Childstar 2

At least one of us was enjoying this.

Resting against the seat, I watched her until my eyes grew too heavy to stay open anymore, and I drifted off.

Freedom—you never know how much you love it until someone tries to take it away.

***

Her fever wasn’t budging. Her cheeks were red and her breathing was a lot more staggered than it was in the car. Rolling up my sleeves, I sat up on the edge of the bed, lightly shaking her awake.

“Amelia…Amelia,” I whispered.

“Urgh,” she groaned, her face bunching together, one of her eyes peeking opening. “Noah?”

“Hey, sleepyhead.”

Licking her lips, she tried to look around.

“Where are we?”

“Back at the hotel,” I responded. “Can you sit up?”

She nodded, but when she tried, she instantly reached up to touch her forehead. Her body hunched forward.

“Here,” I said, handing her some aspirin along with water.

“Thanks.” She drank deeply. “How long have I been out?”

“Nine hours.”

“Nine hours? What?” She made a move to get up, but I grabbed her arms and held her in place, laying her back against the pillows.

“You need to rest...and eat.” I lifted the tray of food I had left on the bedside table and placed it in front of her. “Tomato soup, a turkey-ham sandwich on white bread with no cheese or crust, with a side of oranges and vanilla caramel tea.”

She looked up at me, her mouth parted slightly.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Eat,” I said, lifting the spoon to her lips. She didn’t look away from me as she opened her mouth and allowed me to feed her.

“You remembered my comfort food,” she said, opening her lips for another bite.

“This is hardly your comfort food. If you weren’t sick, you’d want a bag of chocolate-covered kettle corn with a Sprite and a double hamburger from Uncle Saul’s.”

A wicked grin spread across her lips, her whole face brightening, “That sounds amazing!”

Of course. I snickered, shaking my head at her. “Again, you’re sick—”

“It a small headache. I’ve had worse…”

She looked surprised when I showed her the temperature.

“Anything over 101 degrees isn’t small, Amelia. Right now, you don’t have anywhere to be but this bed until you get better.”

“Ollie would beg to differ,” she sighed, reaching for the sandwich.

“Not this time. He agreed that you’ve had a rough couple days.”

She frowned, swallowing the small bite she had taken, then focusing on me. I wished I hadn’t brought it up. The smile she’d had only a second earlier disappeared from her face.

“If I had a rough couple of days, what about you? You’re always so worried about me—”