The girl on the bus

Chapter 11: Yours for the day

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Tilly

I don't remember falling asleep, much less on Zeds chest but here I am. He is still asleep, his breath hitting the top of my head. I can't even move away without waking him up, because both of his hands are wrapped around me securing me in place. I lightly tap his hand trying to wake him up, he doesn't budge at all.
"Zed" I shake him up, and he opens his eyes slowly.
"Yes ?" He yawns
"How are you feeling?" I ask trying to reach my phone that is right above his head,
"Umm" he groans, loosening his hold on me. I grab my phone and my eyes almost pop out of their sockets. There is no way. It's 10 in the morning. And Zed is late, really late.
"Zed it's 10" I shake him up a bit more urgently now. He said he had practice.
"Shit" he says now completely awake and seated.
"Wait, how are you feeling" I stop him before he stands up, the fever is still here, I don't think that training is a good idea at all. That might just make him more sick.
"It's fine" he says searching for his phone "shit" he groans once he finds it.
"3 missed calls, I'm fucked" he stares at the screen. His hand gently squeezes my leg.
"Well maybe you shouldn't go, you are sick" I try gently, afraid that he might lose his calm. But he doesn't. "I have never done that, I always train sick" he explains
"Oh" I reply speechless, while he dials the number on his phone.
"It's okay, I'm going to call coach and say I'm going to be a bit late" he smiles.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I have fever and slept in"  Zed finally caves in after ten minutes of his coach drilling for answers.
"Zed you better not come here" I can hear his coach say "rest it out, you know what happened the last time" at that Zed freezes and I can tell he got uncomfortable. He doesn't respond, he is all tensed up, making me thing he doesn't want to talk about it.
"Fine, I'll come tomorrow" Zed responds
"No, you will come when you are healthy" I hear the coach add.

"So I assume you don't have to leave" I say as Zed hangs up the phone.
"Yes, I'm yours for the day" he smirks sitting back on the bed. He looks a bit pale and his voice is really deep and raspy.
"Hey can we go back to sleep?" He suddenly asks, laying back on the bed. I grab the thermometer on the nightstand and put it in his arms, "yes, but first we need to measure your temperature and fill you up with some medicine"
"101 F" Zed says showing me the number on the small screen.
"Okay, better than yesterday" I grab some medicine and give it to him. "Take these, does your throat still hurt?"
He gulps down the pills and shakes his head. "It is better" he responds but I don't really dig it, he sounds like a zombie.
"Zed" I say eyeing him and he rolls his eyes "fine it hurts, are you happy now"
"Yup" I reply satisfied, digging trough the medicine drawer I found what I was searching for. It's this syrup disinfects the throat and makes the soreness better.
"No way" Zed laughs once he sees the bottle. I know why. This tastes awful, it's really sour and has a weird taste to it.
"Yes, it might help you" I reply pushing the bottle in his hands
"Tilly there is no way, I would rather drink my own piss" he exclaims looking at the bottle.
"eww" I choke out while dying of laughter, he picks up on it, as he starts laughing too,
"It's true" he adds.

