Here and Now

by T. Renee Fike

  “That sounds like a smart idea,” Lily says as she stands up. “I’ll check in on you tomorrow to see how you are feeling.”

  “Thanks Lily, I appreciate it,” I say before she leaves.

  “She took care of you?” Dani asks in disbelief.

  “Yeah, I told you she’s not that bad.”

  “I’m just surprised, and she cleaned up puke, wow, that girl definitely surprises me,” she says, looking impressed.

  “Give her a chance; she’s not so bad.”

  “I will, I’ll try not to be so judgmental,” Dani says, looking genuine.

  “I get you two didn’t really hit it off, but she has a good heart and she has always had my back when I needed her,” I say as I lie back down.

  “Maybe you should take tomorrow off classes if you aren’t feeling well,” Dani says, changing topics.

  I don’t bother to try to get her to like Lily anymore right now, which will come hopefully in the future. “I’ll see how I feel in the morning,” I say, before closing my eyes.

  “Feel better Baylee,” Dani says before I zonk out.

  The next few days are spent the same way, in bed, sicker than a dog. Lily and Dani are both worried about me and both keep trying to talk to me into going to see a doctor. I can barely sit up in my bed, yet have to worry about getting dressed to go out of the dorm to see a doctor.

  “It’s just the flu,” I inform them.

  “No, you’ve been out for four days, and you’ve been taking medication, you shouldn’t still be feeling this crappy,” Dani says.

  “I agree, you need to go see a doctor now,” Lily says.

  I’ve missed three calls from Owen already, I just haven’t been in the mood to talk; all I want to do is sleep. I’m sure I have a bunch of text messages from him too, but I can’t worry about my phone right now, sleep, sleep is way more important.

  At some point I hear voices, but can’t quite figure out whose voice it is, “Bay, are you okay?”

  “Uh-huh,” I mumble.

  “Can you open your eyes for me?” the voice asks.

  I crack open an eye and see Evan squatting down, eye level to me, “Why are you here?” I whisper.

  “You’ve been ignoring your brother and he got worried, so he asked if I could stop over and check on you, make sure you’re alright, which apparently you aren’t.”

  “It’s just the flu.”

  “How long has she been like this?” I hear Evan ask Dani and Lily. They have a conversation amongst the three of them, while I close my eyes, letting sleep take over. “Wake up sleepy head.” I hear, as my body moves.

  I open my eyes to find myself in Evan’s arms as he’s carrying me, holding me in the elevator, with Dani and Lily both right there.

  “Thanks Evan, we’ve been trying to get her to get up, but she doesn’t have the energy and we didn’t think we’d be able to carry her without doing something stupid by accident,” Lily says.

  “No problem, but you could have called me sooner. I would have come over to help,” he says.

  “She’s been keeping small portions of food down, and she’s been taking medications, we figured she would be getting better by now,” I hear Dani say.

  “It’s good she’s eating, but something’s not right. Once we know more, I’ll keep her brother updated.”

  “I bet he’s worried sick,” Lily says.

  “Obviously, he called me to come check on her, because she’s ignoring him. I’d say he’s more than worried.”

  When I wake up, I hear a beeping sound, looking around; I notice I’m in a hospital room. “What happened?” I ask to anyone who will give me an answer.

  “Hey, you’re awake,” Lily says with a smile. “You had a bad viral infection.”

  “How long have I been here?” I ask, feeling lost.

  “Since last night,” Dani says.

  “Are you feeling better?” Evan says, catching me off guard.

  “I feel much better, what are you all doing here?” I ask, knowing I’m missing something.

  “Making sure you’re better,” Evan says first. “I’m going to call your brother and let him know you’re okay,” he says before walking out of the hospital room.

  “Why is Evan here?” I ask Dani and Lily when he’s out of earshot.

  “Your brother called him to check on you because you were ignoring him,” Dani says.

