I chuckled. “Gotta keep them on their toes.” I sniffled and wiped my forehead with my sleeve again. “Are you close with your dad?”
“No,” she dryly replied before she started shifting away from me. Her response was short, cold. Shoot... I pushed a little too hard.
I leaned forward and whispered, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to ask personal questions. I know you don’t like getting personal. I’ll stay the opposite of personal. I’ll be very public with our interactions.”
Before she turned to face forward, I saw a full smile creep across her face.
This dork made Karla East smile.
This dork really liked Karla East’s smile, too.
I took that as a win.
***
The next day when I made it to class, I saw a paper coffee cup, a bag of cough drops, and a pack of Kleenex on my desk.
Karla was already sitting at her desk, and her shoulders were hunched forward. She was writing in a notebook, scribbling away as if she didn’t see me enter the room.
I sat down at my desk and arched an eyebrow.
“Did you do this?” I asked Karla.
She shrugged her shoulders and didn’t look back at me. “I figured it would be better than listening to you cough all class.”
“You’re never in class before me.”
“I asked Ellie to drop me off early.”
“Who is Ellie?” I asked.
She sat straighter and glanced back at me before going back to her slouching position to write. “A family friend,” she said.
“Well, either way, thanks.” I smiled before almost coughing up a lung. I reached for the tea. Right as I took a sip, I almost spit it straight into the air. “It’s spicy! Why is it spicy?!”
Karla snickered a little bit, and it was almost enough to make me forget I just drank poison.
“It’s medicinal tea. My mom used to make it whenever we’d get sick. It’s... nasty.”
“It’s beyond nasty.” I took another sip and hated it. “Tell me more.”
She turned to face me, and I swore her eyes were brighter that morning. Her hair still dangled in her face, but that didn’t make her any less beautiful. A part of me wanted to tell her that she was beautiful, too. The kind of beautiful that people wrote songs about. But I doubted she’d believe me, plus I swore to keep things public between us. Calling her beautiful felt a little too personal.
“It has two green tea packets, black pepper, cayenne pepper, turmeric, ginger, a squeeze of lemon, and a dash of honey. It will kill any virus fast, as long as you drink it.”
I grimaced. “The whole thing?”
“The whole thing.”
I took another big sip.
I hated every second of it.
“Thanks, Karla.”
“Welcome, Ash.” She turned back to face forward, and I popped a cough drop into my mouth after drinking the disgusting tea.
Lo and behold, I coughed a lot less that morning.
