The next few hours flew by in a blur, the noise and acrid smells of the hospital were overwhelming, so I stayed in the purse most of the time. Henri's hand would dip in and pet me and Kensey every so often while we tried to nap, but she mostly sat still, waiting. At around three in the morning, Miss Lund made her way over to us from the room where she'd been with Marissa and Henri stood to meet her.
"Well, they say she's mostly fine." Miss Lund said "They have tubes in her nose and an IV in her arm, and they're monitoring her heart rate, if it stops, they'll be able to help her."
"So she is going to be ok?" Henri asked
"Aside from the risk of heart failure for the next few hours, yes, she should be ok." Miss Lund replied "They said there's a risk of brain damage, but I told them if she did this to herself, it's already too late for her brain."
"I... see." Henri said "So, is there any chance I can go see her?"
"She's still passed out, they don't think she'll wake up for a while, but I let the doctors know you'll be staying with her until about two this afternoon, if that's ok with you. I have several important meetings and that's the first open time slot I have to come back here. I can pay you for the trouble, of course."
"I would be happy to stay with her, of course." Henri said "And no need to pay me. We are friends, after all."
"Ah, of course, of course." Miss Lund said "I hope I didn't offend, I was just trying to ensure I wasn't wasting your time."
"It is not a waste of time at all, ma'am." she said politely
"I appreciate that..." Miss Lund said "I don't know when I'll have free time, but I'll treat you to dinner this week sometime, assuming I can find a free evening. Maybe Marissa can come along, if she's up to it."
"That sounds like a lovely time, Miss Lund, I look forward to it." Henri said.
I didn't think it sounded lovely at all, but Henri was good at being very polite to people she wanted to strangle.
"Ah, and... with the new information that's come to light, you can stop trying to get my daughter to dispose of her pet." Miss Lund said "I may not like the fact that it exists, or that she owns it... but it did save her life. I'll end my grudge with it, for her sake."
"That is very kind of you, ma'am." Henri said, surprised "What about the conflict of interest?"
"...I still want you to impart the importance of ending the class B plague to her, try and get her to see that the continued existence of them is a detriment to society, but... do it gently. If she can understand the greater good, her pet may not hurt her views on class B testing after all."
"I will... discuss that with her." Henri said
"Thank you, it'll sound so much better coming from you." Miss Lund sighed
"If I may, ma'am, the class B plague isn't picky about who it targets, what would you do if it evolves to the point where you yourself get infected? Or Marissa?" Henri asked carefully
"That's a horrible thought..." Miss Lund said, aghast "I don't even want to think about that... I suppose... if it were me, I'd find a painless way to end my life. If it were Marissa, heaven forbid... I'd..."
She sighed, and went quiet for a moment "...I'd have no choice but to use her as a test subject. My priority would change from ending the transformations to reversing them, of course, but I wouldn't let her condition influence my morals, I couldn't."
"I understand." Henri said quietly
"Why would you think about that kind of thing, anyway?" Miss Lund asked
"Mm, I saw an article about it, and I have been considering what my own life would look like if I was infected." Henri said "I wanted a more experienced view on the matter, thank you."
"No, thank you, It's a dark topic, but one worth considering... I'm going to go home and get an hour or two of sleep before my breakfast meeting, I'll see you this afternoon?"
"Of course, hopefully she will be awake by then."
Miss Lund gave Henri the room number and left, leaving us alone in the waiting room. Henri sighed and patted the bag, heading for the doors deeper into the hospital. It took a few minutes to reach the room Marissa was staying in, and the lights were all off inside, making it look gloomy and sad. I peeked at her lying there on the bed, hooked up to machines and hoses and I felt my heart break just a little. She had an almost blue pallor to her skin, very pale, and very fragile. Henri walked over to the bed slowly and set her purse by Marissa's shins. I stared at my unconscious girlfriend for a few more seconds, taking in her slight frown, listening to the heart rate monitor beep, and feeling a chill go through me.
"Fuck, she looks bad..." Kensey said from beside me "you said she got this way off of five drinks?"
"Five bottles of wine, really." I said "It's rice wine, but it's still wine."
"Oh, yeah, that'd do it..." she muttered "I remember my alcoholic days, I was drinking a bottle and a half a night at one point. Five is wild..."
"She is an idiot." Henri said, pulling a chair over to the bed "She should know better than to have that much."
"It was a new kind of alcohol for her, it was in a bottle like beer, if she'd had 5 beers, she'd have been fine." I defended her "She's just not used to soju."
"She still should have noticed that she was way drunker than she had any right to be." Henri said, sitting down and laying her upper body on the bed "I'm going to try and sleep a little, do you guys need anything first?"
