Missing [ST]

Fourteen

A decent amount of time later, Leah was finally in her much craved clean clothes. A little baggy here and there, and the sporty joggers were too long, but cuffed ankles were her saviour.

She combed through her hair, already missing the comfort of her usual scented products as she carefully stroked the plastic teeth through the knots. It took far longer than normal because she kept having to avoid prodding her scalp too harshly around the sensitive area of her wound, but the result was a considerable improvement.

Squeezing the extra drops of moisture from the ends with a towel, Leah let her hair dry naturally on her back. She cleaned up, took everything that she owned or had been given, and exited the bathroom.

The temperature drop after leaving her cloud of steam had goosebumps appearing on her exposed forearms, a gentle reminder that it wasn't warm enough to be wandering around a fairly cold house without a couple of layers on.

She still had her jacket, and despite the torn left sleeve, she slipped it over her shoulders.

The intrigue to explore the upstairs was certainly on her mind as she picked up her things again. Peering left and right, pivoting on her feet, Leah was tempted, but in the end she decided against exploration because the risk was too high.

The descent down the stairs was much noisier than it had been on the way up, and she was hitting all the squeaky patches that she had managed to avoid before. She almost bumped into someone- that someone being Joey- because he was right at the bottom, waiting. It was lucky that she had escaped her cycle of overthinking so she could steady herself on his level.

"Do you want me to put those on for you?"

"Oh, yeah, please." But Leah had already made another split decision to go back on herself, "Wait, actually-"

An overflowing basket full of laundry with more packed in the machine confirmed her suspicions, and Leah found herself being that person to sort what went in, and what went out.

It was hard to read Joey's expression once she was finished, but the hands on hips, the pressed mouth and then the light scratch on one side of his nose was enough to send the embarrassment her way, and for both of them to look away from one another.

It was only when they reached the living room that Joey turned to say something to her, pushing past the onset of shame.

At least, Leah assumed he was.

She saw his mouth move and his eyes lift to flick past the side of her head, but his voice was drowned out by a rush of pain. The base of her palm drifted up towards her brow, but standing upright was proving to be too much again.

"Leah? Are you...okay?" Brad was sitting on the edge of his seat, and next to him, Tom had adopted the same worried expression.

Leah frowned hard, unable to focus between the three of them. Trying again had her stumbling backwards, surroundings making her head spin, and she was expecting to hit solid ground.

She didn't though. She fell into the arms of another human, she knew that much, and he was the one to keep her steady.

"I've got you." There wasn't a strain of effort audible in Joey's voice even though he had suddenly taken all her weight. "Let's get you comfortable."

Leah was guided to the sofa, and Joey didn't let go until she was safely off her feet, and lying on back. Frown contorting with pain, she was squinting at this man who was shifting her legs and eventually placing a pillow behind her head.

"Did you not just hear...? Why're you- wow my-"

"Hey, it's okay." Joey crouched in her line of sight, a focus point Leah was grateful for. "Try and get some rest."