Wednesday, February 1, 2017

“What’s going on?” he asked.
I hugged him tighter. “I don’t know, honey. You seem to have a fever.”
“I feel like shit.”
Despite everything, I chuckled. “Yeah. You’ve said that.”
He burrowed into my hold, still shivering. “Your flight...”
“I don’t care. I’m not leaving you alone in a foreign hospital. Forget the flights.”
“They won’t let you come with me.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
He nodded, hiding his face in my chest.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” He was scared. Of course, he was.
“I’m not leaving you.”
“Tell them you’re my boyfriend.”
“What?”
“They’ll make you leave.” He was irrational, but I understood.
In the middle of the dark fear I felt for him, there was a giddy spark. He wanted me to stay, to protect him and take care of him. Me. I felt grateful for the weakness that made him dependent on me. I imagined that had been my most selfish moment so far.

“They won’t, I won’t leave you.”

-----

The Layover is getting published in August. Working on the cover.