Chapter 25

Herry was losing his mind. He could only watch day time television for so long, and that length was exactly one hour and seven minutes. Athena wouldn't let him so much as look outside, let alone take a walk outside. Xbox distracted him for a good sliver of the day. It would have been more if all of the button clicking didn't cause painful pricks up his arms.

He walked up and down the stairs while he thought of something else to do, he did have a big paper due at the end next week he could start on… could. He meandered his way to the kitchen and headed for the fridge. The usual force he used to tug on the door was not enough to open it but plenty for him to freeze in sharp pain. He hissed through his teeth and looked to the little orange bottle of pain pills on the table. Scrunching his nose he turned away and opened the fridge with his opposite hand.

There was nothing in the fridge he hadn't already nibbled on during the day. Maybe he should cook; it would give him something to do. Snagging the cook book his Granny had contributed to their library he flopped open a page. Pasta, sure. He began plucking ingredients out of the pantry.

He set up a pot to boil and sliced up some vegetables to throw into a frying pan. It was slow starting, he just had to watch everything for timing. He tossed the noodles in the pot and reached for his pan with the intention to flip the simmering vegetables. Herry was not accustomed to having the inability to lift things. Growling in frustration he grabbed the pan with his right hand and swirled it. Looking over his shoulder he gave the pain killers another glance. He didn't want to have to take one, they put his head in a fog he would prefer to do without.

He shook his head and leaned over the oven to look into the pot of noodles. They could probably be drained now. He grabbed the strainer from under the sink and scooped up the steaming pot. Gradually the weight was shifted to the plastic utensil from the pot. Herry gritted his teeth and growled. The discomfort straining his muscles forced him to drop the strainer in the sink. That was it; he needed to take something for the pain. In an irritated rage he whipped open the medicine cabinet at the end of the pantry. He snagged the bottle of Advil and popped off the top. He dumped out two blue pills into his palm and tossed them to the back of his throat.

"You do have prescribed pain medication," was the smug remark from the kitchen doorway.

With eyebrows smashed together Herry glared over his shoulder to Archie.

"Herry," Jay exclaimed in parental disappointment.

"What," he defended, "they make my head feel funny, Advil works good enough."

Jay shook his head, opening his mouth to scold him further but Theresa swept up beside him and cut him off. Pointing one of her long manicured fingers over to the kitchen doorway she said, "You have a visitor."

He furrowed his brows at her in confusion and followed her pointing finger. In the doorway Opal gave him a little closed mouth smile and a hesitant wave. He gave her a wave of acknowledgement and looked over to Jay in questioning bafflement. Jay just shrugged and rolled his eyes towards Theresa.

He looked back to Opal, his heart beginning to race as he said, "Sup?"

She shrugged and whispered, "Nothin'."

A silence fell between them. Theresa darted her eyes back and forth from one to the other. She huffed and said, "Seriously Herry. Opal come in and sit down."

"Sure," she said and scuttled over to the kitchen table. Quietly she took a chair at the back near the wall. From her little nestle in the corner she observed the teens silently. They joked and played, flicking yogurt and spilling juice, laughing loudly. How could anyone live here? It was so loud.

"So Opal, how long have you been playing violin?" Theresa took a seat at the table and started up a conversation. She hated talking with people she hardly knew, but at least the redhead was a good conversationalist. That seemed to be a general about all the people in this house.

"Violin I started when I was eight, but I've been playing the piano for as long as I can remember," she said.

"That's cool," she nodded, Opal started to become anxious that Theresa would stop talking, and she could never think of anything to say, it would just turn to an awkward silence. She sent an anxious glance to Herry fiddling around with the pots on the stovetop, but thankfully Theresa continued, "There's a piano at my dad's place, I use to play a bit with my mom when she was still alive. I never understood what the difference between the black keys and the white keys were though."

"Oh, black keys are sharps and flats," she smiled, happy they were on a topic she could talk about freely, "but it's inappropriate to call the black keys sharps and flats because E sharp and C flat are white keys."

"Ah," Theresa said leaning back in her chair. Herry joined them at the table, taking the free spot between Theresa and Opal.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, twirling a fork into his food.

"Pianos," Theresa said. Opal gave him a small smile and shrugged when he glanced over.

"How was your day?" he asked and then stuffed his loaded fork into his mouth.

"Fine," Theresa replied nonchalant, he looked over to Opal for her answer.

"Good," she nodded, "Yours?"

"Boring," he said around his mouthful.

"Attractive," Theresa elbowed him and he elbowed her back, pushing her to edge of her chair but let up before she fell. They were acting more like siblings then friends.

"Terri," Jay came into the kitchen with a set of chess under his arm, "up for a game?"

"Sure," she smiled and pulled out the chair beside her.

"You going to lose your temper when she beats your sorry ass?" Herry asked with a smirk.

"No, because she's not going to beat me," he replied, opening the case where the pieces were held.

