AN: Alice in Chains' 'Frogs'.
* * *
Nancy spent the rest of the weekend throwing up. She still wasn't used to waking up and having someone in her apartment, but she did appreciate the fact that he made tea for her every day.
She woke up on Sunday morning to find that not only was he awake before her, but that he was being...productive. What a strange concept. She had never been productive before eleven AM without the aid of coffee, and she'd certainly never been productive on a weekend morning. Or a weekend day, for that matter.
He was drawing something. She couldn't see what it was and she was a little hesitant to go see. He looked pretty involved. She knew she should go and get coffee and take a shower, but it was very interesting to watch him work.
She stood there for a few minutes until she remembered that A) she was still in PJs-ratty, ratty PJs-and B) she needed coffee. And a shower. Coffee first.
* * *
When Nancy returned from her shower, Cole was still drawing. She wondered how long he'd been up.
She stayed at the doorway for a minute before he sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"Morning." she said softly.
"Hi."
"How'd you sleep?"
"Eh." He stretched back and closed his eyes. Nancy thought he looked like he'd been tossed there. "You?"
"O-okay."
"How're you feeling?"
"Fine. You?"
He shrugged and didn't answer. Nancy wasn't sure if she should go in there or stay at the door. He looked relaxed and she felt relaxed, so she went in and sat on the far side of the sofa.
This is just like sitting at the coffee shop, that's all. Same amount of space, just no barrier.
Cole rolled over, eyes still closed, and sighed. When she thought about it, she'd never seen him this content.
Fuck. When she thought about it, she hadn't felt this content in a while.
How strange. This time last week she'd been planning on coming home and maybe baking a cake or something. Cole had not been in her plans. For that matter, having someone over for a long-term stay hadn't been in her plans, either. Huh.
"What were you working on?"
He fumbled around for a minute before his hand fell across the piece of paper he'd been drawing on. He nudged it over to Nancy before hugging his pillow again.
"What happened last week?" he mumbled. "It's all a little hazy."
The picture could wait. She'd look in a minute.
"Basically? You spent a lot of time either in the shower or catatonic on the bathroom floor. I made you drink a bunch of cranberry juice."
"That's it?"
"Mostly."
She didn't feel any need to mention the bad dreams and the cravings. If he didn't remember those, he was lucky. Besides, she didn't want to bring anything up that might...remind him. Yeah.
He was quiet and she picked up the picture he'd been working on. It was done in blacks and whites, like the one he'd given her, only this one was a tree. A fairly creepy tree, if Nancy was going to be honest. It had a skeleton's face and its branches crept out like hands. She liked it, but it gave her the heebie-jeebies.
"Wow."
"Yeah."
"What are you going to do with it?"
"I don't know yet. I have a whole bunch of things like that, but I don't really know." He yawned and pulled the blankets up to his neck. "I don't know yet." There was a pause. "Nancy?"
"Yeah?"
"Would you distract me?"
He wasn't implying what she thought he was implying, was he? If that was the case, she was going to have to kick him out. Now.
"Distract?"
He nodded.
"Do you have any board games or anything?"
Ohh. Cravings. Right.
"Umm...I can check."
"You're not busy, are you?"
"No. English paper's not due 'til next week."
"Thanks, Nance."
"Dig out something to set it up on. My backpack's around here somewhere."
* * *
Nancy was sleeping when she woke up feeling frightened and sick to her stomach. She couldn't remember the dream, but she had the oddest feeling that she didn't want to.
She stayed curled up on her bed, hugging her bear, before inching her hand out to flip on the light. Before her fingers could brush against the chain switch, there was a light knock on her door.
"Nance?"
What now?
She wrapped herself in her graying blanket and opened the door. Cole looked a lot like she did-tired and wrapped in a ratty blanket.
"Whaisit."
She must have been deeply asleep to make up words like that.
"Are you okay?"
Huh.
"Why?"
"You were talking in your sleep and I thought...I don't know what I thought."
Shit. She hadn't known she did that. That was a bad thing to know. Was there a way to not talk in her sleep?
"Just a nightmare." she said, trying to keep her voice calm. It didn't feel calm. "Sorry for waking you."
"You didn't. You sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine." Okay, now she was getting a little annoyed. She'd said she was fine, couldn't he just leave it at that? "Night, Cole."
She shut the door and waited for him to walk away before locking it again. She couldn't help it, she was...okay, fine. She was a little paranoid. That was all. It wasn't as though she regretted having him here or anything. She liked it a bit, to be honest. It didn't feel so empty in here anymore.
All the same, she turned the light on and stayed in bed with her eyes closed the rest of the night.
आप पढ़ रहे हैं
Color Blind
सामान्य साहित्यNancy Hale has spent the last year as a reclusive shadow, hiding from memories of that terrible afternoon. Cole Martin is a junkie, a nobody with secrets of his own. Can they put themselves back together in a world that doesn't care?
