Chapter 25

Ruthanne's Point Of View <3>

"Sooo. What happened?" I look at him, concerned and still a little confused.
"umm.. Well, one of my best friends died." He chokes on his last couple words, tears springing to the corners of his eyes.
I quickly put my hand on his in the middle of our table. "I'm so sorry." I say.
"He died. In a motorcycle accident." A tear falls down Kris's cheek and I feel so heartbroken, just seeing him so sad.
We don't talk for a couple of minutes. Kris takes that time to recover himself. "I'm sorry." I say again.
"It's ok." He says.
Kris hardly eats dinner. Neither do I. We don't talk anymore, just eating in silence. I wonder briefly how Caitlin is. I sent her a text earlier. I wonder if she responded. But I don't have time to think about that because before I know it, Kris is breaking down again. He must have tried so hard not to do that earlier. Keeping it all inside is what Caitlin does, and that's what gets her so exhausted. From what I've seen, Kris just gets irritable.
"You wanna head back?" I ask him quietly.
"Yeah." He says, nodding his head solemnly.
He lays down on the bed when we get back and I sit beside him, not knowing whether he wants to be comforted, or left alone. "Why don't you and Caitlin have a girls' night out?" He asks, confirming my suspicions about him wanting to be left alone. I nod and walk over to the couch to get my phone. I read the one text I got from her. She's sick. Great. Now what?
I text her back to see if she's over it yet. Sometimes that happens. I figure I'll give it a shot.
Hey.. sorry you're sick. Kris suggested having a girls' night out. you up for it?
I sit on the couch waiting for a reply even though I could walk right out my door and knock on theirs. I figure if she doesn't reply in 5 minutes I'll try that. And if that fails, I'll come in here and watch TV or cuddle up to Kris and try to make him feel better or sleep or something. I'll find something to do. She doesn't reply so I walk out the door, make a quarter turn and knock on their door. Sidney answers it after looking out the peephole. "Hey." He says.
"Hey." I say back. "Kris suggested having a girls' night out.. is Caitlin up for it?" I ask him instead of going to her. It wouldn't matter what condition she was in, she'd probably want to do it.
"I don't know..." Sidney says kind of warily, turning around. "Come in." He motions with his hand. I follow. Their suite is the exact same thing as ours, with different art on the walls.
Caitlin sits up when she sees me come in. "Hey." She says, sounding tired, like she just woke up. "What's up?" I ask her.
"ah, nothing. I'm feeling a little bit better." She says.
"Up for going out tonight?" I ask her, half hoping she'll say yes.
"Ehhhh.." she says. "I don't know. Probably not. tomorrow?" She looks at me hopefully. That kind of thing is right up her alley. She loves a good party. Way more than I do at least.
"It's fine.." I say. "do you mind if I stay over here and watch TV though? Kris needs some space." Sidney turns like he wants to know more, but I don't say anything. He probably thinks we're having some kind of relationship problem if he doesn't already know about Kris's friend.
"Sure." Caitlin and Sidney say at the same time.
"I'll be right back." I say, and head back to my suite. It hadn't been more than 20 minutes since I left, but Max was already there beside Kris when I came in.
"Hey." He says.
"Hey." I say. "Caitlin's sick. I'm gonna head over there and spend some time." I think he wants to be alone. I mouth.
"Yeah." Max says aloud. Kris is still sitting there, staring off into space. I don't think he would have heard us if I did say that out loud, but, I don't want him to be offended. I grab my phone just in case anyone decides to text me, although I doubt anything will happen. The only texts I get are from the four people in these 2 suites.
Then I turned to Kris and said, "I'm going to head over there and hang out for a while. If you want, you can come." I say hopefully. He just sits here. Max nods and I head back to their suite through the door between the rooms instead of the outside one. I forgot it was there.
"Hey." They said again.
"Hey," I say again. It's not awkward. They just know that I am upset because Kris is and I know Caitlin doesn't want to get too far into it. I don't know about Sidney.
Sidney comes around and sits on the couch with me when he thinks Caitlin's asleep again. "You ok?" He asks.
"Sure." I say. "I just hope Kris is. He was really terrible yesterday."
"I know." Sidney says, putting his hand on mine in a comforting way.
"thanks." I say, then turn back towards the TV. It's not ok that my boyfriend's friend just died. It's not ok that he could be away for a whole month. A tear comes to my eye and I try to wipe it away before Sidney sees it. Of Course I Fail. He sees it.
"Is it cause he's gonna be away for so long?" Sidney asks.
"yeah." I reply, another tear springing to my eye. I don't want to cry in front of Kris, or Sidney, or anybody.
"It'll be ok." Sidney puts his hand on my shoulder. "He was thinking about taking you. To meet his family and stuff. Don't tell him I said anything."
I quickly feel a little bit better. "Really?" I say dumbly, thinking again how I wanted to get all moved into that apartment.
"Yeah." Sidney says.