  “We all discussed it, trying to figure out a way to get you to the doctors, so Evan picked you up and carried you to the car, and we drove you here,” Lily says. “You were getting worse, when you should have been getting better.”

  “You had us worried,” Dani says as she sits on the edge of the bottom of my bed.

  “I said it was probably just the flu,” I inform them.

  “It was worse than the flu, Bay. You need to make sure to take care of yourself,” Lily scolds.

  Just then the doctor walks in, “Evan said you were up, let’s see how you’re feeling today.”

  The doctor does a couple routine tests on me and tells me I can go home tomorrow, he wants to keep me one more night for observation, just to make sure the medication is working. Lily and Dani stay as long as possible, until the nurses kick them out. Evan left a few hours ago, after pleading with me to call Owen and keep him posted. I agreed to call him, of course I’d call him, I’m sure he was worried sick about me.

  Deciding it’s eerily quiet and I’m wide awake, I call Owen.

  “Hey you,” he says quickly. The phone barely had a chance to ring.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” I ask.

  “Laying here, waiting for you to call. How are you feeling?” he asks, hearing the worry in his voice.

  “I feel much better. They are letting me go home tomorrow, I had some stupid viral infection,” I inform him.

  “Yeah, that’s what Ev said. I’m so glad I had him come check on you, I knew something was wrong.”

  “Lily and Dani were making sure I ate something each day and that I was taking medicine, they just couldn’t figure out why the meds weren’t working. They tried to get me up to go to the doctors, I was just too weak.”

  “I know, Ev said that, he picked you up and you didn’t even know it until you guys were on the elevator. You need to make sure you are taking care of yourself Bay.”

  “I am, it wasn’t like I could prevent it, I didn’t do anything wrong to catch it.”

  “I know, sorry, I was just worried about you,” he says kindly.

  “I know you were, but I’m good, I’m feeling much better, just ready to get back to school and on my regular schedule. I’m sure I have lots of homework to catch up on.”

  “Lily and Dani informed your professors Bay, they are going to give you a little extra time. Plus, you’ll have this weekend to catch up on some of it.”

  “Thank goodness for that, but hopefully, I can go to class tomorrow.”

  “You can’t, the hospital isn’t releasing you until tomorrow, so take tomorrow, rest, then you can work on your assignments that they picked up for you this weekend.”

  “We’ll see what time I get out of here,” I state.

  “Damn it Bay, don’t argue with me,” Owen says, sounding angry. “You need to rest, then you can worry about school, got it?”

  “I got it,” I say, giving in, I don’t want to piss him off any more than he already sounds.

  We spend the next half hour catching up and talking about any and everything before I decide to try to call it a night and get some sleep, like I need more of it.

  Chapter Eight

  I take the rest of the weekend to rest, and I’m surprised, because I haven’t heard from Austin all week. To be honest, it’s weird, I haven’t heard from him since I came home from visiting my brother last weekend.

  Deciding to see if I’m missing something, I send him a text.

  Me- “Hey, how are you?”

  It takes about a half hour for me to finally get a response.

  Austin- “Hey, I�
��m good, how about you?”

  Me- “I haven’t heard from you all week, is everything alright?”

  Austin- “Yeah,” is all he says.

  Me- “Did you want to come over and hang out?” I ask, checking to see if I’m being crazy or if something is truly going on.

  Austin- “Can’t tonight, I’m working on a paper, but tomorrow works after classes.”

  Me- “Okay, sounds good.”

  Austin- “See you tomorrow. Have a good night.”

  I sit and continue reading the messages over, he didn’t even ask if I was feeling any better. Something feels off, but I haven’t got a clue as to what. We were great before I left to go visit my brother, what the hell changed?

  “What’s wrong?” Dani asks.

  “Austin just seems weird lately,” I admit.

  “Where’s he been, he hasn’t stopped over, called, nothing,” she points out.

  “I don’t know, I haven’t really talked to him since I got back from visiting Owen,” I say as I sit Indian style on my bed, facing her.

  “Ask him to come over and talk, I can go somewhere for a little while.”

