Hallucinations 2 (currently incomplete)

Chapter 16 - Nina's P.O.V. - Waking Up

I wake up to the smell of cooked rice and the sound of a males voice and a child's squawking.

I open my eyes and see Conor and James looking at something on Conor's phone.

"Hi," I say.

Conor immediately gets up and hugs me.

"Hey, how are you feeling"?

"Fine. I'm not feeling sick or anything".

"I know. But Anna told me about that girl you met today, and I wanted to see how you feel about all that".

"Oh. Yeah, she seems pretty chill, but it's still a shock to me".

"Yeah, I can imagine how you feel. I met her too, and James really likes her".

"Is that so"?

"Yup!" James pipes up from where he's sitting in an armchair pushed against the wall, staring at Conor's phone, next to the identical chair Conor was just sitting in.

"What are you looking at?" I ask him.

"Funny cat videos," he says, oblivious.

"Funny. Cat. Videos," I repeat to myself, giving Conor a "look".

"What?" he asks me, confused as to why I'm looking at him so sternly.

"You know we want to raise our children to have their face away from phone screens, not shoving their noses into a pixel screen".

"Says the one who does nothing BUT exactly that," he retorts.

"I-"...

"Exactly," I know he has won the argument.

I sniff the air, and trace the scent of cooked food to the bedside table.

A plate of fresh Jasmine rice and apple slices is resting next to a glass of water.

"Who brought food?" I ask.

"Jennifer".

"Oh, I wish she would have stayed so I could thank her".

"She had work to do, but she told me to tell you she said "hello" when you woke up".

"Hello, Jennifer".

"Do you want the food now"?

"Yes, please".

He hands me the dinner tray and I suddenly realize how hungry I am because I haven't had lunch.

"We saw Allison in the NICU".

"Really? How is she doing"?

"Asleep, and still a baby".

"Great status, Kierce".

"Thank you very much".

"De nada".

"Don't go all Espanol, you know what that does to me".

"No te desesperes mi amor".

"Oh godddd," he groans and I laugh lightly. 

I take a bite of the rice and spit it back out, the grains still very hot.

"Is it that bad?" Conor asks.

"No," I say, taking a drink of the water, cooling down the fire on my tongue; "it's just too hot".

"Still?" he asks, his eyebrows raised in surprise.

I nod; "And she brought it in like, ten minutes ago"?

"Yup," he says; "they must have a powerful microwave or something".