“Everything okay?”
“Everything is fine. She gave me the sex talk,” I whispered with humor.
“Oh!” Mark said, flushing slightly.
“What did you tell her?” he asked, pretending indifference.
“I told her it was too late. We had already done it,” I said mischievously.
“What?” Mark said in shock, jumping to his feet.
“Got you!” I said giggling, while I backed away as he began to advance toward me.
“You think you’re funny don’t you?” He asked as he reached out and caught me. I giggled as he carried me back to the couch.
“You almost gave me a stroke. I didn’t know if I should hit the door running in case your mom was coming after me with a shotgun.” >“I don’t want to cause friction between you and your mom.”
“The friction is already there. I don’t know if I will ever be able to forgive her for getting you fired. I love her and would miss her if it came down to that, but I can live without her. I don’t think I could ever live without you.”
“We’ll work it out, try not to worry okay? Remember how much I love you.”
We talked for a few more minutes and then said good night. He promised to call again the next day at the same time.
After the call, I was exhausted and fell right to sleep.
I woke up the next morning confused. I sat up and looked at Sam who was rubbing sleep out of her eyes.
Finally, Sam focused on my face.
“What’s the matter?” She asked.
“He wasn’t there last night, I didn’t dream about the Boardwalk at all,” I said panic stricken.
Sam looked alarmed. “You didn’t dream about him?”
I shook my head no and lay back down. I felt light headed like I was sick or something.
“You look peaked, are your emotions getting out of hand?” Sam asked.
I shook my head no, it wasn’t like that. I’d gone to bed with my heart aching from missing Mark, and awoke to find that the ache had spread throughout my whole body.
This wasn’t emotional sickness, this was something else. Something I had never experienced before.
“Will you tell my mom that I’m too sick to go to school?” I asked Sam.
My mom came up to verify that I was truly sick. If I wasn’t so sick, I would have dwelled on how much our relationship had changed over the course of thirty six hours.
My mom took one look at me and knew that I was sick. Sam wanted to stay with me, but my mom wouldn’t let her skip school. Mom closed the blinds and turned off my bedroom lights after Sam left for school. I rolled over in a ball and sunk into an uneasy sleep.
Every few hours or so, my mom would creep in to check on me, and by the time Sam came home, she was as sick as me. It was obvious she had a case of what I had, or so my mom thought. We couldn’t tell my mom that we were just suffering from separation sickness. She called Sam’s foster parents and told them that Sam and I had picked up a bug. She assured them that Sam would be fine where she was. “I’m here anyway,” I heard her say.
Sam and I dozed for the rest of the afternoon, and by the time the guys called, I didn’t even have the energy to talk, I just wanted to sleep. Sam was feeling a little better than I was, so she talked to Shawn, but she kept it simple.
“I think you guys need to come home. We need you.” Shawn didn’t need any explanations, he told her that they found what they needed and would be on the first plane home in the morning.
Sam hung up the phone and told me. I heard her from far away. All I wanted to do was sleep.
I woke the next morning with my mom kneeling at my side.