the broken

Chapter 8

He nods his head clumsily as he pushes himself into a sitting position, letting the blankets wrapped around him slide down to his side.

He's a terrible liar.

I roll my eyes at him.

"Dan, I know you haven't been sleeping, I'm not an idiot."

His face fills with the most color I've seen on it, a brilliant shade of rose, but even this looks washed out and grey against his pale skin.

"I'm sorry."

His eyes dart around the room, looking at everything except me, and before I can think about it, my hand is reaching towards his face and tilting up his chin so that he has to look me in the eyes. His cheeks squish together a bit and he stares up at me wide-eyed, confused. I can feel his cheeks heating up under my hands. Once I've registered exactly what I'm doing, I let go of his face, cheeks burning. I clear my throat.

"Dan, you look awful, you're obviously quite sick, and you haven't slept in a week. I think you should go to a doctor, you aren't getting any better," I say, using the back of my hand to feel his forehead for a temperature, frowning.

His eyes widen.

"Please, no, I can't. I'll sleep more, I promise."

I sigh.

"I don't think that's how it works Dan."

His face melts into a sheepish expression and he shakes his head, embarrassed.

"No, I..I can, I promise. It's my fault, haven't been sleeping on purpose," he mumbles, looking down.

"What? Why?!"

"I get really bad dreams and I didn't want to wake you up with them."

I sigh, close my eyes, pick up his hands and hold them in mine.

"Dan..."

He frowns.

"I'm sorry."

"You really think I would be mad at you for having bad dreams?"

He shrugs.

"I promise, I won't be. Not ever. Okay?"

He nods slowly and I drop his hands, giving him a soft smile

"I've got to go, I need to pick up some stuff at the store. Sleep. Please."

"Okay," he says quietly, his hands gripping the plate tightly, not looking up as I get up off his bed and start to walk out. I am almost out the door when I hear him call after me, and I turn around, breath catching in my throat just slightly. Little slices of sunlight leak through the blinds and catch onto his hair, turning his skin to gold, his freckles to constellations. He's so pretty, god.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. For the food and stuff."

"Yeah, no problem," I choke out, giving him a slightly flustered smile before turning on my heels and walking out of the room, making my way down to the kitchen with bright red cheeks.

"I'm going to the store, need anything?"

Jamie looks up and gives me a smile

"No. And what's wrong with your face, why is it red?"

His question does nothing but make me even more flustered.

"That's not nice, nothings wrong with my face. It's just warm in here."

He shrugs.

"Whatever you say, Phil."

I stare at him, mouth opening and closing, debating whether or not to defend myself further, before deciding not to and making my way out of the door, cheeks still warm.

—

I walk into the door, dropping the bags onto the counter cheerfully, rummaging through them for the medicine I had picked out for Dan. I knew nothing about medicine, but the nice lady behind the counter had assured me that it would work wonders, so I grab the bottle and a glass of water and head up to his room, swinging the door open.

"Dan? Are you awake?"

"No."

His voice is muffled under the blankets, and I roll my eyes and make my way across the room, sitting on the end of his bed as he pushes himself up.

"I got you some medicine that will make you feel better. Maybe."

He laughs, softly, but a laugh nonetheless.

"You don't sound very sure."

I laugh too.

"Worst case, it doesn't help. Best case, it does. Take it."

He nods, holding out his hands, but they shake too badly to hold the pills, and they tumble out of his palms onto the blankets underneath us. He frowns, flustered.

"Sorry, sorry."

I hold his hand steady with mine and shake more pills into it.

"It's fine, don't worry about it. What's wrong?"

I guide his hand up to his mouth. He takes a gulp of water before answering, looking bashful.

"Nothing. Just had a bad dream."

"Oh, I'm sorry Dan."

"It was just a bad dream, I'm fine, it's nothing," he says softly, brushing me off, but I wrap my arms around him, frowning. I pull him into my chest, resting my chin on top of his head, and he stiffens for a second, but then he melts into me, turning his head to bury his face in my chest.

"I'm fine, Phil, really," he says, voice muffled through the fabric of my t-shirt, but I just shake my head and pull him closer to me.

When I let go, he looks up, dazed, before shaking his head and scooting back.

"I'm going to sleep, goodnight," he says, words tumbling out of his mouth so fast I can barely make them out. He promptly turns away and pulls the blanket up to his chin, and I frown, confused.

"Oh. Okay."

With a sigh, I get up off the bed and make my way to the door, turning around and looking at his small figure curled up under the blankets.

"Goodnight Dan." I say quietly, hoping for an answer, but he just pulls the blanket up over his head, leaving me to walk to my own room, confused.

-

this is short but I have exams and stuff, so i just wanted to type up a quick update for you guys. also: this has over 100 reads somehow? wow? it may not seem to be a lot but I didn't expect any reads at all so i think its really cool. :)