My Desert Haven (BOYXBOY)

Chapter 16

I must have been asleep again two minutes after Eddie left my room. He didn’t wake me when he came back with food, either, because the next time I woke up it was because there was something cold being pressed against my face. Before I even opened my eyes I knew that it had to have been the middle of the day, the way that my room was bright. That meant that I should probably wake up soon, otherwise there was no way that I was going to be able to get back to sleep later tonight. Only, opening my eyes only left me feeling trapped again as I realized who my company was. There weren’t two of them this time; but truth be told, if I was going to be cornered by one of them, I would have rather been stuck with Eddie, who I knew how to handle. At least with Eddie, I knew he wanted me there. Unfortunately, it was Jase holding the cold pack to my head. It didn’t help that I couldn’t read his serious expression.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

I lifted my hand and took over holding the ice before I started to sit up. The way he was standing over me just seemed uncomfortable.

"Fine."

"Are you still sore?"

"Yeah," I admitted. My face hurt, but that was to be expected.

"Headache?"

I had to think about that for a minute.

"No... not really."

"Good," Jase said, giving a nod of approval, and then just looked at me, as if it were my turn to talk.

"No one’s going to get bent all out of shape if I want to get up now, right?" I finally asked. It seemed like a good question, considering that Eddie had been pretty keen on the idea of me resting.

"I don’t think that will be a problem," Jase replied, and he graced me with a small smile that actually made me feel better. "Look, there are already some sandwiches upstairs if you’re hungry. Eddie and Luke are out because Eddie found someone who would fix his car today, and I’ve got to go pick up some books. You’ll be alright alone for a while?"

"Yeah," I replied, nodding.

"Okay then," Jase replied. "I let Chey out to go to the bathroom; will you let her in when you make it upstairs?"

"Sure." It was a reasonable request.

I watched as Jase walked over to my door, and then paused, as if considering something.

"Do you want to get out of the house?" he asked after a moment.

"Huh?"

"The mall is where I have to go," he explained. "It might take me a while, but if you wanted to tag along, you could."

"Oh," I replied. This was the part where I was supposed to immediately decline, because spending any amount of time alone with Jase was an intimidating concept to me. "Um... yeah, okay."

What

? I didn’t want to be stuck inside all day. Besides, I was up now. Only, the look on Jase’s face suggested that he was only asking me to come to be polite, and he was obviously surprised by my answer. I almost backed out because of that.