Chapter 12: Chapter 12

12. Past Meets Present Day

Dillon and Todd's apartment looked identical to hers and Sophia's, except for the difference in décor. This was clearly a 'bachelor inspired' apartment. Libra kept her head down as they entered the tiny hallway and kept going to, what she assumed, would be Dillon's room. Her breathing had yet to slow down yet and her thoughts were clogged with memories of that night, and the other nights she spent in that hell hole on North Haven High. She could smell it now; the wetness, the stench of old gardening tools and the bags of manure she had to sleep next to – all of it had gotten in through her nostrils and caused her to throw up continuously throughout those days. Now the smell had hunted her down in Dillon's room and it caused her to feel the same nausea as before.

Placed on his bed Libra watched Dillon run out to the living room and yell something to Todd. Somewhere between Dillon's yelling and her own panting she heard Todd's laughter and it cut her to her core. He sounded just like Dillon's friends from North Haven High and the way they had laughed at her in school most days, but at least this time Dillon wasn't laughing with them.

A few short moments later he was back with a glass of water and a brown plastic bag. She wanted to laugh because she was way passed a plastic bag to help her out, but she appreciated the sentiment. With shaky hands she accepted the glass of water but swatted away the bag and shook her head no – those bags had never helped her.

"Tell me what's going on here Libra, you are freaking me out!" Dillon dared to touch her thigh for a few seconds and despite the state she was in her stomach got filled with a warm fuzzy feeling. "If you're worried about Todd I sent him out for a few hours so it's just us here."

"T-t-thank you," she answered with a stutter and took a sip from her water, "have you heard from Sophia?"

"Not yet, but I've told her exactly where you are and that I'll be here until she arrives. Just finish your water and try to breathe normally – everything is going to be okay."

To the best of her capabilities she tried to calm down and with Dillon motioning her to lie down on his bed she felt herself relax slightly. After all, she was alright now and these walls couldn't trap her in like the ones in the elevator. She glanced toward the door and saw it was closed, to calm herself down she waved to Dillon for his attention.

"C-can you p-please keep the d-door slightly open?" She managed to get out between her clenched jaws and watched him obey as he opened the door wide open only to then return back to her side.

"How about I talk for a little and you can just listen to me?" Dillon asked and to that she could only nod.

So Dillon talked and Libra listened. He told her about his dream of becoming a soccer agent in England but that his father had wished for him to study Marketing or Business Communications. Sports were apparently, his big passion and he had always planned on becoming something sports related – high school sports just weren't enough for him.

It was funny how easily he shared things about himself and how intently she listened to him. She would've thought that the story of Dillon Holden would be dull and unintelligent but it wasn't at all – he was actually rather smart. He even shared his favorite book with her; and of course it was a George RR Martin one.

"Look, you've calmed down. I think my nervous rambling actually worked!" He cheered and let out a deep sigh that made her wonder how long he had held that in.

She had barely noticed herself when her breathing got back to normal but when she tried inhaling it worked like a charm – no more short and nervous breaths. A faint smile allowed itself on her lips and her eyes locked with Dillon to confirm that she was, indeed, fine.

"Yeah, it must have done the trick. Thank you so much for assisting me, I'm quite embarrassed." She looked around the room and took in its décor. It was filled with soccer posters and clothes were spread out on the floor.

"You don't need to be embarrassed, but what happened in that elevator scared the shit out of me. If it's not too much I'd like an explanation to what that was all about." He was treading lightly and she was thankful for that but the last thing she wanted right now was to get into that.

She let out a shaky sigh and kept wetting her lips as a distraction, "I-I can't do that, now right now." She refused to meet his eyes this time.

"Why?"

Before she could answer three loud bangs interrupted them and Dillon shot up off the floor and headed to the front door in a hurry. Libra didn't have to look; she knew it was Sophia who had come for her. She could hear her voice now from the hallway and before she knew it Sophia had found herself to Dillon's room and to the end of his bed.

"Look she is fine; I fixed it so you don't have to barge in here like a freaking hurricane!" Dillon cried out with his hands shoved in his pockets.

"He did help me, Sophia," Libra said as she got up from the bed and immediately pulled on Libra's arm to follow her lead.

"Did you call her doctor or just me?" Sophia asked Dillon while gathering Libra's things and heading for the door.

"Can someone please tell me what's going on here? I was here when you weren't; I think that gives me some right to know what's happening here."

Sophia wasn't acting fair and Libra knew that but she didn't want to risk having another panic attack in Dillon's apartment and Sophia knew how to handle this – she had to trust her in these situations. Libra kept her mouth shut and allowed her to get pulled out to the hallway outside the apartment.

"Look; I am super thankful you were here to help when I wasn't but this is serious stuff that I don't think you're ready to hear right now. Libra needs to get to bed and I have to call her doctor – if she wants to tell you she can do it another day. Good bye." And with that Sophia guided Libra to the stairs and they started working their way up.

Not until they reached the fifth floor did Sophia turn to her to speak. With tear filled eyes and a trembling chin she looked Libra dead in her eyes and shook her head violently.

"I wasn't there for you when you needed me," She looked down with a disappointing face. "I should have been there instead of that jerk. He didn't do anything bad to you, or say something to cause you to—"

"No, he didn't do anything," Libra was quick to defend him, "we walked home from the library together and I got so lost in the conversation I didn't notice when we stepped into the elevator."

"So he did bring you in there!" Sophia shouted before Libra silenced her.

"It's an elevator and we have talked about this: it's normal for people to want to take the elevators – I'm just not one of them." Libra sighed and rubbed her temple.

She was hardly mad at Sophia for not being there but she did feel a slight annoyance at her attempts to blame Dillon for her panic attack. She knew that she would have never walked into the elevator had she not been so lost in their conversation, but then again she might have found herself in a uncomfortable situation with Todd. Libra was just as shocked as Sophia was but Dillon had actually been more of a help than anything else today and if anything she should thank him.

"You didn't have to be that harsh on him back there; he did help me after all." Libra said when Sophia unlocked their front door and ushered her inside.

Since the first time Sophia had witnessed one of her attacks she had become like a mix between a nurse and her mother in times like these. Libra followed her best friend to her bedroom where she ordered her to get into bed. Seconds later she disappeared to the kitchen and returned with an Advil and a glass of water.

"Take this and drink the whole glass while I call Dr. Fine. In the meantime you should text Jack and tell him you'll be a few minutes late to the café."

Shit, the café. Libra had forgotten about her shift today but refused to call in sick when she knew Jack needed her to work. Plus, it didn't look great that the 'new girl' was sick when she had just started working. She needed to make herself fine quick before she had to explain this to Jack, too. Dillon would hardly let this go now and Libra knew that she owed him an explanation to what had happened. But in doing so meant that she would have to invite her past back into her life.

Not that she hadn't already – she had just been in Dillon Holden's bedroom.