Tethered

Chapter ten

                “Cool, kind of like me and Fevah” I say with a phony smile.

                Nope, I’m so not jealous.

                “I doubt that” he says sharply.

                I snap my head up in time to see him scrape back his chair and storm out of the room. I sigh, getting up to wash both of our dishes. What did he mean he doubt’s that? Is Terra more than just his best friend? Is that what he meant? What if Terra was his long time girlfriend and then it went all to hell when I came into the picture? It’s not like I asked for any of this, so I have no reason to feel guilty. Except I do. Not to mention pissed off and jealous.

                I rub my temples to attempt to get rid of the headache that has been plaguing me since the beginning of the week. It seems to be getting worse and no matter how many pain relievers I take, nothing seems to help. I groan and slump off to the living room so I can bury my face into the couch.

                My phone rings and I know it’s Fevah, I’m just not in the mood to talk so I ignore his calls.

                All seven of them.

                My head hurts too much to do anything but stuff it in the crease of the couch and groan every once and a while. I don’t get why my head is pounding still. I mean, my period is over so that couldn’t be the cause. I just don’t get it. With another groan I force myself up and go take more headache medicine which I obviously know by now isn’t going to help shit but I gulp them down anyways and hope that just this once the pills will do their job.

******

                I wake up to Teddy standing creepily over me. My head hurts too bad to care too much but something in his eyes alerts me that something isn’t right. He’s swaying in his spot, looking unable to stay up much longer. I sit up immediately, eyeing him from head to toe. Something is off. The faint dark circles beneath his eyes have darkened and his skin is paler than a sheet of paper. He’s sweating and I notice the slight tremble in his hands.

                “Teddy?” I whisper warily.

                He drops down to his knees so that our faces are closer. His eyes are wild and he’s blinking so slowly, it’s creepy. I briefly wonder if he’s drunk or high on some kind of drug but I don’t smell any liquor coming off of him and I doubt Teddy is into hard drugs. So what is wrong with him? Is he sick?

                “Blaire, listen to me” his voice is ragged.

                I nod, not even noticing the tight grip he has on my shoulders.

                He doesn’t get to say anything more because he suddenly doubles over efficiently laying half way in my lap. He grunts loudly and I find myself officially freaked the fuck out. I stay still and listen to his groans and grunts of pain. He wraps his arms loosely around my waist, his face pressed against my stomach. I really don’t understand what’s going on here but I know it’s not good.

                Then as suddenly as it started it stopped. He went silent, his breathing raspy. I place a hand on his shoulder and notice how tense he gets under my touch. I retract my hand, thinking better of comforting him.

                “I’m sorry if I scared you” he says softly, getting up and exiting the room before I can even ask what the hell happened.

                I place a hand over my heart to feel it still trying to pound its way out of my chest. That was scary. Something is wrong and Teddy is definitely trying to hide it. And as much as I hate to admit this, I’m worried.