“Is that why you have a headache?” she asked looking at me.

“Yeah.”

She lightly ran her fingers over my injured cheek and then stroked my chin.

“Here. Eat.”

She handed me half of the sandwich. Tuna fish, my favorite. I bit down and started to chew.

“NNNmmm.”

It hurt to move my jaw up and down. I shook my head and put the sandwich back down.

“What’s wrong? Don’t want tuna fish?”

I pushed the food down my throat.

“I can’t,” I answered through clenched teeth, “Hurts to much.”

The remaining medication from the hospital had ran through me.

“Can I just take the pill? I promise to eat later,” I begged.

“You’re in that much pain?”

“Yes,” I whispered more for the effect of pity.

“Okay. But after that I want you to rest.”

“Deal.”

*****

It was a matter of minutes before I felt sleepy. I remember hearing Mom and Alice talking. About what I don’t know. I thought I even heard Serena’s voice at one point. But my eyes felt so heavy that I couldn’t keep them open any longer and couldn’t keep track of their voices.

“Hey, wake up beautiful.”

Her sweet timbre washed over me. I opened my eyes.

“That’s it. Those are the dowy brown eyes I wanted to see,” she smiled.

“Hi,” I smiled back.

She knelt next to the bed and took my hand.

“I was worried about you.”

She reached up sweeping my hair behind me ear trailing her thumb down my jaw. She pulled her hand away.

“Does it still hurt?”

“A little. But not as bad as before.”

She stood momentarily, lightly kissing my cheek and then returning to her knees.

“I’m sorry for what I said earlier. It was a panic thing. I panicked when Alice saw us. It was the only thing that popped in my head. The wrong thing to pop into my head. And I was a fool for saying it,” she apologized looking down at out joined hands.

“It’s okay,” I squeezed.

I couldn’t believe I was really saying that. After the way it made me feel.

“Really? Cause I never meant to hurt you,” she shook her head.

“Really.”

Again I was forgiving her for hurting my feeling. What the ***** is wrong with me?

“Good. I’m glad,” she sighed, “Can I lay down with you?”

“Sure,” I smiled.

Was I just going to let her get away with hurting me like that? If I let it slide once then she’ll think she can do it all the time?

I moved over as much as the bed would allow and welcomed her. She molded her body into mine and relaxed her head onto my chest. I held her around the shoulders and kissed her crown. I felt her smooth her hand under my shirt. Her fingers splayed across my stomach. She sighed.

Something about this seemed familiar to me.

I had seen this scene before.

Then it hit me… Mom pushing her feelings aside to comfort my mother. How many times had I seen Mom doing that? How many times had I seen the resentment it caused? My parents almost divorced because of it. I wasn’t going to let it be the foundation of our relationship.

I rolled over and mushed my cheek into my hand. My eyes popped open. The damn pain wouldn’t fade. I rolled onto my back again and realized that it was all a dream. The whole thing… a dream. She wasn’t beside me.

Knock. Knock.

“Come in.”

“Hey… I was checking to see if you were awake.”

My mother.

“Yeah, I’m up.”

“Feel up to a visit?”

“Okay.”

She pushed the door open more to allow a body to pass through.

“Thanks, Bette,” Serena smiled.

*****