Minefield of Mirrors

-45-

The following day Iris turned around in her bed, feeling next to her on the mattress. An uneasy feeling spread through her abdomen when the space was completely empty. Her eyes shot open and she immediately sat straight on her bed. Next to her, the sheets were perfectly neat again, like no one had been lying there all evening and night. Iris pulled her knees towards her chest and clamped her arms around them to give herself some kind of comfort.

Where the hell did Max go? The clock on the wall of the hotel room showed it was just seven in the morning. Iris knew from Linsey that Max wasn't a morning person at all. Then why had he already left her bed as soon as she had fallen asleep? At least, he must have left as soon as she had closed her eyes and given in to the tiredness, right? There was just no possibility that he took all his stuff with him again this early in the morning.

Images flashed in front of Iris's eyes again as she thought of the previous night. She carefully touched her lips as she remembered how many times they had kissed after he had made his confession. The flame between them had flickered all night, but they had decided to take things step by step. There was still so much uncertainty between the two of them. They finally acknowledged something was burning in the air whenever they got together, but what it exactly was? They both remained clueless.

For a long time, they had laid on the bed, kissing and holding each other tightly. All the time it had felt like they were doing something forbidden. Something that wasn't supposed to happen at all, yet they didn't want to let go of each other. That was the thing that made Iris so confused this morning. Max kept holding on to her, not wanting to lose touch. Then what made him leave Iris all alone in her room like everything of last night had just been a dream?

She looked next to her, hoping that he had left a note, but her phone was the only thing that was left on her nightstand. After a deep sigh, she picked it up and took a look at the notifications. Maybe he had left her a text? A shot of emptiness and disappointment went through her heart when she just saw the usual weather notifications and texts of the group chat with the girls. She picked up her private phone next and saw no new notifications for today.

Aimlessly, Iris threw both of the phones next to her and stared towards the other side of the room. The wall that Max had pressed her against as he had made her say these few words that had made him crash his lips on hers. It had felt amazing and her mind still couldn't process it all. She had been thinking about him for so long, that it all just felt like a fantasy. Yet her bottle of perfume that was standing on the little side table of the room told her otherwise. Max had been in her room for sure, otherwise she wouldn't have gotten her expensive perfume back he had been holding on to for way too long. It hadn't been a dream.

She shook her head and dragged herself out of the bed. Max must have had an explanation for why he had left without saying a word. Maybe he had a meeting early in the morning? However, if he would have had one, he would've told her yesterday evening. Right...? No, she should stop digging this hole. Her unconsciousness was ready to drag her back into the excessive overthinking, and goddamn, a day ago she had felt amazing. She had felt like a reborn person after a month off. How had one night with Max turned things around so quickly again?

Her phone vibrated next to her and like a lion that hadn't had a meal in ages, she dived for the device. She couldn't deny the disappointment that spread through her body once again when she saw that it was just another text in the group chat. The girls had agreed on a breakfast at half past seven, before leaving towards the track to get ready for the last practice session and the qualify session of this afternoon. If Iris showered quickly, she could just be in time to join them.

A deep sigh left her lips and she put some random music on from her brother's playlist. It felt like a comforting blanket around her as soon as she heard the sounds of a song they had sung so loudly along to when they were little kids.