Circles

Chapter Fourteen

        I wake up at 10:05 with a headache. My concussion is getting better, but these headaches just don’t seem to fade. I get out of bed to go get some pain medicine, and when I open the bedroom door Liz is sitting on the floor in the hallway across from me.

            “How long have you been out here?” I ask.

            “Not long,” Liz says. “Two hours. Why?”

            “What are you doing?”

            “Waiting for you, silly!” she says as she stands up.

            “Again, why?”

            “Because today’s the day!”

            “It’s really not a big deal. Monday was a big deal. Today is just a second occurrence,” I say flatly.

            “Whatever,” Liz says. “Let’s get you some breakfast. You only have three and a half hours till you have to leave!”

            “Yeah, and that’s totally not a ton of time,” I say, rolling my eyes.

            “You’re no fun in the morning,” Liz says. “Come on. Cody made hot chocolate and it is fantastic."

            I follow her to the kitchen and try to comb my hair with my fingers. When we get to the table, Mike and Cody are sitting down drinking hot chocolate and chatting.

            “Hey, sleepyhead,” Cody says when he sees me.

            “Morning,” I reply. Mike smiles at me. What is with him?

            “Hot chocolate?” Mike asks.

            “Sure,” I say, sitting down and accepting a cup from Cody.

            “Where is everyone?” Liz asks.

            “A bunch of people went shopping with Sam,” Cody replies.

            “A surprising amount of people have never gone shopping without an adult before, so they wanted an escort for their first time out,” Mike adds.

            “Oh, alright, that makes sense I guess,” Liz says.

            “I think I’m going to take my hot chocolate out back,” I say. “It’s sunny and cold; it’s the perfect weather for drinking it.”

            “I’ll join you in a minute,” Liz says.

            “Okay.” I walk outside with my steaming cup and sit on the steps of the porch. It’s a beautiful morning: cold enough that you can see your breath, yet warm enough you don’t need more than a sweatshirt to keep warm. It’s for reasons like this that October is my favorite month.

            I hear the back door open. Mike walks over and sits next to me. “Hey.”

            I stare into my cup. “Hi.”

            “How’s the hot chocolate?”

            “It’s pretty good,” I reply. We sit in silence for a moment.

            “I’m trying,” Mike says.

            “Trying?”

            “Trying to be…” he says, then pauses, thinking. “Nice?”