Page 102

I left the room being flashed with too much light from the living room.

“Finally!” Sidney declared a little louder. My head was still a little heavy and that bothered me.

“What time is it?” I asked in a growl.

“9pm, Ken.” Jaz replied sweetly.

“Did I sleep for almost twenty-four hours straight?” They both agreed. “Shit.”

“Are you okay?” Sid asked a little more calmly.

“Yeah, it's fine... I guess.” I smiled weakly at them. “I need a shower and I need to eat.”

“We can order food, what do you want?” Jazmine is always very helpful and kind.

“Anything will do, Jaz. Thanks.”

The looks on both of their faces were of concern and a hint of pity. I knew I was screwed for missing training and classes, but I didn't want to think too much about it, because if I did, I would just go back to my room and end up crying and sleeping more than I should have again.

I walked down the hall, still a little groggy, and got into the shower. I took a slow, long shower. I was still a little off from the medication and I was fully aware of that. The hot water and steam didn't help keep my blood pressure at a good level, nor didthe lack of food for so long, but I managed not to faint and diePsychostyle.

The world seemed to spin slower at my slow pace.

I wrapped my hair in the towel and started my way back to the room. However, in the hallway, I saw Veronica standing in front of my door. Her hand went to the wood, but she didn't knock, as if she were afraid and that made an silly smile appear on my lips.

I sneaked closer, making her jump when she realized my presence.

“Damn!” She complained, putting his hand to his chest in fright. “I was coming after you. I was worried you didn't show up for practice and didn't even respond to my texts.”

“Yeah, I had a rough day yesterday and, well, today I just wanted to ignore everything.” It wasn't a lie, I just left out the part that I had taken too much medicine and that made me pass out without a chance for me to see or worry about anything else. “Do you want to come in?”

“Sure…”

I opened the door and noticed my roommates sitting and complaining about something they saw on Jazmine's laptop.

“Hey, Roni!” Sid greeted her. “Ken, we ordered the food now, it says on the app that it will arrive soon.”

“Oh, thank you, girls!” A brief silence was present, until I determined: “Roni is going to my room, we have to… hm, talk.”

And I went straight to the room.

As soon as Veronica entered and closed the door behind her, I was able to let a small sadness and tiredness wash over me. Ilooked at the floor, finding it wet from the melting ice pack, and huffed, irritated that I'd let something like that happen.

“Hey...” I picked up the pack and felt the tears wanting to catch me again. “Kendra, stop!” Veronica grabbed my hand and left the ice pack in my trash, which, luckily, was empty. She pulled me towards her and wrapped me in her hug. “I don't know what happened, but I'm here...”

The anguish of the last day returned to my chest, however, I didn't want to tell Veronica that part of it was seeing my ex-best friend and first love engaged to an idiot. I also couldn't tell about Colleen or my family, it wouldn't be fair to dump that on her. So I just clung to her and let that hug bring me a little more peace.

The minutes dragged on until I walked away, letting out my first sneeze.

“I think someone needs to dry their hair…” Roni commented. “Come here, sit down and I’ll do it.” I tried to step in and say I didn’t need it, but Veronica wouldn’t back down. “I know you don't need to, but I want to. Let me do this for you.”

I was feeling so low and tired I just accepted it.

With all calm and tenderness, she combed and dried my long blond strands. Some tears still escaped me, but, in fact, it was really good to be taken care of like that. As soon as she finished, I turned around and kissed her. It was a simple gesture of thanks, but also a moment of letting my guard down.

She was worried about me, so she came to my room in the middle of the night to see how I was. She dried my hair and took care of me. A part of me wanted to cry even more with Veronica's care, the other just wanted to be able to freeze time so that we never left there again.

“Thank you…” I whispered against her lips.