Waves

CHAPTER 038

NORA

Nora woke feeling like she'd been hit by a truck. She rolled over, groaning, and stuffed her pillow over her face to combat the ringing in her ears. She didn't even remember getting home from the hospital, or anything at all after the mask with the gas was put on her face. She hoped that she didn't embarrass herself, at least.

It was a few moments before she decided to stand up and walk over to her door. She could faintly hear voices sounding softly outside. It sounded like Jesse and Jules were over, and she could also make out Harrison and Mouse.

Nora stumbled down the hall, feeling as unbalanced as a toddler, but she made it successfully to the living room.

Correct in her guess, Jesse, Jules, Harrison, Maxi, Mouse, and a sixth guy that Nora didn't know were all talking softly with one another.

"Hi," Nora said, giving them all a little wave. Her voice sounded rough and scratchy, and much softer than she'd intended.

Still, every one of them heard her. 

"Nora!" Mouse stood and offered Nora a hug, which she gratefully accepted, "How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Alright," She answered, "But a little woozy. Like I can't balance."

Jules laughed at her, "Well you certainly have better balance than earlier!"

"What'd I do earlier?" Nora asked curiously.

Jesse was the first to answer, and he quickly waved it aside, "Don't worry about that, Nora, you were fine. Have you ever met Hoppo before?"

"Uh, yeah, I think at the party," Nora responded, cocking her head sideways at him.

"Okay, good, because he's my boss," Mouse told her.

"Really? Well then it's extra nice to meet you," Nora said.

Everybody laughed, including Hoppo. He smiled at Nora, "It's nice to meet the superstar. You're quite the talk of the lifeguard tower as of late, Nora."

"Oh, am I?" Nora turned to look at Mouse, who grinned back sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck.

"Maybe?" He suggested.

It was Nora's turn to laugh.

"So what's the scoop?" She asked finally, sitting down on the couch next to Harrison and leaning into him. He was the best out of all three lifeguards in the house to snuggle with, which he liked to rub in on the others, especially Mouse.

The mood sobered up instantly. Hoppo sighed as he looked at Nora, and then looked away. Harrison, who'd slung his arm around Nora's small frame, went stiff as a board. Jules clenched her jaw, Maxi got up to get a cup of water, Jesse picked at his nose, and Mouse...Mouse stared straight at her.

"You need to have surgery to remove the nodule on your thyroid," He told her.

One part of Nora was instantly terrified, because the idea of surgery was not fun, especially when she was in a foreign country with people she still only barely knew, if only because of the fact that she'd only been there for three months.

"I thought you might say that," The words came out of her mouth before she could stop them, but Nora quickly realized that they were true, "When, and what kind?"

"They have to remove your thyroid, and I scheduled it for next week, since they said that the sooner they could do it, the more likely it would be that your voice would recover. But Nora...this surgery means that you won't be able to speak for at least a week afterward, if not longer. It's not unusual for patients-er, people, to go a month without speaking before they regain their voice. And some people never do," Mouse warned her.

Nora sighed, "What happens if I don't do the surgery?" She asked.

"The nodule grows, possibly becomes cancerous, and you for sure lose your voice forever in the next three or four months," He told her.

"Well, that's fun," She replied sarcastically, "Mouse, can I talk to you alone?"

"Well, sure," Mouse stood up and led Nora outside to the patio, leaving the others inside to discuss the events of their most recent subject. A.K.A., Nora's surgery.

Foreign exchange host and student sat outside for a long time saying nothing. Nora was watching the sunset, wondering if that would be one of the last days she could describe it. If she only had a week left to use her voice...

Nora shook the bad thoughts out of her head and then turned to Mouse. "I haven't been totally honest with you," She told him.

"What do you mean?" Mouse sounded confused and instantly hurt.

Nora's heart clenched and she turned away, looking out at the sky, and said, "When my parents died, I inherited some...things. One was my mother's locket, which I wear every day," She paused to pull said locket out of her shirt, "Another was a family picture. The one on my dresser. An ivory hairbrush, which was stolen from me, my mother's wedding ring...and some money."

"Go on," Mouse said slowly.

"I mean, a lot of money," Nora explained, "I didn't know my parents were rich, really, until I was old enough to understand the concept. They left me four hundred million dollars."

Mouse didn't say anything for a long time, and Nora turned over to watch him, half afraid that she'd shocked him out of his misery.

But instead, she found him staring at her with a confused expression on his face, "That's what you meant when you said that you weren't honest with me, Nora?"

"Uh, yeah? Why do you sound so...like that?" Nora gestured at him vaguely, hoping that he understood what she meant.

He didn't.

"Like what?" He asked.

"I don't know! Surprised, ominous, not annoyed, not furious, not-"

"Whoa whoa whoa! Why would I be annoyed and furious?" Mouse held up his hands to stop Nora from continuing.

"Uh, because I just told you that I have four hundred million dollars sitting in a bank account that I've never tapped into and it has an absolutely excellent fixed interest rate of 7% a year?" Nora suggested, "Why wouldn't you be?"

"I still don't see why that would make me mad," He said.

Nora threw her hands in the air, "Because I didn't tell you! All of those times you insisted on paying for things and I didn't tell you! I wasted your money, and for what?"

"First of all, spending my money on you is definitely not a waste, no matter how rich you are. And second of all, why would you tell me? You barely know me, no offence, but we've only lived together for a couple of months, Nora," Mouse reminded her.

Nora deflated with relief. Her shoulders sagged and she leaned against the railing for support. "I'm so glad you're not mad," Was all that she said.

"Of course I'm not mad," Mouse pulled her in for a hug and let her cling to him for a few moments, before pulling away, "Now why did you bring this up now?"

"Because the surgery will be expensive, and I can pay-"

"You better shut up right now or so help me I will send you back to America," Mouse growled at her.

Nora looked at him in confusion, "Why?" She asked.

"Because you are not paying for a surgery for yourself when you're a minor. I will gladly pay for your surgery, Eleanora Reece Kane."

Nora winced when she heard her middle and full name in his sentence. How he knew her middle name, she had no idea, but she didn't want to ask at that moment, "I have-"

"You've told me what you have. Now go in there, stop feeling guilty, and play a game of monopoly with the rest of us," Mouse took her by the shoulders, steered her inside, and shoved her toward the others.

I guess I'm playing monopoly, Nora thought.