Taking Off

Chapter 12

Tia and Elijah sat at opposite sides of the table in front of the TV in their room, each with their head down attempting their homework. Neither was really working, though. Tia had her eyes half-closed as she pretended to solve her maths equations. Elijah was thinking about everything but the maths work in front of him. He glanced at Tia and could see, clearly, that she was about to sleep. He thought about making some kind of loud noise to irritate her but decided against it. She hated him enough, plus she was sick. She'd probably have a heart attack. Tia's face, on the other end, was leaning closer and closer to her text book about to make contact, putting her in a deep sleep. Instead, she jumped up, suddenly remembering something, seemingly of utmost urgency.

"Crap!" she exclaimed, breaking Elijah's daydream so abruptly, he jumped.

"What?" he blurted.

"I forgot to call Lindy and Eliza," she said, more to herself.

He rolled his eyes. "Oh no! The world's going to end." She ignored him and picked up her phone from beside her. Lindy didn't take long to answer.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Lindy! Hi!"

"Tia?! Oh my goodness, hi!" Lindy exclaimed, her voice ringing in Tia's ear. Elijah looked up. He could hear her through the phone, at the other end of the table. He looked back down but continued to listen to the conversation, knowing it would be at least a little more interesting than his maths work. "How are you?" Lindy squeaked. "And why did it take so long for you to call?!" she demanded.

"I'm good. And I know, I'm sorry. It's just – the first night I was completely dead tired. And yesterday, we got back to our room past midnight and had to get to sleep," she explained.

"Oh, that's okay," Lindy replied. "Eliza's here too, by the way," she added.

"Really? That's good. Saves me having to make another call after this one. Put it on loud speaker so she can hear," Tia said. Lindy did this, which unfortunately made it harder for Elijah to listen.

"Hey, Tia! How's Oz? We were so worried about you, thinking you got into trouble or something," Eliza said.

"Worried? You didn't need to be worried! I'm fine," Tia assured. "Plus, if you were really worried, you could've asked my mum about me. I called her when I arrived."

She heard Lindy gasp. "We asked your mum. She said you hadn't called her," she said. Tia narrowed her eyes.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah," Eliza said. "That's why we were so worried," she explained, then quickly added. "Hey, if you had enough energy to call your mum, why didn't you call us?"

Tia looked down, uncomfortable. Elijah noticed her pause and looked up at her. Tia didn't want to speak about her mother in front of him, so she looked up to see if he was listening. She met his eyes for a second before he looked back down, a little ashamed he'd been caught in the act of eavesdropping, but his curiosity trumped the shame, and he continued trying to listen.

Tia cleared her throat, before she answered Eliza. "Oh, it's just...I didn't really feel up to calling anyone...after that. You know how my mother can be," she explained, as quietly as she could, making Elijah strain his ears.

"Oh," both her friends said, their voices full of understanding.

"Oh, sorry. I just – that's fine, then. I'm sorry I brought it up," Eliza mumbled

"No, it's okay. I – uh – I wonder why she said I didn't," Tia said.

"Hey, Tia. Don't even think about her, k?" Lindy said.

"Yeah, don't. We don't want you to ruin your trip with thoughts of her. Just forget it," Eliza insisted.

"I – I will," Tia said, though her eyes were becoming blurred with unshed tears. "I mean, there are a lot of things to distract me here," she said.

"Yes! Tell us how things are there!" Eliza said, eager to change the topic.

"It's great. I'm a little sick, though," Tia replied.

"Oh, you and that weak immune system! It'll be the death of you," Lindy said, dramatically. Tia laughed.

"That's funny because it could actually be the death of me," she said, still laughing. Suddenly she didn't feel very happy. Her mother clouded her thoughts again. "Hey, listen guys. It was great talking to you but I gotta get going. I'm really not feeling well."

"Oh, okay, then. Call us again soon, yes?" Lindy said.

"I will. Hopefully tomorrow," Tia replied. "Bye."

"Bye-bye!" Lindy said.

"Hope you get better soon," Eliza screamed into the speaker, busting Tia's eardrum.

"Thanks. Okay, bye," Tia said and hung up. Elijah quickly turned his head back to his work. Tia sat there for a second, looking at her book, not saying a word. She sniffed, then began packing up her books, making Elijah gaze up promptly.

"Where are you going?" he asked, putting his pen down.

"To bed. I can't concentrate with this headache," she replied, leaving her books stacked on the table and standing up. "D'you think there's any medicine around here?" she asked. He shrugged.

"I dunno. Maybe call room service," he answered. Tia checked the minibar and even the TV cabinet, but found nothing.

"Are we allowed to call room service?" she asked, turning to him.

"I guess. If it's an emergency," he replied. She picked up the phone and called the room service number that was pasted on the table the phone was on.

"Yeah, hi. I was wondering if you could bring me up some medicine?" she asked, praying they could. Her headache was making her head feel too heavy to hold up. The person at the other end said they could, so she gave her room number and thanked him.

It took almost ten minutes for them to come up. This was spent with Tia sitting awkwardly on the arm of the couch, stretching her neck left and right and Elijah still pretending to solve the maths equations before him, whilst casually glancing at Tia every few moments. For some reason, she had treated him like a human for the first time since they'd arrived, and he was confused. He knew she hated him for a reason. She hinted at it enough, but he hadn't the slightest idea what it was, and he didn't know how he was going to figure it out, either. Finally, a hotel employee knocked on their door with a a few different tablets in separate packaging.

"This one's a bit strong, so only take one, but you can take two of those," the employee explained.  Tia noticed his Australian accent and kind of liked it, which made her extremely aware of her dishevelled appearance.

"Thank you," she said, fixing her hair and standing up straighter. She hoped she didn't look like a complete wreck. Elijah, watching from the table, rolled his eyes.

"You're welcome," he replied, and promptly left. She poured a glass of water, swallowed two of the less strong tablets, and one of the others.

"You sure they're okay when they're mixed?" Elijah asked.

"I don't care. I'm dying here. I couldn't possibly get any sicker," she replied, dropping the rubbish in the bin. "I'm going to bed. Night," she said, taking her phone off the table, and walking to her room, looking rather zombie-like.

Elijah watched her as she closed her bedroom door, shook his head and tried getting back to work. But it was only twenty minutes later that he decided to go to bed too.