Pulse

“Leave me alone…” Ivy said, for what felt like the hundredth time that day. She had woken up early - very early - to go to the hospital to see how her mother was doing. They were keeping her sedated so that she could heal, and for some reason, that bothered Ivy very deeply. And now Daniel wouldn’t stop trying to make up for stealing her sheet music and showing it to strangers. It was shaping up to be a long day.

“I’m really sorry” he continued. He was basically doing a monologue. It was starting to bother Ivy, and she wasn’t shy about letting it show. “I mean, I really wish I hadn’t shown Jordan and Frankie. Even though they were both impressed with it.” He paused, reading her emotions in her tense shoulders. “But that’s not what’s bothering you, is it.”

Ivy nearly dropped her purse. That would have resulted in quite the mess. Quickly, she turned her face away, pretending to study the wall. He laughed. Shitfuck. How could he read her so easily?

“I knew it!” A wide smile spread across Daniel’s face. “Now, tell me. What’s wrong?” He seemed honestly concerned.

“You want to know what’s wrong?!” Ivy screamed, whipping her head around so fast she surely gave herself whiplash. “I don’t think you really care!” The hot, angry tears pushed their way from the corners of her eyes. “My mother nearly died! Did you know that? Did you?”

Daniel fell silent. His eyes looked sad, but slightly confused. He didn’t understand her anger. And he didn’t know what to say to make her feel better. That much was obvious.

Ivy couldn’t help herself. She buried her face in her hands, trying to hide the tears that were flowing freely now. They bumped over her fingers and made large splashes on the concrete floor, like the rain. She felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around her, and she didn’t care.

“Shh. It’s going to be okay.” Daniel’s voice was in her ear.

“I’m so worried about her.” Ivy mumbled into his shoulder, feeling faintly ridiculous.

“It’s going to be okay.” Daniel said again, patting her awkwardly on the back.

Ivy hiccupped a laugh at the ridiculous awkwardness of the whole situation, and pushed Daniel away from her. He moved fairly readily, of course, he felt as strange holding her while she cried as she felt being held by him as she sobbed into his shoulder. She didn’t know him well enough to feel alright about being comforted by him yet.

“You going to be alright?” he asked, looking at her warily.

“I think so. I’m not sure yet.” She smiled. The rest of the day passed fairly quickly. That wasn’t good. She wasn’t looking forward to having to break the news to her boss that she wasn’t going to be in for work for a couple weeks. Or seeing the look on her brother’s face when he looked at her mother lying unconscious on a hospital bed. She wasn’t looking forward to seeing her mother hurt that badly, either, for that matter.

After school, she got a surprise. Daniel was waiting for her outside of her French class.

“Guess who?” he said, jumping up behind her and covering her eyes with his hands. It was such a childish gesture, Ivy had to laugh.

“Santa Claus?” She asked fakely, pushing his fingers from her eyelids. “Oh, darn. Not Santa, just you.” She teased lightly. “Although, you do kind of look like Santa.”

He pursed his lips and put both hands on his hips. All in all, it was a very gay pose. Which sent Ivy into a fit of hysterics, which lasted for about ten minutes before Daniel finally said, “That’s it. You are in no state to drive. Tell me where you need to go, and I’ll take you there.”

“B - B - But what about my c - c - c - car?” she asked in between giggles. “I c - can’t just leave it here!” she tried to explain.

“Don’t worry about your car; I’ll get it to your house later.” He said, poking her in the back until she moved. “Get in.”

Daniel’s car was nice. It was blue, its seats smelled new. It was clean and held the faint odor of watermelon jolly ranchers. The heater worked, which was a great feature, but it made her feel cheap because hers was broken. Daniel smiled as she looked around his car incredulously, looking for some major flaw that would put it on a level with hers.

“Your seats are too soft.” She finally said, folding her arms across her chest.

He shook his head silently as he started the engine, which quietly revved to life. Ivy’s eyes narrowed infinitesimally as the quiet engine angered her.

“Where to, chief?” Daniel asked, poking her in the side with his elbow.

He was just too nice. There had to be some random flaw somewhere. Other than his kleptomania, that is. She smiled, and decided to make it her mission to find out what that flaw was.

She gave him first the address of her brother’s school, then her house, then the hospital, deciding abruptly to simply skip work. This mission was going to be fun.