Believe In Me

My eyes fluttered closed and my mind argued with itself over the decision I still hadn’t made. It should be a relatively easy choice to make, right? Go see Cale and tell him I love him and that I wish he would get better soon, etcetera, etcetera… But the thought of seeing him in the state he was in during my dreams scares me to death. I’m not ready to see him helpless and scared when I’m supposed to be the only one helpless and scared.
I rolled over on my side and my air dried waves fell across my face. I sighed in contentment as I curled up next to a pillow. I love Nick’s bed, it’s so comforting and makes me feel like I belong here: as weird as that may seem. Maybe if I bring Nick along, it won’t be so bad. Yeah, I’ll do that. I have to go; there’s really no legitimate excuse not to.

She sat up and headed to the kitchen where Mrs. Jonas just finished putting away some dishes left in the dishwasher. “Hello.”
“Hi. I was wondering if I could take you up on that offer to take me over to my Aunt’s house.”

She shut the dishwasher and turned towards her. “Of course. Let me finish cleaning up a bit and we can leave in about forty-five minutes.”

“Thank you, very much. I’ll be ready then.” Dailee turned the corner to look for Nick, but ran into something of a larger stature. “Oomph! Oh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

Joe chuckled and shook his head. “Its fine, couldn’t say I was either.”

She smiled in return and started to go around him, but he stopped her and asked, “Hey, I – um- just wanted to tell you I’m always here for you. Even at school. I know I don’t see you at all because of our schedules, but still I just wanted to let you know that.”

Her eyelids fluttered and pursed her lips as she half-heartedly said, “Thanks, I guess? I didn’t know you’re still in high school.”

He laughed embarrassedly and rubbed the back of his neck. Not at the fact that he was nineteen and still in high school, but because she deliberately blew off what he was trying to say. “Um, yeah. I was held back a year.”

“Oh,” she looked down, trying to make things as un-awkward as possible. “You know, you don’t have to tell me that just because you feel bad for me. I’m doing ok. Really, I am.”

His eyes widened and his lips slightly parted. She thinks I’m joking. “Dailee, I don’t understand-”

She nodded, lips still pursed. “Yeah, I don’t either. I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

. . .

“Oh, I’m so happy you made it over.” Kayva pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

“Love you too, Kay,” she choked out while patting her over-excited Aunt on the back.

Kayva looked over Dailee’s shoulder at Nick and smiled before mouthing did you ask her yet?

Nick played stupid and glanced at Dailee confused. Kayva rolled her eyes and let go of Dailee. She walked over to Nick and pulled him into a hug as well. “I said did you ask her yet,” she whispered in his ear.

“I don’t remember…” He winked at Dailee who was staring at the two impatiently.

She pulled back and smacked his arm good-naturedly. “You are one frustrating kid, you know that right?”
He walked over and placed a lingering kiss on Dailee’s cheek, while she blushed. “Nick.” Dailee dragged out the vowel and turned away from her Aunt embarrassed. “Answer your question?”

. . .

I clutched his hand tighter as we walked into Cale’s room. It was dark, light enough to see though. Cale was propped up on pillows wide awake with something in his hand. He was staring at the glowing TV where the little cars were passing each other and running into things. “Oh, dude! I love that game!”

Cale laughed then paused the game. “Me too.”

He looked ten times better, but still had that pale look to his face. I let go of Nick hand and rushed over to him. I threw my arms around his slightly sitting body. “Whoa there, Dails. I still don’t feel well.”

I pulled back sheepishly and smiled at him. “Sorry. It’s just that I missed you so much. I mean I only had Nick over there to keep me company…”

“Hey, now! You love my company. Don’t deny it!”

Cale chuckled and turned to Nick. “Thanks for looking after her.”

Kayva clapped her hands and left the room saying something about doing the laundry.

“So, how’s everything at home? Are you ok? I’m really sorry about leaving and everything. I didn’t really have a say in the situation considering I was pretty much forced to stay here.”

Dailee was sitting at his side on the bed, while Nick found a chair in the corner and brought it over to sit. Nick had shut the door before grabbing the chair, so Kayva had less of a chance to overhear the conversation.

“Cale, relax. I haven’t been at home since the night you left.”

“Oh, good. Wait. What? Where have you been?” Dailee placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Cale, I said relax, dude. I’ve been staying at Nick’s house. It’s all good. I asked and everything. I told Mrs. J that mom was on a business trip for a few weeks and she was cool with it.”

Cale had an unreadable expression on his face. “I guess that’s ok. Thanks again Nick. I really owe you more than I thought now, don’t I?”

“It’s really no big deal. You owe me nothing.”

The two smiled at each other and had some weird “guy moment” Dailee didn’t understand. She had to indescribably remarkable guys looking after her and for that she was beyond grateful.

It was about 7:45 at night. Dailee and Nick had left Kayva’s house at about 6. Cale was to be leaving her house after he was completely healed. Kava wanted to make sure there was absolutely no chance Dailee will get sick later on.
Mrs. Jonas made dinner for everyone, except Mr. Jonas who was at some business meeting in another state for the weekend. Dailee tried extra hard to ignore Joe’s continuous attempts to catch her eye throughout the meal. No one seemed to really notice though. Afterwards, Dailee snuck off to Nick’s room to think (and get away from Joe) while everyone else played a board game after Frankie proposed the idea. Kevin played only because he was leaving that night.

What a day. No, not really. But Joe… ugh. Joe needs to stop pitying me and realize that I can go through life ignoring what people think or say about me. I wonder who told him…
Never mind, I could care less. I don’t need his sympathy; I don’t need anyone’s sympathy for that matter. I just need someone there for me, to hold me up when all I want to do is fall. To say they won’t let me down and I can believe them. So if that’s really what Joe was getting at earlier today, then he needs to build up more of a friendship with me before I will even begin to honestly believe him. I guess what I’m trying to say is, for me to believe someone first, they need to believe in me. So, until I know Joseph is, in fact, not pitying me, that is the way I will have to take it.

She was lying in the center of his bed almost asleep when she heard someone sit beside her hesitantly. Thinking it was Nick, the left side of her mouth twitched up ever so slightly. A set of fingertips brushed her hair out of her face and gently behind her ear. Dailee’s eyes remained closed while he reached down and grabbed a blanket to cover her. After a couple of minutes he leaned down to kiss her forehead before standing up and walking towards the door on his toes. Dailee opened her eyes and caught a glimpse of straightened head of lustrous dark brown hair disappear down the hall.