Then And Now

Chapter 16- "The Jerk in Distress"

Narrator-

Savannah clutched the phone with a sweaty hand and slimy grip.

This wasn't happening... she whispered to herself. It couldn't be happening.

"What happened exactly?" Savannah posed to Sam across the phone.

"She's been taking care of Nathan since Monday and once again neglected to take her meds." Sam blurted as if vocally scolding Natalie all the while.

"I didn't neglect to do anything. It slipped my mind. There's a difference." Savannah heard Natalie note in the background.

"Do you think she might be released home tonight?" Savannah frowned while asking.

"We haven't seen the doctor yet, but I'll give you a call as soon as a I know something." Sam reassured, just as Savannah heard Nathan calling her name.

"Okay. I have to go." Savannah replied.

"Depending on the verdict, I'll come by to drop off the groceries." Sam offered.

"Okay." Savannah agreed, then she ended the call and hastily climbed the stairs at the sound of Nathan beckoning her forth once more.

Knocking on the door twice out of habit, Savannah entered the bedroom but did not close the door.

"What's wrong?" Savannah asked Nathan, who was once again lying down.

"Is Natalie back yet?" Nathan inquired.

Savannah gulped quickly, her face flushing, "no."

Nathan watched her face. It was a guilty shade of rouge. Her heartbeat resonated in quick percussions along the border of her flushed neck, and she avoided his gaze by focusing on the tip of his nose rather than his eyes. Her fingers clutched and played nervously with her phone.

"Did something happen?" Nathan then interrogated.

Savannah blinked twice in an almost spastic manner.

"Um, no." She answered, and yet her lips and the saliva which coated her tongue felt feverish.

"You're not a good liar." Nathan pointed.

"What makes you think that I'm lying?" Savannah frowned.

"Because you are. I know you." Nathan blurted.

"You know nothing about me." Savannah was now on the defense, and her face flushed anew, but where her pores once bore the color of guilt, it was now crimson anger.

"You alternate between coffee and tea every other day. Where you won't drink creamer with your coffee, you put it in your tea. You never leave your desk without ensuring that your pen and pencil are both tucked into your take home folder, even if it means you'll take them out again in a few moments. You mainly highlight with orange and green, and when you lie, you can't look me in the eye." Nathan listed off as if he had the words tattooed along the sulci of his brain.

Lost for words, Savannah only gulped but said nothing more.

"How bad is it?" Nathan wondered.

Blinking away, Savannah sighed, "she collapsed in the store after failing to take her meds. Sam will call me with details as soon as the ER doctor sees her."

Nathan didn't comment. His brain was struggling to choose whether to be angry at the news of his sister, or at Savannah for trying to hide it from him, or at himself for going on a stupid rant about Savannah's mannerisms, as if he had truly wasted his life's seconds to study her every move. And given that he did, Nathan was angry because he didn't know why. Why did he know Savannah so well?