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Shaking my head, I sat on the toilet, cringing when the skin of my abs bent and wrinkled with the movement. “I’m the only person in the world who has this illness. My treatments consisted of regular blood transfusions, and medicine. But the blood Dad saved in the blood bank for me has run out, and the medicine alone does very little, if not nothing.”
Blinking his wide eyes, Josh tried to understand. “Then just get more blood transfusions.”
My head shook. “Only my dad’s blood helps.”
“That can’t be true. Maybe get O negative blood. That’s supposed to be universal, no? If you are worried about the cost, I can help. I’ll just use the emergency card my parents left me and pay for them.”
“I appreciate the gesture, but you can’t be serious. Blood transfusions are like $300 a pop, and I need one weekly. Besides, even if that worked, your parents would kill you for using the credit card for that.”
“Dude. This is the definition of an emergency!” he argued.
“Thank you, Josh. It means a lot that you are the kind of friend who would do that for me, but I have a very rare blood type. So rare that less than fifty people in the world have it. That is why my father’s is the only one I can receive. With the blood bank account empty, and my father gone, that’s it for me.”
Horror captured his features as he processed my statement, his eyes searching the bruises on my body, and noticing the make-up that covered half of the ones on my arms—where my sleeves stopped. When his gaze reached my face, it was like he could see through the concealer to the exhaustion and weakness I felt.
“You can’t just give up.”
“I’m not. I don’t remember my father ever saying this would kill me, but it’s obvious it does severely hinder my quality of life. I’m just trying to see how far it goes, so I can find a way to deal with it.”
Swallowing the dread, he nodded. “Are you going to tell Nick and the others?”
“Eventually,” I admitted. “It’s becoming clear I will no longer be able to do this job, so I guess soon I’ll have to quit. I’m just trying to deal with things as best I can.”
“Of course,” he swallowed again, dismay reaching his eyes. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone. Take the time you need to figure things out, but I’m taking you home tonight and picking you up again tomorrow morning… and every day from now on.”
“Okay,” I smiled, holding myself from the wall to stand, and carefully putting on the uniform. The simple movement hurt.
Josh reached to help me lower the shirt in the back, halting when his eyes unavoidably saw the disfigured skin.
Damn it. I had forgotten about that.
Without a word about it, he finished lowering the shirt, and pulled me in for a bro hug. Though he didn’t squeeze me too much not to hurt me further. “I can’t imagine how difficult this is for you. Just know I’m here whatever you need.”
Patting his back, I leaned away and nodded. “Thank you.”
“I mean it. Anything at all,” he emphasized, as he looked into my eyes. “You want a one-night stand with Rebecca? DONE.”
We laughed, stepping out of the bathroom.
“Don’t tell her I said that. She would freaking kill me,” he whispered behind me with a chuckle.
“I don’t know, man. She calls me handsome every time she sees me. She might enjoy a change.”
Josh narrowed his eyes at me, his lips twitching. “Oh, that’s low. I don’t want to play anymore.”
“About time!” Nick called when we reached the front of the coffee shop, taking the chairs off the tables, and setting them upright on the floor. “Did you guys finally hook up? I knew that bromance would evolve sooner or later.” He spoke like he’d seen it coming.
“You jealous?” Josh challenged with a smirk, walking towards the coffee station before I could get there. He began setting it up. “We can make out on my break if you want.”
Nick’s laughter reached us. “Nooo, thank you!”
Shaking my head, I reached the register, exchanging a glance with Josh that told me he would be taking care of both the coffees and paninis this morning. I wanted to argue, but I couldn’t. The reality was that I didn’t think I could manage the rush I normally dealt with in this job, and that kind of crushed my spirit a little bit.
“Sticking to the register it is,” I mumbled to myself, seeing the line of people already gathering outside.
* * *
Sluggishly walking into the office out back, I pulled a water bottle from the employee refrigerator and sat down at the desk. The hottie wave had ended, and I was utterly beat from simply standing all day, taking the orders and charging the customers.
