Thirty-Five

VALERIA

I woke up completely disoriented. I was lying on an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room, in what also looked like an unfamiliar house. Where was I and how had I gotten here?

Then it all came back to me- the events of last night. I was in Damian's house, in what looked like his guestroom. It was some minutes past 7 a.m. Slowly, I sat up and took inventory on how I felt. I turned my neck from side to side, wiggled my fingers and toes. I concluded that I felt way better than last night. For one, the deep seated ache in my bones had subsided a whole lot. Maybe this was due in part to Dimitri's soft, featherlight mattress. The door creaked open. I turned in that direction at once with a greeting for Dimitri forming on my lips. But it was Summer who walked in, dressed in a robe from which I could see a nightie peeking. Her outfit showed that she had spent the night here, probably with Dimitri. I tried not to focus on how that made me feel. She came to a stop a few paces from the be