“Mia!” Derek warned, pointing out the kids running every which way surrounding us. Mia giggled as she bit her lip. Today was going to be interesting, to say the least. If I could stay awake through it.
“Um, we have a busload of kids to get to a football carnival?”
“No. The kids need to get to the carnival. You need to get back to bed.”
“I…can’t.” My protest was weak. The truth was with every passing second I wanted to do nothing more. Bed sounded wonderful right about now. I would have sworn I could have slept for a week and still be tired. “I’ll be fine. I just need to get some aspirin. This headache’s killing me.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah,” I lied. I lied to a cop. Some days even I was surprised by my own stupidity. Fortunately, Derek let this one slide. At least for now. “Are you right to watch the kids for a second while I race in and grab some?”
Mia nodded, her eyes never leaving mine. Luckily my eyes were still shielded by my dark glasses. She looked every bit the trainer. With her black three quarter tights, stark white running shoes, and bright pink windcheater, she wouldn’t be hard to miss. Even with her tiny height, she’d stand out. When Derek cleared his throat, I knew I’d been sprung checking out his fiancée. Mia knew too. She just giggled and it sounded like a ten-year-old girl. Sweet and innocent. It was a good thing I knew Mia was anything but. Quickly dismissing those errant thoughts, I started down the path back towards my class room. I didn’t have much time before my head exploded. Or the bus arrived. I wasn’t sure, at this rate, which would happen first.
“Nate! Nate!”
Someone’s cool fingers tapped my cheek and my eyes flickered open. As soon as they did I regretted it. It hurt like a bitch. As quick as they’d sprung open I squeezed them closed again and took a steadying breath. Everything was spinning. Including my stomach, which was desperate for me to empty. Swallowing back the bile, I forced it back down again. It tasted disgusting. After a few fortifying breaths, I forced my eyes open again slowly, only to see a group gathered above me. Struggling to sit up, I felt two huge hands slip under my arms, dragging me to sitting.
“What…what happened?”
“Not sure,” Mia admitted as she crouched down and ran her soft fingers across my scalp. I wasn’t really sure what she was doing and was too exhausted to protest, so I let her do whatever she wanted.
“Is he dead?” a small voice asked. I couldn’t see where it came from and panic flooded me. So did the reality of where I was.
My eyes went crazy. Fighting to take everything in, I figured out where I was soon enough and wanted to hide from humiliation. I was sitting on my ass, in the dirt, with my back leaning against the brick wall. Mia and Derek were there, Derek towering above me while Mia fussed over me and a group of kids peeked around Derek’s massive, dominating legs.
“I’m fine,” I said as confidentially as I could. The kids didn’t need to worry about this. I wasn’t there problem.
“You’re not,” Mia whispered.
“I will be,” I countered.
“You ready to stand?”
“Yeah?” I wasn’t really sure. I didn’t want to admit that I was afraid of getting off my ass. It wasn’t really the standing I was worried about, it was the staying there. So far today it’d already proved a challenge more than once, and judging by the throbbing pain in my hip, my fall hadn’t helped my cause at all.
Derek helped me to my feet and stepped back, but he didn’t let go. Instead his grip on my arm tightened as I felt myself wobble again. Breathing through my mouth, I tried to focus on the tree across the parking lot to stop the world from spinning out of control. It worked. For all of about four seconds before I fell forward at the waist and emptied the contents of my stomach all over the concrete path. And my shoes. And Derek.
Wiping my mouth on the back of my hand, I was finally forced to concede that today just wasn’t going to happen for me…a reality that stung like a thousand tiny pin pricks. The kids were going to miss out and it was all my fault. If my stomach wasn’t already empty, then that realisation alone would have emptied it.
“Come on, man, I’ll take you home.” Derek moved to my side and wrapped his arm around my shoulders before half carrying, half dragging me towards his truck.
I climbed in, buckled my seatbelt, and let my head fall back against the head rest before closing my eyes. I didn’t need to see to know Derek was driving slowly and carefully on the wet roads. When he turned the corner, my stomach lurched again and I bit my lip, determined not to make a mess in his truck.
A moment later we came to a stop and my eyes opened of their own accord. Derek jumped out and was around the car before I even had my seatbelt undone. “Let’s get you inside,” he instructed, helping me down and guiding me inside.
In my delirious state I’d forgotten to lock the door. As soon as we were inside, I flopped onto the sofa and growled. This is where I needed to be. Lying down with my eyes closed. The moment my head hit the cushions I knew I shouldn’t have forced myself to move this morning, but it was too late for regrets now.
“You going to be okay on your own?”
At the sound of Derek’s voice, I sat up again. I’d completely forgotten about him being here. He was standing in my house looking at me like I was dying. Maybe I was. It sure as shit felt like it. “Yeah. I think I just need some sleep. I’ve got to make a few calls first though.”
“To who?”
Derek’s question caught me off guard. Who really cared if I was sick? Oh that’s right, no one. When I’d moved I’d used it as an excuse to cleanse my life. Cut out the bullshit. Cut out the people who lied or cheated or were pretentious assholes. That included my mother. Isn’t a mother supposed to love her kids no matter what? Isn’t she supposed to be on their side regardless? At least that’s what I thought. Turns out though, my mother missed that memo.
“I’m supposed to be on a bus in—” Squinting, I checked the time on my watch. It took a lot of effort. Too much effort. “In twenty minutes. The football carnival—”
“You’re fine. Mia’s going to let them know what’s happening and I’m going as your replacement.”
