"Here, I brought you some tea," I, and Peter who was sitting on the side of my bed, gazed over to see Josh enter my room. I grinned at him as he set down the teacup on my nightstand. "Thank you, Josh." "You're welcome, Aerity. I'm just glad you didn't have to go to the hospital." "Did you call Steven?" "Yeah, he said he'll be home in a couple of hours. He's not so worried anymore now that you're home and Margot's here." "Thanks, Sanderson," Peter sighed; this had been a long weekend for him too.
After nodding in his direction, Josh sat down on my side of the bed too and glanced down at me. "How are you feeling?" "Better, but I'm still really tired." "You'll probably feel that way for a few days. Just rest and take your time getting well, ok?" "Ok, Josh," my gentle grin widened. He mirrored my peaceful demeaner, smiling and reaching over to take hold of my hand. Peter saw but didn't interrupt. "I'm so glad you're alright. I had a heart attack when I heard that creep…." His head shook mid-sentence as if to banish the thought from his mind. "I'm sorry I worried you, Josh." "It's not your fault, and besides, nothing happened; that's all that matters," his eyes lowered onto mine; his hand giving mine a tender squeeze. "I couldn't live with myself if anything like that ever happened to you again….." "Josh," my own stare softened. He truly does love me, maybe not romantically right now but as a person. Just like how much I simply adored him….. the person he was.
Josh's eyes slowly moved from me to Peter, who was observing quietly from the end of the bed. Their stares met, lingering for a few seconds like that; it was clear they were having a private conversation. "Kavinsky….." "Sanderson." A short pause ensued before Josh's lips curled to a light grin. "Thank you." "Of course." With that, Josh lifted my hand up for a kiss. Then he gently placed it down and got up to leave. "We're out of fever meds. I'll run to the pharmacy to get some more." "Thanks, Sanderson. Take my jeep if you want." "Ok, thanks bro."
Just as Josh turned to exit the room, he literally almost bumped into Margot; she was standing in the door's threshold now. She blinked from him, back to me, and again to him. I did notice how wide her eyes were growing. "Where are you going, Josh?" "To the chemist. Your sister's…. out of meds." Margot's lips parted slightly, realization filling her expression. "Ah, I see… so then….?" "Uh, yeah. Yes, Margot….. I'm sorry," Josh's hand rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. And for the briefest moment, a wave of sorrow washed over Margot's face. But this was quickly washed away when she smiled; not a fake one, more understanding this is how it is. "There's nothing to be sorry about. I'm just happy you're here for Aerity." "Yeah, thanks for understanding, Margot." "It's no problem." Peter and I watched as Josh and Margot then hugged each other in my door frame. "Goodbye, Josh." "See you, Margot."
With one last look back at my sister, Josh left the scene. Margot waited for a second before letting out the hugest sigh. Peter looked very confused. "What was that all about?" He asked no one in particular. I didn't answer, too busy observing my sister. After a moment, she turned to face me and approached my bedside. "Margot….." My hand rose for hers, which she took; I could feel her trembling a tad. Seeing this, Peter took it as his que to make his exit. "Erm, I better go check on Kitty. See how that pizza delivery is comin'." He got up and left without another word. Margot waited until he was gone to shut the door and come sit on the bed.
"How are you feeling?" "Better, tired….." "That's good….." The following pause wasn't awkward surprisingly, considered what just transpired with Josh. Margot's thumb kept rubbing the skin of my hand. Still, I wanted to let her speak first; I'm sure there was much more going on in her mind at the moment. She took her time; again, the scenario not being uncomfortable like you think it would. Eventually she grinned, glancing at me through the corner of her eye. "You have questions." "Just a few," I chuckled. "Take your time, don't rush yourself." "Alright. First off, why are you here? I thought you were in Vancouver for the whole summer." "I'm just here for the weekend; I came back to do some stuff for my visa. I somehow managed to get an appointment on Saturday, if you can believe that." Ah; ok, that makes sense. It's difficult to submit your visa application in a foreign country.
