23

Cloe knocked on Ved's door and waited for him to open. She let out a long quivering breath as she waited and frowned at herself. Why was she so nervous? It didn't make any sense to her, but nothing really had the past few days. Her head was all spinning and confused.

Her heart skipped a beat when the door opened and Ved appeared in front of her. His hair was a cascade of blonde dissaray, his almond shaped eyes light and alert. His lower lip was red and swollen from the cut and the bruise around his eye was changing colour into a deep purple.

Oh and he was shirtless.

"Hi," he said, looking down at her.

"Hey," Cloe said awkwardly and had to look away from his penetrating gaze, "Uhm can I come in?"

"Sure," Ved said and stepped aside so she could come in. He closed the door after her.

Cloe walked over to his bed before she turned around to face him. She couldn't seem to find the words, so she just stood there, wringing her hands nervously and looked at her feet.

"Did you want something?" Ved asked after a while of eardeafening silence.

Cloe forced her eyes to look at him and then said quietly, "I'm sorry I yelled at you yesterday. It's just... I was worried about K.C."

"I know," Ved said with a small smile, "It's okay. I guess I deserved it."

Cloe gazed at him for a while. This is so weird, she thought. It was so unlike Ved to admit a fault. She had expected him to give her hell.

"Alright," she said, rather flustered, "Uhm - Good."

"How is K.C?" Ved then asked. He looked almost…guilty?

"Oh he's fine. Patsy's looking after him."

"That's good."

They stood a little while in silence - none of them really knowing what to say.

"I wanted to thank you for helping him," Cloe then said, suddenly remembering why she had come in the first place, "With the painkillers and everything."

"Sure, sure. It's the least I could do after all," Ved said and scratched his neck, uncomfortable. To try to hide his discomfort he fleed into the bathroom. He had been cleaning his wounds before Cloe came. He picked up a cloth from a wash bowl and carefully cleaned the cuts he could reach on his back. Cloe leaned against the doorframe and watched him.

"Do you need help with those?" she asked after a while.

Ved looked at her in the mirror, then nodded quietly, "Please."

Cloe walked over to him and took the cloth. There was a massive, shallow scrape on his back, from when he had fallen to the ground. She hadn't gotten around to it yesterday, before they were interupted. Now it had stopped bleeding but there were bits of dirt and gravel in it. Cloe would have to scrub off the old dried blood and get it to bleed again to clean it up properly.

"This may hurt a bit," she said and looked at Ved, who just nodded mutely. She was very careful when she put the cloth over it, but she had to scrape off the crust of dried blood to get to the dirt. Ved groaned softly in pain.

"I'm sorry," she kept saying whenever she had to be particulary throughout. Her hands were trembleing slightly from having to cause him pain, but she knew it was nessecary. When she had finished cleaning it up she put on a large bandage.

"There," she said, lightly pressing the edges to make it stick, "All done."

"Thanks," Ved said and inspected her work in the mirror. He suddenly groaned and held his side.

"What's wrong?" Cloe asked alarmed.

"Nothing," he mumbled, "It just hurts a little to breathe. I think I broke a rip."

"Whoa, you really beat each other up good," Cloe said quietly.

"Yeah I guess we did."

"So, are you done now?" Cloe then asked, raising an eyebrow at him, "Is this little thing between you and K.C finally over?" It had better be, or she would have to do something drastic. She couldn't stand the two of them hurting each other.

Ved looked down in shame, "It's over. I'm done. I promise."

"Good, 'cause I don't like to see either of you hurt," Cloe said, closing the first aid box. She didn't see Ved's surprised but rather smug expression upon hearing those words, because she was rinsing the bloody cloth with water and then hung it onto the edge of the laundry basket to dry.

"So," Ved said hesitantly, "K.C and Patsy huh?" He smiled crookedly at Cloe, who melted a little bit by the sight. He was so darn cute when he smiled. She wished he would do it more often.

"Yeah - except, I don't think Patsy's got a clue yet," Cloe said and gave a small laugh, "But I think she feels the same way. I can tell by the way she looks at him."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I've known her since we were kids. She's like my sister."

Cloe smiled as she thought back at all the things they had exsperienced together; both the happy times and the sad. They'd always had each other's backs. Except for that one time when Trudy had joined the Chosen and come between them. But that was all in the past now.

After a while of reminiscence Cloe came back to reality and found Ved staring curiously at her. He quickly averted his eyes when she looked over at him, as if he was afraid of what she could see in his look.

"So, uhm," he murmured and suddenly got up, "I have to go and finish some work on the computer. I'll see you later."

He hastened towards the door, leaving Cloe rather perplexed at his sudden retreat. She wondered if she had said something wrong.

When Ved reached the door, he hesitated for a second and then turned halfway back around. He didn't look Cloe in the eye as he said, "Thanks for cleaning my wounds - I appreciate it."

Then he opened the door and left.