My Best Friend’s Brother

A few minutes later, she seems to be asleep already. I recheck her temperature and realize she no longer has a fever. That’s good. I’ll wait just a few more minutes, maybe Chantal won’t show up, so I’ll be less worried about leaving Molly alone.

There’s nowhere else I want to be right now. I told her so, but I’m sure of it. Being with Molly is good, and even though she said all that stuff about being with other people, I know I can do it. I’m just not sure I want to do it. But this is not the time to think about it.

I am looking at my social media when I hear Molly mumbling something. I ask:

”What did you say?”

But she doesn’t open her eyes, mumbles something I can’t understand again, and says my name at the end. I asked again what she said because I’m very interested now, but she didn’t say anything else. It must be traces of the fever. But it makes me curious, and maybe later I can ask her, or maybe not.

I’ll take a nap here, and I’ll come home to my paused game and my bed in a little while.

…Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

I open my eyes and try to adjust to my place, but I can’t. It is warm here. However, this is not my bed. When I turn around, I remember that I’m still in Molly’s room, in Molly’s bed.

I look at my cell phone, which has gone under my body, and sees it is already seven in the morning. When I am about to leave, Molly mumbles something and turns to my side, making me stay still instantly, but that doesn’t stop her from waking up and looking at me, scared.

She says:

”Chris?”

I smile gracelessly and say:

”I think I fell asleep right here. Are you feeling better?”

She promptly replies:

”Yes, but I’m all wet.”

I know I shouldn’t find what she said now exciting, but that’s it. I’ve done it. She can tell by my smug smile and stands up, saying:

”Oh my God, Chris. I had a fever, that is for sure sweat and nothing your dirty mind is thinking. ”

I end up laughing, but only because she does the same. She then says:

”Thank you for your company and for taking care of me, but I think my illness is already affecting my dignity, and I don’t want anyone in this world looking at me in the critical state of beauty I am in now.”

Women. I want to roll my eyes, but I decide not to. I say:

”Okay, Miss Congeniality, I’m going home. ”

She thanks me and takes a towel, and goes toward the bathroom. I go toward the bedroom door, open it, and when I reach the living room, Julie is coming in through the front door, stares at me with a surprised expression for a few seconds, and asks:

”Chris?”

I answer:

”Hi.”

She asks:

”What are you doing here at this hour?”

Now I’m screwed.

… Molly…

I leave the bathroom because I remember that I need to get some soap from the kitchen cabinet, then I hear Julie’s voice. I feel myself freezing at the same instant when I also hear Chris’s voice. Shit, she must have run into him on her way out of here. I don’t feel ready to tell her everything, but I have to face it head.

I take a deep breath and head toward the living room, but Chris has his hand on the doorknob and is already on his way out. He turns to me, who meets my scared eyes, and smiles like he always did when he wanted to pull one of those pranks on me.

Then he walks out the door, and I look back at Julie, who comes toward me and hugs me, asking:

”Are you feeling better?”

I say:

”Yes, I am.”

I’m still a little airborne from what happened, which I don’t even know what it was. Julie sees me with this face and asks:’

” What is it?”

I say, trying to cover it up as best I can:

”Nothing.”

She goes towards the sofa and sits down, saying:

”I’m glad you asked Chris for help last night. I’m so happy you two are getting along better. I’m a mess myself, and I didn’t know I would get so tired helping out at Brennan’s house.”

I am more relieved now, and she gets up and says:

” I just came by to see you, you didn’t look good this morning, but I didn’t think it would get this bad.”

I am still curious to know what Chris told her, but I choose not to ask and say:

”Yeah, I got a little worse at night, but nothing too serious.”

She stands up and says:

”I think I’ll be right there. Come over later, and we can talk or watch a movie.”

I smile at her and say that I will, but at the moment, I want to take a shower.

During my shower, I think about everything that happened, how Chris was so friendly to me last night and how he somehow managed to convince Julie that he didn’t sleep here. Or did he tell her? No, Julie wouldn’t let something like that go by without wanting to know everything.

I decided that if I wanted to know what happened, I better ask him and do that later.

…

It is Saturday afternoon, and I have decided to come to Julie’s house as she suggested earlier. I am glad Chris is not here. I don’t know where he is, but I am also not going to send a message asking or even asking Julie about his whereabouts. The fact is that I feel more comfortable without him around because I’m not sure I could disguise the fascination I now have with his nursing skills.

The movie is almost over, and Julie is more concerned with exchanging messages with her boyfriend when Chris comes downstairs and sees me comes, approaches where we are, and sits down next to Julie, asking me:

”Are you feeling better? ”

He doesn’t have those second-guessing giggles he used to have, and Julie doesn’t seem to care about our existence either, so I say:

”I am.”

He says:

”Good.”

He looks sincere and then turns his attention to the TV in front of us. I stare at him out of the corner of my eye, I would be more comfortable if Julie weren’t here, but this is the first time the three of us have been together after what happened between Chris and me. It’s somehow a little awkward for me. At least he seems to be comfortable.