Wait for you

I think I drank the water and then I think I face planted the floor afterward. Everything blurred. Brit was talking to me and I think I responded. No idea what was coming out of my mouth. She left me on the floor at some point and then I heard her again, out in the living room, speaking in a low voice. The pain in my head was too much to open my eyes.

Arms slipped under me and for a second I was floating. Then I shifted, resting against something warm and hard. I moaned, turning my head toward it. There was a familiar, soothing scent that tugged at me, lulled me under until I was lying on something much more comfortable and there was something cool and damp pressed to my forehead.

I slept on and off, waking every so often to realize I wasn’t alone. Someone sat beside me on the bed, holding a cloth to my cheeks. I murmured something before falling back asleep. I’m not sure how long this lasted, but finally my eyes opened, and it was like coming out of a coma. The light filtering through the window was too harsh and the throbbing was still in my head but duller than before.

I opened my mouth, but immediately started hacking.

Footsteps pounded from the hall and suddenly Brit was in my bedroom doorway, a glass of water in one hand and a mug in the other. “You’re alive! Thank God, I was begi

I looked at her dumbly. “I took medicine?”

“Yep.” She bounced over to me and sat on the bed. “You’ve taken medicine twice and you’re about to take it again. You need to drink all of this water. And then you need to drink this—more medicine. My mom, who’s a nurse by the way, said that since it seems like your fever broke last night, you should be fine. Well, you should be better.”

“Last night?” Covering my mouth with my hand, I started hacking again as I took the water from her. We had to wait for thatto pass. “What… time is it?”

Brit sat on the edge of the bed, holding the steaming mug. I could already smell the lemon. “Time? Honey, day would probably be the better question. It’s Saturday.”

I almost choked on my water. “I’ve been… out of it for… a full day?”

“A full day and a half,” she said, sympathetic. “When I texted and called you and you didn’t answer, I got worried. That’s why I came over. You were pretty bad. Mom said it was probably from dehydration. ”

Mulling that over while I finished off the water, I placed the glass on the nightstand and took the mug from her. Another coughing fit hit me and only by some miracle did I not spill it on myself. “Did you… stay here the whole time?”

“Not the entire time. I had help.”

“Thank you,” I said. “Really, thank you. I’d still laying on… the floor if it weren’t… for you and Jacob.”

She shook her head.

Suddenly, something very important occurred to me. I glanced down at myself. I was wearing a long sleeve sleep shirt. My bra was still on and I was in pajama bottoms—oh my God—my bracelet was off. My head jerked up way to fast, causing the ache to spread across my face. The bracelet sat on the nightstand. “Did you…?”

“Yes and no,” she said, messing with the short ponytail at the top of her head. “I helped you get into the bottoms.”

“Then who…?” A sinking feeling had me thinking I was going to have to run for the bathroom again. “Oh, my God…”

Brit winced. “Don’t hate me, Avery, but I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t get you off the floor. For someone who is so little, you weigh a ton and I have more muscles than Jacob. Cam was right across the hall and it seemed like the quickest solution.”

Oh my God, I couldn’t even wrap my sick brain around this little piece of news. If Brit hadn’t stripped me from my sweat soaked sweater, it had to have been Cam, which meant he was the one who placed the bracelet on the nightstand.

I closed my eyes.

“Are you feeling like you’re going to hurl again?”

“No,” I said hoarsely. “So… so Cam was here?”

“He carried you to the bed and stayed with you while I ran to the store,” she said, crossing her legs. “When I came back, he’d changed your shirt and he swore he didn’t peek at your goodies. Though, I was staring at his goodies. He was shirtless the entire time. Even though I had every window in this house open to air out all your funk.”

All my funk. Cam was all up in my funk.

“He was like the perfect nurse. Had a damp cloth to your face, keeping you cool.” Brit sighed a dreamy sound. “He even stayed with you while I cleaned up your mess.”

“Thank you,” I said again, finishing off the mug. “I mean it, thank you so much. I owe you.”

“You do.” She flashed a quick grin. “You also owe Cam.”

I collapsed back against the bed, closing my eyes. “I bet you had to beg him to come over.”

“No,” she replied, poking my leg until I looked at her. “I didn’t have to ask him twice. He dropped what he was doing and came right over to help you.”

Chapter 22

The sickness had lingered and turned into a disgusting, hacking cold that I treated obsessively with every over the counter medicine known to man. By the first day of spring semester, I was still coughing, but I felt well enough to go to class.

On the way downstairs, I grew some lady balls and went over to Cam’s apartment. I needed to thank him, face to face and not over text. With my heart pounding like I’d run up and down the stairs, I knocked on his door.

Heavy footsteps sounded on the other side of the door seconds before it flung open, revealing Ollie in all his messy glory. A sleepy smile crossed his lips. “Hey there, glad to see you up and walking around.”

“Thanks.” I felt my cheeks warm. “Is Cam up?”

“Yeah, let me check. Hold on a sec.” He left the door open a crack as he disappeared back in the apartment. A few moments—moments that felt like forever—he returned, a little less rumpled. “Actually, he, um left already for class.”

“Oh.” I smiled to hide my disappointment. “Well, I’ll… see you around.”

“Yeah.” Ollie nodded as he ran a hand through his shoulder length hair.  “Hey, Avery, I hope you’re feeling better.”

“I am. Thanks.”

Giving him a little wave, I readjusted the strap of my new bag and then pulled out my gloves as I headed down the stairs and out into the bright, freezing morning. I stopped a few spaces behind my car, my heart tumbling.

There it was—Cam’s truck.

He hadn’t left for class. He’d been in the apartment. The truth was as cold as the weather. Ollie had gone back to him, and Cam hadn’t wanted to see me.

#

I saw Cam around campus a lot over the next few weeks. It seemed we had a schedule that placed us near each other and every time I saw him, he was with Jase or, like the day before, with Steph.

Whenever I saw him with her, there was a nasty little feeling that settled in my stomach. I had no right to that feeling. I knew that, but it didn’t stop me from wanting to take off and karate-chop Steph into next week.

But that wasn’t the worse part of spotting him. Most times he would see me, and if our gazes collided, he alwayslooked away. It was like we hadn’t been friends for almost five months or that we hadn’t shared any intimate moments. It was like we didn’t even know each other.

It reminded me of how things had become with my friends in high school after the Halloween party.  As if our time together had been erased.

On Friday, a small opening occurred. Cam was alone, crossing the main street, heading toward Knutti, his head down and hands shoved into the pockets of his hoodie.

“Cam!” I yelled his name so suddenly that it caused a rather pathetic sounding coughing fit that was leftover from my cold.

He stopped, lifting his chin. Wisps of dark hair curled out from under the knit cap he wore.

I struggled up the rest of the hill, chest and legs aching. Out of breath, I stopped in front of him. “Sorry,” I croaked out, taking several deep breaths. “Need a second.”