Page 39 of Afflicted

"Thanks." I leant in to kiss his cheek but he turned towards me so that our lips met instead.

I let the kiss go on for a few seconds before pulling away. "I'm freezing," I admitted. "Hold that thought?"

He smiled at me and I scampered out of the room to get changed. The bathroom was big and his mom's hairdryer was sitting on the side just begging me to use it. By the time I was out of my wet clothes and my hair was dry, I started to feel a lot warmer again. I slipped into Ryan's shirt which fell to my knees and tried the sweat pants on too. I looked in the mirror but couldn't face him wearing them so took the pants back off, leaving me in the shirt. It was longer than a lot of my dresses so I figured it didn't matter.

Ryan was sitting in his bed watching the TV when I returned and I climbed in next to him, pulling the covers up around me.

"You mind if I watch the rest of the game?" he asked as I settled in.

"So long as you don't mind if I end up falling asleep?"

He laughed and put his arm around me, letting me lean against his chest. I felt a little uncomfortable being so casually intimate with him but he didn't seem to notice. As he switched between cheering on his team and swearing at the opposition, I slowly relaxed and let my eyes fall shut.

I wasn't sure if I actually slept or not but the game ended and Ryan jolted me awake with a kiss as he celebrated his team's win.

"Yay," I mumbled as he hopped out of the bed.

"Would you like a drink?" he offered. "And I'll chuck your stuff in the dryer too."

"Sure. I'll have whatever you're having," I said. My cellphone rang as he was leaving the room and I glanced at the display before answering to Lacey.

"You called?" she asked as I answered.

"Oh yeah, it doesn't matter now. I went to Ryan's instead."

"Oh really? Having fun?" she asked suggestively.

"Yeah,” I replied vaguely. “What are you up to?"

"Mom dragged me to visit my aunt Claudia." I could hear the boredom in her voice.

"Does she still have all the dolls?” I asked. I'd been with Lacey to visit her aunt once and I'd never forgotten the creepy china dolls that sat on every shelf, staring down at me.

"Of course she does and she still refers to them by name as if I'm supposed to know which one she's talking about."

"Has she ever broken any of them?" I asked.

"I don't think so - I probably would have had to attend the funeral," she laughed. "Why the need for a last minute visit to me anyway?"

"Mom and Dad are trying to make me move into the city for the isolation trial so we're in a disagreement. I kinda stormed out into, well, a storm, and I needed somewhere to escape to."

"Oh that sucks. It's a long way from yours to Ryan's in this weather though, you must have been drenched."

"Well I got drenched on my way to yours but then luckily I was offered a lift after that."

"By who?" Lacey asked curiously.

"Err, Linc actually. He was on his way home and he spotted me."

"Oh really?"

Ryan reappeared with a can of soda for me and I accepted it with a smile. "Yeah. I can't really talk now-"

"Was he all wet too?" she asked excitedly. "Did he have to take his shirt off?"

"What? No! Lacey I need to go now." I pressed the phone to my ear, hoping that her voice wouldn't carry to Ryan.

"And did he have to wrap his arms around you because you'd both gotten so cold and you had to share body heat-"