Collette Archer
I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but well I did, and now I know why he hates me. I storm into my room and close the door, weirdly I feel relieved, the reason he hates me, is something he thinks I did, but I didn't. So if he knew that, then he wouldn't have hated me.
So really, he doesn't hate me, cuz I didn't do what he thinks I did, but he thinks he hates me because he thinks I did what didn't do. Am I making sense right now?
Thalia swings open my door and rushes in closing the door behind her, "I'm so sorry my love, my brother is an asshole. Are you ok? How much did you hear? Did it bring back any bad memories? Do you want to cry?" She pulls me into her her arms and pats my back, "come here, are you alright?"
"Lia, I'm fine, surprisingly the only emotion I felt was relief" I say.
"Relief, why relief?" She asks "I have no idea, but if that's the reason he hates me, then well there is no reason to hate me, cuz that wasn't my fault, right?"
"Yes obviously it wasn't your fault, do you want to tell him what actually happened?" She asks
"No, mm mm, I'm good, if he wants to hate me he can, I don't need to prove to anybody that I'm nice" I answer.
"True, you don't, just hang on to people who know you're amazing, like me" she giggles.
"Yes ma'am" i say
"Also can you please eat some medicine"
"What, why? I'm fine", she says.
"Well I know your fine, but being with your brother the whole day, is kinda making me feel sick too, and I don't want it to come to you, so shut up and take the medicine."
"Alright, mom" she replies.
I didn't go to check on James, the whole night, cuz I thought it would be awkward , but I couldn't sleep, thinking about him the whole night, he did help me when I was hurt too. It was 4 am, so I thought i'd just sneak into his room and check his temperature. I really shouldn't be doing this, but I just cannot bear the sight of sick people, it reminds of when I used to fall sick as a child and it was literally almost everyday, so I know the pain and I would not have survived if it weren't for my parents and gamma taking care of me. So yeah, I'm going to sneak into his room. I try to be as quiet as possible while opening his door, and when I make sure, he's still asleep, I close the door behind me. And thank god I came here, he was literally shivering from the cold outside and sweating from the heat of his body. Aww poor thing.
I go up get some cold water and a towel, come back down, as quietly as possible and dab the sweat with the cold towel. When the cold towel touches his skin, he flinches but is still in sleep. He really looks like he's in pain. I comb his hair away from his forehead, and he suddenly he opens his eyes and grabs my hand. I gasp from the surprise, and then when he realises that it's just me, he lets go of my hand and relaxes. I turn away, not knowing what to do, since i was caught red handed, and try to get up, but he pulls me back down. "Don't try to run away" he whispers sleepily, "why are you here?"
"Why would i run away from you? I just, I just came here to get my flask back" i reply."Oh really, then why'd you bring the cold water and towel? And-"He glances at his watch "you wanted your flask back at 4 am?"
"Mm hmm, so that i can wash it and take it to university, because i have an early morning class" I say "Ok, take it and leave then" he says.
"I will..." i reply firmly, Look at him, asking ME to leave, I should be mean to him right now, cuz he was being such a douchebag, I should really leave, but I don't want to. I'll just hate him extra when he's fine, but I'm just gonna stick to him for now. "-once i check your temperature" He smiles, as if he knew I wouldn't leave, does he think I'm too easy? Oh just wait James Pierce I'm gonna be SO hard on you once you're better. His temperature is 100, still, I mean I guess it's better, but really not that much, how's he gonna go to work tomorrow?
"You should probably call in sick tomorrow" I tell him.
"I already did", he replies, almost asleep. At least he'll get some rest tomorrow too, and I can skip my afternoon lecture, I'll just attend the morning one, that way he'll be good as new by tomorrow night. Wait, why am I doing so much for him. Ugh. It's just that I know he's a good guy, and now that I know the reason he hates me too, he's technically just being a good brother right? Why is my hate towards him kinda disappearing? I guess I would have done the same thing if I were in his place, so how am I supposed to feel about him? I should just stop with the overthinking and give my mind some rest. I dab him a little more with the cold water, and I think he's asleep again, so I slowly stand up to leave, but then he opens his eyes, grabs my hand and pulls me back. I fall back to where I was sitting on his bed, and he whispers, "Don't leave me, stay".
Ugh sick people just say the sweetest things, but how could I leave after that? So I stay, I lay my head on the wall behind his bed and fall asleep holding his hand. When I wake up in the morning I'm lying down on his bed, and I don't see him in the morning, but i hear the shower running so he's probably showering and I definitely do not want to see him half naked again, so i rush up to my room, get dressed and leave for university after making him some soup and leaving it in the flask with a post it note. I only have one lecture in the morning , and I bunk the next one and come back home because James is getting better, almost good as new and I'm scared he'll get sick again if I don't stay and take care of him. I come home, give him more soup and keep checking his temperature which is 99 degrees now. He stays in his bed and sleeps again after I do that. I feel sick after being around him for so long so I take another shower and tell him to, as well. He takes a shower and then comes up to the living room, sits on the sofa watching tv, and his fever looks like it's pretty much gone.
"You look all better now" I say standing next to him. Then he pulls me onto his lap and fastens his hands around my waist and I let out a silent scream.
"How would you know, you didn't even check my temperature" he says. Then he takes my hand and puts it on his forehead.
"See.., it.. its.. it is better" I say flustered and try to get up but he doesn't let me, and holds me in place.
"Are you sure? You're hands feel cold to me" he says.
"That's because my hands are cold, not because of your temperature." I say.
"You're cold?" He asks.
"Yes, but why do you care? Why do you keep forgetting that you hate me and then remembering it, conveniently, whenever you want?" I ask.
"Why do you keep letting me hate you?" He asks.
"Hating me is your choice, there's nothing I can do about it" I reply and try to get up again, but he doesn't let me.
"You can tell me the truth" he says, "Thalia knows about what happened and still treats you like a sister, I want to know if she's stupid or knows something that I don't"
I pull his hands off of me finally, and it was really hard, but I was really mad so I could. I get off of him, "Maybe she's just stupid" I say and walk away.
I avoid him for the rest of the day and just stay in my room the whole time. He seems just fine, fully recovered, if he has enough energy to bully me, then he is just good as new.He knocks on my door, and says, "Collette can you please come out, my head is hurting badly again". And well since, I am weak hearted or just stupid, I open the door and see him smiling.
"Tell me what happened" he demands and holds my door open.
"Why would I? Don't you know what happened already? Now leave me alone" I say.
"You're really just going to avoid me? I'm so sick" he fake coughs.
"You never had a cough" I say "Uhh yea well I just got it" he replies.
"Just go away" I say and lock the door. I know he's a good guy, but how could he not know me at all? After everything we've been through. He just thinks that I would betray my best friend. How could he think that lowly of me? So yeah, I'm gonna give him a hard time, I don't need to prove to anybody that I am a good person. If he can trust me without proof, then he can go ahead and trust me. If not, then he can hate me. I've been going through it for six years I can go through it for some more.