By Your Side

The next day I woke up and Tom’s arms were still around me. I smiled and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips.

“Tom, wake up, we’re going to be late,” I said pushing on his shoulder.

“Just five more minutes,” He groaned and tried turning over to realize his arms were around me.

I giggled a bit then shook him again. “Tom, seriously get up.”

He yawned, opening his eyes to see me in the same bed as him. A look of confusion flashed in his eyes, going away just as quickly as it’d come when he remembered why I was there.

“How are you feeling?” He asked, this time giving me a gentle kiss.

“I’m better,” I assured him. “Now come on we’re going to be late.”

“What time is it?” He stretched and yawned again.

“It’s a little past seven.”

I got up then stopped when I realized I would have nothing clean to wear today.

“What’s wrong?” Tom got up suddenly and stood in front of me.

Great, now he was going to worry about me every time I wasn’t smiling. It was sweet, but I also felt terrible. I didn’t want him worrying about me twenty four-seven. He shouldn’t have to.

“Nothing, it’s just… I don’t have anything clean to wear,” I shrugged.

“You can wear something of Bill’s?” He suggested.

“Do you think he would care?”

“Nah, you’re best friends. Why would he?” Tom had a point.

“Won’t he wonder why I need his clothes, though?”

“Shit, I didn’t think about that…” he thought for a moment. “He’s probably eating breakfast so I’ll just sneak into his room and get some.”

I looked at him and right away he knew that wasn’t a good idea. Bill hardly ate breakfast. None of us did, really. Mostly because we were running late more than half the time so we weren’t able to.

“Those clothes don’t look that bad, besides no one will know you wore them yesterday,” Tom insisted.

“Tom, they’re my pajamas. I’m sure people will notice,” I laughed.

“Let’s go ask him then. But wait here for a minute; I’m going to make sure my mom isn’t here.”

“Okay.”

Tom came back into the room a few minutes later, fresh clothes in hand.

“Thanks,” I took them from him and looked them over. Luckily, Bill had a great sense of style or it would have sucked to borrow his clothes. He lent me a regular grey t-shirt that was, also luckily, not as big as Tom’s shirts, so it would fit semi-perfectly. Bill didn’t have boobs so the shirt would be a bit smaller on me than him. He had also let me use a pair of his black pants. The seams were red and they had a few red squares on them, they kind of looked like they had holes in them but were patched up. All in all, it was a cool outfit.
“Was he mad that I’m here?” I asked Tom when I came back into his room after I was finished changing.

“No, but he was confused and a little worried.”

“Did you tell him I was crying like a baby last night?” I put my head down, ashamed that I was a mess last night.

“No,” he shook his head again, “we know you’ll tell us what happened when you’re ready.”
He smiled then came over and gave me a hug. And I couldn’t help but to smile and hug him back.

“Thanks Tom, so much.”

“You’re welcome. I’m here for you, Anna. Remember that.”

“Trust me, I know. And you help me out more than you’ll ever know,” I smiled again as he took my hand and we all, including Bill, headed out the door to school.