Amelia Atwater-Rhodes - Token of Darkness

“How is Brent?”

“I take it the two of you had stopped in to visit with a cousin of his? I heard him telling doctors he hasn’t eaten in a while, and I gather he fainted, too. The doctors think your reaction may have been a result of the combined stress of Delilah’s condition, and your friend’s sudden collapse. Delilah is awake, by the way. They say she’s going to be fine.”

Well, that was something, at least. He just wasn’t quite sure what it all meant.

Shouting suddenly began across the hall, audible through the closed door.

“How dare you do this to me?” a woman shrieked. “Don’t you think I have better things to do than hike all the way here to pick up after you? Don’t you ever think about anyone but yourself?”

Cooper’s mother’s eyes went wide, and she stood up, seeming indignant.

“And they tell me they’re doing drug tests! Drugs! You’ve been stealing from the medicine cabinet, I’m sure of it. Don’t you know what I go through, when I get a call from the hospital, telling me my son has taken an overdose and passed out?”

“Oh, that’s it,” Cooper’s mother said, pushing herself up and crossing the room in angry strides. “Excuse me,” he heard her say as she approached the woman who had to be Brent’s mother. “But do you really think that right here and now is the best time to yell at your son?”

“How dare you tell me how to speak to my own child?”

“First off, there has been no indication of drugs, so that’s quite an accusation,” she said. “Second, Brent probably passed out due to the fact he hasn’t eaten a decent meal in days. Third, he’s in the hospital, visiting his very ill friend, and obviously distressed. Far be it from me to tell someone else how to raise her child but you are out of line.”

A nurse interrupted before the argument could escalate much further. “Ladies, why don’t you come downstairs with me, and we’ll get some coffee?” the nurse suggested. “This kind of disruption isn’t good for any of the patients.”

Cooper was sure his mother only agreed because she knew it was the best way to convince Brent’s mother to stop yelling at Brent.

As soon as the three of them were gone, Brent emerged. He was moving with a strange deliberateness, and seemed a little unsteady on his feet as he crossed Cooper’s room.

“That was your mom?” Cooper asked.

Brent winced. “Apparently.” He shook his head. “The doctors say I’m good to go, at least. I guess they want to keep you overnight for observation?”

“That’s what I’ve been told,” Cooper said. “I gather they want to make sure my brain’s not about to explode from some damage left from the accident. What did you do back there, with Samantha?”

Brent looked away. “I’m not even sure. I guess it was instinct. You’re okay though, right?” Brent tilted his head, making eye contact for the first time since he walked in. There was something unsettling about his expression as he put a hand on Cooper’s arm. “Can you sit up?”

Cooper hadn’t even noticed he was still lying down. He was more out of it than he thought.

He pushed himself into an upright position, only to then have to lean forward as a second wave of vertigo hit. Black spots danced in his vision. Brent kept him from falling forward off the bed by sitting next to him and looping an arm across Cooper’s shoulders.

Cooper drew a couple of deep breaths, until the world stopped rocking beneath him.

“How are Ryan and Delilah?” he asked, wondering how Brent was doing so much better than he was.

“Haven’t seen them,” Brent replied. “The nurses didn’t want me to stand up at first, just kept insisting on feeding me and stuff to get my blood pressure back up. Then that woman—my mom, I mean—came in.”

“What about—” Cooper stopped, distracted, when he realized Brent still had an arm over his shoulders. Had he always been this touchy-feely?

“What about what?” Brent asked.

“Samantha,” he managed to say. “Do you know what happened to her?” Before Brent could actually respond, though, the cuddling got to be a little much for him, so he just blurted out, “Are you hitting on me?”

“What?” Brent blinked with surprise.

Cooper deliberately lifted Brent’s arm off his shoulders.

“Oh,” Brent said. But instead of moving away, he came closer, and leaned over Cooper as if to kiss him before Cooper shoved him.

“Back off!” Cooper pushed himself to his feet and took a slightly unsteady step away. This could explain why Brent and Delilah hadn’t worked out. “You’ve been really cool the last few days, and I appreciate the help you’ve given me, and I’m happy to have you as a friend. But I don’t swing that way. Got it?”

Brent started laughing. He put his hands on his hips and shook his head.

“Cooper …” He took a breath, obviously struggling not to keep laughing. Eventually he managed to say. “You’re really not very bright all the time, are you? Maybe I should come back when you’re a little more together,” he said.

“Yeah, you do that,” Cooper said. “Come back later.” When the world was back to normal, at least.

“I thought you would be cool with this,” Brent said, slinking forward with a half smile and another chuckle. “You’ll laugh when you get over the surprise.”

“Ha-ha,” Cooper said flatly. “Now go away.”

Brent shook his head and turned, but there was something familiar about the movement that made Cooper frown. When Brent walked back toward the door—with a bit of a huffy flounce in his step—Cooper said, “Wait.”

“Make up your mind,” Brent said with a smile.

“I …” He stared at Brent, examining the way he was standing, half turned with one hand on his hip and his head just slightly tilted with teasing curiosity. He asked quietly, “Samantha?”

He recognized her giggle now, despite its deeper tone and the form it accompanied. “I wondered how long it would take you to figure it out.” She moved closer this time, her posture still flirtatious, and more obviously feminine now that he realized what was going on.

She reached for him again, and he leaped back with a yelp only partially caused by the pain that shot down his hip from the sudden tense movement.

“Oh, come on,” she said. “It’s not like I’m actually a guy.”

“No, that would be far more okay,” Cooper retorted hotly. “I’d still say no, but … God, Samantha, what the hell? You’re a chick in a dude, who’s hitting on me, which is creepy enough. But that’s not just some random body. It’s taken already.”

“It’s not like I did this intentionally,” she protested. “I wouldn’t know how to undo it if I wanted to.”

Refusing to get distracted, Cooper asked, “Samantha—should I even call you that? Where is Brent? I haven’t seen him, the way I used to be able to see you. Is he okay?”

Samantha sighed and flipped her hair, though it really wasn’t long enough for the gesture.

“Don’t know, don’t care,” she said. “I’m sure he’s fine wherever he is. I managed it for months.”

“Samantha—”

“Cooper,” she crooned. She caught his hand, and held on to it tightly. “Do you understand what it’s like, to have a body? To be able to touch you—or anything, really,” she said. “They gave me applesauce when I woke up, and just a simple thing like that was incredible. I didn’t do this on purpose. I don’t know what you and Brent were doing or tried to do, just that I woke up like this. But I won’t regret it. I can’t regret it. I’m alive.”

She kissed his cheek and then gave a gentle push, sending him stumbling toward the hospital bed.

“I’ll keep in touch,” she said, before the air shuddered again. This time Cooper didn’t think it was his head that was spinning.