Sunflowers

-•- Ten -•-

When he gets home, he's prepared to tell his mother that Pepper was lost. He's nervous to tell her, but he's hoping she'll be understanding. After all, Pepper was there until morning.

He opens the door and is immediately greeted by barking and licking. He looks down, shocked. "Pepper?" She barks in response and he can't believe it. "How did you get home, you silly girl? You scared Faith and I."

His mother walks into the room from somewhere else in the house and crosses her arms over chest. "Pepper came home a couple hours ago," she says. "I was wondering why she came back without you."

"We were camping, and she was sleeping by the car like she normally does when we go somewhere overnight. Faith and I woke up and she wasn't there. We looked for hours, but we couldn't keep looking and had to come back." He leans down to pat his dog's head. "I'm glad she made it back here."

"How was the trip? Did you finally tell Faith how you feel?"

He grins and rubs the back of his neck. "Well, sort of."

"What does that mean?"

"I didn't really tell her. I kind of showed her."

His mother puts her hands on her hips. "You're gonna have to spell it out for me. That could mean so many different things, I don't know which one you're talking about."

He laughs. "Mom! I meant that I kissed her."

A smile spreads across his mother's lips. "Did she kiss back?"

His cheeks flush. "Yes, Mom. Why do you need to know this?"

His mother laughs triumphantly. "Ha! Are you going over there tomorrow?"

"I don't know. Probably. Why?"

"Tell her mother I won the bet!"

"What bet?"

"We made a bet a couple years ago about whether you two would be a couple or not. We both said yes, but I said you would before you both went off to college. She bet that you would be a couple after you went to college."

"Mom, we aren't a couple."

"What? But you kissed her."

"But she just got out of her relationship with Jax and she needs some time to get over that. She told me that last night."

His mother pouts. "Well, that's just silly. You kissed her and you're both perfect for each other."

He chuckles. "I know that, and she does too. I won't rush her into anything she isn't ready for, though."

His mother looks at him with a joyful smile on her face. "You're such a sweet boy, you know that? I might not have done a lot of things perfectly in my life, but I did raise you right."

"You sure did, Momma," he tells her, kissing her forehead. He goes up to his room. "Goodnight. Love you."

"Love you too, kiddo. See you in the morning."

~

She woke up in her bed some time later, sweating but also shivering. She throws her covers off and stumbles into her bathroom to get a drink of water. The cool water feels good against her raw throat, but it does little to help her stomach. She collapses in front of the toilet and throws up into it. Her hair is plastered to her face with sweat and her skin has an unnatural sheen to it.

She hopes that it will go away with some sleep and after brushing her teeth, falls back into bed and closes her eyes. The sweatshirt she's wearing still smells like him, helping her to fall asleep quickly.