Once I was able to manage stairs on my crutches, I had insisted on being moved to my old bedroom. Being in the sunroom made me feel like a guest in my house, and I was keenly aware of my family trying to tiptoe around whenever I slept. I didn’t want them to have to worry about waking me anymore.

I also really, really missed having a door I could shut.

So my brothers had banded together with my dad to wrestle the awful hospital bed up the stairs. They’d managed to keep the cursing to a minimum, though when they set it down on Finn’s foot, he’d let off a few choice f-bombs that my mother pretended not to hear.

I was finally alone again, and though it felt weird to be away from the bustle of the house, it was so much easier to fall asleep in the silence.

I have no idea how long I was out when I was woken by an unfamiliar noise. Like a mouse had gotten trapped in the wall.

Scratch scratch scratch.

We had mice growing up. It’s one of the inevitabilities of living in the country. They came in, like clockwork, every November, something you could set your watch by. The mice would come, and my father would diligently set out his traps, and my mother would squeal and run away shuddering every time one of the little guillotines snapped shut. As my brothers and I got older, checking the traps became our job, something Finn always took a rather unhealthy interest in.

I was used to mice, but they were annoying when I was trying to take a nap. Without even opening my eyes, I reached out and balled my good fist. Then I slammed it hard against my bedroom wall, intending to scare it away. Scratch scratch scratch, BANG! 

“Jesus!” came a voice. 

I opened my eyes in surprise. Someone was in my room? “The fuck?” I managed to croak. I opened my eyes and Everly Foster was on the floor of my room, a drift of papers and books all across her lap. She looked up at me guiltily. “Hi.”

I wondered if she knew I’d been dreaming about her. “Hey,” I said, trying to sit up. 

“Sorry. I thought you were asleep,” she said.

“I was asleep,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “But the mouse woke me up.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Mouse?”

“Yeah.”

She shook her head. “I didn’t hear a mouse,” she said, turning back to her paper and writing something down.

That’s when I realized the scratching sound was that of her pencil and the skittery sound that I’d thought was dripping water from the gutters outside was actually her fingers dancing over her keyboard. 

“What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to sound curious. I didn’t mind her being here. Not one bit.

 ”Trying,” she said, pausing to read something on her screen and then click, “to finish a unit test.” She exhaled and let her head fall back against the wall and gave me a look of such utter helplessness I wanted to leap from the bed and go fight all her battles for her. 

This girl was starting to get under my skin.

“Sorry,” she sighed. “It’s noisy at my house and it was quiet here, and I needed to change your dressing anyway before I headed into clinical but you were asleep and I just saw a golden opportunity to finally work uninterrupted.” She leaned in and clicked the screen again, this time with a satisfied grin on her face. “Okay phew, that one was easy.”

“Who’s being noisy at your house?” I wondered.

“My parents,” she said without taking her eyes from her screen.

I grimaced as I rolled over and sat stiffly at the edge of the bed. She didn’t look right down there on my floor. A girl with her dignity, with her sass? There was something about this scenario that set my teeth on edge. “Wait, your parents are the ones being noisy when you have to study?” I asked, lowering my voice halfway through the question when I realized I wasn’t exactly helping her concentration by badgering her about this. But honestly, what the fuck?

She nodded, clicking three times in rapid succession. Then she widened her eyes and let out a long exhale that made the baby curls around her face dance. No matter how quiet her face was, there was still always something about her that was in motion. “I’m done,” she said with a relieved smile. 

I grinned back at her, feeling strangely relieved myself. “Good. But I’m sorry you had to sit on the floor of my bedroom to finish it.”

She shrugged and sat up. “I’ll clean up,” she said, starting to pack all her papers. 

“No, that’s not what I was talking about,” I said, waving my hand at her to stop. “I was wondering why your parents didn’t keep it down when you had to study. Did you tell them to—?”

“Tell them to keep it down?” she supplied. “Doesn’t really work that way,” she said dryly.

I narrowed my eyes. “They do know you’re going to school, right? Working your ass off? That whole thing?”

Her smile was equal parts amused and frustrated. “I mean, I think they have a vague notion,” she said.

Frustrated, I stared at her, all huddled on my floor doing her absolute best. It wasn’t right. “You need to get your own place,” I said, snapping the fingers of my good hand. 

“Yeah, no shit,” she said.

“You’ve thought about it? It would make things a lot easier for you.” 

“Yeah, thanks for the advice,” she said, with a dismissive wave of her hand. “It’s not like I’m rolling in money.” 

“There’re plenty of cheap places,” I said, which was a total lie. I had no idea if there were cheap places or not. Feeling like a tool, I shut my mouth.

Everly just shook her head. “Only way I could do it is if I found a roommate, I think. I need to save all my money for classes. Plus my car is about to die any second.”

I could hear the frustration in her voice and it pissed me off. This chick had everything going for her, but it was like she was swimming upstream. Unsupportive parents, shitty transportation, no place to even get peace and quiet so she could study. I hated the worry lines that creased her face, and I also hated that I knew how tired she was, and could only blame myself for part of it. “You can study right here from now on,” I told her. “It’s not like I’m going to be getting up and bothering you.”

I expected her to smile, but she just turned and gave me a serious look. “I’ll make it up. You don’t have to pay me for tonight.”

“Shut the fuck up,” I growled. “You need a break, and I think it’s high time someone gave you a break, don’t you think?” I grinned at her. “Now come sit on the bed here. I want to make sure that you spend your time here well. Pop quiz.”