Chapter 5:
Jae turned over and her hand landed on piece of paper. She reluctantly opened her eyes and peered at the neat lettering in the darkness of the room.
Jae,
When you wake up, call me. Do not get out of bed. Just shout and I'll be there soon.
She threw the paper off to the side and rolled onto her back, trying to recall the details of last night. She remembered making dinner, then going over to Thais. She assumed he had bitten her, but she couldn't remember any details.
She groaned and instantly, Thais burst threw the door carrying a tray full of food. He set the tray down on the bureau and tuned to face her. "How are you feeling this morning?"
"Fine," Jae said. She propped herself up on the pillows so that she was sitting more comfortably.
"Are you sure? You're not light headed, or anything?" Thais asked.
"Just a little tired. But that's normal. I'm fine, really." He seemed satisfied with that answer, but a little shocked.
"Here," Thais placed the tray on Jae's lap, "you should eat something."
Realizing how hungry she was, she ate the entire meal in a matter of minutes, and she still wanted more. "Thank you. It was delicious."
Jae moved the empty tray to her nightstand and started to crawl out of bed. Thais ran over at vampire speed and gently pushed her back down with iron strength. "What?" Jae asked, completely confused.
"You should stay in bed for a while. I took a lot of blood last night." Thais looked at her apologetically.
"It's fine. I agreed to it, and it wasn't that bad. I don't even remember it. I didn't feel a thing, just like you said." Jae's hand moved up to the bandage on her neck, and she felt around the edges.
"I'm glad. But, I still insist that you stay in bed for today," Thais nodded, signaling the end of the conversation.
"So what am I supposed to do for the whole day?" Jae asked, realizing she had lost.
"Sleep? Think deep thoughts?" Thais proposed jokily.
Jae smiled. "I'm going to get a book from the library. I'll be right back." She started to crawl out of bed again, but Thais pushed her back again.
"I'll get the book. Do you want the one you were reading yesterday?" Thais asked as he left the room. He already knew the answer, but he thought that it was polite to ask.
"Mm hmm," Jae said. She moved the pillows so that she was lying on her back. I feel fine. I wonder why he won't let me up. Whatever. I can't argue with him, I'll just loose, 'cause he cheats. Besides, I'm not going to say no to a day off. It really wasn't that bad. I didn't even notice, Jae thought. Her mind wandered and Thais eventually came back with the book.
"What was the stuff that I got at the Black Cat for?" Jae asked.
"It's to help curb my thirst while you heal. The herbs make a drink that an old friend of mine taught me," Thais responded.
"Okay." Jae opened up the book and searched for her page.
"When you want lunch, just give me a call." With that, Thais walked out of the room leaving Jae alone with the novel.
When one o'clock rolled around Jae's stomach started to growl. Tentatively, she called out, "Thais?"
"Yes?" He was standing directly beside her. She gasped and flinched away from him, before she calmed down. "Sorry, if I scared you."
"It's fine. But, um, would you mind bringing me lunch?" She was unsure of how to phrase it politely.
"Sure. What would you like?"
"I can get it myself," Jae said hopefully.
"Sure."
"Really?" Jae asked, shocked.
"No," Thais responded, immediately looking serious.
Jae laughed. That was a beautifully set up joke. "I'll have anything that's lying around. I don't care."
"How does Mac n' Cheese sound?" Thais asked.
"It's fine," Jae said.
Lunch was delicious. After that, she read until her eyes hurt. She threw the book to the side and muttered, to no one in particular, "I'm bored."
"Then go to sleep," Thais shouted from down stairs.
"I can't," Jae responded.
"Why not?"
"'Cause it's four o'clock," Jae guessed the time.
"No it's not. It's four thirty.
"Close enough."
"Go to sleep," Thais said in a very stern tone of voice.
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because," Jae paused, as if she was explaining something to a child, "it's to early."
There was a knock at her door. "Can I come in?" Thais asked.
"Sure," Jae said and sat up in the bed.
"Lie down," Thais commanded. He pushed her back down on to the bed. "Close your eyes." Jae did as she was told. "Now," Thais paused, "go to sleep." He put his hand on her shoulder and, with a light tap, she fell unconscious.
"Rise and shine," Thais called. He wheeled a cart full of food into Jae's room and flipped on the lights.
Jae turned over and wrapped the sheets around her in a tight ball. She groaned and then relaxed into the mattress.
