pretends not to remember a god damn thing.
It's not really true though. She does remember ... something. Something she doesn't quite understand.
Reaching for a bloody red lipstick instead of her favorite black one, Emily smiles at herself.
She would figure it out.
No matter the cost.
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Disclaimer: I own nothing; everything belongs to its rightful owners.