"Agh fuck" zed groans once he drinks a shot glass of the medicine. His eyes are squinting in disgust as I bribed him to take it. I promised to give him a kiss if he does it. His lips slowly form a smirk as he looks at me. He did it.
"Yes alright" I giggle patting his back. I lean in and place a soft kiss on his lips. As promised. He shots me a suggestive stare "Tilly that is not nearly enough, I drank that shit" he laughs pulling me back towards him. "Please repeat " he says as I close the distance in between us. I kiss him, tasting the sour medicine trough it.
"Yes you are right it does taste disgusting" I laugh as we pull apart, the medicine was all I could taste.
"I told you so" he smirks looking at me "do you want to taste some more?"
He pulls me on top of him so we are both laying down. My eyes widen in surprise as he wraps his hands around my waist, pinning me to his chest. I feel his heartbeat from the closeness of our bodies.The air suddenly gets hot and thick, there is electric type of tension between us. He is staring at me, waiting. His eyes glow with something I can't quite describe, it almost looks like.. never mind, I'm rambling. His hand is moving up and down my back massaging it lightly. I can't help but touch his lips, brushing over them with my finger, they are so big so soft and so warm. He then gives me look, waiting for my permission. I nod my head and his warm lips cover mine as his hand travels from my back to my hair. Making a mess out of my hair he keeps pulling me closer, kissing me hungrily.I pull away, I need to take a breath but he doesn't stop. He pecks my lips and continues his way down my face. He leaves a trail of kisses down my cheek to my neck, nibbling on it lightly.I don't mind, it feels nice, once he is done he looks back up at me and I can't help but attack his lips once again. I feel all foggy and drunk, feeling butterflies in my stomach. I can feel him smiling while kissing, I pull away and he smirks.
"You are so beautiful" he suddenly says, catching me off guard completely. I can feel myself burning up with embarrassment, this is the first time someone said that to me. I wonder if he really means it.
"Thank you" I reply watching him closely, he looks amazing. I can see his scars on his cheek, probably from boxing, now looking more carefully I can see he has a bunch of them.
"What is it?" He asks, noticing that I'm staring
"Where did you get those?" I trace the scar on the cheek,
"In a boxing match" he says softly, "I have a bunch of them all over me"
"Can you show me" I speak before even thinking. Shit. "I mean you don't have to it's - I'm just-" he laughs watching me blabber,
"It's okay I can if you want to"
Without me saying anything he slowly sits up, lifting me up along with him, as I move away from his lap, sitting next to him. He pulls up his shirt halfway up, before taking it off completely. He moves his hands along his ribs, "here" he points slightly turning his body to the side so I can see it better. There is faded scar across it.
"What happened?" I ask staring at it. His skin is quite pale, so every bruise and scar is way more visible on it.
"I got it from ropes on the rink, it's a friction burn" he explains, he has a lot of bruises on his abs and chest from trainings I guess, but what grabs my attention is a big scar on his right shoulder. He follows my eyes towards it and he tenses up.
"This one has been the worst" he explains,
"Oh, you don't have to talk about it if it's a sensitive topic" I smile in assurance,
"It's okay, it was a year ago, I had a match and my opponent twisted it so bad that it dislocated and broke." He explains "I had to have surgery, hence the scar" he finishes but I can tell he is holding back.
"Does it still hurt?"
"Yes, it's always sore but I got used to it" he continues
"Maybe you should see a doctor" I stare at the shoulder. Now that I think of it, I remember him hissing yesterday when he lifted it up, that is definitely not normal.
"I can't, I need to go to the championship, if I go to the doctor now, they'll pull me out"
So it's serious, he knows it is, but his career is more important to him. I get it, but still he shouldn't be in so much pain.
"Zed-" I try but he cuts me off, "I know" he says his voice deep and serious.
"Okay, do you want me to massage it"  I can tell he wasn't expecting that question, as his eyes widen in surprise. "Yes" he says nodding his head.
"This must be some lame excuse to touch me" he smirks teasing me,
"Yeah, I was caught " I play along gently touching his shoulder. He relaxes under my touch as I start to move my hands in circles massaging him. I drag my thumb up and down his shoulder up to his neck. He groans while I move across the scar "that felt nice"
Somehow after ten minutes, Zed fell asleep. He is still seated, kind off leaning on me. I'm worried that the fever might be back, so I place my hand on his forehead. He feels warm but it's not fever warm. I try to lay him down, and he wakes up.
"Don't leave" he mumbles,
"I won't" I lay down and he pulls me closer to him, spooning me tightly. I can't sleep though, it's like 12 in the afternoon. I scroll trough my phone, responding to some messages that Annie sent me. Its a picture of her new skirt she just bought. Texting back and forth I feel a shake behind me. I can hear Zed yawning and I turn around to face him.
"How are you feeling?" I ask putting my phone aside,
"Better, I no longer feel like I got ran over by a truck"
"Are you hungry?" I ask covering his bare back with a blanket.
"Yes"
Zed is standing behind me hugging me, while I cook. He tried to help but he is sick and his hands are shaky, so I made him stop. Chopping up the carrots and potatoes, he just clings on me kissing my neck from time to time. It's sweet actually, but I feel bad, making him stand here even though he won't sit down.
"Is it good?" I ask as I feel him extending his arm over my shoulder to drink some tea that I had made him. It's ginger tea with honey and lemon. My mom always makes it for me when I'm sick, so I made it for him.
"It's amazing" he pecks my cheek. It feels too nice to be true. I never had a boyfriend or anything close to that, so the idea that someone likes me to the point Zed does feel unreal. Anxiety sweeps over me, what if he is pretending. What if he is one of them. A scary image of Kai appears in my mind. No it can't be, Zed isn't like that. Is he? Paying attention only halfway I accidentaly start cutting unpeeled potatoes. Zed shakes me up trying to shift my attention back to it, but instead I got really scared.
"Shit" I flinch feeling Zeds arms wrap around my waist.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you" he says removing his arms from me. It's not even his fault, I was too deep in my thoughts.
"Am I moving on too fast." He asks, worried that we are not on the same page,
"No, I'm sorry I just got scared" I explain the half truth, I don't want to tell him about them again.
"Okay, you don't have to be sorry, I am I'll be more careful next time" he says smiling
"But you have to tell me if you get uncomfortable" he tells me while helping me peal the potatoes that I had just cut.
"I'm not you know, I'm not uncomfortable with you" I reply after a while. Zed is nothing like them. There is no way. I erase the image out of my mind and relax. He looks at me with his glowing eyes and I hug him, closing the distance between us. I step on my tiptoes and wrap my arms around his neck. I feel his arms travel down my back to my waist and he lifts me up so we are face to face. My legs automatically wrap around his waist as he stares at me.
"Can you even hold me like that?" I ask genuinely worried about it. I might be heavy to bear especially if he is sick.
"Yes, you are light" he smiles squeezing me gently. It gets silent after that, we are both just staring at each other, waiting for the other person to do something. Just as he was about to open his mouth his phone rings. He puts me down to try and fish his phone out of his pocket. I get back to the soup trying to imagine what was he going to say.
"Hey" he says and strolls down the hallway to talk. After a minute or two he comes back.
"I just scared Theo so bad I was about to be on the missing person poster" he laughs plopping down on a chair.
"Wait who is that?" I ask putting the soup on the stove
"My brother, he is picking me up later so I don't have to take a bus home" he replies
"Why didn't you call him?" I ask stirring the pot.
"I was distracted" he smirks eyeing me "there was this girl she invited me home, she was so convincing that I couldn't reject her, she kissed me too" he continues "I think it's a win situation for me"
"Oh" I smile playing along "was she at least pretty"
"Beautiful" he says smiling.