"Come on," Thais prodded, "Wake up." He walked over to the bed and gave her a good shove. She didn't move.
"If you won't wake up by yourself, I'll just have to do it," Thais said. He put his hand on her shoulder and Jae sat up, seemingly in a trance. "When I take my hand off your shoulder you will be completely awake," Thais instructed.
He removed his hand and Jae fixed an angry glare at him. "I would've gotten up soon," Jae huffed, "I just needed a minute. I need my time to wake up."
Thais laughed. "Sorry. I'll remember that next time."
Jae rolled her eyes. Once again she tried to get up, but Thais pushed her down. "This is like Whack-a-Mole," Thais stage whispered.
"I just want to see what's for dinner," she complained.
"Steak and fries," Thais said and walked over to the cart.
"Mm. It smells delicious," Jae said, trying to loosen the tension between them.
Thais smiled at her, "Thank you. I hope you like it." He set the plate down in front of her and gave her a knife, fork, and ketchup. "I wasn't sure what kind of steak sauce you liked, so I just brought ketchup for the fries. Do you want steak sauce?"
"No. This is fine," Jae said. She would've liked a little steak sauce, but she didn't want to be any more trouble.
Thais raised his eyebrow and gave her a smile that told her that he knew that she was lying. Jae glanced up at him and then quickly looked down again. She decided to pretend that she hadn't seen him.
"Mm. This is delicious. Thank you so much!" Jae said with extra enthusiasm.
Thais raised his other eyebrow and his smile disappeared.
"Peter Luger's please," Jae said, giving up. Thais vanished and then quickly reappeared with a newly opened bottle of steak sauce. She made a small puddle on the side of her plate and began to eat in silence.
"Why do you bother?" Thais asked suddenly.
"Bother what?"
"Lying to me. You're a horrible liar, I can always tell."
"I don't lye. You're just incredibly pushy."
"I'm not pushy. You al-" Jae cut him off.
"You are so pushy. I say I don't want to eat. And you're like BAM," she put her hand on Thais's shoulder, "yes, you do." She tried to imitate Thais's voice during the last part, but failed miserably.
"That's because you're hungry and I know it!" Thais was becoming exasperated now, "You lye all the time! Why?"
"I 'lye'", Jae put up finger quotes, "because I don't want to be any trouble. You've been running up and down all day taking care of me and I don't want you to have to go up and down again just to get me some stupid steak sauce, or something like that." She was clearly annoyed at having to explain all this.
"It's not any trouble. Let's just state the obvious. It's my job to take care of you, and your job to give me blood every once in a while," Thais stated.
"Well that was blunt."
"Yes. But I feel that it's better that."
"Me too," Jae agreed and proceeded to pick at her steak.
"Eat," Thais said.
"I'm not hungry."
"I went to all the trouble to make you that steak."
Jae was close to breaking at this point. She wanted to laugh so badly, but she was determined not to be the first one to crack. "Jeez, you're so pushy."
Thais smiled and Jae started to laugh hysterically. She composed herself and looked Thais in the eye. "I will win, someday."
"No. You won't," Thais said and threw on a wild sloppy grin.
Jae ate the rest of her meal and dessert while having a normal chat with Thais. After dinner he carried her down to the living room and they watched a movie. It was nearly one when the movie finished.
Jae started to walk upstairs to her bedroom. Thais shut off the TV and put the DVD back in its case.
"Thais," Jae called from the staircase, "thank you." Thais gave her a quizzical look.
"For what?" Thais raised his eyebrow unconsciously.
"For everything today." Jae looked at her feet. She didn't want to meet his gaze.
"You're welcome. Do you need help getting up to your room, or can you do it yourself?"
"No. I can do it," Jae mumbled. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight," Thais called returning to the TV.
Jae tripped over her feet on the last step. She yelped and put out her hands. She closed her eyes, but she never hit the ground. When she finally looked up, Thais was laying her, face down, in her bed.
"Night," Thais said. He smiled at her and flipped her onto her back. He kept his hands on her arms.
Jae likes, she thought. "Thanks, for that." Jae giggled nervously, "See you tomorrow morning." And with that, Thais disappeared from her room.
A/N - I got no reviews for my last chapter, so that didn't help my writer's block at all! Any way, I decided to update even though, apparently, no one likes my story because no one reviewed! (hint, hint) BTW, I've been trying really hard not to leave to many cliff hangers. I think I've been doing a pretty awesome job. What do you think?