"How's Vancouver?" Margot shrugged. "Pretty good; really nice weather. People are nice too." "Good," I've always liked Vancouver. Then it was time for the tense talk. I gave her hand a little, reassuring squeeze; she knew what would follow. "Margot, what happened with Josh… are you ok with it? With everything?" Another pregnant pause fell over us. Her lips parted a tiny bit again. "Yes, I'm ok. I won't lie, the first month in Vancouver was really hard. I can't count all the times I wanted to call Josh…. to apologize." "Josh also left for all June; to follow your example and get over…. you in a healthy way." "Looks like he succeeded," she muttered under her breath. I didn't say anything; what could I say to that? It didn't help that I still refused to part with Josh's beloved bead bracelet.
After another second, Margot let out another long sigh, staring off into nowhere thoughtfully. "No, I'm sorry, Aerity; I didn't mean it like that. I'm glad Josh has moved on…. I'm the one who broke up with him, after all." "And you?" I ventured to ask. "Well, the truth is that I've kind of moved on too. It was slow but gradual. After the first month or so, I reminded myself why I ended it with Josh in the first place. It still hurts a little but that doesn't change the fact…. I love him…. but he's not mine." Not mine. I remember her saying this exact same line three months ago, back when she and Josh had just broken up.
"Margot…..?" I drew in a deep, deep breath. She looked at me but didn't verbally reply. "Do you think…. that Josh may be mine?" If I asked her this when we were younger, she would have gotten super jealous and accused me of breaking a fundamental sister rule. But this time, in our adult lives, she merely stared at me with a vacant expression. "To tell you the truth, I don't know, Aerity," she said after a while. "I love Josh, and I know he loves me…. but I don't know if that'll ever be romantic love." She waited to respond again. "I don't know either, Aerity. Guess you'll just have to wait and see. But you never know; people change and you might be surprised." I gave a side-grin, not completely satisfied with her reply. But she continued, again staring off into blank space. "The way he looks at you…. yeah, I know he loves you; you are best friends, after all. You've always had this connection…"
Yet another lull in the conversation; I was losing track what number this was at this point. "And what about Peter? What's the deal with him?" "Ah, well it's kinda immature but we got into a "fake-relationship" back in June." "Oh…. why?" "To get his long-time girlfriend, Gen, off his back. He'd broken up with her and she wasn't taking it kindly." "Huh, that's not like you, Aerity." "No…. I guess not," I peered ponderingly up at my ceiling. Not like me, huh?
"So, are you two still a farce couple then?" "Well, I don't know….. we have a contract but never really talked about ending it; like when we should end it. I'm not sure….." "I thought you guys were dating for real," she admitted, surprising me a little. "Why do you say that?" "Because of the way he looks at you. Forget Josh, Peter's gaze…. I don't think I've ever seen adoration like that before." "Peter doesn't adore me," my hand waved around in the air. "Sure, he does. I mean just look at him. Why else would he let Josh fawn all over you?" "Because he knows how much Josh means to me. He'd never ask me to choose." "Did you ever think that might be because he loves you that much? And plus, maybe he sees Josh as more playful competition than anything." "Oh please; Josh and Peter are not competing with each other. There's no competition going on here."
Margot stared at me for a minute before standing up. "Here, I'll go get you some more tea." "Margot?" "You're right, Aerity. Maybe Peter isn't actively competing with Josh over who gets to date you. I mean like what? We don't live in that kind of sexist society anymore." "Thank god," I added; hooray for feminism. Her eyes lowered slightly, alarming me a bit at her sudden change of expression. "I wonder what Peter will do when he gets here…" "Who?" Who was she talking about? Josh was already here, and we just established that there's no competition going on. The way Margot looked at me right them startled me intently. Her eyes were serious and conflicted. "Dad said you don't remember." "Remember what?" Like a literal act of fate, all this noise and head motion had caused my fever to return. Little did either of us know that I was seconds away before collapsing unconscious onto my pillow. "Just for the record, Aerity: I'm team John." "Who's John?" I managed to get out before everything went black and the past minutes were wiped entirely from my mind.