They were dry and cracked, weren’t they?
Squeezing my eyes shut again, I almost couldn’t hold back my groan.
I was so done with today.
I took the meds, then grabbed the lip balm, which I unwrapped and applied aggressively. Rubbing my lips together, I tasted the flavor and froze, turning the tube over and reading the side.
Rosemary Lavender.
I licked my lips again, branding the taste onto my memory.
It was so much better than the Dum Dum. Because it tasted likeher.
That was the last coherent thought I had before I sank fully into the bed and left this very big, no-good day behind.
“Good morning, sunshine. The earth says hello.”
I swatted in the direction of Cole’s voice, slapping him right in the forehead, and groaned nonsense at him.
He just laughed, loud and unbothered. “Time for meds and breakfast, sweetie pie. And probs a trip to the bathroom. You refused to get out of bed to go last night when I came in here to check on you. Both times.”
I opened my eyes and frowned at my best friend, who was sitting on the bed beside me. “Huh?”
“It was the weirdest thing,” he mused, tucking his hair behind his ears. “Someone put alarms in my phone.”
“Sounds made-up.”
Cole gasped. “Liar, I am not! You were just drowsy as fuck. You even called me Indigo once and sniffed me, man. It got weird. Not unpleasant, but weird.”
Bracing my hands on the bed, I got myself to a sitting position without toppling the pillow pile under my foot.
“You’re definitely making that up,” I said, leveling him with a look.
He sighed. “Yeah. I lied. Just wanted to see how you’d react. Disappointing experiment.” He deftly tied his hair back, then put his hand over his heart, looking at me with mock seriousness. “I shan’t ever lie to you again.”
I grunted some sort of response, and even knowingthat I shouldn’t have, I glanced toward the door. “Is she here?”
Cole cocked an eyebrow. “Apple Jack? Naw. Convinced her to go with your roomie to the dance class I overheard them talking about over breakfast.”
I swiped my phone from the bedside table and checked the time, my eyes widening.
“Yup,” Cole said, lying back on the bed with his hands threaded together and resting on his stomach. “You slept hard, babe, despite your intense roommate’s best intentions.”
“You think Ireland set your alarms? Not Delly?” I asked quietly, processing his colorful info dump.
“Had to be her,” he said. “Your sister came out of her room when she heard the first alarm and didn’t know anything about it.” He turned toward me. “I don’t think your girl trusts me with your care, which is offensive, honestly. But she trusts me with this glamor-shot thing, so if you’re feeling okay enough to be left alone here, I’ll be going to meet with Ari later today.”
I rubbed my hands over my face. “I need a shower before I can deal with any of that. I feel like roadkill.”
“Look it too,” Cole helpfully confirmed, then helped me out of bed and into the shower.
Ever the thrill seeker, Cole looked oddly disappointed when he turned the shower on. “You said she fixed the demon showerhead, huh?Hot.”
I mumbled and poked blindly at him, my eyes squeezed shut against the sudden dizziness and burning pain. My blood felt like it was violently rearranging itself in my body after I’d been lying down for so long.
“Woah, man,” Cole said, firming his grip on me. “Okay, no more talk of your pretty roommate if you’regoing to swoon like that. Let’s get you washed up before the girls get back, yeah?”
I said nothing, only mildly registering Cole covering my cast with the plastic cover that had been sitting on the vanity before directing me onto the built-in bench in the shower.