"I'm ok." Kensey said "I'm just happy to not be dealing with Quince for a little bit longer. Wanna put that off as long as possible."
"Yeah, I'm good." I said "I want to stay up in case she wakes up though."
"I'm going to get some sleep..." Kensey said "I need my rest."
"We need way less sleep than class As, so... you'll probably be fine if you want to stay up with me?" I reminded her
"Nah, I want to sleep." She said, and ducked back into the purse.
"Amber, just be careful, ok?" Henri said as I climbed out "Wake me up if you need anything."
I nodded, but doubted I'd be able to. Henri was a very deep sleeper, and even when we were the same size I'd had trouble waking her up.
"Actually..." I said, thinking back
"Hm?" she said, lifting her head to look at me
"What was all that about 'what if you or Marissa were compressed' back there?" I asked "That's a weird thing to ask someone."
Henri sighed "I was trying to see if she'd think differently if I forced empathy on her, but it didn't work."
She folded her arms under her head "...Plus, it's something I've been thinking about a lot myself..."
"Her or Marissa catching it?" I asked "You told me not to think like that..."
"No no, me catching it." she clarified "If it can spread from direct contact with people who are compressing, and we can test to see if people can compress now, I could compress myself by surrounding myself with people who can compress and infecting them, right?"
"...Why would you want that?" I asked "This is horrible, I know I'm in a better place than I was last week, but Henri, you don't want this."
"I know, I know, I just- I want to know I see you as an equal, I guess." she muttered "And we could be roomies again, if Marissa adopted me too."
"I don't think you'd want her to..." I said "She's only as nice as she is to me because she's dating me."
"...Ja, 'nice'." Henri huffed "Anyway, it was just a fantasy. The odds of finding a group of people who'd be willing to let me compress them before they do it naturally is slim to none."
"Well don't go looking." I said "Seriously, I know we disagree about a lot right now, but having a full sized friend to defend me from whatever threats come my way is kinda nice. Even if I don't always need defending the way you think I do."
"I will not, it was just a stray thought." she assured me "I need sleep though, I will see you later, Klein Fee."
"Goodnight, Henri." I said, and patted her forehead as I walked past her.
I made my way up to Marissa's face, sitting on the pillow next to her, watching her sleep. I wondered what would have happened if I hadn't said anything, if she'd have woken up in the morning with a massive headache, or if she'd have never woken up at all. There was no way of knowing, but I was glad for that dumb health and safety class they'd made us take our first semester. I didn't think I'd need to know any of that stuff, but... it ended up paying off in the end.
I shivered and rubbed my arms through my sleeves. The dumb clown costume was still too thin to be comfortable, and the hospital was even colder than Marissa's house, it felt like about 70, which was far too cold for me. She'd played around the temperature in her room back home, trying to find a spot where I wasn't uncomfortably cold and she wasn't feeling sticky, and we'd found that about 78 degrees was about as hot as she could stand without being too uncomfortable, while I'd be ok in a t-shirt and pjs, maybe my tracksuit jacket too. I preferred it to be closer to 83, which is what my house was set to, but it didn't stay that warm unless the walls were closed.
I scooted closer to Marissa, nestling into her neck, just above her shoulder. She was warm, very warm, most likely because of the alcohol still in her system making her run hot. I listened to the thumping of her blood, the gentle hiss of the oxygen as she breathed, and I let out a breath. I felt like I'd been trying to fight against the panic all night, and being here with her was finally letting it slip away. I let myself relax as she warmed me, and I lay there, not sleeping, but relaxing in the crook of her neck.
Time passed slowly. While I wanted her to wake up, I also wanted her to rest, and I felt wonderful just being close to her. It was the longest we'd gone like this since she'd slept curled up around me during the first sleepover, and it was the first time I'd been able to appreciate it, really. As the sun started to come in through the window, I heard Henri moan and felt the bed move as she re-adjusted in her sleep to get the light out of her face. Marissa hummed, and she moved slightly, causing me to slip down slightly as she turned her head. I clambered out of my cozy hole and over to her shoulder, standing so I could see her face.
She turned to me, one eye open and wrinkled her nose, her hand moving like she was going to lift it, but it fell back down and she gave up.
"Whurmi?" she slurred
Her face was bleary, and her eye looked bloodshot and puffy. I winced as she tried to fight through the haze to see me, and sat down, rubbing her shoulder to try and help her focus on me.
"You're in the hospital." I said "You drank too much last night and we had to call an ambulance."
