Kris and Kit

Chapter 9 ~ Friends?

Kris

        I was not allowed to see Kit during her first day in the hospital. The second day, Riley and I brought flowers to the hospital for her, and I was told that I could now see Kit. Unsure of whether or not Kit would want to see me, I slowly made my way into her room. Kit gazed at me, her emotions covered by an unreadable expression. She didn't seem particularly upset, which I supposed was a good thing.

        "Hi," I told her as I placed the colorful flowers on a little table by her bed. She gave them a small smile. "How's your head?" I asked.

        Kit stared at me long enough to make me nervous. "It's fine," she replied. "I can go home today if they don't find anything else that might've made me faint." I wasn't sure what to say, so she continued, "They said it was probably dehydration."

        "Well, it's good that you're okay," I sighed. "I thought you fainted because you were in shock."

        "I-In shock?” Kit stuttered. “Oh,” she added with a tone of realization. “No, it wasn’t that.”

        In the heavy silence that followed, Kit glanced at the flowers. “Those are pretty,” she told me. Her voice sounded so drained of all its usual happy positivity.

        “Kit,” I sighed, crouching by her bed. “Can I talk to you?” Kit offered me a slow nod. “I’m sorry,” I told her softly. “It… wasn’t… I didn’t mean for it to um… end up like this. I didn’t mean to lie to you, I just…” I trailed off, looking up at her. For a moment, our eyes met, and we just stared at each other. Kit’s dull eyes seemed to slowly come to life again, and I let myself feel an ounce of relief. “When I left you that first note, I just wanted you to know that I care about you. I don’t know if that was a good thing to do or not, but it seemed like a good idea at the time,” I chuckled a little. “I was thinking maybe it would make you smile at least.”

        Kit had been listening to me with her mouth slightly agape, but now she straightened up and shyly smiled at me. “Thank you, Kris. You know, you really are sweet.” As she said that, she looked me over, probably thinking how strange it was that her secret admirer was some girl with a studded, leather choker and a nose piercing.

        “Oh, wait--uh, speaking of sweet…” I chuckled, pulling a small case from my jacket. Smiling, I handed her a little box full of chocolate drops. “It’s not much, but you said you like chocolate, so… here you go.”

        “Thank you,” Kit grinned. “Um, Kris,” she began awkwardly, “so about this whole situation…”

        “Right, I don’t expect you to ever want to talk to me again,” I quickly clarified, though the thought of this made me feel empty.

        “Actually,” Kit hesitated, “I thought maybe we could be friends still.”

        My mind went blank for a moment. It had been full of bad ways this conversation could have gone, and now all of these scenarios had vanished. “Friends?” I asked, mentally kicking myself for the dorky smile that had appeared on my face.

        Forgivingly, Kit nodded. I hoped we really could be friends.

        As I was heading out of Kit's room, I found Riley and Sherry talking with each other in the waiting area. Crap. Eyeing the two of them suspiciously, I wondered if Sherry had figured out the whole story of what had happened before Kit fainted.

        “Kris is your friend?” Sherry was asking.

        Well, she was bound to find out at some point.