Beautiful Boy

ring around the rosy

amara haven

My eyes fluttered open, a pounding in my head that rang through my ears.

I groaned and covered my head with a pillow, someone's laugh following my antics.

I sat up to see that Nic had come in with two plates.

He set them down on his desk and gave me a glass of water and an aspirin from the nightstand.

I took the pill and sipped the water, "Thank you."

"Course," he said, now getting the plates and handing me one.

He flicked the cassette player on and it hummed softly.

"I'm sorry," I muttered as we both began eating.

"Don't be," he shrugged, "It's all a part of recovery at the end of the day, and what happened- that shit was intense. I would've been more shocked if you'd stayed sober."

I laughed lightly, "What the fuck is so wrong with us?"

He chuckled, "I really don't know, Mara."

"Well, I see smiles, so that's good," David said, leaning on the doorframe.

We both nodded.

"Are you okay, Amara? Nic told me what happened," he added.

I sighed, "I will be."

He nodded, "That's about as good as it gets, right now. You guys are leaving on Friday, right?"

Nic nodded.

"I'm going to ask Valeria and Kinsley if they'd like to stay here for a while when you're gone," he offered, "Think I should?"

I nodded, "I'm sure they'd love that."

He thought for a moment, "Yeah, alright. I'll go do that. Make sure you guys start packing the car."

Nic and I nodded and finished eating, small talk about Los Angeles between us.

"You sure you can handle six hours in the car with me?" He asked as he placed the plates on his desk again.

"Definitely not, but what choice is there?" I teased.

Daisy and Jasper burst into the room, full of energy.

"Park! Park! Park!" They cheered.

I looked at Nic, who sighed and looked at me.

"Go get ready, then!" I enthused.

They both ran back out of the room hurriedly.

"You're playing ring around the rosy this time," Nic muttered as he got up.

"I played last time too!" I said, following him into the bathroom.

He looked down at me, "That's because you agreed to them last time."

"But-"

"No."

"We can both play," I suggested.

"Because we're five," he remarked.

"You're no fun," I shoved his shoulder before I left to the guest room, where my stuff was kept.

I changed my clothes into my usual grungy style, then took the bathroom from Nic to do my hair and brush my teeth while he got dressed.

We both left the two rooms at the same time, meeting in the hallway.

He eyed me wearing his shirt and my jeans, and I eyed him wearing one of his shirts and jeans and we giggled.