Queen POV
The boot was big and ugly.
That didn't change, even after the doctor confirmed it wasn't anything too serious. I just had a small fracture, nothing that needed a full cast. Just rest, the boot, and "taking it easy," which sounded nice in theory but didn't exactly fit into my life.
"You hear that?" Jessica said as we stepped out of the clinic, her keys jingling in her hand. "You're not dying. Big win."
I huffed a quiet laugh, adjusting my balance as the boot hit the pavement heavier than I liked. "Debatable."
She rolled her eyes but reached out anyway, steadying me as we walked toward her car.
"You always gotta be dramatic?"
"I almost died yesterday."
"You fell," she corrected, opening the passenger door for me. I stayed silent, easing myself into the seat carefully.
She waited until I was settled before closing the door, then walked around to the driver's side. Once she got in, she didn't start the car right away. She just looked at me for a second—really looked.
"So what actually happened?" she asked, her tone calm but curious. "Because that," she nodded toward my foot, "doesn't look like a simple misstep."
I leaned my head back against the seat, staring up at the ceiling for a second before answering.
"I was walking home. It was dark. I didn't see where I was stepping."
"That's it?"
"That's it." She held my gaze a second longer, like she was deciding whether to push. Then she didn't.
"Alright," she said finally, starting the car. "Next time, don't take the woods."
"Trust me," I muttered, "that's not happening again."
The ride was quiet after that. I thought back to how fast the morning went, how normal it flowed after dropping Demi off at school. The routine was back as usual, like nothing had happened.
"You sure you don't want me to stay a bit?"
My eyes snapped to Jessica, and I realized she had already pulled up in front of my house and was parking her car.
"I'm good," I said, reaching for the door handle.
"You don't seem good."
"I'm just tired," I corrected. "There's a difference."
She didn't argue, but I could feel her eyes on me as I stepped out and adjusted my balance.
"Call me if you need anything," she said.
"I will."
"And Queen?" I glanced back.
"Seriously. Be careful."
Something about the way she said it made my chest tighten.
"Yeah," I said softly. "I will."
The house was quiet when I got inside. No cartoons playing in the background. No little footsteps or small chit chat to distract me. Just silence, and it felt louder than it should have. I locked the door behind me, then checked it again without thinking, my fingers lingering on the knob a second longer than necessary.
"You're doing too much," I muttered, pushing myself toward the couch.
But even as I said it, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. I sat down a lot slower than I meant to and forced out a breath.
"Just rest," I told myself. "You got work later."
Normal, everything needed to be normal. It had to be. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, bracing myself for the memory of dirt beneath my hands. But when the silence settled in, it wasn't that night that filled my thoughts. Instead, it was him.
The cowboy.
I frowned slightly, confused by how easily my mind drifted in that direction. I wondered if he would be at the diner again tonight. I could still see him standing in that diner, calm in a way that didn't feel forced, like the tension in the room had already lost before it began.
Calm was anything but my life right now, and maybe that was why he stood out so much.
There was something in the way he carried himself that I couldn't ignore. He hadn't tried to make a scene and didn't raise his voice. He had stepped in without hesitation, interrupting everything with a quiet confidence that held my attention hostage. I thought about how easily he handled the situation with Manny like he wasn't concerned at all about how it could have escalated.
"He just showed up," I murmured to myself.
Saved me, and then left like it didn't mean anything at all. And that shouldn't have surprised me at all. The man was gorgeous. He probably had important things to deal with. Hell, he probably had a wife already.
I let out a small breath, shaking my head at myself. It was ridiculous, honestly, the way my thoughts circled back to him, especially after everything that had happened. But still, I couldn't deny it. I was definitely attracted to him.
Sleep crept in slowly after that, soft and quiet, pulling me under before I could question it.
*****************
When I opened my eyes, I was already moving.
The woods stretched endlessly around me, still like even the air had decided to hold its breath. My steps were slow, my feet carrying me forward on a path I didn't question. The ground beneath me was soft, undisturbed. The deeper I went, the more the world behind me seemed to disappear, swallowed by shadows and silence.
I didn't feel afraid. If anything, I felt… drawn.
The trees began to thin gradually, their tall frames giving way to open space as I stepped into a clearing without realizing when the transition had happened. Moonlight poured down through the opening above, casting a soft glow across the ground and illuminating the figure standing at its center.
I stopped without meaning to, my breath catching as my eyes settled on him. He wasn't moving, wasn't speaking, just standing there. There was something familiar about the way he held himself that made my chest tighten in a way I didn't understand.
I took a slow step forward, then another, my body moving before I could decide whether I should.The smell of orange enveloped me and I inhaled deeply.
"Do I know you?" I asked, my voice quieter than I expected.
He didn't answer right away. Instead, he looked at me.
I felt it instantly, a tingling awareness that brushed over my skin as his attention settled onto me. But when I tried to see him clearly, his features wouldn't hold. It wasn't shadow, and it wasn't distance. It was as if my mind refused to finish the image.
I frowned and took another step closer. Frustration and curiosity tangled together as I tried again to make sense of what hovered just out of reach. He shifted then, just enough to close the distance between us, and a quiet pull in my chest responded without permission.
"Have we met?" I asked, my voice steadier this time, though the question didn't feel entirely like a question.
The closer I got, the stronger that feeling became. My heart began to pick up, not out of panic, but from something I couldn't quite name, an insistence that made it hard to look away even when I couldn't fully see him.
"I know you," I said quietly, the words slipping out before I could stop them.
He didn't confirm it, didn't deny it. He just kept his attention on me, like he was waiting for me to understand something on my own. I took one more step closer, close enough now that I should have been able to see him clearly but I couldn't m.
The harder I tried to focus, the more his face slipped away, just beyond reach, no matter the distance. My brows pulled together, frustration rising sharper now.
"Why can't I see you?"
He didn't answer. And just as it seemed I was finally about to understand—the world shifted. The clearing blurred. The light fractured. And everything slipped away before I could hold onto it.
I woke up with a sharp inhale, my heart pounding hard enough to make my chest ache as I struggled to pull myself fully back into the present. For a moment, everything felt off, like I hadn't completely returned yet. It felt as if a part of me was stuck in that dream world, a world I couldn't reach, no matter how hard I tried to focus on it.
"What the hell…" I murmured under my breath, my voice still thick with sleep as I pushed myself upright.
The movement was too fast, and I immediately regretted it when a sharp pulse of pain shot through my ankle. I pressed my lips together and waited for the throbbing to settle, letting the discomfort ground me. As the pain dulled, the room slowly came back into focus, and familiar shapes settled into place until everything made sense again. Late afternoon light stretched across the floor in long, quiet lines, as if nothing had changed.
I dragged a hand down my face, exhaling slowly as I tried to shake off the lingering weight of whatever I had just come out of, but it didn't fade as easily as I wanted it to. It wasn't clear enough to call a memory, but it was impossible to ignore.
There had been someone.
I couldn't see him, couldn't place him, but the feeling of him lingered no matter how much I tried to dismiss it.
"That was weird," I muttered, though that felt like an understatement.
If I couldn't remember him, if I couldn't even picture his face, then it should have been easy to let it go, but instead it stuck with me. I let out a small breath and reached for my phone, the screen lighting up in my hand as a message came into view.
Hey! Picking Demi up like usual after school. I'll be at the house a little after you leave for your shift.
I read it once, then again as I exhaled softly.
"Okay… good."
At least that part of my day was still normal, even if everything else felt just slightly out of place.