Chapter 47. The Changes

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Xara's POV.

What I must admit is that being cared of and almost pampered felt kind of nice. If anyone told me before that I would feel that way around Romeo, I would've introduced my fist to their nose without hesitation.

So whatever was happenning now was so unusual and unfamiliar to me that it scared me just a little bit. There was no anger that I had always thought there would be if anyone, let alone my sworn enemy, dared to treat me as if I was sick.

My pride wasn't hurt, and this bit was unexpected. I mean, I surely could've warmed my milk up myself, put that glass into the hole, maybe even dealt with that spider on my own. But here he was, by my side, ready and even willing to do my bidding, whatever I told him to. Was this okay? Should I be worried about that?

I turned my head and watched my friend clean up the glass shards and the torn box. His back was facing me, and I immediatelly remembered that time I saw him out there, cleaning the street. He had been so tense then, even in his sleep. But now he wasn't.

Now I could see how his T-shirt was freely hanging on his rather muscular body, how comfortable he seemed to be. And that brought a smile to my face, that new expression I was beginning to love. There really weren't many reason for smiling back in Sunshine Institute.

"Romeo?" I called out silently and my smile only grew when he turned his head rather slowly. There was no more fear in his movements, no more panic and rush. He had definitely began to feel at home. Heck, even I had.

"Yeah?" He asked, moving his hair out of the way. And once again my heart throbbed at the mere memory of cutting his hair, of all that anger that had still been in my system just a couple of days ago. "Do you want something?"

I shook my head calmly. Really, there was no way to be sure that all of my memories were real and not made by my sick mind, but at this point I didn't really care. I was pretty sure that my memory could last a couple more days without failing horrifically. After that, nothing mattered anymore.

"You had a dream." I whispered and smiled again. "Before the spider, you were having a dream. What was it about?"

Romeo raised his eyebrows, clearly not having expected this question. He glanced down and pushed all the glass shards into the box by the tip of his shoe.

"I-I don't really remember." He shrugged, but the tension in his voice made it clear that his brain was working on its fullest. "I... I think it was about the lake. You know, our lake. I... I was swimming, I guess."

"It wasn't a nightmare." I pointed out, moving go see my roommate better. "For some reason I had always thought that you only had bad dreams, after what had happened the night before this one."

He shuddered. The memories must've been too painful for him.

"No, no, I do have nice dreams sometimes." He replied, getting more and more annoyed with some glass that refused to make its way into the box. "I just don't really remember them, that's all. Oh, dammit, why can't you-"

I chuckled as that last cursed glass shard finally submitted to Romeo's willpower and slipped into the box. The guy exhaled in relief and stood up straight. I could hear his spine popping a little when he stretched his shoulders and dropped the dirty rags into the box as well.

"About swimming." I turned around, my eyes following him towards the door. He clearly hesitated there for a moment, unsure of what to do with the litter, before putting the box down. "We, uh... We could try teaching you how to do it. If you want to, that is."

I really didn't know what plans he had for today, especially he so obviously thought that I was having a silent day, but I knew that I wasn't going to sit on the couch all day long and order him around. Ni, I wanted to enjoy what little time we had together, I wanted to do something that would last for a long time. Teaching him how to swim would do the trick.

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