Uncharted

I woke up dreading the day, knowing I’d have to go take care of Des after work. I figured, I could probably figure out a lie to get out of by the time the day was over. Mostly, I was hoping that Desmond would have miraculously recovered overnight and wouldn’t even want me around. To be honest, being alone with Des was the most awkward situation. Probably because he hated me.

I was sitting at my desk, trying to create some sort of order when Elle waltzed in the room and took a seat on the edge of my desk. “You’ll never guess where I’m going next week.”

I didn’t look up from the stack of papers I was trying to orangize but I could tell she was absolutely beaming. “Back to London.” I dead-panned still highly upset that Elle was heading back to London so soon.

“We’re not talking about that. Thanks for bring it up, bitch.” She whined, which made me smile a little. “You are seriously a fun-sucker. Stop bring that up.”

“Okay, okay. Where are you going?” I asked, pulling open my desk drawer and throwing the stack of paper into it carelessly.

“Well there’s this new club opening and I managed to get us on the list for opening night.” She grinned at me.

“No.” I said firmly. “The last time we went out together you got me really drunk and let some stranger try to take me home, only to have my asshole neighbor come to my rescue.”

“Oh my God, Ollie. Please tell you two fucked already, and we can move on.” She said with disinterest and picked at her nails.

“Sometimes the things that come out of your mouth amaze me.” I said after I stopped choking on air.

“You two are obviously going to eventually. I don’t know why you’re so against it. I mean he’s gorgeous.” Elle said practically drooling.

“I just broke up with my boyfriend. Literally like four days ago. Why don’t you go after him if he’s so gorgeous?” I retorted, suddenly feeling very defensive about my relationship with Des. “Plus, he’s notorious for hating my guts.”

“You’re fucking blind.” Elle said plainly, walking away. “You will be there next Friday.” She called over her shoulder.

I sat at my desk for the last hour of the work day, idly thinking about what Elle said. She was a lunatic. I swear to God. Any sane person could see that Des and I were not friends let alone romantically involved. I swear to you, Eleanor Andrews is a crazy person.

My phone rand and made me realize that I had accidently stay at work late, staring the screen saver on my computer. I answered, mentally kicking myself for not thinking of a successful lie to get out of sitting around with Desmond. I really dreaded the thought of being around all of his germs.

“What do you want to eat?” Des asked ask soon as I press my phone to my ear.

“Hi, Des.” I said sarcastically, while gathering my things.

“Hi. What do you want?” Des sounded exhausted and his voice was raspy, I was pretty sure he was about to lose his voice.

“I don’t care. Whatever. I’m not picky. You’re the sick one. You pick.”

“I doesn’t matter, I can’t taste anything anyway.” He whined and then began coughing like crazy. “Pizza?” he asked tiredly once his couching stopped.

“Yeah, sounds good.” I agreed. “Do you need anything? I’d rather stop on my way home then have to go out later.”

“Go get medicine from Cooper.”

“The hospital he works at is an hour away.” I stated.

“Olllllllllie. I’m dying.” He whined. Nothing is worse than a man who is sick. They are the biggest babies you will ever come across.

“He said he’ll bring it home.” I groaned, throwing myself into my car.

“Fine.” Des grumbled. “Bye.” He hung up before I could say another word.

&&

Des and I ate pizza without really saying much. Although he didn’t say it, I knew he was happy I was finally home. His face practically lit up when I walked through the door, which I found odd considering that Des and I weren’t friends. Or were we? I had no idea about anything when it came to Des.

His illness had only gotten worse with time. I was amazed that he managed to stay awake long enough to eat. After we ate we settled down on the couch. Des laid across it, snuggled into his blankets and I took my usual spot in at the bend of their ‘L’ shaped couch, tucking my feet under my legs. I didn’t pay much attention to whatever zombie movie Des had put on. I kept thinking of Dylan. I kept thinking about all of the times he took care of me when I was sick. I just kept thinking about everything we used to do.

“Do I have a temperature?” Des asked after another coughing fit.

“I dunno. Come here.” I laughed, watching him inch his way toward me.

Des dropped his head into my lap, instantly closing his eyes. It wasn’t hard to tell how shitty he was feeling. All he did was cough, complain, and sleep. I place my hand against his forehead only to find he was still running a fever, even after I had given him something for it.

“Yup.” I confirmed, waiting for Des to crawl back to his usual spot. But he didn’t, he stayed there. I awkwardly tried to figure out what to do with my hands, as Des turned onto his side to watch the movie.

“I’m dying.”

“Shut up, you’re not dying.” I rolled my eyes even though he couldn’t see it. I smiled at how over dramatic he was being and situated my hands away from Desmond’s head.

Des didn’t say anything after that, he just kept watching zombies tear the flesh off of the living in some old black and white film I wasn’t familiar with. My mind wondered back to Dylan, and all of the times he used to make me watch movies I hated, but I always had fun as long as I was with him.

I was lost in my thoughts, wondering who the other is. Why did he call me the night I was drunk off my ass? I was so mad, so angry that I wanted to cry just thinking about it. I could I have been that stupid? How could I have trusted him? How did I think that it would have worked?

Des began coughing, snapping me back to reality. I noticed then that I had absently been playing with his hair while I was lost in my own thoughts. Immediately my hands froze, wondering why he hadn’t said anything. I could feel my face turning bright red due to how embarrassed I was. I wanted to shoot myself once I realized what I had been doing. It was a habit, something I had always done to Dylan.

Des moved about, his head was still on my leg but kept moving around until he found my hands that were frozen in place. He nuzzled his head under my hand. “Why’d you stop?” Des mumbled, very clearly on the verge of sleep.

I instantly tangled my fingers back into his dark hair, continuing to do the same thing I always did with Dylan. Des noticeably relaxed when I continued to play with his hair. We were quiet for a while and I was pretty sure he was asleep until he started to talk to me.

“Thanks for taking me care of me.” he said slowly, obviously trying to fight off the sleep.

“It’s no problem.” I said because I was unsure of what else to say. “Go to sleep, you sound like you’re go fall asleep talking to me.”

It was too late, Des was already asleep. I looked down at his flawless, peaceful face. For the first time, Des looked happy. Even if he was fast asleep having been knocked out by cough syrup, he looked immensely happy. A ghost of a smile was on his lips. Something about Des being happy made me happy.

At the time, I thought nothing of it. Looking back now, I realize that was the very night…the very moment when something changed between Des and me. After that night things were different.