Maybe she was just born to take care of people, but that seemed like a really horrible way to live. Always caring for other people, not having anyone to do the same.
She never complained.
“I'll be back in the morning, that way I can catch the doctor,” she replied.
“And then you can go home and go to sleep.”
“Then I can stay here and sleep.”
“There's no sense in it. I'll just be sleeping.”
Ava shot me a glare. “I'll be here with you, sleeping in that chair, until I have to go to work again. Deal with it,” she replied, sticking out her tongue.
I stuck mine out in retaliation.
I loved her so much.
♥
Most people would probably assume that I dreamt of my experience every night, but that wasn't true. I could remember the event at the drop of a hat while I was awake, but when I slept, things were always better somehow.
Someone famous had once said that when you met a person that made you want to stay awake because reality was better than dreams, you were lucky.
Still looking, famous person, still looking.
In my experience, my dreams were always way cooler and happier than my real life was. Most mornings, I could literally feel pain at having to leave my dream world and reenter the real one.
I had been dreaming about my road trip. Only, I wasn't scarred. I had my hair, and my normal face, and my lungs didn't get scratchy like they sometimes did.
I felt no pain at all.
And I was happy, two hands on the wheel, a pair of cheap shades over my eyes, and my foot on the gas.
Where was I going? Well, I had no idea, because that was the point. It didn't matter where I was going, only that I was going somewhere.
The point of life was just to be heading somewhere right? Didn't matter where you had been, only where you were going and all that jazz?
The point was, I was happy. That was all that really mattered about my dreams. I was happy.
♥
I wasn't sure what had woken me up. The pain was bad, but I think it was her that really woke me up. The sense of a presence in the room. Things like that woke me up nowadays.
Waking up had been slow. I had barely opened my eyes to see someone walking around my room. The lights were off, except for the dim nightlight above my bed.
She casted a small shadow across my room. I watched her, without realizing I was watching her so unabashedly.
She was opening a card, so it would stand on the window edge. There was the dorky teddy bear up there too, but that was all I had gotten. I hadn't expected any more than that.
I knew who she was instantly. I recognized the short hair, and her shape. I stared down her, following the curves of her body, how they seemed to spread farther down, despite how small she actually was.
Beneath the nurses scrub (this time it was a Hello Kitty top, and black skinny jeans. Still converses though) that her body was thin.
I didn't understand why she was in my room. For a moment, I almost considered that I could have begun dreaming a new dream. I hadn't seen the girl in over two weeks, but I could very well be dreaming about her.
She turned around, and her eyes widened as she looked at me. It was only a moment before she flashed that sly smile and crossed her arms.
“Hey! It's the frown guy!” she said.
I raised my brow, wondering if I was really dreaming. I had to be.
“Why are you here?” I asked, but my voice sounded weaker, and less manly than I had wanted. I wanted her to understand that this was weird, but I sounded more like I was embarrassed because she was there.
She uncrossed her arms, walking over to the trash can. She tied the bag, kneeling down to do so. I was kind of relieved. My eyes had kept wandering to the back pockets of her jeans.
“Don't worry. I'm not purposely trying to get on your precious nerves. My mom's the head nurse, sometimes, I help out,” she remarked, pulling the bag from the can and replacing it.
I knew that if she could see, I would have been blushing. I felt the heat of embarrassment travel my neck.
She stood up, and walked to the door, throwing the trash bag in something outside. I strained to see what she was doing, but quickly tried to act natural when she came walking back into the room.
She stopped in front of my bed, and placed each fist against her hips as she looked at me. She held no hesitation in the way she looked at me, as if she were staring at a normal guy.
But I wasn't normal. I knew she could see that.
“Do you want anything? I can sneak you a bag of chips, or a candy bar if you'd like,” she replied, tilting her head with a soft smile.
I knew I was staring at her as if she were an alien, but people didn't treat me so casually much anymore. When they did, it worried me, and confused me.
“I'm good.”
“You sure? Your sister said you really like cherry Icees. I can run across the street and buy you one,” she replied.
“You talked to my sister?” I asked.
“Of course,” she said, laughing slightly. She placed her hands at the edge of the bed and leaned forward. “She asked me to keep an eye on you. Said you could be stubborn.”
“I am not,” I grumbled, and she laughed. Despite my earlier notice, it was a nice sound. One of
