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“What?" I asked avoiding her gaze, suddenly finding the hem of my tank top very interesting.
“The couch was just so much more comfortable than the bed and you absolutely couldn't resist it?"
“Well, no. We were talking and he sort of fell asleep on me and I remembered him saying that he had trouble sleeping sometimes so I didn't want to wake him. And there was the whiskey and, well then, I just woke up here." I smiled apologetically but Alicia was looking at me thoughtfully.
"Are you okay? You look a little pale," she said eventually.
“I've just got a bit of a headache, I'll be fine." I sat still, awkwardly fiddling with the hem. “Thank you for the clothes," I said after the silence had stretched on for a little too long.
"No problem. I didn't have much that was short enough but feel free to borrow anything you need."
I was finding it easy to like Alicia.
“I should probably go and check on Taylor," I said, standing up. I swayed a little and put an arm out to keep my balance.
“Of course." She moved aside to let me pass and I climbed the stairs carefully, every move making my head pound a little harder.
Taylor was exactly where I'd left him in the big bed, his eyes flickering beneath the lids as he dreamed.
“Are you trying to find your way back to me?" I asked him as I sat on the bed and held his hand. "Because you're missing out on quite a lot you know, and I've never been good at telling stories." The door creaked behind me and I turned to see Laurie standing in the doorway.
"Any change?" she asked, moving closer.
"No. I was just asking him to come around but he isn't listening."
"His body is just healing itself, he'll wake up when he's good and ready." She brushed the hair back out of his eyes and I felt myself stiffen slightly. It had been me and Taylor against the world for a hell of a long time.
"How are you coping?" I asked her, suppressing the desire to knock her hand away from Taylor's face.
"Better. Nearly getting mauled to death changed my perspective on things, and it's not so bad out here really. Things could certainly be a lot worse." She stood back up and jammed her thumbs into her waist band. Alicia's clothes fitted her better than they did me and I kicked at the trailing material around my ankles where my turn ups had unravelled.
“Kinda scary though," I added. It was nice having someone else who knew how alien all of this was.
“I won't disagree with that, but I'm starting to see it as more than just scary."
“There's a whole world out here." I smiled up at her and placed Taylor's hand back down on the bed. "Let's see what's for breakfast and then we can get him that help."
We headed back down to the kitchen where Coal had made an impressive stack of pancakes.
“Dig in," he offered, pushing a sticky tin of golden syrup towards us. We did as instructed and laughed as the syrup stuck to our faces as we shovelled the food down.
“Thanks." I grinned up at Coal from my seat while Laurie washed the dishes. The food had helped my head to stop spinning and I no longer felt the little ache of nausea that had been present since I woke up.
“We can go and meet with Baba now. She's in charge of healing so I'm sure we can get something sorted out for Taylor," he said, leaning forward over the table. "We're lucky that she's still in town, she'll be heading back to Franklin next week."
“Where's that?" I asked.
“It's north of here," Coal replied. "We're in Fairview now, this town is a lot smaller than Franklin but they have the hospital here so it stays busy. Most of our people are in Franklin though."
"Okay. So do I need to know anything about Baba?"
"Not really. She's pretty easy to get along with if she likes you. If not... well it won't really matter as she just won't talk to you." He laughed and grabbed a spare pancake to toss down to Kaloo as he opened the front door.
Birdsong poured in through the opening with a sweet smelling spring breeze. I squinted and clapped my hands over my ears to block it out. I felt like tiny knives were stabbing my brain.
"I think I'm sick," I moaned into the wood of the table.
“That's called a hangover," Alicia said, pulling me to my feet and handing me a glass of water.
