Familiar

Chapter Eleven

I awake alone. Or, almost alone. I can see Dane huddled by the foot of my bed, though I don't remember hearing him come in. Moving slowly, I stretch out on the bed to find that Ryan is not there. Switching the bed lamp on, I see a note on top of the bed where he had been laying.

Sorry. Had to go. Hope you're feeling better. Text me when you wake up. - R

I grinned at the note. It seemed funny that he would have left his initials at the bottom. Who else would leave me notes on top of my bed? Testing my body, I sat up and, feeling okay, I made my way to my desk to grab my phone. Dane mumbled, obviously upset at being disturbed from his sleep. 

My phone was dead, of course, and after plugging it in, it exploded with 6 missed calls from Tanya, and double the number of texts. I quickly write off a message explaining the horrible flu, and that I was feeling better. I check the time before I hit send: 11:22 pm. I couldn't believe it. I even googled the time to make sure my phone wasn't glitching.

Ryan had come over around noon, I thought, though I had no way to be sure, and we must have fallen asleep shortly before one in the afternoon. That's over 10 hours straight of sleeping. I send the text to Tanya anyway, knowing she would probably still be out with friends, and then I text Ryan.

"Thanks for staying. Sorry I slept so long. Just got up now." I walked slowly, the body still a little shaky, to the bathroom. Brushing my teeth, I felt better, but I was hungry after an entire day of no food. Remembering the leftovers, I hopped out of the shower and with just a towel, made my way to the fridge.

I was pouring my leftover salad into a bowl when Tanya walked in.

"Oh, hey, just got your text, so glad you're feeling better. I was so freaked when you didn't answer. But I saw Ryan coming out of your room, and he said you had been sleeping, but were okay." She saw Ryan? My thoughts turned frantic, trying to come up with an excuse as to why he was there, but the panic must have shown on my face. "It's okay, Kara. You're allowed to have guys over, and honestly, I like Ryan. I knew you two would be good for each other."

I tried to smile a little as I carefully held the towel around me as I removed my food and headed back to my room after chatting with Tanya for a few more minutes, thankfully avoiding the subject of boys in bedrooms.

I sat at my desk and ate my leftovers, taking the time to monitor my body. I had the same pain from the bruises before; that never changed. But this was different, this was fatigue, and something, even deeper. I couldn't put a name to it. I wasn't even sure it was something tangible.

Dane was still asleep on my bed. Or at least, he was pretending to be asleep. His breaths were steady, but I had a feeling he was very aware of me being awake, and what I was doing. Always the protector. Ryan's voice came to my memory. I guessed that was true though, since that was the feeling I got when Dane was around. Safety.

Somehow still feeling tired after my long nap, I crawled back into bed again, not bothering with clothing. It was just Dane after all, and I figured a spirit animal probably wouldn't care.

The next morning, my alarm went off. Work, I thought. And I had to grit my teeth as I rolled over. Pain shot down the side of my left arm. After hitting snooze, I shut my eyes, keeping still. Less to block out the pain, and more to avoid having to look. I knew it was a bruise. A new mark. 

I could feel it, but I didn't want to look. That would make it real. A whimper came from the foot of my bed and I felt the bed move gently as Dane walked closer. He sniffed my hair that fell down around my face, but still kept my eyes shut tight.

"Hey," Dane sniffed. "It's okay, I'm here." Inexplicably, a calm came over me. My chest and breath that I had been holding both relaxed. The pain was still there, but it was muted somehow. Like a barrier had been placed between the hurt and me.