The Recovery

After waking up I noticed that Allison was no longer laying on top of me. I sat up and felt something warm next to me. I turned on my light and looked. Apparently Allison got under the covers with me last night. I quickly checked to make sure my clothes were still on, and luckily they were.

"I got cold last night, grow up." Allison said groggily "Why would I take advantage of someone like that during an apocalypse. That would just be irresponsible. Now go back to bed, it's 3am"

I laid back down on my side and faced away from her to avoid anything awkward. She ruined it though by putting her hands around me like a reverse hug.

"Your heart is racing again, you should really calm down. You know stress is bad for you right?" Allison teased

"It's not stress it's nervousness, it's the first time I've ever been in a room alone with a girl. It's my first time being kissed by someone who isn't family. It's even my first time with someone else in my bed." I responded

"Nervousness is a form of stress" she said "and you just told me aaaaall I need to know"

"What's that supposed to mean" I asked

"Don't worry about it, just sleep"

After falling asleep it felt like I woke up immediately after. I didn't dream of anything, just sleep... Allison was no longer in the bed, she was getting food ready. She walked over bowl in hand, and gave me a bowl of rice. On top of the rice there was vegetables and some kind of meat.

"Where'd you get the meat?" I asked

"I stole some SPAM from Ray, I doubt he'll notice it's even gone." She responded "Getting the rice was a great idea on your part. It'll last a while, it's easy to make, and it's a great filler. There isn't much for vegetables or spam, but the rice does the heavy lifting in filling you up. Dig in, I hope you like it."

"Thanks"

It was the closest thing to a home made meal that I've had in a while. Lately I had been eating TV dinners, and any other thing I can microwave to heat ut up quick. The first bite was like heaven. It was some of the best food I've had in years. It wasn't too long and I had finished the whole bowl.

"Either you were really hungry, or it was really good" Allison said with a smile

"A bit of both actually, that and the fact that I've always had a pretty big appetite." I responded

Allison giggled then said "The good news is that there's plenty of rice to go around. Actually one second, I can make this taste even better!"

She ran out the door and came back with a bottle. As I looked I noticed it was a bottle of worcestershire sauce. That reminded me of the way I used to eat growing up.

"You know what you're doing really reminds me of home" I said "my mom would make a couple dinners, and we would reheat the leftovers after the fact. My favorite was when we had rice, I'd always throw randim things together into the rice. It could be shrimp, crab, pork, steak, chicken, anything meat wise. As for vegetables it was typically broccoli, carrots, and potatoes. No matter what I'd mix into the rice, I'd always add... THAT sauce that I refuse to pronounce.. Because it would make it taset 10 times better no matter what."

"I'm with you on that, how do you pronounce it though?"

"I call it 'watch your sister sauce' I stole it from a friend of mine who said it as a joke one day and it stuck"

Allison giggled and made two more bowls before coming over and eating one with me. The worcestershire sauce definitely adds to the already delicious meal.

"Is your ankle feeling any better, I know sprains take a long time to heal" Allison asked after sitting down

"It normally takes me 2-3 days to be able to walk again. Granted I can't run or move my ankle too much, but I can walk" I responded "I played a lot of soccer growing up, so my ankles heal pretty quick. Funny how the human body works that way, hence why exposure training is so effective. Eventually you or your body becomes numb to things. Other times weird coping mechanisms develop, but that's another can of worms I'd rather not get into"

Allison just giggled and continued eating

"What is it" I asked

"You" she simply responded

I sighed and said "why does everyone say that, then never explain what they mean by it. The most I get is 'never change'. Of course I'm not gonna change, I'm me, why would I change me if I'm happy with me. Well, I mean I'm happy with the way I am, but not the way I look. I need to exercise more"

She simply giggled again and said "I'm gonna go see if Ray wants any rice, I'll be back"

She walked out with a bowl in hand and was gone for a minute or so. She came back with pillows and a blanket in place of the bowl. She used the pillows to prop up my foot to "mitigate swelling" or something I don't know.

"So what did you do for a living before the apocalypse?" I asked

"I was a cashier at the gas station you go to" she responded

"Really? I don't remember ever seeing you there"

"Well, I was always wearing those stupid unifirms and hats, so I didd look pretty different from how I usually do."

"Yeah, that makes sense"

"You know you never once failed to ask me how my day was going. Not many people do that you know. And even when I said I was having a bad day, you'd always say that 'a bad say doesn't actually exist, it's all in your head. It's only a bad day if you focus on the bad, start focusing on the good instead'"

"It's true though"

"You actually believe that?"

"Did I ever once look unhappy while I was there? I try to stay as happy and upbeat around people because I've found it's extremely contagious. Even small things like saying thank you to someone will make their day that much better."

"You definitely made my day better every time you walked in. You'd always manage to make anyone you talk to smile, it was honestly impressive. Enough about me though, what did you do?"

"I worked at a mechanic shop, I hated it there though. I always wanted to be a programmer for computers, but I never had the money to go to college. Hell, even taking the certificate exam took $150 every test, end each test had two parts. That's 300 bucks for a flimsy piece if paper saying you know what you need to know. Issue was, a the tests were outdated by the time I graduated, so they were useless to me. I decided to become a mechanic so I could learn how to work on vehicles and stuff. I learned a lot while I was there, but it was never the job I really wanted. Sorry, I got carried away didn't I?"

"I don't mind, I asked, you answered. That's all I could ask for. I do wish I could get ice for your leg though, reduce the swelling a bit."

"Random question, but did you have a boyfriend before the apocalypse?"

"I can't tell if you're dense, or just don't know how this works. Why would I do all the things I did if I had a boyfriend?"

"Fair point, and when it comes to relatioships, I'm pretty dense. I'm good at talking to people, but that's about it."

"So you mean to tell me you haven't been flirting with me this whole time?"

"Not intentionally anyways, not that I don't like you though. I don't know why, but I have this weird way with words that I can't explain. I will admit though, after I met you yesterday you were in my mind a lot which was weird. That's never happened before. I kept thinking about you in the randomest of times, and I don't know why."

"It's because you probably like me. Not to sound selfish, but that's probably what it is. Geeze, you really are dense when it comes to relationships huh?" She said while laughing "I'm gonna go to my room though, now that we have water, I'm gonna get a quick shower"

She then walked out and left me to recover my leg in peace.