Tear

I’m not sure if I said okay or nodded or what. My eyes felt so heavy. I had to close them. It was as if someone had drugged me. Maybe I should have been smarter about trying to do so much in one day.

With a yawn, I curled up in my seat and fell asleep.

Chapter Twelve

“What did you do to her?” Alec yelled. He never yelled. Why was he yelling? And why couldn’t I open my eyes? I moaned and immediately a cool compress was pressed to my head. I shivered.

“I kissed her! That’s it! We went to dinner and she fell asleep in the car!” Demetri cursed. “Geez, what, you think I drugged her or something?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Alec grumbled.

“What the hell!” Demetri laughed. “Are you kidding me? Seriously? You’re going to bring that up now of all times?”

Alec cursed. I felt his hand on my face. “Can you hear me, Nat?”

I moaned again and tried to pull away from him.

“We’ll just take her home. She can sleep it off. She’s probably sick,” Demetri said a lot more calm now.

“No, we can’t.” Alec was stern. “Her dad and mom decided to extend their date night to a date weekend. They won’t be back until tomorrow night. They kept leaving her messages but her cell phone must have died. Nat’s mom knew you guys were out, so she left a message with me before they took off. They’re gone.”

“So?”

Alec’s hand left my forehead. “So, if we leave her at her house and she’s this sick, what do you think is going to happen to her? She’s burning up.”

“Oh.” Demetri was quiet for a few minutes. “Does that mean she has a fever?”

“Just, go get some ibuprofen, Demetri.”

“Fine.” The door slammed behind him. It echoed in my ears making my head pound harder. I focused on opening my eyes and was rewarded greatly for my strain.

Alec was hovering over me, concern marked his features. “Nat, are you okay?”

“I think so.” My voice was heavy and groggy. I felt emotional, like I wanted to cry. I wanted my mom. But she wasn’t there. All I had were two rock stars, one who wanted to drop me off at my house and let me sleep off a sickness as if I was hung over. “I don’t feel well.” I tried to smile but it hurt my face.

“Aw, sweetheart, I know you don’t.” Alec rubbed my forehead. “Do you want your fever to go down naturally or do you want some ibuprofen?”

I shook my head. I hated swallowing pills. I choked one time when I was little and even now I had to crush them up with a spoon and eat them with peanut butter.

A tear escaped my eye and went down my cheek.

“Don’t cry, shh, don’t cry.” Alec gently walked me up the stairs to his room and lay down next to me. His strong arms lifted me into his embrace. “You just have the flu or something. You’ll be fine, okay?”

“Promise?” I asked in a tiny voice.

He chuckled and brushed my hair from my face. “I promise. And when you get better I may even let you drive my car.”

“Tease.” I closed my eyes, liking the way his deep chuckle sounded with my head against his chest.

“Got some ibuprofen. What the—” Demetri stopped dead in his tracks. My eyes flickered across his face. He looked angry.

“Don’t you think her boyfriend should be the one in bed with her, Alec?” Demetri snarled.

“Absolutely.” Alec moved away from me. “I’ll check back on you in a few.” He walked by his brother and said in a low voice, “Try not to make it worse.”

“Ass,” Demetri mumbled as he slowly approached the bed. For some reason I felt like I was letting him down, like my being sick made him upset with me.

“I’m sorry,” I said, choked up again.

He shrugged. “It’s okay.”

Wait, did he just accept my apology for being sick? What?

“I wish you felt better. I had some plans for you tonight, Nat. Ones that would have put a smile on that gorgeous face of yours.”

“I’m sorry,” I said again, because I didn’t really know what else to say.

He shrugged. “We can’t control when we get sick. It’s no biggie.” He leaned down and kissed my cheek. “I’m gonna let you sleep, okay?”

I nodded, even though I felt a stab of disappointment as I watched him walk out of the room.

Seconds later I heard one of the cars start outside.

What the heck?

“He doesn’t like sick people,” Alec announced from the doorway.

“Clearly,” I mumbled, feeling more and more dejected as the minutes ticked by. My head wasn’t pounding near as much. I tried to sit up against the pillows and failed.

“Here.” Alec chuckled and stuffed some pillows behind my back.

“So why doesn’t he like sick people? Is he a germaphobe or something?”

“No.” Alec sat on the bed with a book in hand. “Our mom left us when we were little, and our dad died of cancer a few years afterwards. Most of Demetri’s memories are of the hospital.”

“What about yours?”

Alec laughed. “Playing checkers with dad when he didn’t feel well enough to walk. Holding his hand when they told him there was nothing else they could do. Reading him books even though I was only ten and probably the worst reader on the planet.”

“I like your memories.” I sighed.