Across The Hall (19 page)

voice.

I gave him a lazy smile. “Good morning.”

He pul ed back slightly and traced my face with his eyes. He took a deep breath and let it out as he said, “I should let you go.” I was sad when he

moved to get off the couch. It had been so long since I’d felt like that. Been held like that. I knew the right thing to do -- the smart thing to do -- was to

get up out of his embrace and out his apartment. Knowing this, I stil offered, “I thought I should stay and make you breakfast.” He gave me a

speculative look. I looked down, avoiding his gaze. I didn’t want him to read too much into the offer. “I mean, al you have is cereal, and that’s not

going to feel good on your sore throat. I could make you something else.” I peeked up at him through my lashes. He had on his little half grin and a

twinkle in his eye. Damn, he knew.

“I would love to have breakfast with you, Sylvia,” he rasped out. I cringed, and went to make him some more honey and lemon tea. He stopped in

the doorway of the kitchen. “I’m going to take a shower. Wil you be here when I get back?” He actual y looked worried.

“I should be. I want to run home and change and grab a couple of things to make.” I didn’t look at him while I answered. I kept myself focused on

fil ing the cup and putting it in the microwave. “I’l leave your tea on the counter in case you’re done before I get back.” I gathered together what I

needed for the tea. When I looked over, he was gone.

I heard the shower come on as I took the cup out and added the teabag. I let it soak as I folded the blanket left on the couch. My internal

monologue started back up.
Sylvia, what are you doing? There is no reason you should even be here now. Now you’re staying for breakfast?

How much longer are you going to let this go on? He’s Quinn Lobato. He broke your heart when he left. Yes, but he’s back. Not for you, he isn’t. It

is nothing but a coincidence that he’s even here. If you weren’t in the same building he wouldn’t even know you were still on campus. It’s not like

he searched you out. But he does know and he hasn’t once acted like he wants anything other than friendship. We can be friends. Friends don’t

spend the night together. They do when one needs the other.
With a sarcastic snort, the voice went quiet. By the time I remembered Quinn’s tea, it

was fairly strong. I added extra honey, hoping that would cut down on the bitterness. I left it on the counter and went home.

I briefly debated on a shower. I decided I could skip one for now. I did need to change my clothes. I didn’t think I would need to go anywhere later,

so I threw on a different pair of old sweats. It was amazing Kai hadn’t confiscated these yet. She hated the old blue ones. It wasn’t because they

were holey or even because they were sweats. She hated them because they had “QSHS” across the butt. She questioned the sanity of those in

charge at my former high school when I explained to her that these were part of our gym uniform. I grabbed an old cream color tank top and one of

my dad’s old flannel shirts to go with it. I ran a brush through my hair and pul ed it back up into a bun. I brushed my teeth and added some deodorant

and body spray. I may have skipped a shower but I wasn’t going to smel like it.

I wasn’t sure what to make him for breakfast. I wanted to make sure it could be easily swal owed. I looked at the oatmeal but that seemed so

boring. In the end, I took al my eggs and cheese. I had left the unused part the onion from the soup in Quinn’s fridge yesterday. I wished I had fresh

mushrooms, but settled for canned. I put everything in a cloth grocery bag and headed back to Quinn’s.

I could hear the opening and closing of drawers from his bedroom and figured he was in there stil getting dressed. I blushed, catching myself

picturing him naked. I mental y kicked myself for going there and went to the kitchen to make the omelets.

While I cooked them, Quinn came out and drank his tea. He set the table. We didn’t say anything until we sat down together to eat. Quinn took

one bite and closed his eyes and moaned. “Sylvia, I don’t think I can ever let you leave. I’m going to keep you here just so I can eat this wel every

day.” Between the moan and the smile I felt myself clench and my breath catch. I cast my eyes down to my food and muttered thanks.