Caitlin's Point of View ;)

I wake up and my head is spinning. I feel like I"m going to puke again.. MAX is here? I don't remember that happening, but Ruthanne, Sidney and MAX!? are sitting on the couch. I sit up. Sidney looks back. "You don't look so good." he gets up and walks around the couch to me.
"I don't know.." I say. My head has stopped spinning from sickness, and more from confusion now.
"Are you ok?" He asks, looking concerned.
"I need a shower." I say. Max and Ruthanne laugh.
"She's fine," Ruthanne says laughing at me. I look in the mirror across from our bed and see my hair, imagining myself saying that. It's hilarious. Great. My shorts and everything else are very twisted when I get up and Ruthanne laughs some more. I go to the bathroom to get in the shower.

I come out and everyone's still on the couch, laughing about something or other. I feel a bunch better and I'm really hungry. I sit on Sidney's lap since there's no more room on the couch. "Where's Kris?" I look around.
Everyone just looks at each other. "He's still in our suite," Ruthanne says, frowning.
"Wha-why?" I look at her suspiciously.
"Um. He's dealing with something." She says, giving me that look. The I-don't-want-to-discuss-it-right-now-you-better-not-say-anything-else-look. I nod and lean back onto Sidney.
"You're awfully cuddly." He says, wrapping his arms around me and putting his chin on my shoulder. I smile. I still feel really tired, but that's what I get for sleeping the whole day and a half away.
"I'm hungryyyy." I whine, looking up at the clock and not caring what time it is.
"She's definitely better," Ruthanne says, still cracking up.
"What do you want?" Sidney looks at me from behind.
"A peanut butter and jelly sandwich." I smile.
Sidney chuckles in my ear, but lifts me up as he stands, saying "ok." He walks over to the door and grabs his shoes. "Be right back." He says and heads out. I smile and lean back on the couch where the seat is warm in the place he sat.
"Sooo." I say, feeling awkward without Sidney.
"Feeling better?" Max jokes. We all laugh, and I nod.
"I'm so glad too. That was really nasty." I say smiling again. I can't help it. I just can't stop. There's too much to be happy about.
I had temporarily forgotten about Ruthanne's dilemma, not even noticing her "happy" smile.
"Hey." I say to her. "Fill me in!" I whine.
She frowns, but shouldn't she have known better? "Kris's friend died in a motorcycle accident." She says. "He's gotta go to Montreal for a while." Her eyes well up and I regret bringing it up.
"Why are you over here then?" I ask her.
"Kris said he needed some time to sort things out." She says.
"hmmph." I wouldn't want to be alone in a situation like that. Ah well, I'm not Kris. We go back to laughing and joking til Sidney comes in.
"It took me forever to get someone to make this." He says, holding the sandwich up. "You'd better enjoy it." He jokes and hands it to me.
"Thanks." The sandwich is good and we all sit around, trying to have a good time. Trying to keep Ruthanne distracted. Kris eventually comes in looking tired and disheveled. we look at the clock. It's like 12:30 now.
"Sorry," Ruthanne stands up. "see you tomorrow." She doesn't give Kris a chance to say whether he came to visit or to get her. She just stands and takes him back through the door between our rooms.
It's just me, Sidney, and Max. "I'm gonna get ready for bed." Sidney says. "I'm exhausted." Max stands up.
"I better go then, I guess." He says, and walks toward the door as Sidney walks into the bathroom and shuts the door.
"Hey." I say. "thanks for coming over. I wish I could have been awake for more of it." I apologize.
"No problem. You needed your rest!" Max says.
"See you." I say awkwardly, not knowing what else to say.
Max gives me a funny look, then leaves. I go to the bathroom with Sidney, where he's brushing his teeth. I do the same.
"Feeling better.. for real?" Sidney asks me. I nod. Almost all the nausea is gone. I don't feel like I'm going to puke!
And even though I slept all day, I go to bed and fall asleep in the warmth of his arms easier than ever.