Saving Grayson

Chapter 9

Grayson

My entire body ached. I rarely ever get sick so me falling ill towards the end of August caught me by surprise. It started Wednesday evening with a minor sore throat, but by yesterday I had turned for the worse. I couldn't breathe through my nose and my throat felt extremely itchy and dry. My temperature was above one hundred degrees. One hundred and three point seven to be exact. Leave it to me to catch a cold towards the end of August and catching one during the first week of school didn't make it any better.

It wasn't a big deal if I missed classes today, especially freshman seminar since I could ask Wren what we did today. I know she'd be willing to send me any notes she took, and that's assuming she went to class herself. I was drugged up on cold medicine most of the day, so I wasn't up and ready to do homework until around ten that night. Part of me didn't want to call Wren in case she had fallen asleep already. She seems like the type to go to bed early but who am I to judge? Still, I didn't want to bother her, but I needed the notes.

Taking my phone off the charger I dialed her number and let the phone ring. It wasn't until it almost went to voicemail that she picked up.

"Grayson!" she greeted sounding shocked by my call. I could barely hear anything with all the background noise.

"Wren? Where are you? Why is it so loud?" I questioned laying on my back.

"Monica dragged me to a party. Well, not necessarily dragged. I volunteered to go incase something happened. But where were you today?"

"I have a cold. Listen, you have to go home. You seem like a light weight, and I don't want anything to happen to you."

My sudden boldness caught me completely off guard. I don't know why I just said that. I've known this girl for a week, who am I to tell her she needs to go home? That's something a boyfriend would say. What if I just crossed a line? What if she has a boyfriend and I'm overstepping?

"I think we should be more concerned about you and that cold than me," she responded. "Besides, I've barely had one drink. Alcohol isn't my favorite thing in the world."

So, what is your favorite thing in the world Wren?

"Right," I cleared my dry throat. "Um, so when you get the chance do you think you can email me the notes from today's lecture? You don't have to do it now obviously, but just sometime over the weekend?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll do it when I get back to my dorm. I have to go I'm trying to keep an eye on Monica, and she has completely disappeared. I hope you get better soon."

"Thanks. I'll see you on Monday."

She didn't say another word but the loud music on the other end had been cut off. I sighed, worried that Wren would get into some kind of trouble dealing with this Monica girl. She shouldn't have to babysit a grown ass woman, but girl code and whatnot I guess. I set my phone on the marble nightstand next to me and placed the covers over my freezing body. A knock at my door caught my attention and my mother peeked her head in.

"I just wanted to come check on you," she said entering the room. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been hit by a semi," I responded flatly.

"Glad to know your sense of humor hasn't disappeared," she sat at the foot of my bed. "Were you able to get caught up in your classes?"

"Mom," I groaned. "It's only the first week. My professors haven't given out much work yet. But I'm getting there, I'm waiting on one of my classmates to send me the notes from today's lecture."

"Good, I don't want you falling behind and it's only the beginning. Anyways, I'll let you rest. Let's pray you get better over the weekend."

She placed a kiss on my forehead despite me being contagious. A mother's love truly knows no bounds. It's something I've heard a lot but didn't deem to be true. I leaned over to grab my bottle of NyQuil and poured the disgusting green liquid into the cap. Leaning my head back I took it as I would a shot of liquor even though I've never drank in my entire life and gagged at the taste of the medicine. At least the hard part is over. Pulling the covers up to my neck I turned my bedside lamp off and stared at the ceiling. I can't believe that I said that to Wren. Who am I to tell her that she needs to go home? Why do I care about her that much when I just met her a few days ago? It was a strange feeling I had to admit. A feeling that I couldn't explain.