Once again, Ashley was alone. Only for a little while, though. Easy had to go pick up his check from Sbarro; he said that he’d go pick up a few things for the sick girl while he was out.

She would sleep, but she wasn’t tired. Being sick sucked, there was nothing to do, and you feel like crap.

Ashley couldn’t understand what the hype for sick days was. People in television shows always wanted to be sick, so that they wouldn’t have to go to school or whatever else. Screw that; if they liked getting out of classes, they should just skip, not wait for a sick day.

Rolling over for what seemed the millionth time in the past ten minutes, Ashley noticed a book on the bedside table. It was the copy of A Walk to Remember that she had tossed there days prior. She reached over and picked it up. Turning it around in her hands a couple times, she sighed.

Why not, she thought mockingly.

A while later, Easy came through the door with a grocery bag in his hand, his ears still red from the cold outside. He looked over to Ashley to find her reading, quietly, her complete focus on the book. Easy knocked on the dresser to get her attention before walking over by the bed.

Ashley looked up at him. “Oh, hey.”

He waved. “Whatcha got there?” he asked nodding his head towards the book.

She held the book up to the boy, so he could read the title. “Is it yours?” she asked.

He set the grocery bag down on the table and shook his head. “No. It’s Squirt’s.”

“Why is it here, then?” Ashley asked curiously, a quizzical brow peaked.

Easy held out his hand, silently asking for the book. The sick girl handed it over, and he turned it around in his hands and then fanned through a few pages.

“She loves this book,” Easy explained, looking up from the book to the girl.

“But why is it here?” Ashley repeated.

Easy handed the book back to her. “Because she has more than one copy.” He noticed the look of confusion on the girl’s face, so he elaborated further. “She’s afraid that she’ll lose it if she takes it wherever, so she keeps a copy of it at all her favorite places. She has one at home, here in the room she usually stays in, and I bet you anything there’s a copy at our grandparent’s house.”