I woke up hugging a pillow. His pillow.

Being a night cuddler was one hurdle we'd wrestled over within the first year of our relationship. I was an extremely tactile person and liked to do a panda wrap around Alex at any opportunity I had. Alex, on the other hand, was happy to cuddle, nuzzle, and handle my overflow of touchy feely expression before sleep, but once he was ready to pass out, it was strictly butt to butt action.

Over time, he'd reluctantly accepted the fact that sometime during the night our limbs were going to end up tangled together one way or another. Even though he wouldn't admit it, I knew he even enjoyed it now.

Used to enjoy it.

I hugged the pillow tighter, pressing my face into it, and inhaling his scent. How long would it take until it completely lost his smell?

Tears pricked my eyes and I shook my head, furiously trying to chase them away. I'd spent all of last night crying.

Today was for action. Talking. We could talk through this. This was just another fight. Nothing we couldn't get past.

At least that's what I had to think to be able to get out of bed.

You've got this, Luna. You're cute and you're going to use that cuteness to get your man back.

As soon as I looked at myself in the mirror my little pep talk suddenly felt ridiculous. Cute? More like critical. 

There wasn't enough concealer in the world to take care of those dark circles and puffy eyes.

Welcome to Depressville. Population one.

Sighing, I pulled the mess that was my hair into a loose bun and changed into a pair of leggings and my lucky t-shirt. I'd need that extra boost of luck if I was going to get through today.

Opening the door of our bedroom, I peeked my head out and held my breath. Silence. And then the sound of the shower started and for a few seconds I contemplated just joining him in the shower. I mean, hello, that man was even better looking with water dripping down his brown hair and that body.

Alas, my logic had won the battle between thought and horniness, and having concluded that surprising him in the shower wouldn't exactly solve our problems, I made my way to the living room.

The couch was a mess of pillows and blankets, and my heart clenched at that stark reminder of what had happened yesterday.

His huge packed bag was next to the door, along with another smaller one.

Almost instantly, I was consumed with the intense urge to just take those bags and hide them. Find a rope and hang them out the window, if I had to. As childish as that thought was it was compelling. So compelling that without even consciously realizing it, my feet started moving toward the front door, arm stretched out and ready to grab and dash.

Until I almost fell flat on my ass in surprise when the doorbell sounded.

I frowned, lips pursing together in confusion. It was too early for visitors, or any kind of delivery for that matter.

My heart sank as my mind spun into overdrive.

What if Alex called the movers? After all, he did pay for more of the furniture. And it was his name on the lease.

Trying to calm myself down, I decide to check through the peephole and see who it was.

Blue. Uniform. The police.

Did he call the cops on me?! But, I didn't do anything wrong! Did he really hate me that much that he was going to have the police escort me out of the apartment?

Panic flared through me even more when I saw the police officer look directly at the peephole and raise his hand to the doorbell again.

"I'm innocent, I swear!" I blurted out in a panic as I pulled the door open.

The officer stared at me, raised eyebrows and confusion in every line on his face.

"What are you--" he started and then shook his head as if he's changed his mind. "Nope, it's too early for this, Carl," he muttered to himself before clearing his throat, and grabbing a box from a cart next to him.

"As you might have heard, the government announced a mandatory quarantine for the duration of twenty days. Here is a kit that should make your lockdown easier. Pay attention to the instructions inside for how to--" The guy kept reciting the little speech that he seemed to know by heart at this point I was too confused to follow.

"Sorry, wait a second, did you just say quarantine? What do you... mean?"

"Do you young kids not have TV? News?" He asked and sighed when I just stared at him in return. "You'll be on mandatory lockdown for twenty days. Just read the booklet inside, it explains everything."

The policeman held out the box to me and I timidly took it into my hands, still reeling. I mean, sure, I heard about the new filovirus that was sweeping through Europe. But that was Europe, right? It would take a while to reach us here, plus they kept saying they had a plan for--

Wait, was this the plan? A twenty day lockdown?

While I was still coming to terms with this the guy moved along down the hall, and I turned around, pushing the door closed with my butt.

