Do you get sick of reading it? 'Cause I get sick of having to say they're not mine...
You all say such nice things I had to go and update again before doing work...THANKS for the reviews!
These last two chapters are really short. Sorry. But it also doesn't really work to combine them...at least not in my mind. Hope you enjoy!
I.14. Every. Single. One.
She stood up abruptly. She walked around her room, pausing three times to reach under a surface before continuing. She ended up back where she started, standing in front of Ray. He held the sharps container up to her, and she dropped the blades in. Snapping the lid closed, she sat back down in front of him, but refused to look at him.
"Is that all of them?" She nodded. "Honest?" She started to nod again, then stopped, mumbling something that sounded like 'oh wait,' she stood up and left the room. He could hear her steps go down the hall, then he saw the bathroom light flip on for about ten seconds, then she shut it back off again. Reentering the room, he handed the red container back to her. Unsnapping the lid, she dropped one more item in, before resealing it and returning it to Ray, who was still sitting on the floor.
"That's all?" She nodded again. "Honest?" And again. "You're sure?" Once more. He kept eye contact, not knowing exactly what to do now.
"Every. Single. One. Ray." It was his turn to nod, as he did, he stood up. He walked over to the bed and grabbed his sweatshirt, then left the room.
Good job, Neela, you blew it. He's probably getting the phone to call County.
It's a start. He threw the sweatshirt back on his bed, and put the sharps container in his bag. He'd take it to the hospital at his next shift and dispose of it at the hospital incinerator.
She climbed back into her bed, lying further over than normal, so she was lying where Ray had been. She found comfort in the lingering warmth of his body. She had her back to the door.
Ray went to the bathroom and splashed some water on his face, hoping that would clear his mind some. He saw their clothes still soaking wet in the tub, and ignored them. Walking back toward the bedrooms, he debated whether to just go back to his own room and leave Neela alone, or to go be with her. While his mind pondered the issue, his feet took him to Neela's door. He leaned against the door frame and just looked at her. She was barely moving. Maybe she finally fell asleep. He walked in and very softly kissed her on the cheek.
As he was stepping out, her almost inaudible voice whispered, "you're not staying?"
Quickly doing a 180, "yeah, yeah, I'm staying." He crawled back into her bed and resumed the position they had been in earlier—him on his back with one arm around her drawing lazy scribbles on her back, and her lying in the crook of his arm, her head on his bare chest and her hand intertwined with the fingers of his free hand. Like this, they finally both fell asleep.