How to Date a Nerd

Chapter 15 - How to Make a Truce with a Baby Cow

I said "Take this for what it is
I think you're a tad bit prejudice
Against the ones like us that are searching for the answers"

Chapter 15 – How to Make a Truce with a Baby Cow

 

Nothing much had changed in Sarah’s room. The tons of books she owned were still carelessly arranged in a small shelf. Her study table was cluttered with notebooks, paperbacks and loose files. An old twenty-one-inch TV and a DVD player on a table near the wall at the foot of her bed. A desktop computer in the corner. A small closet for her clothes. Nothing fancy. Which was one of the things I loved about her. Whenever I was with her, I didn’t need to be perfect all the time. I just had to be me.

I parked myself on the seat in front of Sarah’s study table as I watched her sleep. Would she remember all of these? Would she at least realize that I was telling the truth when she wakes up?

Oh, well. Look on the bright side, Leon. I told myself. At least she didn’t throw up on you. Again. Letting out a deep sigh, I looked around.

I picked up a small music composition notebook from her study table and was about to start thumbing through the pages when Sarah murmured something and tried to get up from bed. Her eyes were still closed while she groped around. I caught her before she could fall from her bed.

“Take it easy, Sarah. What’s wrong?” I asked gently.

With her brows creasing a bit, she opened her eyes and stared at me through half-closed lids. She chuckled quietly for a while then dry-heaved. I thought, oh no! Not again. Frantically, I towed-carried her to the bathroom. We barely made it to the sink before she threw up. I braced myself.

Ugh, crap.

There was a splatter on my left shoe and a little on the floor. No way in hell I’m going to clean that up. I am NOT going to clean that up! I yelled inside my head. Wincing, I tried to focus on Sarah. Hesitantly, I rubbed her back. Something I learned from Dad. But I wasn’t really sure if it was helping.

“It’s okay, Sarah. Do you want a glass of water?” I breathed out in panic while watching her drink straight from the tap. “Okay… that might work too.”

Sarah looked pale, almost green. Not to mention wasted. Her head lolled to the side. Again, I scooped her from the floor and carried her back to the bed, carefully avoiding the pool of sick on the bathroom tiles. I groaned irritably as I put her back to bed but was startled when she clutched tightly on my sleeve. Her eyes were closed. Maybe she was dreaming.

“Sleep now. I’ll be here,” I whispered.

“Hmm…” she smiled.

I shook my head, smiling back at her. Honestly, I’d never put much effort into anything like this. All those years, before I met her, I was just trying to get by. I didn’t dwell much or get attached to anything. That’d only mean trouble for me. I could get anything with a snap of my fingers.  My life was on the fast lane and that was how I wanted it. But when she came, I dunno… For once, I thought of having roots, a family, someone I’d call home.

Once I was sure that she was fast asleep, I steeled my guts and dealt with the little accident in the bathroom. Really, I just couldn’t stand letting it at large and claim other victims. How I wished I had super powers to ward against disaster. Mostly related to Sarah. She was such a disaster magnet. I’d swear someday, she’d be the end of me.

Just when I was drying my hands with a towel, I heard a thud from Sarah’s room. I hurried in just to find Sarah sleeping on the floor. Cursing silently, I hauled her back to the bed and used the extra pillows to prevent her from falling again. The things I do for love, I grunted.