Tiny Tim полностью

“Take it as a compliment. I never thought I’d have to argue with a guy so he’d spend time with me. I’m starting to get a little insulted here. At least you can’t run from me for now.” she responded in mock offense. “Look, we don’t have to put a label on it if that makes you feel better. Let’s just ... agree to get together more and see where this goes. How about that?”

Honestly, that sounded like something I could enjoy. It would give her time to get some distance from the incident and sort out her feelings. And if she still insisted on getting together, she would realize how much baggage I carried before it got too serious.

“Alright. That sounds like I would enjoy it.”

“Good! Because I like you. And I don’t think you’d have done that to me if you didn’t like me back.”

She said ‘done to me’, instead of ‘done for me’. It took me a moment to realize that she wasn’t talking about Campbell, but about what happened on the Dare before Campbell showed up. I just hoped Nora hadn’t heard it as well, so I decided to speak up before she had a chance to ask questions about it.

“I’d love to spend more time with you and see where it takes us. Maybe not right now, but...”

“Wait! Not right now? What does that mean?” I wasn’t sure if she sounded confused or suspicious.

“Mia, I’m pretty much incapacitated and naked under these covers.”

“You are?” she raised an eyebrow and sounded intrigued, as her hand crept towards the edge of my blanket, only to be stopped by a chiding Nora.

“Yes. Because of this...” I gestured to the sling holding my arm in place “ ... I can’t put a shirt on. And if you look down, you’ll see that bag of pee hanging on the side of my bed.” She looked down, but didn’t react to it in any way. “So, I also can’t put any shorts on. Which is probably a good thing, because there is a hole in my leg, and I haven’t had a shower in three days. So, any clothes I’d put on right now would probably have to be burned tomorrow.”

“Ew! Way to paint a picture.” she laughed in fake disgust.

“Think about that the next time you walk into an invalid’s room without knocking, and be glad I didn’t have to use the bedpan yet! My point is, I appreciate you visiting, I really do. But this also really isn’t the kind of experience I want to share with people.”

“I don’t care about that, don’t worry.” she dismissed my entire speech.

“Well, I DO care. This is ... uncomfortable for me.”

“OH MY GOD! You men are all the same!” Nora suddenly shouted, and I was taken aback about how similar that sounded to when Mia had said those exact same words to me in the car once.

“What?” Mia asked, now clearly confused.

“I’m sorry, Timothy, but this is ridiculous.” Nora said before turning towards Mia. “He’s embarrassed, Honey. He doesn’t want people to see him being laid out.” Abruptly, her tone softened considerably, and she turned back towards me. “There are people who care about you, you know?”

Now Mia was looking between me and her mother in total bufflement. Either she was irritated that her mother cared about me as well, or Nora had not told her about the meeting with my father the day before.

“I appreciate that, but I’m not used to it. Can’t we do this when I’m a little less exposed, and maybe even able to walk again?”

“Are you sure?” Nora asked, in a sickeningly caring tone that irritated Mia even more.

“Yes, very sure.” I assured her, and she looked like she was trying to assess if I actually meant it.

“Alright.” she sighed. Then continued in a ribbing tone. “Come on, Honey. Let the Man suffer in silent solitude.”

“Fine.” Mia reluctantly agreed. “But you call if you need anything. Promise me!”

I blinked at her for a moment, and then nodded.

“Good!” she smiled, gave me another soft kiss, and then moved her head to the side to whisper in my ear. “Fair warning, though. This isn’t because you stepped in front of me to catch that bullet. The hug before you got into my panties should tell you as much.”

I could only shake my head, as I watched the two of them leave my room.

Even though Nora was openly mocking my decision to refuse visitors while I was incapacitated, she and the rest of the Millers seemed to respect it. Which I greatly appreciated, as it would be another two days before the doctors decided that I would get my catheter removed and be allowed to use the bathroom. My ‘silent solitude’, as Nora had called it, was interrupted in the afternoon of the following day when I received an unexpected text message from Ava.

“hey kathy asked if I could give her your phone number”

I stared at her message for a full minute before I decided to reply.

“Who TF is Kathy?”

“girl from cheer team bout my height red hair”

“No idea who you’re talking about. So, no.”

“why would she ask for your number though”