“So, tel me about how you met Kai and Kerrington.” I noticed that he stil referred to Kerri as Kerrington. She stil hadn’t loosened up around him

enough to al ow him to cal her Kerri. I was sure she would come around and soon be just as friendly with Quinn as the others were.

I chuckled at my memory of meeting Kai for the first time. “It was our second day at the U. I stil hadn’t come out of my room to meet anybody, so I

had no idea who I was living around. My roommate decided at the last minute not to come, so I had the room to myself. When Kai found out that I

had an extra closet, she wasted no time in coming to claim it.” I laughed again, remembering her. “I was sitting on my bed reading when my door

flew open. She didn’t even knock. Kai just walked right in and -- you know how she is. She said, ‘I’m Kai. We’re going to be such good friends. Now

which closet is empty?’ Al I could do was stare at this spunky little thing in purple pigtails with matching eyes. She talked so fast I could barely

understand her. I just pointed to the one by the window and looked at her. She then launched into a thousand questions and eventual y Kerri walked

by and heard her and came in to see who Kai was quizzing. She had been subjected to similar treatment the night before. They met the guys on

their way to supper after they left my room.”

Quinn snickered along with me. “I heard about how they al met. Kai truly believes in al that psychic “gift” shit, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah. The spooky thing is she’s so often right that I catch myself believing it, too.”

We talked some more about the others: about how different we al are, yet how we just al work so wel together. During that conversation I

realized just how much time Quinn spent with Reed and Sloane. I wondered just how much of my past they’d told him about. He seemed to know

quite a bit about Jason when I started to tel Quinn about him. It reminded me again that I stil needed to talk to Jason. I planned to do that this

weekend. I resolved to do it the next day. We sat there talking long after we finished eating. Final y, I got up and gathered the dishes. I watched

Quinn load the dishwasher. I knew I was dawdling. I wasn’t needed anymore, but I wasn’t real y ready to leave, either. Suddenly my weekend alone

just felt lonely.

Quinn finished and closed the dishwasher. “So now what? Wanna finish watching season two?” Hmm, it seemed he wasn’t ready for the

weekend to end either. Quinn grabbed each of us a pop and joined me on the couch. It would be a lie to say Beau never crossed my mind. I just

chose to ignore it when he did. Yes, I felt guilty but it didn’t stop me from enjoying the time with Quinn. There were stil times when the elephant

between us made a pass through the room. Something one of us would say would cal it out. For whatever reasons we had -- whether it was just to

keep the friendly atmosphere up or just because we couldn’t talk about it yet -- both of us let it go without comment.

The afternoon stretched out in front of us, and soon it was evening. I made us an early supper of reheated soup and turkey sandwiches. We

started a game of Scrabble, but Quinn had a headache and his throat was hurting again, so we quit. I teased him it was because I was winning.

After the game was cleaned up, I started to stand. “I should go so you can get some sleep.”

Quinn caught my hand before I could step away from the table. “Please don’t leave yet.” His eyes pleaded with mine. He felt it, too. I knew as

soon as I walked out of his apartment whatever momentary truce we had would end. I knew this weekend had changed how I felt towards him. My

anger was mostly gone. Of course the hurt was stil there. It was just buried deeper. It reminded me just how much I’d missed his friendship. I

couldn’t ever go back to the way things had been, but I could move forward to something new. We were both adults now and could handle a

friendship without the past interfering with it. Quinn had been trying to show me that al along.

I nodded and sat back down. “I’l stay, but you real y need to rest. I’l work on my paper while you go get some sleep.”

My heart squeezed from the smile he gave me. He got up and moved towards the couch. I stopped him by touching his arm. “Go sleep in your

room. You’l get a better sleep there. That way the lights and my constant tapping on the keyboard won’t keep you awake.” I let my hand slowly trail

down his arm to his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze before I let go.

“Thank you,” Quinn whispered. I found myself staring at his lips, and pul ed my gaze away to his eyes. He was stil wearing his glasses but I stil

felt that, even through the glass, we saw right into each other with that gaze. Quinn broke away first. “Just tel me goodbye when you leave. Even if

you have to wake me, I want to know.”

