Deals with Daisy // LN4

60 ~ Long Distance Friendship

Lando's POV

"How's it going this morning?" I ask Daisy, smiling as I sit next to her on the balcony outside the kitchen. I don't know how but she's healing quickly, even Valerie was impressed after she came back following her day off to see a dramatically improved Daisy. It was bizarre really, seeing life restore itself in her so fast that you wouldn't know how weak she'd been days ago, barely unable to sit up or move around my herself or stay awake for too long. Now the bruises on her face are still there but are a light brown/yellow across her jaw and cheek. The cut on her head is no longer scabbed over and she's able to move around for longer each day. There's still a nap in the afternoon but I wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't sleeping anymore but just pretending too so that I would take some time on the simulator or go on a run.

"Same old, my ribs still ache, so does my arm. Trying to do everything with my non dominant arm is a pain, I'm tired because I can't sleep on the side that's comfortable for me and I have injuries that can't be healed by anything other than time. I also can't take away of the pain because I'm a defective human being who can't be trusted with even ibuprofen," she rants. She had started off relaxed but the longer she spoke, the more frustrated she became and I wasn't surprised by a word of it. The self directed anger had been very clear each day and it hurt me to know that I couldn't do anything to help.

Part of it was my fault. I knew she was bored but I wasn't allowing her to do anything other than focus on getting better. So other than a few AA meetings and therapy, online only because she was still not quite healthy enough to go to anything in-person, she had read more books than I'd seen her read in my entire life and it's not as though she wasn't a bookworm to start with. She had also run through about four seasons of Elementary in as many days which seemed impressive given that they weren't short episodes.

"So good then?" I ask her dryly, chewing on the mango I'd brought out with me and offer it to her. She accepts, her appetite back for the most part now as the worst of the physical withdrawal was over. It was still in her mind, in her ever telling grey eyes that she wanted it so badly, itching for something to help her not just escape the pain in her body but the boredom of her mind. But she hadn't. I knew she hadn't. Even when I checked my phone after she used it and eavesdropped while she was using it on Friday, there was no sign to show that she was trying to get in contact with anyone that she shouldn't be. On top of that, the furthest she'd managed to get from her bed each day was this balcony where she had taken to lying all day, largely asleep on the outdoor sofa in the sun.

"Fucking fantastic," she says sarcastically, lying back down and I chuckle as I look out at the view in front of me. "What's up?"

"I can't just want to sit on my balcony?" I ask her defensively as she turns the question back around to me, leaning back on the sofa and she just hums in response, not confirming or denying my words. I don't know why I'm being defensive around her considering I do actually need to talk to her, but I guess she just puts me on edge, something about her making me a little more uncertain and cautious. We sit in silence, Daisy typing messages on her new phone and basically ignoring my existence while I eat the cubes of mango in my hand and look out at the sea, running through the words in my head until they're like a script so I don't need to say anything. When I run out of food, I don't know what to do other than sit and look at the sea.

"C'mon Lando, your leg is jumping so much the vibrations are re-breaking my ribs, what's up?" Daisy eventually sighs, moving to sit up next to me and I bring my attention back to her, very aware of her injuries within her body from the ones still healing on her face. She almost looks fine. Almost. Until I look into her eyes and I just feel lost in the emotions all over again. I look down at the floor, trying to run over the words I'd rehearsed until I settle on the fact they're forgotten and say the only thing on my mind.