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How did he have this effect on her? It wasn't as if the couple of guys she'd hooked up with in the past weren't good looking. Granted, when directly comparing them to Isaac they couldn't hold a candle. Like… literally. They were twigs next to Isaac, the mighty oak.
She held a chuckle in her chest when Isaac whined wrinkling his brow and pressing his eyelids together.
The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
"Better?" she asked setting the glass beside the now empty jug of orange juice before setting herself on the chair next to him.
"I thought I could handle it. Sleep it off or something. I don't know." A cough he fought to keep in while he spoke wheezed out.
"First," she said picking up the bottle of cough syrup, "drugs. Then, bed. You'll never get the sleep you need to get better on a couch."
"If I wasn't half dead, I'd have a good come back for you ordering me to bed."
Katie's chest caved in crushing her heart.
After everything, he still had the courage to joke with her as though nothing had happened. Maybe he didn't hate her after all?
"I'm sure you would." Katie measured a dose of cough syrup and handed him the little plastic cup of thick red liquid. "Now, drink."
He took the cup. When their fingers touched a fire burned between them. "Shit," she said, "You're so hot. Yeah. Yeah. I know," she said quickly when he smirked. "You'd have a comeback for that one too."
With the smirk still curled into one cheek, Isaac tipped the little cup against his lips.
Oh. That look. It was as entrancing as his voice had been the other night.
"I think I have some ibuprofen in my bag." Her chest caved as his smirk faded when she broke the spell.
Digging through her backpack on the floor between her feet, she found the bottle of ibuprofen, opened it, and shook three of the tan circles into her palm. "Here," she said handing him the pills and then the glass of water.
After he choked them down, Katie stood and held out her hand.
Isaac hesitated.
Only a few seconds passed but it felt like an age before he put his fever-hot hand in hers. His voice, his look, his touch… Everything he did made her feel things she'd never felt before. Made her want to do things she'd never done before. Like stay and take care of him when she should have gone back to her dorm, gotten a good night sleep so she could get an early start on her project in the morning.
Katie held tight to his hand pulling as he stood but doing little in the way of actually helping him up.
Even hunched over, exhausted by the virus, he towered above her. She probably couldn't move him on her own if she had a rush of adrenaline—like the temporary super-human strength mothers were said to have when their children were in danger.
Hand in hand, Katie led him to the stairs.
"Deja vu," Isaac said as they climbed them. What did he mean by that? Was it a joke? She couldn't tell from his tone and she didn't have the courage to turn around and read his expression.
When she'd walked in the house, she'd been certain he didn't want her around. But the way he joked. The look in his eye… She wondered if maybe he did still want her.
The crushed up bits of her heart ached to repair the damage she'd done to him. Wanting to know what a relationship with him would be like. Wishing it could work and not end with him breaking her heart—or her having to break his before she screwed her plans up completely.
Forget it.
It wouldn't work.
"This is… weird," Isaac said when they stood at the top of the stairs in front of his bedroom door. "The last time you were here—"
"Yeah." She turned around to find him staring at the carpet.
It might not have been her fault he'd gotten sick, but if it hadn't been for her, he wouldn't feel nearly as shitty as he looked.
She couldn't fix the damage she'd done but she could make his recovery as painless as possible. Make sure he got all the rest he needed while she did everything she could for him.