“Okay.” I watched him walk down the hal and part of me went with him.

I worked on my paper. It was much easier to concentrate this time, perhaps because Quinn wasn’t in the same room with me where I could hear

his every breath. I lost track of time as I worked. Before I knew it, the paper was finished. I stil needed to proofread it for any mistakes, but that

could wait. I found it was always best to put something away for awhile before I edited it. It was easier to find the mistakes when I hadn’t been

staring at the same thing for hours. I looked at the time and saw that it was after eleven. Quinn had been sleeping for almost five hours. I figured it

was time for me to go home.

True to my word, I walked down the hal to his room to tel him I was going home. I cracked his door open and spotted him on his bed. He had al

the blankets thrown off and was laying there in just sleep pants. His radio was on, and I thought it may have kept him from hearing my light knock on

the door. I cal ed out to him. He didn’t answer, so I crept closer to the bed. I reached out to shake his shoulder. He was burning up. I moved my

fingers and palm around on his shoulder. My whole hand burned from touching his skin. His fever was back.

“Quinn. Wake up Quinn.” I shook his shoulder lightly. He groaned and opened his eyes, but they fluttered closed just as quick.

“Quinn, I’m going to get you some Tylenol and a cool cloth. I’l be right back.” I slipped into his bathroom and opened the cabinet. I was relieved to

see that he did have some Tylenol. I found a wash cloth in the drawer and got it wet. I went to the kitchen for some ice water. I fil ed the cup with

more ice than water, hoping it would help cool him down faster if he sucked on it.

He was awake when I brought it al back to him. He pul ed himself upright and reached for the Tylenol and water. I watched his throat bob as he

swal owed them. I took the cup from him and set it on the bedside table. He lay back down and I brought the cool cloth up to his forehead. I moved it

gently over his face to cool him down. He let out a sound that could only be described as half moan, half sigh.

He reached over and grabbed my hand and put it on his chest over his heart. At first al I noticed was the feel of his heart beat. It wasn’t slow but it

wasn’t racing, either. The rhythmic beat was slightly fast and irregular. Then I noticed how hot his chest was, too. I ran the cloth along his jaw passed

his neck down to his chest. As I rubbed his chest down I became aware of just how hard his chest had become. His abs weren’t quite “chiseled,”

but they weren’t too damn bad, either. I flicked my eyes back up to his. Thankful y, his were shut. His head was thrown back on the pil ow, exposing

his neck. I watched his Adam’s apple bob again as he swal owed. I continued to move my hand with the cloth over his chest as I examined his face.

His jaw was tight. It was much more sculpted than it used to be. He didn’t shave that morning, either, so he had at least a couple days’ growth

going. It intrigued me. He never real y let it grow like that in high school. I wondered how it would feel against me.

I snapped my mind back to what I was doing. He was sick and I was ogling him. I should have been ashamed of myself. The cloth was warm

already, so I went back to the bathroom to re-cool it. I brought it back and sat down beside him on the bed as I started the cooling process al over

again. The light from the bathroom was shining through the door, right in to Quinn’s eyes. He covered them with his arm and I got my first real good

look at how muscular his arms had become. His fist was clenched, causing his forearm to tighten up even more. I’d never asked what he did to

bring about the changes. I didn’t want him to think I had noticed.

As I stood to go cool the cloth once more, my eyes fel on the glass of ice water. The ice had barely melted. If I put that in the cloth it would take

longer to warm up. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I realized quickly that once the ice did melt, I’d need to rinse the cloth out to avoid

soaking everything. I thought maybe it would just be better to use the ice directly on his skin. That way it would dry off faster than it would with a wet

cloth constantly leaking. I went back to the bathroom and squeezed it out and brought it back with me just in case I needed it.

I closed the door most of the way when I came back in so the light wouldn’t bother him. I sat down next to him and ran the first of the ice cubes