Quite a Pair

For the second day in a row, Miri and I left campus, but this time I put her in my car. We still went to Lucy’s though. It just seemed like the right place to go - at least my autopilot seemed to think so.

I helped Miri onto the couch and propped her on a few pillows with a blanket tucked around her. Her body had begun to quake, even her eyelids twitched. She’d barely said a word since we left school, but I hadn’t been too chatty either. I mean, what could I say? That I was a bitch? I think she already knew. That I had no social skills whatsoever? Pretty obvious from the get-go.

So I let the autopilot take over and sat back in the time-out corner of my brain while I watched my body do all kinds of things and felt the spark grow. Like smoothing the hair off Miri’s sweaty forehead. Or holding her hand tightly between mine and whispering little words of comfort.

When I offered her a sip of whiskey, pilfered from Lucy’s cabinet, she whipped her head to the side.