Her one open eye blinked at me and then she looked around the room
"Imminna hobsital?" she asked
"Yeah, they were worried you'd die, you were almost in a coma..." I explained
"Hnn... too drunk t' thin' boutall that..." she moaned
"You'll be drunk until Sunday morning, according to the internet." I said "You drank a lot, really fast..."
"Ss eryonne ok?" she asked
"You knocked Quince and Tracy's heads together pretty hard, but I think they're ok." I told her
"Hhhh... I got tubes inme..." she said wiggling her nose
"That's air, they thought you'd stop breathing." I said "You were really drunk."
"Fffeels more drumnk than I rember being..." she sighed
"You're acting more drunk than you were before you passed out, yeah." I agreed "I guess it hadn't all gotten in your system yet..."
"Imgoin t' sleep..." she said "cm gimme kiss..."
I walked my way to her face as she turned it to meet me and pressed myself against her lips. She made a loud 'mwah' noise and turned her head back up to look at the ceiling, and moaned lightly in pain before going still, her breathing growing slow and heavy once again. I returned to my nook in the crook of her neck and curled up. It really was entirely too cold in this room. I felt the time pass as I lie there, the sun soon streaming through the window. It was still early, but it was late enough she'd usually be awake by now, if not for the alcohol. The door to the room swung open and I froze, had Miss Lund swung by before her breakfast meeting after all?
Henri stirred at the sound and lifted her head "I am up, I just... I wanted to lie there a bit more..." she mumbled
"Oh, that's ok, ma'am." the new person said, and I recognized the uniform as she walked into the room. A nurse, checking in on Marissa, of course. "I'm sorry to wake you, I just need to put new bags on the IV, and check to make sure she's still doing ok."
"Ja, I just... I did not get to sleep until after three..." Henri yawned
"Are you her girlfriend?" the nurse asked, moving to the IV to swap them out.
"Oh, götter, nein..." Henri said, rubbing her face "I am just her... friend, I guess. I am watching her class B for her."
"Oh? She has a class B?" the nurse looked interested "Where are they? I don't see them..."
I sat up and waved, and got a small start from the nurse for my troubles. I hid a smile and climbed back onto Marissa's shoulder, sitting down so I'd be more visible.
"I don't know if it's safe for you to be that close to her..." the nurse said "She could roll over or vomit in her sleep, and then where would you be?"
"Hey, ja, why is she on her back?" Henri said "I thought she was supposed to be face down..."
"We pumped her stomach after we heard she'd had so much within the last couple hours, and we gave her antiemetics as well. There's not much of a vomiting risk, and she's intubated, anyway." the nurse explained
I looked at Marissa, her skin was a better color, and she was still looking slightly pained, but she wasn't as bad as she'd been before. Whatever they'd done, hopefully it helped.
"Why'd you list that as a reason not to sleep next to her, then?" I asked
"I just don't want you getting hurt" the nurse said "I'll be back in a while to check on her again, try not to wake her up, ok?"
Henri nodded, and peeked in her purse as soon as we were alone "You doing ok Kensey?" she asked
"I need to use the bathroom..." Kensey said, her voice small and nervous
"Uhhh..." Henri said, her face going blank "Um... I do not- we- there is a bathroom in the room here, but it is not- there's not a- Mm, Amber, how do we do this?"
"I don't know, don't look at me," I said, shrugging "I'm always in my carrying case when we're gone for more than a couple hours, I've never had this problem."
"Ok, ok..." Henri said "What if you use the sink?"
"The sink?" Kensey said poking her head up "That's... I don't know how that'd work..."
"Yeah, Henri could leave the water running a little, you could take your clothes off so they don't get wet, and-" I started
"Ok ok, just shut up..." Kensey snapped "We'll do that, just- don't talk about it."
"Ok..." Henri said, picking Kensey up and looking uncomfortable "I will just- I will bring you in there and uh, I can set a timer for what, five minutes? So you can get undressed and stuff?"
"Please stop talking about it..." Kensey said, her face in her hands.
Henri walked to the bathroom and I heard the water turn on. She closed the door, and came back over to the table, sans Kensey.
"That is..." Henri said, looking mildly uncomfortable "That is humiliating."
"Yeah, no kidding." I agreed "I feel bad for her..."
"Do you also need to?..." Henri asked as she set her phone timer
"No, I'm good..." I said. I looked over at Marissa and hugged myself again "...Thanks, for calling the ambulance."
Henri went still, and looked at me, her expression unreadable.
"...No problem." she said finally
"I was kinda worried for a second there..." I admitted "I could see your brain working, and...
She made a noise in the back of her throat and scrunched her face up "I will kill for you, Klein Fee, if I think I need to. But... I do not know that I need to right now. So I called."
