Water shot from my lungs as I began to forcibly cough expelling the remaining liquid. My chest heaved tightly and I looked around. Lara was kneeling in front of me her red hair soaked wet and her eyes fresh with tears. Before I could do anything she jumped into me in a tight hug.
"Jane thank god you're alive!" she cried loudly. "I thought you were going to die."
"Well it's good that I made you take that CPR lesson then," I laughed dryly.
She pulled away, "Now's not the time to joke around! I really thought- I really thought you might die." She wiped her eyes.
My hand plonked on top of her head, "It'll take more than that to kill me. Thanks for saving me."
She continued to cry, "When-when you fell in I panicked. I didn't know what to do. Are you sure you're okay?"
I continued to caress her head to calm her down, "You did fine considering I'm still alive."
"But, but," her sniffling began to stop.
"Ah, your skirt it's ripped. Your mum is going to be angry," I touched the bottom of the cloth.
She frowned, "That's what you're worried about? My mum is going to be angrier that you almost drowned!"
"That's if we tell her," I smiled suggestively. "Your skirt on the other hand we can't really lie about that."
"No," she shook me adamantly. "This is all because you just had to show off and try cross that log. You're getting a grilling when we get home."
"I'll make you breakfast for a week," I was serious.
Lara's eyes twitched. She was really considering it. "Hmm- No, what you did was stupid and you deserve to be punished!"
I sighed in defeat, grabbed her skirt and tore it a little more.
"Hey!" she jumped back.
"Sorry I needed to vent," I shrugged and stood up. "Let's go before we both catch colds."
We stood up and started to walk away from the river bank. Our school uniforms were muddied and stuck to us uncomfortably, the autumn weather not making it any better as the chill began to creep in. Thankfully I seemed to have enough smarts to take off my bag before trying to cross the river. Together we made our way back to the streets and into the suburban housing.
I sneezed, "If I'm sick tomorrow do you think I'll have to hand in my homework?"
"I'll hand it in for you," Lara sighed as if should could do nothing else and after a pause also sneezed. "That's if I make it."
"Let's just hurry up, I'm getting colder by the second," and together we ran down the street.
*
"Gah!" I shot up breathing heavily. What the hell did I just see? Was that really my memory? My eyes quickly scanned my surroundings. I was in a bed, and my clothes had been stripped off replaced by a soft robe. The room around me was quite lavish, reeking of over indulgence and had multiple scented candles lit.
"You know you really shouldn't take drugs and then go for a swim," Taylor's voice startled me. I rolled out of the bed on instinct and faced her. "What?" She was casually reading in an upright position while lying in the same bed I had just been. Her clothes were crumpled in a pile next to mine… her underwear included. Instead she wore the same robe as me.
I looked at her suspiciously, "You- you didn't do anything to me while I was under did you?"
"Aside from pull you out of the lake, make sure you were alive, drag you to this inn, dry your body and put you to sleep, hmmm no. Oh by the way, you're welcome."
"And thank you for the sass."
"It's a pleasure," she bowed her head.
I sat down on the bed again and sighed, "Really though, thank you."
Taylor put her book down and smirked at me, "But Rain if you wanted to 'relieve' yourself, you didn't need to come all the way out here. After all my room was right next to yours." Her robe shifted ever so slightly revealing her collarbone. The way her skin seemed to shine in the light so smoothly caused me to blank.
I shook my head and chuckled, "You really never stop teasing me do you?"
"It's fun," she smiled and my heart thumped for an entirely different reason. Compared to her seduction, this side of her attracted me more. "By the way, what were you doing here? You weren't really trying to 'relieve' yourself right?" Her last sentence came out a little anxiously, though I couldn't understand why.
"Of course not," I dismissed her worry. "That drug I took was a memory relapse."
"Trying to remember home?"
"No I have plenty of that."
She paused, "Then it was about Lara."
"…." My silence was the answer.
Her hands tightened on the blanket she was under, rippling the cloth. "Rain… what do you think of her, of Lara?"
"I admire her. She's kind, strong and determined." I smirked, "Though Taylor you should forget about trying to woo her. I'm 99% certain she doesn't swing your way."
"That's-," she huffed. "While it's true I had those intentions when I first met her, I haven't thought that way about her for ages."
"Really? Then what's with all the attention you've been giving her lately?" The past few days I had seen Taylor watching Lara from a distance.
"I wasn't looking at her like that."
"Then what, you jealous?"
"And if I said I was?" her serious reply caught me by surprise.
I smiled softly, "Taylor you have nothing to be jealous of her about. You're a different person and we all like you for that."
Her eyes focused in on me, "I wasn't jealous of how she is… I was jealous because-." She stopped herself and tightened her hands even more. Calmer now she spoke, "I was jealous because lately the two of you were getting along really well."
"Wait what?" I wasn't sure I understood her. She said that she didn't see Lara that way anymore, then why would she be jealous, unless….
Taylor looked at me with a soft innocence I hadn't expected from her, anxious and a little afraid, "Rain, I like you and I don't mean as a friend. For a while now I've liked you more than that. Why do you think I kept letting you see me changing clothes on the ship? Okay I admit that was for fun as well but… I'm not good at things like this. I-I don't know how to be honest."
"So you were serious? All those times when you came on to me…."
She laughed, "Yes. I was serious. If it's you… if you really wanted me. I'd do it." Slowly she began to pull herself out of the blankets edging towards me on all fours. I was stunned and could only watch her get closer as our faces neared. After all the jokes and teasing between us… I really thought that was it. Then with an incredible tender push, her soft lips touched mine and my heart stopped. The contact only lasted half a second and as we parted her eyes were locked on to mine.
"So?" she looked at me with a fragile wanting. "I don't want just sex. I want to love you and you do the same for me."
The image of the red haired Lara crying in front of me flashed before my mind.
I closed my eyes, already hating myself for what I was about to say. When I opened them Taylor was still there, "I'm sorry Taylor. I can't."
She pulled back, her eyes beginning to tear up, "It's Lara isn't it?"
I nodded slowly, "There's something between her and I that I don't know. I wish I could say yes to you but until I find out what exactly is going with me and her…, I'm sorry."
"So this is what heartache feels like," she sat back on her legs and laughed. "And I used to do it to people all the time. Rain… do me a favour and just confess to her quickly. That way if you get rejected you can come crying to me instead."
"No I think you're misunderstanding." I wasn't sure how to say this, "I really don't know what's going on between us. I have memories of another person's life, a boy called Jane. He was Lara's friend and quite frankly I really want to know why I have these memories."
"Wait… so you don't love her?"
"I really can't say." My emotions were being manipulated by forces I couldn't understand.
"And me?" she asked hesitantly.
"You're really important to me," I replied with the truth. "Honestly if I had known you were serious before I might have taken up on your offers."
"Looks like I was a bit late then," she looked down and sighed.
"Thank you Taylor, I really do appreciate your feelings," I bowed my head to her.
"Hang on, you don't think I'm giving up do you?" her voice was refilled with her usual energy.
"You're not?"
"Of course I'm not," she smiled sincerely and my heart thumped. "I think I've got plenty of time to worm my way into your heart. By the time you've settled things with Lara, who knows maybe you'll be all over me. Just remember, the next time I whisper sweet nothings in your ear," she leaned closer and placed her lips beside my head, "I mean it." A shudder went down my spine. This girl was frightening in more ways than one.
I couldn't help but laugh, "I'll look forward to it."
"Please do."
"For now though, we should really head back."
"But Rain I paid good money for this room," she spread herself alluringly.
"Yeah, try again later," I stood up picked up my still wet clothes and headed for the door. "Good night Taylor."
"Good night."