"Just keep telling yourself that," Theresa said with a playful smile, leaning over to help him set up the game board.

There was a crash at the doorway. Opal jumped in surprise and looked over to see Atlanta being pushed into the doorframe. She retaliated by hooking her foot around Archie's ankle, shoving him to the ground.

"Hey!," he shouted, snapping out a hand to grab her ankle as she hopped over him, she joined him face first on the tiled kitchen floor with a lung crushing thud. Archie scrambled to his feet and darted to the back door of the brownstone, Atlanta quickly jolted up herself and stayed right on Archie's heal. She body checked him into the door, causing it to rattle in its frame. Snatching the doorknob she whipped it open.

Jumping outside she cheered, "I win."

"Yeah, yeah," Archie mumbled shoulders hunched as he joined her outside and jumped on his skateboard. Opal, wide eyes and mouth hanging, looked back to the three at the table, but it seemed like they didn't even flinch at the spectacle. Jay was considering his first move and Herry had his bowl tipped into his mouth, Theresa was smiling smugly, pleased with her first move.

"Is it always like this?" Opal leaned over and whispered to Herry.

A grin plastered itself on his face and he said, "Welcome to my home." The horrified look on her face only deepened and he laughed. He slipped out from the table and took his dishes over to the sink, where he just dumped them. Then he walked over to the door and motioned for her to follow, "Come on, I'll show you the best part."

"Should I be concerned?" she asked skeptically, sitting firm in her chair.

He laughed and shook his head, "Come on." She pushed her chair out and walked over to him. He led her up three flights of stairs and out onto the roof terrace.

She whistled as she stepped out, taking in the view of the city, a perfect line of sight to a nearby park, "Impressive."

"Yeah, I usually go for a drive when it gets too loud inside, but this is cool too," he padded over to the patio set and pulled out a lawn chair tucked under a glass topped table.

"So, how are you feeling?" she asked as she joined him under the massive blue umbrella, "What happened?"

"Pretty good, it was, ah, a bite," he held his left hand out in front of him, clenching and unclenching his fist for a moment. He continued the simple exercise for a while longer while he ran the fingers of his right hand from his wrist to the crook of his elbow, pressing on the tendons there. The bandages on his arms were only two bands of gauze covering the rows of teeth marks, one just under his wrist and the other over his forearm below his elbow. Opal watched his muscles shift under his skin as he flexed and relaxed.

"Does that hurt?" she asked.

"A little," he said, and then sent her a warm smile, "but whatever, it'll be fine. Why, you worried about me?"

She blushed and glanced to the tiles as she said quietly, "That's why I came over."

His smile grew as he blushed and looked away. It really wasn't quite the same when she wasn't part of his day. She bit her lip and looked away to a bird feeder hung from the awning over the door to the house, using the birds there as an excuse to keep her flushed face turned away from him.

"That's an evening grosbeak," she said in attempt to change the conversation.

"Cool," he looked over and humored her, but then he pulled the conversation back around, "So, did Theresa give you my message?"

She smiled and nodded, "Yeah, but are you sure? I mean I totally understand if you don't feel up to it."

"It's still a week away," he said as he shrugged, he began chewing on his lip for a second before he asked, "What are we going as?"

Her cheeks began to burn and she stammered out an answer, eyes still on the feeder, "Friends."

"Kay," he nodded and followed her gaze to the bird feeder. She glanced over to watch his face, but he was keeping a neutral expression. He pointed at the bird feeder and asked, "What's that one?"

"A purple finch," she said slowly, "or maybe a house finch… I'm not sure."

He looked over to her with a barely suppressed smile and shook his head in disappointment.

"What?" she shot, "I know it's a finch."

His smile broke free from its containment and he said, "And I thought you were a birder."

"If it sings I can tell you what it is," she said with a smirk.

"Ah," he laughed lightly, "of course, why didn't I see that coming?" She shrugged and sucked her lip between her teeth. It was weird to have someone know her like he did. She had only been the quiet blonde girl to her peers.

"So, It was nice to see you're feeling okay," she said and got to her feet.

"You're leaving already?" he did his best to keep the disappointment from his voice.

She bit the inside of her cheeks to keep down the smile, butterflies beginning to flutter in her stomach, "My dad doesn't know I came over, I should get home."

"I'd offer you a ride, but Jay hid my keys," he said.

"He hid your keys?" she sent him a baffled look.

"I'm supposed to take it easy," he propped up the elbow of his left arm on the armrest of his chair and rotated his wrist, contempt rubbing through on his voice as he said, "Jay took that as house arrest."

"Aw, muffin," she taunted and laughed at his dismay. Playing it up, he pouted and crossed his arms over his chest like a defiant child. Opal giggled and, despite himself, he smiled. Before she started to the door she asked, "Will I see you tomorrow?"

"Hopefully," he replied and sent her a warm smile, getting to his feet so he could walk her back downstairs. His spirits dropped as they walked. Her short visit had by far been the best part of his day.