  “I asked if he wanted to hang out, he said he’s doing homework, that we could tomorrow,” I say, as I look down at my phone, trying to make sense of it.

  “That’s so weird. I thought you two were doing really well.”

  I look directly at her, “So did I.”

  “Maybe it’s nothing and tomorrow you can figure it all out,” she says, trying to remain positive.

  “Hopefully.”

  Dani and I spend the rest of the evening hanging out and talking before calling it a night.

  Monday comes and I head to class, looking forward to seeing Austin later. I want to clear some things up, figure out what the heck is going on.

  He’s been texting me all morning, like normal, and acting like nothing has changed, which has me even more confused. He’s planning to come over around four-thirty, after his last class is over.

  I text Dani to give her a heads up that we will be talking in the dorm room, so she doesn’t walk into our conversation and feel weird or anything. She responded back, saying she’s going to the library after her last class, to text her when he leaves.

  I get back to my room a little after four and wait for him to get here.

  A few minutes after four-thirty, there’s a knock on my door. I open it to see a smiling Austin.

  “Hey you,” I say, happy to see him, I’ve missed him.

  “Hey,” he says as he comes in and gives me a hug. He kisses my forehead, but doesn’t say too much.

  “Is everything between us okay?” I ask, as I walk over to my bed and take a seat, he follows suit, sitting beside me.

  “You tell me, I haven’t heard from you in a week,” he says with a straight face.

  I look at him, clearly confused. “I was sick last week, I even stayed in the hospital,” I say, surprised he didn’t know this already.

  “What?” he practically shouts, looking at me worriedly.

  “I had a viral infection. I couldn’t even get out of bed, so Dani, Lily, and Evan took me to the hospital.”

  “I didn’t know, I thought you were avoiding me, because you didn’t respond to my texts from Monday.”

  “I passed out on lunch and just slept a lot. I’m sorry, I wasn’t ignoring you.”

  “Are you okay now?” he asks, as he thoroughly looks me over.

  “Much better,” I smile.

  We hang out for the next three hours; I fill him in on how my weekend with my brother went, along with how things went last week. He kept apologizing for not knowing I was sick and for not checking on me. The time spent with him is back to normal, and I couldn’t be happier.

  For the next few months things are great, winter break is coming up and I’m excited to go home and hang out with people from home, along with my brother too.

  I thought about bringing Austin home with me to meet my family, but he’s already met Owen and my parents won’t be around, so there’s really no point in trying to introduce him to them. Owen also asked me to not bring him home, which shocked me, but I decided against it anyway.

  Austin and I have messed around and done everything, but sex, but, it’s just a matter of time of before it happens. It’s going to, and can at any point, but the self-control right now is crazy. I’m excited, yet frustrated, at the same damn time and I’m sure he is as well.

  Dani and Lily have actually gotten along so much better since I got sick, and we can all hang out and not have them be annoyed with one another. It’s rather refreshing. We’ve all three gone out quite a few times, and have had a blast. I’m stoked that my two best friends get along now.

  “When are you and Lily leaving?” Dani asks as I finish packing a bag for home.

  “Tomorrow around ten,” I say, excited that finals are over and I get to go home and relax for a week.

  “And you’re coming back on Saturday right,” she asks, looking hopeful.

  “Yeah, next Saturday.”

  “Good.”

  “Awe, are you going to miss me?” I joke.

  “Of course, now I have to hang out with the stupid people from high school, which isn’t much fun.”

  “At least you are close.”

  “Yeah, definitely am, but sometimes that’s a curse,” she says with a straight face. During this first semester, I’ve met a few people she knows from high school here, and they don’t seem all the bad, though I feel like I might be missing something. I need to work on finding some of that information out during our next semester.

  I can’t help but chuckle, “So what’s the plan for tonight?” I ask.

  “Party, party, party,” she cheers as she pumps her fist in the air, causing me to laugh harder.

  “Which ones?”

