Thwaites & Thompson

Cupid

Thwaites

Nala returns with a big bottle of water and a tablet of Aspirin.

She pinches two pills and places them in my palm.
I toss them into my mouth and take two mouthfuls of water.

"Drink more..." Nala hands me the bottle back and I drink more up.

The doctor finally steps out from between the curtains and walks towards us.

"She's going to be fine."
"Nothing to worry about."
"She's starting to wake up."
"We're getting her stream cleansed."
"But if she's going to use these, then it'll be half a pill before bed, not one whole."
"One is too much for her." He hands me the sleeping pills tablet.

"And her body is ill-nourished, hemoglobin and iron are a bit low..."
"Borderline anemic." He adds and I nod at him.

"This will do for a week, but then she has to be supplied from food." He scribbled something on a notepad and then he tears the paper and hands it to me.

I hand it to Nala.

"Get it." I speak and she instantly gets to it.

"Thank you." I nod at the doctor and he nods back before he leaves.

I stare at the tablets in hand and then I toss them in the nearest bin.

"You can go in." The nurse speaks after appearing from behind the curtains.

I nod and she walks away.

I wasn't sure what's the point of me going in now that I knew she was fine.

I was being paranoid earlier...

I step in anyway and find her still asleep.

They had tubes attached to both her hands.
One had a clear solution running through it and another had a slightly pink one.

Her lids flutter and a moment later they part.
She was looking left and she slowly turned her head until her eyes met mine.

"Everything okay?" I step closer.

Her eyes scan my face drowsily and then she blinks, nodding faintly.

"How are you feeling?" I ask, out of curiousity.

"Sleepy..." She whispers. Her lips were slightly dry.

"I guess its a good feeling for you..." I smile sarcastically and her lips quirk up.

"What time is it?" She asks.

"It's twelve..."
"Did you have somewhere to be at?" I ask and she shakes her head.

I frowned.

"Why did you want me to wake you up at ten then?" I asked.

"Just in case I didn't wake up to my alarm..." She speaks slowly and my frown deepens.

"Wait-you knew this was going to happen?!" I spoke in a more serious tone.

"He told me that..." She tries to pull herself up.

"Stay down Tess..." I grip her arm.

"Who told you what?" I ask.

"I went to see a doctor for my insomnia."
"He wrote me some pills."
"He said I might not wake up to my alarm and he told me ask someone to wake me up just incase."
"He didn't say I might not respond, even to that someone..." She speaks out of breath.

"Alright..."
"Rest Tess." I shook my head tiredly.
"And no more pills. I threw them away." I point at her and she frowns a little.

"I want to go." She tries to pull herself up again.

"Tess-" I try to stop her.

"Look-it's done anyway, I want to leave!" She points at the solutions bags hung above her.
"I don't like hospitals..." She sighs and her eyes slightly dampen.

"Okay..."
"Just wait here, let me call the nurse." I nod at her before I pull the curtains away and signal for the nurse to come over.

She steps inside and Tess holds her hands up for her to pull the needles out.

"In a hurry?" She questions Tess.
"Aren't you feeling a bit unstable?" She asks and Tess shakes her head weakly.

The nurse glances at me and then shrugs.

She must've had bad memories linked with hospitals.
But who doesn't?
I look around and my chest tightens as well.

"Hey..." Nala joins us.

"See? She's perfectly fine..." She waves a hand at Tess.

"Boy, he was freaked out." She rolls her eyes and I squint at her before snatching the pharmacy bag she had in hand.

"Is that all?" I ask and she nods with an annoying smile.

"Shall we?" I glance at Tess who was slightly flushed now.

The nurse supports her arms as she gets to her feet and Tess shuts her eyes for a moment.

"Tess if you're not-"

"I'm okay." She opens her eyes again and soothes her sleep shirt.

"I'm barefoot..." She notes and I almost roll my eyes.

She doesn't mind the spectacular length of her sleep shirt and she minds being barefoot...

"There's a clothes shop just across the street." The nurse turns to us and I glance at Nala.

"No, it's okay..."
"We're going home anyway." Tess shakes her head.

"Don't you have those surgery slippers?" I ask and the nurse nods.

"I'll just have to go upstairs, if you're not in a hurry." She speaks and I nod at her.

"And Nala, give her that jacket you're wearing so she can wrap it around her waist." I say and Nala rolls her eyes before she starts taking it off.

"I'll be right back." I leave them to settle the hospital bill and return.

Thompson

"You don't have to." I stop Nala before she takes her jacket off.

She chuckles.

"I think I do or else the whole hospital will get to see your ass." She forces a smile.

She hands it to me and I lightly wrap it around my waist the same moment the nurse joins us and hands me the disposable white slippers.

I slip them on and get to my feet again feeling slightly unstable.

Get it together Tess!

Adam joins us too and the nurse stays by my side as I walk out behind Adam and Nala.

All eyes turn to me in the ER section and I devote my eyes to the ground.

The automatic door opens as we all walk past it and this is where the nurse leaves my side.

"Thank you." I wave at her and she smiles at me.

I watch my step towards Adam's car and squint at the scorching sun.

Nala gets the backseat door open for me and I step in and shut it behind me.

I slide down in my seat comfortably and rest my head back.
My lids fall heavy and I take in a deep breath.

I felt totally worn out and my stomach was sore from hunger.

I don't remember what the hell happened last night.
All I remembered was setting my alarms and texting Adam, then the whole night was a blank. This was worse than restless sleep, this felt like I was dead, just brought back to life...

My heart skips a beat when I remember what Nala said earlier.

Was Adam really freaked out for me?
Or was it just one of Nala's cupid games?