AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I glare at him. “Who are you? Aaron? You don’t know methatwell.”
He sighs and shakes his head. “Maybe not. But I saw how you looked when I came in here tonight.”
“Well, I appreciate it, but let it go. Otherwise, I’m gonna have to lock my window and you’ll have to sneak in to see Sarah the old-fashioned way—ladder to her window.”
He narrows his eyes at me and shakes his head. “Fine. But I’m gonna check on you before I leave.”
I laugh. “I bet ya ten bucks you fall asleep in her room.”
He glances at her as she walks back into the room and smiles. “Yeah, you might be right about that.”
“Here, take these. Tell Mom—”
“I know, baby. Thank you. Have fun.”
I muster a wink, throw back the pills, and hope for some relief. As soon as they’re gone, I crash against my mattress again.
My sleep is fitful and full of weird fever—or pain, I guess—dreams. Ugh. I have cold sweats and am tossing and turning constantly. The pain has increased a ton and my back muscles have tightened up because of it. I know I promised Sarah that I’d tell Mom if I felt worse, but in my pain-filled half-awake state, I can’t even consider getting out of bed, let alone anything else.
I groan and roll over right as I hear Aaron’s voice.
“Hey, Beautiful. I grabbed some breakfast. I thought you might want—Rae? What’s wrong? What’s going on?”
I force my eyes open and look across my bed at Aaron. He squats down next to it, concern filling his eyes. “Rae, are you okay?”
I can’t manage any words, so I shake my head. Because Sarah was right. This is not normal. And definitely not okay.
“Sarah!” he yells.
Sarah hurries into the room, but stops in her tracks when she sees me. Then she spins back around and dashes from the room as Aaron runs his hand over my back. “What’s going on?” he whispers.
“It hurts. My… ovary or something. I don’t know. But it really hurts.”
He leans over and kisses my forehead. “When did it start?”
“I noticed it a couple of days ago, but it got bad last night.”
He stands up and then sits on the edge of the bed, reaching over and helping me sit upright.
“Rae?” Mom runs into the room in a panic, followed by Dad.
“It hurts.” I gesture my hand in the general location. “It’s awful. I can barely move. My whole back hurts now.” I start to cry. I don’t know what’s going on and it’s scary.
“All right, we need to go to the ER,” Dad says calmly. “I’m going to get the car. Kara, get your purse and phone chargers. Sarah, pack a little bag of things for Rae.” He looks back at me. “Can you walk, honey?”
I shake my head pitifully. I haven’t tried. If I’m in this much pain now, I can’t imagine how I’d feel trying to move.
“I gotcha,” Aaron says softly.
Dad nods. “We’ll meet at the car.”
When everyone else has gone, I look up at Aaron. “I think you just like carrying me around.”
He smirks at me. “Obviously. Come on, Beautiful. Let’s get down there.”
He lifts me from my bed, then sets me on the chest under my window for long enough for him to climb out, then he scoops me into his arms again. I’m shaking. From the pain, I think. I guess, I don’t know. All I know is that when I’m in Aaron’s arms, it doesn’t hurt quite as much.
He slowly carries me down the stairs. When we get to the car, my dad opens the back door for him. “Thank you. We’ll keep you updated. You should get to school.”
