Chapter Seventeen:
Working at the Café after school had actually become a good thing for Stiles. The hustle and bustle of taking orders and cleaning up tables had been a healthy distraction. It was something to do these past two weeks…something to get his mind off of the whole 'Toby situation' as Scott was calling it.
It was after school on Wednesday and he had actually been looking forwardto the mind numbing job of repeating "Are you ready to order?" and "What would you like?" over and over again in a chipper voice.
However, working at a place where teenagers usually came after school was a pretty big downside; since most teens were only there to flirt or drink some high-sugar beverage and pretend they're actually being grown up by going out to drink with all of their friends.
"Ugh, that's five orders for caramel frappes with extra cream." Stiles declared to Jane, who was working at the machines like the pro she was.
"Seriously, it's like we work in a café where no one actually orders coffee anymore." He sighed, ducking behind the counter to reach the sink and put away the dirty dishes he'd gathered up.
"Hmm." Jane hummed in agreement, her back turned towards the blender as she started to pour milk in, her hand shaking and trembling as she did sploshing small floods of milk over the sides.
The trembling wasn't an uncommon thing with her anymore. Jane had been acting…different, those past few weeks. Not turning up to work on her shifts, or sometimes just coming in really late. She almost always looked worn-down and tired her cheeks sunken and her eyes clouded over like she just had no energy left in the world.
Her complexion was pale, and for a half African-American girl, that kinda meant that she must've had like…no blood left in her cheeks at all.
Her eyes looked bruised with how dark the circles around them were- and Stiles swore he saw some real bruises on her long neck.
What scared Stiles most though, was the lack of Jane-ishness about her. Jane had a personality like an exploding star- and these days it was like she'd burnt out and fizzled. No more wise-cracks and digs at the customers. No more going on and on about her hatred for the fact that Dick Grayson was named Robin, (like his actual name was Robin)in Dark Night Rises. No more classic horror references. And the worst part- there was no more funky dancing at the coffee machine.
It was like she was gone; a shell of the real Jane, not even really paying attention to the things going on around her, and Stiles was worried.
"Hey, Janey. Are you feeling alright?" Stiles had tried in the past to question how she was- almost all of the time being shoved off. The state Jane seemed to be in though, it was like Stiles needed to help her- especially since shje seemed to be getting worse and worse…deteriorating. He didn't like seeing his friends in pain, even just his work friends.
"I'm fine Stiles. Just tired is all." Jane murmured dully- scooping up ice and adding it into the blender. She sounded antsy, dull and just plain not her.
"Jane, you really don't look-"
"I'm fine." Jane insisted- cutting Stiles off, and before he could push any further she started up the blender, filling the small area with the sound of crushed ice spinning.
Jane was not fine, but he'd deal with that later; technically he was still at work and he had a job to do- no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't put it off just to interrogate a sick colleague.
The café was basically empty and devoid of all human life besides Jane and Stiles.
Their co-workers Jimmy, Cho and Alex had already left, leaving him and Jane to lock up for the night.
"Hey Janey, you walking home tonight again?" Stiles asked the still oddly quiet girl, pulling off his apron and walking round past the counter.
Jane just nodded, picking up her backpack and turning of the lights, casting them both into dull darkness. They walked to the front door in, what Stiles thought- a completely uncomfortable silence. Usually they'd be talking and joking whilst they left for the night- but now it was just eerie quiet and awkward silence.
Jane had finished locking up, placing the keys back into her bag. When they were both standing outside on the street in the cold air, Stiles finally dared to ask another question.
"So, do you think I could walk you home?" He asked nervously and Jane shot him a confused look.
"I'm not some damsel Stiles." She said, "There's no need- I walk home by myself every day."
Stiles fiddled, glancing around at the empty streets and passing cars.
"Look- you really don't look too well- and I'm not gonna ask, but it'd make me feel better if I knew you got home safely." Stiles said- staring right into Jane's sunken brown eyes.
"I really don't think-"she started.
"Please." Stiles begged, trying to convey in his voice how much he needed to walk her home.
Jane just sighed- like she was too tired to put up a fight anymore. She nodded and started walking down the street at a lazy pace- the yellow glow of the street lights making her bruised eyes look sickly and green.
Stiles hurried forward to catch up to her, taking her movement as consent to walk her home.
A few minutes down the block, and a complete awkward silence later; Stiles dared to start up a conversation.
"So, uhh- are you okay?" He asked with no smoothness at all, and in all honesty he didn't really expect much of an answer- not with the way Jane had been avoiding his questioning all afternoon.
"Will you just let this go Stiles?" Jane sighed, looking straight ahead as she walked…or shuffled- since her walking was sluggish and weighted, like she could barely lift her feet off of the ground.
See- this is why Stiles was walking her home, because on her own- Stiles was pretty sure she'd never even get home.
He darted his eyes to look over at Jane, wondering whether he should push any further. The sight of her worn-eyes and pale face made up his decision pretty quick.
"I'm just worried about you. The sooner you tell me what's going on- the sooner I'll leave you alone." He tried lacing his voice in light humour and bouncing on his feet slightly to ease the tension- but the concern leaked through anyway.
Jane sighed, "I don't know what's going on Stiles." She pushed her hands into her coat pockets and stared at the ground dejectedly as she walked.