  “Not sure yet, but we can hit up a few different ones. Lily wants us to go to her sorority one tonight too, and I’m sure Austin wants to hang out with you at some point as well.”

  “Yes he does,” I say, shaking my head.

  “So, are you thinking of having sex with him before you leave tomorrow?” she asks me straight out.

  “No, I might as well wait until we come back from break, no sense in trying to rush it tonight,” I state truthfully.

  “Good point. So, what time are you to meet up with Austin?” she asks.

  “Whenever, I guess. We didn’t discuss a time.”

  “Okay,” she says as she starts rummaging through her closet.

  I start looking through mine. It’s colder out obviously, so dressing appropriately is a must. I settle on a pair of leggings with a flannel top, grabbing my boots, before sitting down to start on my make-up.

  “You look cute,” Dani says as she checks out my outfit. She’s in a pair of skinny jeans with a green V-neck sweater. Her hair is always purple, I originally thought she would be changing it like every week, but she doesn’t, she prefers her hair to be purple.

  “So do you, are you looking to impress someone specific?” I ask as she slips her high heeled boots on.

  “Nope,” she says with a smirk.

  “Who is he?” I ask, calling her out.

  “No one, I said,” she states loudly. Her face is a complete giveaway though, she’s definitely lying.

  “Is he going to be out tonight?” I ask, not giving in.

  “I don’t know who or what you’re talking about,” she says, ignoring me as she grabs her hairbrush.

  “You suck at lying,” I point out.

  “I’m not lying,” she says, as she looks directly at me.

  I start to laugh, “Okay, sure, I’ll let it go for now then,” I smile. I know her, but I will let her tell me when she is good and ready to tell me.

  “Thank you,” is all she says as she starts working on styling her hair. I finish my make-up and hair and wait a few minutes while she finishes getting ready. “Ready to go?”

  “Sure am,” I say, as I grab a coat and wristlet. I op
en the door to see Lily walking down the hall towards us.

  “Ready to go?” she beams, looking way too excited.

  “Yep,” Dani and I say in unison.

  “Let’s go then,” she says as she turns around and leads us towards the empty elevators. We make the short walk to the first party, deciding to go to her sorority next.

  The house is huge and out of control with people.

  “Can we not stay here too long?” I ask, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

  “Yeah, there’s way too many people here, this shit will get shut down for sure,” Dani says to the both of us.

  We end up going in and making our way to the kitchen area to get a drink. By the time we finish our first one, it’s a fight just to try to get back to the front door to leave. The place is beyond crowded and people are drunk and stumbling everywhere.

  “Holy hell, that was crazy,” Lily squeals, once we hit the sidewalk outside.

  “Why is that place so packed?” I ask, still not understanding why everyone’s there.

  “They’re probably doing drugs in the basement, so it’s a hot spot tonight,” Dani says like it’s nothing.

  “Oh,” I say, feeling really naïve. I mean I know about drugs, but I was never the type to get involved in them, I always preferred my normal state of mind, versus an altered one.

  “It’s pretty common Bay,” Lily says with a look.

  “I know that, I’m not dumb, I guess I just never really looked for it.”

  Dani starts laughing, while shaking her head, “Bay, it’s everywhere, all the time. People have it, lots of people that you talk to are high on a daily basis, and you just don’t know it.”

  “I don’t know it, I don’t care to either,” I defend.

  “Such the goody-goody,” Lily chuckles.

  “No, I’m just not one to be all about the drugs. I don’t care if people choose to do them, that’s their choice. I choose not to do drugs and that’s my business,” I point out as I continue to walk towards Lily’s sorority house.

  Dani and Lily laugh and joke to one another, while I continue to walk. I don’t care, I don’t even like to have conversations about drugs, because what’s the point?

  We walk about five minutes, making sure to move a little swifter because it’s getting colder and colder out. Lily walks in first, and says hello to all her sorority girls, while Dani and I give our coats to a girl before heading to the kitchen to grab drinks.