Chapter 12

I got out of my car to head into my front door when I froze in my tracks. Standing there in front of me was Corey. He hadn’t seen me yet, and was pacing back and forth in front of the door. I could see him talking to himself, but couldn’t hear what he was saying. I took a few cautious steps forward until I could hear him.

“Just knock on the door, Corey. Knock on the door and when she opens it, tell her how you feel. Just tell her you need her back. Tell her that you love her still.”

I froze in place when I heard the words. He was giving himself a pep talk to knock on my door and tell me he was still in love with me. I wasn’t sure what to do, or even what to think. Was this something that I really wanted to hear right now? The sound of Corey knocking on my door snapped me out of my thoughts. He was really going to go through with it.

“Meels? Meels, it’s Corey. If you’re in there please open the door. I really need to talk to you!” he called out.

“I kind of already heard you,” I responded. He spun around and faced me, a look of surprise on his face.

“You heard me talking to myself,” he whispered as he made his way over to me. I nodded, not sure what to say.

The two of us stood there, mere feet from each other looking at everything except each other. I took a deep breath and desperately searched for a word, any word, to interrupt the silence. For the first time in my life I was speechless, so I tried to focus on how I felt. Was I happy to hear that he still loved me or not? My churning stomach wasn’t giving me a straight answer.

I took a chance and glanced up at him. He had his head thrown back and he was looking up at the clouds floating overhead. I bit my lower lip, and tried to figure out how to proceed. Before I had a chance to, Corey lowered his head and looked at me. For the first time since I saw him standing in front of my door our eyes locked. I knew what I had to do then.

Instead of speaking, I let my actions do the talking. I closed the distance between us and planted my lips on his. He was startled, but it only took him a second to kiss me back. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he pulled me into him. We only broke apart long enough for me to unlock the door and get it open.

Corey used my body to shut the door behind us, pressing me up against the cool wood. I ran my hands through his hair as he pulled my jacket off of my shoulders and let it fall to the floor. He moved his lips from mine and trailed them down to my neck. I let out a low moan as I lifted my chin giving him more to kiss.

“God, Corey, I still love you too,” I whispered.

I opened my eyes and shot straight up in bed. I was breathing hard, and I had to look around the room in the hotel suite to shake the images of the dream from my head. I wasn’t home, I was still in Vancouver, and Corey had long since left town. I put a hand to my lips. I could still feel the touch of Corey’s lips on mine.

I jumped out of bed and made my way into the kitchen. I pulled a glass out of the cupboard and filled it with water from the tap. I finished the glass in one gulp and filled it up again. This time I carried the glass back into the bedroom with me. I took one more sip before setting it down on the nightstand and getting back into bed.

The dream hadn’t exactly been a nightmare, but it felt like one. Usually I had no problem shaking away the images from a dream, but like a nightmare I couldn’t forget it. I knew that what was bugging me about it was that it seemed so real, like it could have happened. As real as it felt I knew there was no way that could ever happen. I wasn’t still in love with Corey.

I turned on the TV and flipped through the channels until I found an old movie on. I tried to focus on the plot to forget about Corey altogether. I only made it a little way through the movie before I fell back into a thankfully dreamless sleep.

I refused to let myself think of the dream the next day and instead thought only of the scene we were filming. I was glad it wasn’t a long day for me and I chose to go back to the hotel suite to take a nap before grabbing some dinner. I wasn’t far into my nap before I was awoken by the ringing of my phone. I threw my arm over to the nightstand and felt around before finding my phone, all while keeping my face buried in the pillow.

“Hello?” I answered, not bothering to check the caller ID.

“Meels? It’s Corey.” My breath caught in my throat at the sound of his voice. I sat up and looked around the room trying to decide if I was dreaming or not. “Amelia?” I pinched myself.

“Ow,” I muttered. I wasn’t exactly sure that pinching yourself to find out if you were dreaming actually worked, but I wanted to test it out.

“What happened? Are you okay?” Corey asked.

“I’m fine. What’s going on?”

“I just wanted to know if you told Jordan yet,” he responded. His words were a bit slurred, and it sounded like he’d been drinking.

“Yeah, I did.

“How did he take it?” I rolled my eyes.

“He hardly blinked an eye. He just didn’t care. It’d be nice if he cared a little, you know? Just let me know you actually like me, and all the rumors aren’t true. How about Ileana?” I heard him let out a sigh.

“Yeah, I told her.”

“How did she take it?” He laughed.

“She lost it,” he responded.

“What do you mean, she lost it?” I questioned. I heard another sigh.

“She started yelling at me. She went on and on about how awful it was that I lied to her. She told me I couldn’t see or speak to you again.” I laughed.

“I see that worked out well for her,” I joked. He laughed too.

“It’s ridiculous. She’s actually afraid that I’m going to leave her for you.” That statement felt like a stab to the heart. Get over it, Amelia, you’re still just thrown off because of that dream, I told myself.

“Because our relationship ended so well last time,” I said sarcastically.

“On top of that she went off on other things I told her. ‘You told me I was nicer than your ex, funnier than your ex, and prettier than your ex’.”

I squeezed my eyes closed. Each one of those statements felt like my heart was being stabbed again and again. Why was he saying this to me? Was he trying to hurt me, or did he seriously just not have a clue? I struggled to think of something to say, but he spoke up again.

“Of course I basically lied to her about her being nicer and funnier because I was just still so angry at you for walking out.”

“I’m nicer and funnier, eh?” I attempted to joke, completely aware that he hadn’t added the “prettier” part in there.

“No one’s ever made me smile or laugh like you have. Ever. Not being together anymore doesn’t change that.” I found myself starting to smile.

“Well, the same has always gone for you.” Corey didn’t seem to hear me.

“Ileana’s pretty, but Amelia, she doesn’t compare to you. I’d be lying if I told anyone in the world that they were prettier than you. You’ll always be the most beautiful girl in the world to me.” Images of my dream flashed into my head. I couldn’t do this with him right now. Not ever.

“Uh, Corey, I have to go,” I told him.

“Meels, wait. I’m sorry. Don’t hang up,” he pleaded. I ignored him.

“I’m sorry, I’ve gotta get to set. I’m filming another scene,” I lied.

I hung up without waiting to hear anything else he had to say. He’d only said that stuff because he’d been drinking, right? He didn’t really mean it. He couldn’t mean it. I threw my head back onto my pillow and covered my face with another one, letting out a scream. Why the hell was life with Corey always so complicated?