“Alrighty, then I won’t,” she said as she straightened her clothing. “But I have to go. My break has been over.” She dragged herself away a while later, and I spent the rest of the day in a daze as I replayed the kiss over and over in my mind.
“Stop laughing,” she said days later, pouting at me as I doubled over in laughter. It was evening time, and she had finished with work an hour ago and came to visit me. Somehow, the topic of our worst first dates had come up. “I haven’t even gotten to the worst part yet! So, the guy invited me out to eat but, on the way there, he asked if I could make a quick stop somewhere. I told him that it’d be fine, only for me to realize ten minutes later that the ‘quick stop’ was at a church where his two-month-old baby was getting christened!”
“What did you do?” I asked, trying but failing to keep in my mirth.
“What else was there to do? I got out of there even quicker than my favorite superhero would?”
“That must have been quick considering have fast Superman is!”
“Not superman, silly. The Flash.”
That brought me up short. “Your favorite superhero is The Flash?” My voice was filled with disbelief.
“Yes, and so? He is morally sound, always tries to do the right thing—”
I cut her off. “Ehhh. Superman could crush him.”
“If he ever catches him. And he won’t,” she said while rolling her eyes.
“Superman is extremely fast, too. He could definitely catch up to The Flash.”
“So I take it, superman is your favorite superhero?”
“Yep, I have the tattoo to prove it.” I folded up the trousers to show her. I’d gotten superman’s logo tatted on me when I turned 21.
“Oh, my!” she said when she saw it. “You are such a nerd. But regardless, all Barry would need to defeat Clark is some kryptonite. So really, there is no comparing the two.”
It was my turn to roll my eyes. To suggest that Barry Allen was better than Clark Kent in any aspect was ridiculous.
“Nothing more to say, nerd?” She taunted.
“I think your break is over,” I told her.
She smiled. “I’m off today, remember? You can’t get rid of me because you lost the argument.”
Looking at the serious expression on her face, I couldn’t help laughing at the silliness of the entire debate, and she joined in. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so genuinely happy. Definitely before my illness. Before I lost control of my life and before my best friend was arranging marriages for me.
The thought of the engagement melted the smile off my face as I prepared myself to tell Quinn about it. I thought it was something sheshouldknow about. We’d been stealing kisses during her breaks since that last one and I knew that I could not in good conscience keep Crystal a secret.
“Quinn, we need to—”
The sound of two little voices calling for Quinn cut what I was about to say.
Quinn sent me an apologetic smile before jogging out to see what was going on.
Annoyance bubbled up in my chest as I realized that I had yet again been interrupted before telling Quinn about Crystal. Was Ievergoing to be able to get a full sentence out when trying to talk about that nonexistent engagement?
And even worse, my bladder was completely full.
I didn’t know what possessed me, but I struggled to get to my feet even though I knew I shouldn’t. I was shocked when I didn’t fall right back down, and even more surprised when I managed to take a wobbly step. Then another one, and another one, and another one. Leaning against the wall, I slowly made my way down the hall.
I felt more and more confused the longer I went without toppling onto the ground.
Stopping, I glanced down at my legs. The usual shakes weren’t present today. If I didn’t know better, I would think my legs were strengthening! I wasn’t drained with exhaustion after a few steps like usual.
How was that possible?
Quinn