"But you thought about letting her die?" I asked
"I mean, ja, of course I did." Henri said "It is like, if she is gone, you are basically mine, but... I knew you would hate me for it."
"So... her being alive is because you didn't want to upset me?" I clarified
"Well it certainly was not because I liked her..." Henri admitted
"I don't know how to feel about that..." I said, folding my arms "I'm glad you called, but if the only thing between her and death was a fear of me being upset with you, then... I'm worried you're still a danger."
"Well, I promise not to kill Marissa, and I promise not to steal you, ok?" Henri said, frustrated "Is that ok with you? Does that make your feeling of being 'in danger' go away?"
"Do you mean it?" I asked, glaring at her
"Ja, gods, I mean it..." she said, rolling her eyes "It is not like I have done either of those things before..."
"You have actively tried, multiple times, to steal me." I pointed out "And you just admitted to wanting to let her die due to negligence."
"Ok, but did I?" she asked, shrugging "Look, I am giving you my word, I am being friendly to her, I am making friends with her bitch of a mom, I am staying at the hospital for hours because I know you want to be with her during this mess, I am being good, and you cannot even fucking let me do that without trying to make me a bad guy?"
"...I'm sorry, yeah, ok." I said, ashamed "Thank you, I- I don't know why I started a fight over that..."
Henri just pointed at Marissa in response and raised an eyebrow. I sighed, maybe she was a bad influence, but weren't all the best relationships? Henri's phone went off, and she stood, walking to the bathroom without a word. She knocked, waited a moment, then opened the door. A few seconds later, a damp and angry Kensey was sitting on the bed, teeth chattering.
"The water splashed all over me..." she said, wringing her hair out "That was the worst, I hope to god Quince buys me a real bathroom, today..."
"I will talk to her about it..." Henri said "She has the money, I am sure she will get you lots of fancy stuff."
"Just don't let her take you to 'Tiny Toys for Tiny Treasures'," I said "Or if she does, don't let them put you in the little daycare area, it was bad..."
"How bad?" Henri asked, her eyes sharpening
"Like, hot and boring and loud and overstimulating, just a mess put together to try and sell you stuff." I said "I don't know, Marissa wouldn't let them keep me there, she was insistent about it."
"I don't think I'll be able to stop her if I tried, but..." Kensey said "Thanks for the heads up."
A moan from Marissa shut us all up, and I stood quickly, turning to look at her. Her eyes slid open, and she coughed slightly
"I- water..." she mumbled
"You have an IV, it is-" Henri said
"Shut up, water..." Marissa growled.
Henri made a face, but got up and went to the bathroom again, coming back with a paper cup of water. She held it up to Marissa's mouth, and she slurped, swishing it with her teeth before swallowing.
"Amber, you ok?" she asked, licking her lips
""Yeah, just worried about you, are you ok?" I asked back
"Mmm, head hurts, body hurts, stomach hurts, I've got stuff up my nose, a hole in my arm, and I'm pretty sure there's a catheter in me. So, no, I'm not great." she winced and closed her eyes again "Gods, I haven't been in this much pain since the car accident..."
"You drank too much." Henri said coldly "Amber made me call an ambulance on you."
"Oh, yeah, I remember drinking a lot, I was all tingly by the end..." Marissa said "Those drinks hit hard, huh?"
"Yeah, especially when you have like, no meat on your body." I pointed out
"Was that a dig?" Marissa asked "I get it bad enough from Quince..."
"No, I- sorry, I was just- you look good, sorry." I apologized "I like your body..."
"I do not appreciate you doing this to yourself when you are supposed to be taking care of my best friend." Henri said, crossing her arms
"It's not like I did this on purpose..." Marissa said, slowly sitting up against the headboard and breathing deeply
"Honestly, 5 bottles of wine?" Kensey asked "Really? You had to have known..."
Marissa glared at her "I don't remember asking your opinion. You can't even drink anymore."
Kensey's face threatened to crumple, but she worked it into a glare "I'm still the oldest person here, by like ten years, and I can say from experience that you were being stupid to try and drink that much."
Marissa shook her head "Oh, Quince is going to break you so hard..."
"Could you get her to... not do that?" I asked "I like having a friend almost my size..."
"I'm not doing jack shit." Marissa said "I feel like I was run over by a train, and I really don't care about the lady, except that she's making a wet spot on my blanket."
"You are still horrible, aren't you?" Henri said "You are just nice to Amber because she gives you what you want."
"I'm not that nice to her." Marissa said tauntingly, knocking me off her shoulder onto her pillow and laying her arm on top of me
"Uuugh, just- fucking be normal, ok?" Henri said, pulling me out from under Marissa "We stayed here all night because she wanted to see you, and you wake up and just act like this?"
