Tied to My Fate

7. Bed Rest

My fever is still hanging on when Elisa gets off her shift the next day.

"I'm surprised it isn't worse with all these blankets you've wrapped yourself in," she says as she sets the thermometer down. I won't tell her it's because of her ice pack of a son slept next to me all night. It was almost unbearably cold, but after a while, I got used to it. I didn't realize that sharing a bed could be so comforting, even if that person sucked the warmth from you.

"I'll make you some caldo and you'll feel better. In the meantime, take the medicine and toss a few of those blankets."

I frown as she leaves the room.

"You aren't going to do what she said, are you?" Zach asks.

I shrug my shoulders. He comes beside me.

"I never knew how difficult you were," he says.

I rest my hot head on his shoulder.

"You've only known me for a few months. I'll forgive you for not knowing."

He takes a deep breath. "I've known you a lot longer than that."

I pick up my head. "I may have seen you on the walk to school but I wouldn't call that 'knowing' someone."

His hue is beginning to blush.

"Well, I tried the best I could. Checked out books that you checked out, sat next to you in the cafeteria a few times, followed you to class, but you never noticed."

"Of course, I never noticed. Where did you get the idea to do silly things like that?"

He looks away.

"It was from an anime, wasn't it?"

He turns red and I can't help but laugh. It turns into a coughing fit.

"You could've just said 'hi'."

"That doesn't seem to work for anyone else, now does it?"

I bite my lip.

"How long?" I ask, even though I'm not sure I want to hear.

"Have I had a crush on you? Years. Pathetic, right? First time you actually talk to me and I die."

I'm cringing so bad I might implode.

"Sorry, Zach."

"That's the first word you ever said to me," he says with a smirk.

Elisa comes back into the room with a bowl of soup and a glass of orange juice.

"What did I say about the blankets?"

She pulls one of them away, then sets down the tray of food on the bed.

"Thanks Elisa, you didn't have to."

"Nonsense. Zach still around today?"

She asks that every morning, as if she's afraid he'll disappear.

"Still around. He asked me to write you something." I hand her the folded piece of paper. My Spanish is still awful, so I'm not sure if I wrote the words down correctly.

She looks it over.

"Whatever you want son, as long as it will bring you some peace. Alora, you eat that and get more rest."

The soup she's brought me has a whole piece of corn in it and chunks of meat. It's delicious. I wish I could have seen her make it. The only thing is that I don't feel like it's going to help my fever. I toss another blanket aside.

"Feeling hot?"

I nod and lay back. He sits next to my feet, cooling me down. My head hurts badly, and the coughing fits have made my throat raw. Whatever illness this is, I hope it goes away soon.