Continuum

VI.

Nolan was serious about being my caretaker for the week. It's Sunday night and I want him to leave. He's been coming over every night to make dinner, do all the house chores I normally handle, and even tried to bathe me. I drew the line there because my whole body came to a steam at the thought of him seeing me naked. I've told him plenty of times that I can do all those things without any help, but he would just ignore me and keep doing what he wanted.

I'm sitting at the island in the kitchen while he makes dinner for my sister and me. He won't tell me what he's making, but it smells good, so I'm not complaining.

"You're over there fidgeting because you want to do something so bad," he says to me, laughing as he watches me in his peripheral vision. I didn't even realize how antsy I'm being. My leg is jumping a thousand times a minute, and I've been subconsciously picking at the underside of my long fingernails. It is due of course to the fact that I'm painfully used to always doing something with my hands. Nolan even banned me from scrolling on my phone, holding strictly to my doctor's orders. I glance up at my rose gold iPhone peeking out of his back pocket.

"Taking my phone was a bit much," I mutter, wondering how I'd be agitating my injury by shooting a quick reply to my group chat with Aspen and Kalila. Nolan turns around and pushes a couple of blocks of cheese and a cheese grater across the marble island.

"Here. You can help with this and only this." I don't argue. I take the blocks of cheese and decide to shred the smaller one first. As I patiently work on the parmesan, I drift off into a thought process that turns into pressing verbal diarrhea. I really want to know why he's been at my house every night without fail from the day I got discharged until now. I don't even think he's spent time with Aspen.

"Have you seen Aspen recently?" I ask him, using that as an icebreaker.

He doesn't look at me as he answers. "The last time I saw her was when we were at the hospital visiting you together. Why?" I nibble on my bottom lip and pour more focus into shredding the cheese before proceeding with my next question.

"Why are you being so nice to me? You've been here every night for ten whole days, doing things I never asked you to do."

"You answered my question with a question," he flatly quips.

I roll my eyes. "It doesn't matter, just answer me."

"I already told you why. You're overexerting yourself. You're doing too much and it's putting a strain on you. Everyone sees it, yet everyone's enabling you because you won't listen to reason. It was only a matter of time before you shut down, so I'm making you take a pause and breathe before you go back to running your race." I don't believe a word he's saying, because first of all, I'm not overexerting myself.

Yes, I have my days where I could've used a little more sleep, but I manage my time well and I can function fine with my workload. I don't see an issue just like no one else sees an issue. He's the only one acting so concerned about me.

"It's not your job to be worried about whether I'm overworking myself or not," I sternly say. "And it's certainly not your job to force me to take a break. I'll relax when I can afford to." Nolan stops stirring whatever is on the stove top and turns to look at me. His hazel eyes drill straight into mine and I shrink under the force of his gaze.

"When did I say that this was my job and that I was obligated to do this? I'm not. I'm doing it because I care about you." His voice is sharp and harsh and completely juxtaposes the warm words that make me want to obediently grow silent. Hearing him say 'I care about you' fills me with happiness and makes my chest constrict at the same time.

He only cares about you as a friend, Sabina.

The reminder makes me instantly put a cap on my overflowing emotions. "You should be doing this for Aspen," I quietly say.