Chasing Stars

I pushed the heavy unlocked door open, which I guess was a good thing since I didn't have a key. I quietly entered and shut the door after me. I pried my soaked shoes off my feet, trying to be quiet.

"Where the hell have you been?" A tired voice came from behind me. I dropped my last shoe to the ground and turned around.

"Out," I said bluntly.

"No shit," Gerard said in an irritated voice from the kitchen door. "Where were you?" I rolled my eyes.

"Out with a friend," I stated and walked toward the hallway. I got to the stairs before Gerard's grip came to my arm. He stopped me and turned me around.

"We are having this conversation," he stated, "Go in the kitchen before you soak the carpet." I pulled my arm from his grip and obeyed. I sighed as I leaned against the counter in the kitchen. "Who was this friend?" He asked.

"It doesn't matter," I said annoyed.

"Okay so I take it this friend was Jeremy from school," he said as he locked my eye sight.

"Well considering I just moved here, good guess," I stated folding my arms.

"Rylynn what were you doing?"

"Hanging out," I said plainly. I was intending on making him work for any information.

"Stop being a smart ass," he said in an authoritative manner.

"Guess I get that from you too," I said with a smirk on my face, proud of my counter.

"Rylynn," he warned which made me look down and feel like crap.

"We were just hanging out at the beach." Gerard's eyes went wide.

"What? The nearest beach is two hours away." I shrugged.

"I wouldn't know. I'm not from here," I said with venom.

"Did you go swimming? Is that why you're soaked?" his volume increasing

"You could say that," I said after thinking for a minute.

"Rylynn," he said sternly which made me drop my loss pissed off posture and stand straight and look down at the ground.

"We jumped off a rock. It's not a big deal, I'm fine." My voice came at a soft volume.

"Go take those clothes off and take a shower, leave the clothes on the floor and then go to your room," Gerard instructed. I turned and did as he asked. He just popped in to my life, he had no right to lecture me on my actions. When I finally climbed into bed it was 8 am and I was exhausted. My head was pounding, I was pissed off at Gerard and I was freezing. I was only asleep for about an hour when a knock came to the door.

"NO," I shouted wanting to go back to sleep. The door opened anyway. I heard something be set on the nightstand but didn't roll over to see what it was. A hand pushed the hair out of my face causing me to bury my head deeper in the pillow.

"Rylynn," Gerard's voice broke the silence in the room. I groaned loudly. "Come on roll over, look at me." I was to tired to argue with him so I rolled over but kept my eyes shut. His soft hand pushed the hair out of my face and felt my forehead. "Well you have a fever, so I need you to sit up and take some medicine." I groaned again and opened my eyes glaring at him.

"I don't want medicine, I want to sleep." I cried out.

"Well you probably should have thought of that before you decided to stay out all night. Come on," he said softly. I sat up and accepted the medicine in his hand and took the water that he set on the nightstand to drink them down. He continued to stare at me. "You really worried me," he said softly. I shrugged. "Lay down and try to get some sleep, I'll come get you around lunch time."

"Okay," I said laying back down and turned on my stomach. This pain I was perfectly fine with. Sleep came with visions of my mom. I knew Gerard was right I had a fever. Everything I was seeing and dreaming was half real half like a fun house.

"Rylynn," I heard my mom say, "Rylynn, come downstairs it's time to get going, Rylynn….Rylynn,,,,Rylynn," she tried to get my attention.

"Rylynn," her voice morphed into Gerard's which made me sit up very quickly in bed and inhaled sharply. "Hey, it's okay. It's okay, your fine," Gerard said to try and calm me down. I caught my breathe and realized I was in my room and Gerard had a arm around my midsection and the other was rubbing my back. I looked at him, realizing he was doing everything a parent should to calm their child. "Bad dream?" he asked as he relaxed his grip on me.

"Yeah," I said in a tired voice. I brought my hands to my throbbing head and tried to rub it.

"I brought you more medicine to take to try and break your fever and some lunch. Do you want to try to come downstairs?" he asked. I shock my head and leaned back against the head board again.

"I'm cold," I said with all of my energy. Gerard nodded and walked into the hall. I reached over and took the medicine that was on my night stand and ignored the food. Gerard reappeared with more blankets and covered me with them.

"You really need to try and eat," he said as I laid back down and curled into the blankets. I shock my head at him. I don't remember him leaving or the sun going down. I vaguely remember him giving me more medicine.

When I did finally woke up and felt coherent, it was night. I rolled over and looked at the clock, it was almost 1 in the morning. I pushed the blankets off of me and let me feet hit the cold floor. I pushed my sweat soaked hair out of my face and looked around the room. I saw Gerard sitting asleep in a rocking chair he must have pulled in here. I walked over to him and shock his knee. His eyes fluttered open and the realization of guilt hit me. This man cared about me. He forfeited a night of sleep just to stay in my room and make sure I was alright. This man who I now imagined got of the first plane out to Jersey to see me when he got the phone call. He was not my enemy, I was. He gave me a half smile and sat up letting the blanket fall off his shoulders.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked me rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah," I muttered, my throat to dry to talk.

"Lets go downstairs," he said as he stood up and stretched. I listened and followed behind him. We walked into the kitchen where he pulled down a glass and filled it with water, then set it on the island gesturing for me to sit down. I obeyed and drank the water. He was fishing around the refrigerator and pulled some food out.

"I'm sorry," I muttered. He stopped what he was doing and looked at me. "I shouldn't have left the house, I'm sorry."

"Thank you," he said beginning to make up a sandwich, "I know it's not easy to pick up all of your stuff and move to a different area. But even in New Jersey it's not okay to go swimming in January. You just caught a cold and it could have been worse." At this point he was done and placed the food in front of me. "Eat."

"I'm not hungry," I said finishing the water and pushing the plate away.

"You haven't ate in a day, Eat Rylynn." I sighed and picked up the sandwich. "What's going on with you?"

"What do you mean?" I said taking another bit.

"When you first moved here you weren't like this. You weren't sneaking out or coming home drenched."

"I've just had a bad week," I said finishing the sandwich and instantly wishing I hadn't.

"Okay, let's not do this again alright?" I nodded. I closed my eyes for a moment trying to keep the food down. "You okay?" I nodded and then quickly shock my head and ran to the bathroom. I got there just in time to throw up. Gerard came in behind me and pulled my hair back. He rubbed my back until my stomach was empty. I flushed the toilet. Gerard offered me toilet paper to clean my face. I accepted it. I leaned up against the wall and looked at him.

"Next time don't make me eat," I said placing my elbows on my knees and rubbing my forehead.

"Is this the first time this has happened after eating?" he said kneeling down in front of me and rubbing my legs. I shrugged. The truth was, every time I ate I felt like this. "Does it have something to do with umm well huh your mom?" I pulled my hands away from my head and rolled my eyes and stood up.

"Gerard, I may be sorry about worrying you but that doesn't mean it has anything to do with my mother. Stop asking me that all the time." He looked at me with no expression which pissed me off. I walked past him and back up to my room.

Notes

Let me know what you think.

Comment/Subscribe

~Nailsntacks