Lockdown. Twenty days. Quarantine.

The words swirled through my brain but seemed to not fully absorb. Too much stuff before coffee.

My body stiff, and face void of emotion, I took robotic steps toward the kitchen, leaving the box on the counter as I focused on making coffee.

The words swirled through my brain but seemed to not fully absorb. Too much stuff before my first coffee.

My body stiff, and face void of emotion, I took robotic steps toward the kitchen, leaving the box on the counter as I focused on making coffee.

Of course. The world always made more sense after coffee. Yup, that's right.

I was so busy making my morning revival drink, I didn't even hear Alex approaching until he spoke.

"What's with the box?"

My eyes automatically searched for the source of that beautiful sound. Towel wrapped around his waist, hair still damp from the shower, the way Alex looked in the mornings wasn't fair for my sanity.

At that moment, all I wanted to do was wrap myself around him. Find the comfort only he provided.

I automatically took a step toward him, my body seeking out his, unable to control what had become almost an impulse. Alex took a large step back, eyebrows raised, eyes unreadable.

Right. He wasn't my comfort anymore.

"You know what, doesn't matter. I'll just get dressed and I'll be on my way," he said and cleared his throat before turning back around to leave.

No. No, he can't go. We needed to fix this. I needed to--

Lockdown. Twenty-day lockdown.

"You can't!" I screamed, so loud he jumped and almost dropped his towel.

Alex turned around, perplexed as he searched my face.

"Luna, we've been over this. I won't stay--" he started, running a hand through his wet hair.

"No, I mean you can't. As in, you're not allowed to," I muttered, trying to organize my thoughts and seeing the raised eyebrow on his face, I knew it wasn't going great. "I-I don't mean that I'm not allowing you. The government! It's the government that doesn't allow it."

I could see the corners of his lips tremble as if he was fighting a smile. Then he crossed his hand over his face and he was back to his Mr. Serious persona.

"Uh-huh. So, the government won't let me leave you."

"No. Not me. The apartment. We're on lockdown."

Suddenly, his face collapsed. All of the confidence he'd been exuding suddenly retreating along with his eyebrows. They looked like they were about to go straight past his hairline and into space.

"What do you mean?" he asked, concern clear in his voice.

"A policeman came and he gave me that box and told me we were in quarantine for the next twenty days and I--" Before I could even finish the sentence, Alex was speed walking to the box and ripping it open.

His fingers clenched some piece of paper, before he started flipping through it wildly, and muttering.

"No, no, no. Shit. Fuck." He crumpled the leaflet and threw it onto the counter before burying his fingers into his hair.

Well, he seemed to be taking this well.

Me, on the other hand? I was beginning to see this as an opportunity to talk things out. Find a way back to who we used to be. Back to us. 

"I guess you're stuck with me," I said and shrugged.

Alex just looked up at me, anger and frustration clear in his eyes. But, something else as well. Something dark and intense. Something that made shivers run up and down my spine.

These twenty days could be our salvation.

Or they could lead us straight to hell.

And at that moment, I had no idea which one was more likely. 

Hi lovelies! ❤️

As you might know, I'm writing LOCKED IN LOVE for NaNoWriMo this year... hopefully I can hit the 50k and finish the book by end of the month. I'm trying to be positive despite work being a negative for all this, haha. I will do my best! It definitely keeps me accountable when I post here and see you commenting or voting or just reading, so THANK YOU all so much for that! 

Also, I apologize for any typos in advance. Since I will be speed writing these first drafts will probably be riddled with errors. 😅

I hope you'll enjoy the story though! 

I love Luna and I've really been looking forward to writing this book, heh. 

How has your week been? Or, more importantly, what did you go as for Halloween?

I was a flower fairy, because I literally had to choose a last minute costume and I had wings and flowers around. 😂  I also doodled on my face so that was fun. 

Anyway, hopefully I have another update for you very soon seeing as I need t write daily now, heh. If I manage to get ahead with this book, I'll also write a chapter for TWO WEEKS TO FALL IN LOVE. ❤️

Love you! Stay strong, and stay safe!