Pureblood

Chapter Thirty: Suffering

After a small moment of silence, Nora stood up. Leila watched her as she crossed the room. Anger was evident in Nora's features. She paced back and forth in front of the door, as if trying to calm herself down. Leila wondered if Nora would accidentally shift right then and there, but Nora paused and looked at her. 

"You said tried. What happened to stop it?"Nora asked. Leila looked at the pillow. She wrinkled her eyebrows. 

"Well, Derek and Aaron burst in,"Leila told her. Nora blinked. She rose an eyebrow. 

"Who's Aaron?" 

"Oh, right. He's a pureblood...he'll be joining our pack pretty soon,"Leila told her. Nora hummed once in understanding. She waved Leila on, moving to lean against the door. Nora crossed her arms. 

"What happened next?"

"Well, Derek pulled me out of the room. He uh...."Leila paused. She looked down at the pillow in her arms. Her cheeks started to burn. Nora's eyes went wide as she noticed the blush creeping onto her best friend's face. "He hugged me, kind of like last time. Except, I think part of that was him using me to hold himself up. He had a really high fever and stuff, and he was weak once the whole ordeal was over. So I took him to his room." Nora hummed once. Leila hugged the pillow tighter. Nora rose an eyebrow. 

"What, did he try something too?"

"What? No! Not like that!"Leila exclaimed. She gave Nora a wild look. Nora giggled. 

"What are you getting so embarrassed for?"

"Come on, I mean, that's just a little..."

Nora chuckled. She walked back over to Leila and sat down next to her on the bed. Leila sighed, closing her eyes. Nora grinned and nudged her friend. 

"Come on, what happened?"She asked. Leila opened her eyes and sighed. She frowned and let up on squeezing the pillow in her arms. 

"He kissed me,"Leila murmured. Nora let out a squeal. 

"That's a move!"

"Sh-Shut up it's not like that! He was sick, disoriented. It didn't mean anything!" Leila scrambled for an explanation. Nora flopped back on the bed, giggling at her friend. Leila's blush spread further, making her look almost as red as a tomato. She tossed the pillow in her arms at Nora, hitting her in the face. The pillow bounced off and landed on the floor on the other side of the bed. Nora chuckled and took a breath. She pushed up on her elbows. 

"Come on, I'm only teasing. Seriously though, that's  not what I expected from the King,"Nora told her. Leila frowned hard. Nora grinned. "Honestly. I think if he did, maybe it does mean something. You should talk to him about it when he's not sick, you know?" Leila nodded. She looked down at her lap. A grin suddenly spread on her face.

"So how are things with my brother?"Leila asked. Nora's cheeks went red automatically. 

"This talk is about you, not me!"

"Come onnn, I told you everything I had to tell." Leila turned to face Nora, moving her knees up to the bed. She grinned at Nora. "Spill it. Something happened, right?" Nora sighed and flopped back, her eyes trailing up to the ceiling. She stared at the cracks. 

"As far as that goes, we haven't done anything." Nora stared hard at her ceiling. Leila hummed once. Nora glanced at her. "We haven't kissed or anything, but we're farther than you and the King on the terms of friendship. Anakin told me he thought I should take some time to get over Allen." Leila rose an eyebrow. 

"That's interesting." 

"Why so?"

"Well normally, Anakin goes in and conquers." Leila frowned. She shrugged. "I guess he figured the right plan would be to wait." Nora hummed. She closed her eyes and sighed hard. Leila flopped over, staring up at the poster on Nora's ceiling. "Anakin's gentle though. He won't....try anything." Nora opened her eyes.