[You Got My Soul]

18°

» "am I asking for too much?..."

Wyatt Household;

Paris was in her room, packing up all her things into suitcases. It was Monday and although it was a relief to not have to get up and go to school, it still felt like she was doing work.

"Paris, can you come down here for a minute?" He stepdad, John, called from the bottom step. Paris pushed her hair out of her face and made her way down the wooden staircase.

"Yea?" She said once she got to the bottom of the steps.

"I, uh, I just wanted to tell you that I'm proud of you. You graduated high school and now you're about to go off for college, your mama would be real right now."

"Wow, thank you, John." Paris replied, a bit taken back by his kind words. He nodded before continuing.

"...And I think that it wouldn't be right to let you go out of state...without these." He held up a pair keys in front of her.

"Oh my gosh, John! Thank you so much!" She squealed and gave him a hug before grabbing the keys and going outside to see her car.

In the driveway was a 2013 Honda Accord behind John's trunk. Paris rushed over to her new car and got in.

It wasn't the nicest thing in the world but it was a lot nicer that the bus or walking or being driven everywhere.

"I have to tell Bryson.." She did to herself as she examined the car happily.

Bryson had a car but it was old as the civil rights movement and had been in the shop for months.

She went back into the house to continue packing and saw that she had a text from Bryson.

I have a cold. Come take care of me. 😩😪

She shook her head and replied telling him she'd come over after she finished packing.

It had been two days since they both came clean about how they felt about each other. Although she was somewhat relieved, she couldn't be 100% happy.

The timing was horrible, she was leaving for college soon. Bryson meant the world to her but that didn't mean she would stay in Louisville.

She finished her packing for the day and drove her car for the first time to Bryson's house.

Tiller Household;

"Wake up..." Paris sat on the edge of his bed and shook him softy, "Come on, sleepy head. Wake up."

Bryson lazily rolled to his other side so that he was facing her. His eyes were droopy and red.

"I feel soooooo bad right now." He expressed, his voice sounding nasally.

"Did you take some medicine?" She asked, feeling his face.

"I hate medicine." He huffed, putting his hands over his eyes. Paris sighed and stood up.

"I'm going to go see if aunt Hattie has anything you can take."

"No, don't go." He whined, grabbing her hand. Paris sighed and looked down at him.

"You asked me to take care of you, I'm trying to." She explained to him.

"Just lay with me..." He coughed and moved to form enough space on his bed for her to lay.

"I will as soon as I go find you some medicine."

Paris left the room and went to find Bryson's aunt. She gave her some pills and cough syrup and wished Paris luck trying to get Bryson to take any of it.

When she got back to his room, Bryson was on standing on his balcony looking down at the car in the driveway.

"Here's some medicine." Paris called, sitting it on his dresser.

"Who's whip?" He asked, pointing at it.

"Mine," she smiled, "you like it? John got it for me."

"It's nice." He nodded.

"Now I can come home more often once I'm in North Carolina." She said walking out onto the balcony and grabbing his hand.

"Yea..." He sighed dryly and walked back into the room, letting her hand fall out of his.

"Bryson, please don't make me feel bad about going to college. I promise I'll come back every weekend if it'll make you happy..."

"You not leaving would make me happy." He explained, laying back down on his bed.

"Bryson..."

"I just told how I feel about you. We're just at a place were we can be more than friends, Paris." He frustratedly said.

"I know the timing isn't good but we can make it work." She looked down sadly. The last thing she wanted was to have to choose between Bryson and school.

"Look, I know it's kinda selfish, but I can't help it." He said honestly.

Paris straightened her posture a bit and grabbed the medicine from off of the dresser, "We can talk about this when you feel better, ok?"

Bryson exhaled deeply and laid back completely on his bed, covering his face with the spread.

"Come lay with me.." He said from under the covers.

"If you take this medicine." Paris said holding up the cough syrup.

"I'll take it if you come lay with me." He challenged, again moving to give her room.

She sighed and kneeled into his bed, hovering over him with the bottle of cough syrup.

"Feed it to me." Bryson stated.

She climbed on top of him and rested on his waist. She poured the medicine into the small measuring cup and put it near his mouth.

He opened his mouth and drunk the medicine as Paris laughed at his face of disgust.

"See, it wasn't so bad."

Bryson sucked his teeth and pulled her body down to his, wrapping her in his blanket.