"I keep going to the doctors'- they have no clue what's wrong. They said the only thing they could think of that matched my symptoms was either sleep-deprivation or de-hydration. But I've been drinking plenty of water…and I actually sleep a lot lately because of how tired I am."
She looked sadly at Stiles, her face showing the utter acceptance of her situation.
"D-do you know when this, uh, thing started?" Stiles asked, frowning at the hopelessness in his friend's features.
"About a month ago I started waking up every morning still tired. No matter how much I slept it was like the sleep just made me worse." She kicked at a small rock as she walked- staring at it angrily.
"I can't think straight, I'm hungry all the time- I eat and eat but I just keep getting skinnier. I sleep and sleep but I just keep getting sleepier. I just- nothing helps you know? And it just seems to be getting worse." Jane's voice cracked at the last two words and Stiles' could see under the street-lights that her chapped bottom lip was trembling. He stepped closer to her; walking side-by side now instead of a few feet apart. He reached out his bare hand- holding onto her gloved one, trying to give her some strength and comfort.
"I-I'm scared it won't go away. I'm scared it's just gonna get worse and worse until eventually I just…" Jane choked on her words, "I'm so scared Stiles." She whispered and Stiles squeezed her hand.
She looked up at him then – right into his eyes and he smiled softly at her trying to convey his support. His smile faltered though, when he noticed something on the girl's neck.
He stopped walking- and since his hand was holding hers Jane was forced to stop too.
"Stiles?" She asked, uncertain.
Stiles ignored her and just peered closer at the mark just below her right ear. Two marks actually, about an inch apart and completely identical. Stiles knew, or actually he thought he had a pretty good guess at what those marks were- having seen a fair share of classic horror movies in his time.
A vampire bite. That's what the identical punctures looked like.
Memories of Toby suddenly arose quick, cold and painful, making Stiles' gut clench and his heart skip a beat.
A vampire? Could be. Either way it was becoming more and more likely that Jane's problem was totally supernatural, because seriously- what kind of animal left marks like that? Not to mention-
"Stiles!" Jane snapped Stiles out of his thoughts, looking at him weirdly and leaning comically away from the intruding closeness he'd made when he was trying to get a better look at the marks.
"Oh- ah, sorry- it's just you've got these marks on your neck and…" Stiles trailed off- rubbing the back of his hair guiltily.
Jane immediately lifted her hand up to finger at the small red punctures, "Yeah." She whispered, "I have no idea what they are. Maybe a spider or something?"
She didn't seem to believe the theory though- not with how helpless she looked.
She also looked sick, very, very sick- and Stiles was reminded why he was standing beside her in the first place.
"Come on," he ordered- grabbing her elbow and leading her into a walk again, "We should get you home before you pass out."
"Pass out?" Jane asked incredulously- her thin eyebrows raised.
"Janey- you look like you're about to puke any second- I wouldn't put passing out behind you right now." Stiles said bluntly and Jane nodded- obviously agreeing with him.
And so they walked- the silence much less awkward now that they'd talked.
Jane was quiet- obviously focusing on the daunting task of walking while bone-dead exhausted. Stiles was okay with her silence though- it gave him time to think. Mostly he was just coming up with a vampire invasion conspiracy- but still he was genuinely worried. Originally he'd just thought Jane was sick or something, but the bite-marks…they looked strange- too big for any local venomous spiders- or really any spiders he'd ever heard of, and he was pretty sure Jane didn't just randomly get bitten on the neck by an overgrown snake.
There was very few chances this wasn't supernatural; especially since Jane seemed almost sucked of life. Huh. Sucked of life…Toby didn't say vampires could do that, he never mentioned any sucking besides that of blood. Then again Toby had now become an unreliable source- what with the betrayal and all.
Stiles was so deep in his thoughts that he took a few moments to notice that Jane's pace had lessened and he was actually walking quite a bit in front of her.
"You okay Jane?" the teen asked, turning around and walking back to where his friend lagged behind- looking sickly and trembling.
She looked like her knees would give out any second- so as a precaution Stiles gripped her arm tightly for stability.
"Y-Yeah- I jus' became really dizzy all of a sudden." Jane muttered, and Stiles was pretty sure the slurring of her words wasn't a good sign.
"Can you hold yourself up?" Stiles asked, worried that Jane might not have the strength in her to continue walking home. Although in saying that- she didn't really look like she had any strength when she arrived at work hours back.
"I don't- I uhh…" Jane mumbled, swaying into Stiles grip and forcing him to support her against his chest to keep her upright.
"Jane?!" Stiles asked, slightly frantic because he has no idea how to deal with situations like these.
The situation just got worse though, when Jane let out a small moan and then went limp in his arms- a dead weight carrying him with her to the ground.
Stiles sat on the cement of the pathway- Jane's obviously unconscious body sprawled in his lap. His mind started franticly thinking- mostly what do I do? What do I do? Until he came to the only conclusion he could think of; he needed help.
Stiles reached into the pocket- moving Jane's cheek out of the way- and took out his Samsung, scrolling through the contact list until he found the name he needed.
It wasn't ideal-but desperate times called for desperate measures, and so he quickly, with only a moment's hesitation hit the call button and waited nervously.
It was answered quickly- only after three 'briing's and with a gruff "What?".
Stiles sighed, looking down at the unconscious Jane for a second, before he started speaking into the phone.
"Yeah hello, Derek? I think I may need your help."