Page 48 of Dirty Liars
“Yeah. All three of them got in the ambulance and refused to leave your side.” She shakes her head. “It was sort of sweet,” she admits. “Even if it did cause a teeny bit of a delay.”
Dana is in the middle of trying to convince me to sleep rather than study, when there’s a knock at the door.
It’s Astor.
He doesn’t step inside, but rather fills the doorframe. He’s back in his element, here, but also back where he doesn’t know what to do about me. I can see the conflict still there, but it’s softened.
“I have to agree with Dana,” he says, then glances her way and adds, “The walls are pretty thin here, you should know that.” Then he turns back to me. “I’ve managed to pull some strings. You won’t have to take the exam until Tuesday.”
“How—”
He waves his hand. “This school isn’t named Hawthorne for nothing.”
I want to thank him properly, but he just nods his head and shuts the door behind him without giving me time. I get up to follow, but my blood sugar must still be low. I see black at the edges of my vision and have to sit back down right away.
I have to settle for watching him cross the grass over to the boy’s dorm across the way out the window.
Dana and I share a look, but there’s really nothing more to say. I’m grateful for the extra sleep, but the sun has barely risen in the morning when there’s another knock on the door. I just roll over and pull the covers tighter up over my head.
But they just knock again, and then there’s the sound of keys jangling as they unlock the door from the outside. Now both Dana and I sit up, only to find Astor standing in the doorway again. He’s not alone this time. That boy Thomas I saw him bullying on the first day is standing beside him, a tray with a teapot and two mugs in his hands.
“Astor … it’s way too early for this,” I say with the covers pulled up to my chin.
Dana nods, but she still accepts the second cup of tea when it’s offered to her. Thomas pours the tea and then leaves the tray on top of my desk, along with some muffins that look like they were just delivered fresh from a local bakery.
Dana’s eyes grow wide at the spread, and then even wider when Astor himself steps into the room and comes to sit on the edge of my bed. Thomas waits patiently in the hall outside.
“No rest for the wicked, I’m afraid,” he says, as he runs one hand along my leg over the covers. “And you, my dear, have been very, very wicked.” Even though he’s not even touching my skin, it still sends a shiver up my spine. Dana just sits behind him with her mouth hanging open like a broken mailbox.
He touches my cheek softly and then heads out of the room, closing the door behind him. Dana plants her hands on her hips and shakes her head.
“I can’t believe I just saw that. I’m not even sure it was real. Am I dreaming? I think I’m dreaming.”
I sip my tea, nibble on a cookie, and force myself to pull my biology book up into bed with me. Dana has a little last minute studying to do herself, so we get to work undisturbed … at least for a while. About an hour later there’s another knock at the door and Wills comes in with a second tray, but this one is loaded with food.
“Astor said you were studying. I thought you might get hungry.” He sets the tray on Dana’s desk because there isn’t room on mine, and then he comes over and takes my face in his hands. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Dana pause on her way out the door to class to look over the assortment of soups, sandwiches, cheese, and fruit … all topped off with a sprinkle of wrapped chocolates across the top. The tray looks like it was made up by a chef, but the haphazard chocolates are certainly a last minute addition by Wills.
He asks me how I’m doing while Dana stuffs her bag with as much as she can grab, then hesitates by the door, unsure of whether or not she should leave us alone.
“I’m okay. I’m better. Thank you so much, for the food, and for coming to the hospital.” I smile at him.
“Anything I can do for you, Blondie.” He leans down and kisses my forehead, and then lets me go.
“Right now, you really have to go. Dana’s got to go to class, and Ihaveto study … or all those strings Astor pulled are going to be for nothing.”
Dana gives me another look behind his back before the two of them leave together.
I try to pick at the food, but I really don’t have much of an appetite yet. With Dana gone, I get back to studying for a couple more hours until, yet again, there’s another knock on the door.
This time I jump out of bed and storm over in my pajamas to fling it wide myself.
It’s Blair with hot cocoa, and he’s brought two mugs even though Dana’s already gone to class.
I lean against the doorway, one hand on my hip, blocking his path.
“Uh uh. No way. I have to study Blair, and I’m not going to be able to do it with you murmuring sweet chocolate nothings into my ear.”
“No worries, Bunny,” he says, doing exactly what I was worried he’d do. His whispers make the hairs on the back of my neck prickle. “Whatever you want.”