After we ate and Zed took another pill we went back to my room, waiting for Theo to come and pick him up. Zed is completely out of it, really tired and he keeps snuggling close to me. I love him being so clingy, it feels warm and I always feel so safe. He is half asleep staring at my phone with me. Scrolling trough instagram my phone rings, displaying Annie's name. Fuck. I totally forgot about her, I didn't even reply to her message I was over occupied with Zeds fever. I swipe right accepting the call, making sure there is no Zed in the video frame. He smirks silently watching me as I check it once again.
"Hi girl, what is up." She asks her smile reaching her ears.
"Nothing much, I was cooking and cleaning the house" I reply feeling bad about the lie, but I can tell her about Zed in front of Zed. I can feel him grinning laughing at my lie as he digs his head in my chest.
"Oh okay, I got the paint we need for Monday" she points to the shelf behind her with the bag full of paints
"I'm so glad I got them last week, I don't have it in me to go shopping tomorrow" I reply laughing and I slightly move my trying to get my hair out of my face.
"Shit Tilly what is that?" Annie asks her eyes wide open
"What?" I panicked, thinking she might have seen Zed
"On your neck" she laughs "I knew it" she beams while I stare at her, trying to collect my words.
"It was that boxer right, he sucked your neck up" at that Zed bursts losing it completely. I can't help but laugh too, and the blue hickey across my neck is quite visible, I can see it in the camera.
"Was it?" She wiggles her eyebrows playfully.
"Yeah was it?" Zed whispers moving his head tickling me.
"Yes" I reply, red as a tomato. Zed then readjusts his head moving a bit up, trying to get to his phone but his head pops up in the frame. She doesn't seem to notice it, as she is too busy jumping up and down in excitement.
"What is he like, is he hot?" She asks and Zed looks up, smirking waiting for my answer
"Um, yes I guess" I reply trying to ignore Zeds glances.
"Girl I'm so happy for you" she exclaims, "but he better not play or else I'm going to finish him" she slides her finger across her neck mimicking knife.
"Annie!" I laugh after seeing Zed widen his eyes.
"What" she shrugs smiling.
Laughing a bit more, we hang up after deciding on calling tomorrow since it's late and she needs to help her mom with cooking. She hangs up and Zed puts his head on his arms smiling.
"So you think I'm hot?" He asks with a grin on his face.
"Ughh, that is the only thing you remembered from the whole call?" I cover my face with my hands dying of embarrassment.
"Nah, I also remember sucking your neck" he continues
"Zed" I laugh, "please" but he just can't help himself "please what? Should I suck it a bit more?" He laughs at me.
"I wouldn't mind" I shrug. He takes is as a dare attacking me with kisses, tickling me while at it.
"Stop " I giggle trying to get him back but he doesn't even budge, he is sick and still stronger than me, how is that even possible?
Just then his phone rings saving me from his attack. I take a big breath trying to calm my laughter down.
"Zed you better stop eating that poor girl's face and come down" I hear from the phone. I can't help but giggle at that remark, that is a payback.
"Whatever" Zed rolls his eyes holding back his laugh "I'm coming"
Walking him down the stairs he tries to pick up his bag, but he flinches once again. Wrong arm I think to myself. We reach the door and I wait for him to put his shoes on, I unlock the door and there on the stairs sits, an older copy of Zed with longer hair and a red hoodie.
"Hi I'm Theo " he says once he notices me.
"Hi I'm Tilly" I reply. Zed comes out behind me patting his brother's back.
"Yes I know" Theo responds, smiling at me. I wonder what that means, does Zed talk about me?
"I see he marked his territory " Theo smirks looking at my neck.
"Um yeah" I say awkwardly not really knowing what to say
"I'm joking" Theo offers me a kind smile
"I know don't worry " I smile
"Okay thanks for taking care of him" he giggles at me "see you" he says before walking to the car.
Turning back to face Zed he smiles hugging me tightly, I hug him back, brushing my hand trough his hair. "Text me" he whispers in my ear, before placing a kiss on my lips.
"Bye" I wave at him as he walks away towards the car and sits in. I watch them drive off before locking the door and going back inside.