The Pros of Cons

15 | Worse Than Being Allergic to Shellfish

TONI

By the time I had made it back home, it was late morning. Kez had come by at some point in the night to take over for Cons. It's not like I expected Cons to stay with me all night. But it would have been nice if I got some sort of warning that I would be waking up to Kez's face looking down at me instead of Cons'. Not that I didn't appreciate Kez taking care of me this morning. He had bought me coffee and breakfast on our way back. I felt it was safe to say things were almost back to normal between us.

I immediately crawled into my bed when I got home. Levi wasn't home — which was slightly odd for a morning. I had even checked his room to see if he was sleeping still. I decided not to pay too much attention to it. Cons said he was going to tell Levi what happened, but he must not have. Otherwise, my phone would be blowing up with texts of concern. Not to mention, Levi would have definitely made his way to the hospital at some point during the night.

I sent him a text, asking for his whereabouts before shutting my eyes. Walter was curled up against me, perfectly content at the idea of having a bed day.

A repetitive buzzing had woken me. It wasn't Walter's wet tongue on my face that did it, but my phone.

I moaned, turning myself over. My phone started buzzing again.

"Hullo?" I answered without looking at the number.

"Harvie? Jesus Christ. I've been trying to call for 20 minutes."

"Oh..." It was Cons calling. I wasn't sure why, but I could feel my heart jump a little. "Hi, you," I yawned. I turned over and wrapped my free arm around Walter. "I'm okay. Sorry, I was sleeping."

There was silence for a moment.

"Hello?" I asked.

"They think you're allergic to shellfish."

"What?"

"What do you mean 'what'?"

"Damn, I forgot... the doctor said I might forget a couple of things. I totally forgot going over my test results. They said they would call me..."

"Shellfish, Toni. And I am right. I'm holding a copy of your health record right now. Where's Kez? You shouldn't be alone right now."

"Why? He's close by, I'm sure. I'm just confused and groggy from my nap. You don't need to worry."

There was breathing for a moment. "I'm not worried," he finally said. "But I am a little frustrated at your carelessness."

"Oh, relax. You're the one who left me in the middle of the night." I pressed my lips together in embarrassment, regretting my words instantly. "I... that sounded weird. I didn't mean – I didn't expect you to watch me or anything. I just meant—"

"I never left you. Kez was there."

"I..." I gave up. I didn't know what I was saying anymore. "Sorry."

Cons sighed on the other end. I didn't understand why he was so annoyed by this – as if I was inconveniencing him.

"Look, I'm sorry for... having an allergic reaction and ruining your evening. Was there another reason you called me? I'm sure you're very busy."

"Don't be stupid." His tone was clipped. If he wasn't irritated before, he was now. "Kez will be bringing you by the station today. We need you to identify someone."

My stomach dropped. "W-what do you mean? A-a b-body? I-I don't know. I don't think I can —"

"Relax, Harvie. We're not showing you a corpse. Jesus."