Us Against the World

30. Calm Before the Storm

"Okay, here we go." Aceline whirls around in her chair and scoots around the wall between our desks to my side. In her lap is a small pad of sticky notes and she peels two of the pink papers off and sticks them on my desk. "This sticky note is for when you're hungry," she says, pointing to the one with a crudely drawn plate of food. "And this one is when you need to go to the bathroom." The other pad has a bathroom door drawn on it. 

"Aceline...I can talk." I cough. "I'm not mute."

"Don't strain your throat!" Aceline snaps. She points haughtily to the sticky notes. "If you need something, you pass me the sticky note. Don't talk."

"But-!"

"No, Meera!" Aceline scribbles on the pad and hands me another note. "Okay, this one is if you need water, I forgot that. Oh, and this is if you need something from Ashleigh..."

"Aceline, I'm fine." I clear my throat. It's like there's a ghost of the tube from my MRI still blocking the air from reaching my mouth; an unsettling thought, I realize. I don't enjoy having things stuck down my throat; my gag reflex is terrible. Not only that, but the tube chafed the thin walls of my throat, leaving scars that are going to take a while to heal and make it difficult to talk and swallow food. Difficult, not impossible, something that Aceline isn't understanding.

"No, you're not," she says, standing her ground. "Meera, you were sedated yesterday and inebriated. You should be at home resting. Why the hell are you even here today?"

"I'm not dead, Aceline, I'm fine," I laugh, then cough. "I convinced Ezra and Chandini to let me go to work as long as I'd take it easy and take my medication."

"You've beguiled my brother," Aceline grumbles and crosses her arms over her chest. "I'll be damned if Ezra ever lets me out of the house a day after going under anesthesia." Suddenly, she smirks and snaps her fingers. "I know why he let you!"

"Why?"

"Because he's a simp!" Aceline grins. "He's like a dog on a collar, unable to say no to his master."

I wrinkle my nose. "Gross," I mutter. "I told you why he let me come, already. Our relationship's not like that."

"And Chandini?"

"She was pretty easy to convince," I shrug. "I said she could go out with her boyfriend after school."

"Wow." Aceline whistles. "She sure loves that boy, huh?"

"I think so." I take a deep breath to settle my nerves and face my blinking computer. An email has settled in my inbox from Ashleigh, no doubt more work that she wants me to look at and check. "At first, I doubted the sincerity of their relationship, but now I'm starting to think that it's legit. They both look like they care for each other a lot."

"That's good. Maybe she'll settle down now. Usually, that's all a girl needs."

"What? A man?"

"No, a friend." Aceline smiles. "Somebody mellow who can keep her grounded. Chandini's a free spirit. She doesn't like to be contained, from what I've seen and from what you've told me. Spencer doesn't hold her down, but he makes her rethink her actions before she goes on a wild goose chase."

"I guess so," I murmur. I feel my heart humming in my chest, matching the quick, heated rhythm of the computer. "It's nice."

"What is?"

"To have someone to lean on," I say. I lean against the back of my chair and spin around gently. "I'm used to living on my own. My life has always been my own. Everything that's happened has been a result of my own actions, and whenever my plans crash and burn, I've never had anyone to turn to for comfort...not until now."