Lesson 106- Sometimes, your only job is just to get better, and that’s okay.

It’s too hot. I groan and kick off my blankets. It’s strangely difficult and they feel oddly heavy. I force my eyes open and realise why, I have like two more blankets on me than I did when I went to bed. It’s not hard to figure out why though. I am definitely sick. I feel sweaty, nauseous and kind of like my head is floating or not attached to my shoulders. Basically, I feel like crap. I look around the room and my eyes are drawn to a large bunch of helium filled balloons, it’s a mix of colours and pink hearts. Wait, so the balloons WEREN’T a dream? What about the rest of it? What has been happening? How long have I been sick? My dresser has a new bouquet of flowers, orchids this time which is nice, I love them. But that tells me that it’s been at least a day. I’m contemplating trying to get up and figure out what’s going on when Torin pushes the door open quietly. He steps inside as if trying not to wake me, then blinks when he sees that I’m already awake. He has wet hair and has clearly just changed into clothes that look brand new.
“Did you just shower?” I ask, my voice comes out croaky and I realise my throat hurts. Torin nods.
“Yes. Laura agreed to go pick up fresh clothes for me. From the shops, not my home obviously. I didn’t want to leave you while you were so sick. But I thought it would still be better if I was… Clean.” He explains awkwardly. I smile weakly.
“Definitely. How long have I been out of it? I remember going to bed, then everything is kind of a blur…” I trail off with a sigh.
“It’s been two days. You’ve had a nasty fever. It started to improve last night. Everyone has been coming to check in on you. There’s chicken soup in the fridge when you’re ready for it. Laura picked up medications that I’ve been giving you, you’re due for more soon if you’re up to it.” He answers. Two days! Woah. I don’t think I’ve ever been this sick before. Last time I was badly sick like this, I was a kid. I remember being totally miserable and my brother stayed home from school. We watched cartoons together and he made me cereal. I’m kind of embarrassed that everyone has been making such a fuss over me.
“Where did the balloons come from?” I ask curiously. Torin frowns.
“Eli came by. We told him the bar was still closed after the attack on you. He wanted to see you and when we told him you were sick he ran off, came back with balloons and insisted on bringing them back here himself. Laura asked why it had to be balloons and he gave some explanation but it made no sense to me and to be honest I don’t really remember most of it.” He admits. I smile. I might not understand the reasoning, but it’s nice to know that people care.

“About the attack. Did you work out how the kelpie got through the wards?” I ask. I feel so out of the loop. Torin crosses his arms, irritated.
“He didn’t. We messed up. Or I messed up. I left because we fought. I didn’t check the place before leaving. Laura didn’t think to check because she assumed I had. But apparently he hid somewhere, probably the bathroom. So he came in as a customer at some point during the night. I described him to Laura, she remembered serving him.” He seems pissed. I suppose I would be too. He has the most ridiculously powerful and fancy wards set up, and we got fooled by something as simple as a guy hiding in the bathroom. It IS kind of embarrassing.
“Oh, that sucks. But at least the wards are still working. We can just be more careful next time.” I reason. Torin sighs and takes my hand. His hand feels super hot and I’m now realising that mine is super clammy. Great.
“I’m really sorry Rina. Sorry that I wasn’t more careful and you got attacked again, sorry I didn’t keep you safe. Sorry about the argument we had about your phone. Sorry about… Well… I’m just sorry. I wanted to take care of you and I’m really not doing a very good job of it.” He sounds gutted.
“I know you’re doing your best, and you’re doing what you think is right.” I answer slowly. He frowns.
“Which is another way of saying that I’m failing completely.” He says flatly.
“That’s not what I was saying. You’ve kept me alive haven’t you? No one has managed to kidnap me yet either. Obviously, I want you to trust me. But I know you care, even if we do argue.” I tell him. Torin smiles a little.
“Actually, that argument is the reason I came back in time to catch the kelpie trying to take you. I… I felt bad about how we left things. I was coming back to try to talk to you again. About the phone thing. I… Shouldn’t have said the things I did. It’s not hopeless, and while I don’t like it. I DO want you to be able to speak to your brother again. I’ll try to help, I’ll do my best to think of an explanation for him. If you come up with something yourself I will give it back to you. I promise for real this time.” He says sincerely. I smile at him.
“Thanks Tori. Hopefully we can figure something out.” I croak out. Obviously, we still have more to talk about. We need to talk about that kiss, and if he has feelings other than friendship for me we should probably talk about that too, if only to know where we stand. But I can tell he isn’t ready for that, and scaring him off isn’t going to get us anywhere. I’m almost certain that he likes me, I’m also fairly sure that he probably believes I’m not interested in him, despite that kiss. He isn’t particularly confident after all. That’s probably why he’s scared to talk about it. I don’t think it would be right for me to tell him how I feel right now. I need to wait for him to figure out how he really feels and he needs to decide if he’s going to trust me. But… Maybe I can drop a few hints. Something to boost his confidence a little, and to reassure him that I don’t plan to just walk out on him if he lets me go. Plus if he realises how much I care, he couldn’t possibly believe I would betray him. Right?

We spend the next few hours watching movies together on my tablet. I even manage to convince Torin to lie next to me (On the covers) so that he can see properly. It’s relaxing and I slip in and out of consciousness. At one point when I wake, Torin hands me a bowl of hot soup, courtesy of Kyle I assume and he sits and watches, making sure I eat every bite. The good news is it looks like my appetite is back, and once I have food in my stomach I feel a lot less light headed too. My throat still hurts and I feel kind of awful. But there’s something so relaxing about just resting in bed while I’m sick and letting Torin take care of me. I know that I have absolutely nothing to worry about right now. Sure, we have problems and sure my situation still isn’t ideal. But if I weren’t here, where would I be? Sitting at home alone probably, possibly still sick, eating takeout that isn’t nearly as good as the soup Kyle left for me, and with no one to talk to other than my brother who I would probably not want to bother anyway, particularly if he was at work. I always spend so much time worrying about other people. It’s nice, just this once, having people worry about me. Even if I AM sick, there are worse places to be.