Nineteen

Chapter Eighty-Three

"I just don't know why this happened to me," I whisper.
His voice is thick in sleep. "I don't know either."
He pulls me close to him and closes his eyes. The light from outside barely shines on his face. His curls barely fall on his forehead, hiding a few beads of sweat. Sometime during the night he took off his shirt, but he's still burning up.
I close my eyes again. It doesn't take long to fall back into sleep.

He's waiting on me at the end of the hallway. He's dressed in dress pants and a black button up shirt. His black tennis shoes aren't as nice, but they fit him perfectly. He smiles at me as he puts his hat on backwards. I grin at the final touch to his personality. He reaches his hand out for me, and I do the same. We don't touch for some reason. I try again, but we're too far away. I try to move, but my feet are stuck. He mouths something, but I can't hear him. He fades, once again.

When my eyes open, the sun is shining right in my face. I reach to close the blinds, but no luck. I look at the clock to see it's still early.
Collin is awake beside of me, playing on his phone. I roll to the side to look at him.
"Good morning," he says as he places his phone on the table beside of the bed.
"Morning," I reply. My face is almost completely swollen together today.
I reach up to unwrap the bandages, but decide to wait until my shower in a few minutes. I have a class this morning, and I'm going directly to my interview after.
He stands from the bed and gathers his t-shirt. He's still in his dirty work pants from the night before.
"I can walk you to class before I go back home," he says as he rubs the back of his neck.
"I need to shower, but I can't wrap my head back," I say.
He points to himself and gives me a half smile. I reply with two thumbs up.
I stand from the bed and pace to my closet. I scan through the options and decide to go with a pink dress with a black kimono to go over it. It's not overdressed, but pretty enough for an interview.
I show Collin and he makes a gesture as if he's fanning himself. I swat my hand at him, but he only laughs. I might be a little emotional this morning, but right now that's the most beautiful sound in the world.
I gather my things and begin to walk down the hallway. I stop directly outside the door and let Collin unwrap my face.
"I'll wait on you right here," he says.
"It's fine," I say, "you can wait in my room."
"I don't want you being alone just yet," he says as he looks back and forth down the hallway. I nod my head and turn to walk into the showers.
I hang my dry clothes on the rack inside of my stall and I turn the water on.
I sit on the bench until the water is warm enough.
The water seems to be washing away the last few days. I let it run over me for a good thirty minutes before I decide to get out.
I feel so much better after a hot shower. I put my clothes on and take a few seconds to admire myself in the mirror. I slip my house sandals on and brush my teeth before going back into the hallway.
As promised, Collin is waiting outside of the shower room, leaned against the far wall. He grabs new bandages from his back pocket and begins to wrap my face back, careful to not get the wet hair stuck inside.
I watch him as he twists and turns, focused on getting the bandage just right.
I thank him when he's finished, and we start to walk back to the room.
"We should go somewhere," he says when I shut the door behind us.
"Like the beach again?" I ask.
He shakes his head. "No, like far away. Take a break from everything here."
My eyes light up at the thought. "Where can we go?"
"Anywhere you want," he casually says as he sits back down.