"C-can you please slow down?" I quaver.

Wide eyes I stare ahead. The steering wheel. The open highway. The clear blue sky. Mason sitting on my left, in the passenger seat.

Voices get louder in my head, up to the point where I can't tell if it's Wright talking or Mason's words from that day in the car... my car.

Sharp headlights light up my window as a white car whizzes past us.

Suddenly it's not a small white car, but a gigantic truck. The same one that raced straight into my car.

I squeeze my eyes shut, pressing my palms on my ears as I cry out, "Stop!"

The seatbelt holds me still, suffocating me.

The crash.

The screeching sound.

Pain.

Blood, so much blood.

So much pain. My fault.

I can't move. My fault.

Mason's bloody face. My fault. My stuck body.

And then Darkness. My fault.

Stop, stop, stop, stop!

"Gracie," a faint voice over the rushing of my blood in my ears calls out. A beat later it comes stronger. A warm hand grasps my shoulder, a gentle pressure anchoring me back to reality. "Gracie, calm down."

My heart thunders in my chest as I struggle to breathe. I squeeze my eyes tighter, the images refusing to disappear. The seatbelt constricts me. I tug at it frantically, trying to free myself, but it's futile.

"Calm down." Wright grabs my hands, his eyes searching for mine.

I shake my head. "No!" I fumble with the belt, but the bolt refuses to let go. Tears burn my eyes. "Can't breathe." Hysteria stops me from seeing clearly.

Wright moves my hand aside and unlatches the belt.

I throw open the door and jump out of the car.

The icy rain pours down on me but I embrace the cutting sense. My legs shake, my knees barely hold me up as I shut my eyes again, leaning to the car and hold my head between my hands.

Thoughts, sounds, and images rush past my closed eyes. Short breaths tear out of my parted lips.

Warm calloused hands lay on my cheeks. "Gracie," Wright's deep voice overpowers the screeching sounds in my mind. His warm breath fans over my face. "Look at me." The firm tone underlying his tender words makes my eyes fly open but I'm unable to focus on anything.

His hold doesn't waver. "Breathe, okay? With me," he says as my gaze dart from one point to another. "Try to focus on one thing. Just think about the rain, okay? And breathe."

I feebly nod. The rain.

"Breathe in," he softly says and I try to follow his guide. After a beat he mumbles, "Breathe out."

He keeps repeating in a steady rhythm. At first, I struggle to keep up but he patiently continues until we breathe in and out together. Our hot breaths mingle together in a small white fog, disappearing with our inhales and reappearing with our exhales.

Slowly the world comes into focus as my ragged breathing goes to normal and my heartbeat calms down. The rain lashes down at us. Cars speed past us on both sides as we stand still in the middle of the intersection. The board showing where the parting freeway leads to is only a few paces away from us. I didn't even notice when he stopped the car before I got out.

But what I can't look away from is Spencer Wright. His face a few inches apart from mine. The intoxicating scent of his Chypre cologne drowns out the smell of rain.

His specs are resting on the brink of his nose, the glasses dotted with raindrops. His dark blue eyes, so dark that it looks like black, are locked with mine. His warm fingers are splayed on my cheeks. His dark hair is sticking to his brow, hiding the small creases of worry marking his otherwise smooth forehead.

A beat later, I realize my hands are weakly resting over his, but I can't bring myself to move, as if trapped at the moment, in his intense gaze that's making my heart rate pick up but in a different way. His eyes study mine, before slowly moving down to my lips, pausing for a moment before jumping back up.

"Are you okay?" his low voice sends unexpected yet pleasant shivers down my spine.

I nod.

His hands fall from my face and I instantly miss its presence and warmth.

"We're close, do you think you can make it without any problems?"

I look away, heat rushing to my cheeks. Shame and humiliation crumble me under his vehement scrutiny. Regardless, I nod weakly before murmuring, "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize for anything." He shakes his head and asks, "Is it okay for you to go back inside the car?" The attentiveness in his voice clenches my heart with an odd feeling.

I peer up through my wet lashes and his attention is fixated on me. I nod and he opens the car's door for me and I climb in and he shuts it for me.

As he rounds the car, I notice he's drenched, just like me. His black shirt, with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, is sticking to him, showcasing his well-built body.

He sits in the driver's seat and leans over to the backseat, rummaging around before pulling something out and returning to his seat.

He hands me a bottle of water and I murmur a thanks before accepting it and gulping it down.

Sideways, I catch him shoving his hand through his wet hair and pushing it out of his face before taking off his glasses and cleaning them.

"I'm sorry," I mumble, staring at the bottle in my hand.

"What are you apologizing for? You've done nothing. But you should have told me... is this why you didn't want me to give you a ride in the first place?"

I draw my nail on the patterns of the plastic bottle, as my cheeks burn up. Nevertheless, I nod. "Kind of."

He sighs and leans into his seat. "This isn't something to be ashamed of, Stewart," He says after a long moment of silence.

I don't reply, nor do I peer over at him. But suddenly, hearing him calling me Stewart doesn't feel right anymore. Especially after the way a few minutes ago he called my name and was looking at me.

I push a wet strand of hair behind my ear.

"Are you ready? Can I start driving?" he questions.

I inhale sharply and nod my head with more certainty. "I am."

"Whenever you need me to stop just tell me, okay?"

A small smile tugs my lips upwards. "Okay."

With that, he starts the car and returns to the lane, but keeps the speed down.

True to his words, we were only ten minutes away from his apartment.

He drives into the parking garage of one of the silver skyscrapers and parks his car near the elevator. He kills the engine and we climb out of the car.

I sling my partly dried backpack over my shoulder, and we walk to the elevator together and he presses the button of it. We stand in silence, with more than enough space between us until the door slides open and we step inside and he presses the button with sixteen on it.

He lives on the sixteenth floor!

Beethoven's Für Elise starts playing and I tap my foot, trying to not look at Wright. From the corner of my eye I catch glimpses of him before straightening myself and deciding to pull out my preferred Gracie version. The one who talks without thinking.

"Have you ever thought what if something goes wrong?" I ask.

He turns to me quirking an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"What if an earthquake happens... or I don't know, any other sort of natural or man-made disaster, you'll be stuck sixteen stories overground."

A side of his mouth quirks up before he shakes his head. "You know the saying, the view is to die for, personally I believe anyone who lives in this sort of buildings." He motions his hand up and downwards as if rereferring to its height. "Strongly abides by that."

I smile, "And that includes you too."

"Isn't that obvious?" he returns my smile.

With his hair still wet, his clothes clinging to his defined muscles, and his intense gaze piercing through me, suddenly the elevator is too hot and small.

I clasp my hands in front of myself and drop my gaze to my feet.

Finally, the door slides open and we walk out of it together. He proceeds to the black door on the right and unlocks it with his key, stepping inside.

Gingerly, I follow him.

Never in million years did I imagine I'd be entering any of my professors' homes, especially under these circumstances.

∞ ∞ ∞

Honestly, it was a hard chapter to write, I know it's short, but it really drained me(tbf, irdk why). Anyways, tell me your thoughts on the little moment they had after her panic attack (of sorts), more moments will be coming up *wink wink* lol =))

Keeping up with these updates is wayyy harder than I expected, but I suppose it's worth it (I hope it is XD), so if you read it, thank you so much, and if you enjoyed it, please vote ^.^

See you tomorrow with more moments beautiful readers <33