"I'm hungover, I'm still kinda drunk, and I feel like shit, you're lucky I'm not being worse." Marissa snapped "Now give me Amber and the two of you fuck off. Go get breakfast or something."
"I am not giving you Amber while you're like this." Henri said "It is not safe for her."
I felt my temper flare and I smacked her finger, hard.
"Excuse you, Henri?" I said "I'll decide if it's safe or not, and I think it's plenty safe. Give me to my girlfriend, and go find food."
"Girlfriend!?" Kensey said, shocked
Henri glared at me, but shoved me into Marissa's lap. She turned, snatching Kensey and her purse off the bed and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.
I righted myself and looked up at Marissa "She's just tired or something." I said "I'm sure she's not really mad."
"She can be mad if she wants to be." Marissa said stubbornly "I'm a bitch, and right now I'm a bitch in pain, so I'll act like even more of a bitch."
"...Your mom is coming by around two..." I said, trying to re-direct the conversation
"Awh, fuck..." Marissa moaned "I really don't want to see her..."
"She's getting along with Henri pretty well..." I said "Henri even got her to agree to let you keep me, no pressure to kill me."
"Oh, yeah, so my girlfriend's bestie convinced my mom that I can date her, great." Marissa said sarcastically "I don't know why she wanted me to kill you so bad anyway..."
"Mm, I know, actually." I said "She's going to use Tracy's dad's company to experiment on class Bs to make vaccinations, and she wants you to not feel bad for us getting experimented on. She doesn't like the idea of you getting attached to a class B if you're gonna have to torture other class Bs in a few years."
"...What the fuck?" Marissa said "Is she a cartoon villain or something?"
"I don't know, she used the word 'eradicate' when talking about us..." I said "I still don't want her to see me, even if she's 'ok' with me now."
"She's a fucking bitch..." Marissa mumbled "She just wants to ruin and control everything, I hate her so much..."
"She's pretty awful..." I agreed "She cares about you though, in a weird way. She like, stayed here until three in the morning and made sure you were stable, and like, you're almost all she talked to Henri about."
"I wish she didn't care." she said "Honestly, if she didn't care, she wouldn't hurt me so much. If she'd ignore me instead of picking me apart to 'help' me, I'd be so much better off."
"Yeah..." I said "Hey, just as a point of curiosity... You used 'girlfriend' to refer to me earlier, are we putting a label on it?"
"...You said it first." Marissa said sullenly
"Yeah, and you repeated it." I said smugly "So, are we putting a label on it? Are we girlfriends?"
Marissa glared at me for a long moment then slowly nodded "Yeah, whatever. But I still own you, and you're still my pet, and I'm still in charge."
I smiled and flopped over so I could hug her leg through the blanket "Of course, yeah, absolutely, girlfriend...~"
"Obviously don't talk about it in front of my mom or the girls, but whatever, yeah." she said
"Oh, they already know." I said "Not your mom, but Quince and Tracy."
Marissa's eyes widened, and she sucked in air "What." she hissed "Why do they know?"
"Uh, well, once you passed out, one of them made a comment about it, and I denied it, and um... they both said they knew already, because you're bad at hiding it, and... yeah..."
Marissa dropped back into the bed "Holy fuck, my social life is over." she whispered "I just lost all the power I had left after high school, right there..."
"Hey, it's not that bad..." I said, offended "They didn't really care too much, they said they knew you liked girls for ages already anyway, they kinda implied everyone knew."
"Yeah, but if they know I know they knew, it makes me look weak, it'll look like I'm ashamed of myself, which is an insecurity, and my whole persona falls apart, gods..."
"I didn't really follow that, but... Do you need a persona?" I asked "Can't you just be like, normal?"
Marissa glanced at me, her face flickering with annoyance before changing to resignation "Yeah, Amber, I do. I need to be feared, because I'm sure as hell incapable of being loved. I gotta play the role, be the mean one with no weaknesses."
"I mean, I don't think you're incapable of being loved..." I said
"I'm not fishing for compliments, Amber." she said "I'm saying I've hurt people, a lot, and they don't forgive you after that. I need them to stay afraid of me or it all crumbles and it's all for nothing, and if it looks like I was insecure about something, it crumbles."
"You were insecure about the divorce, and your stutter, and you still got through that ok." I pointed out
She snarled "The divorce was a nightmare, I had to personally hurt everyone I knew to keep them afraid of me, and... the stuttering..."
She looked at me, her expression slightly hurt "just... please don't mention that again, ok?"
I nodded and patted her leg. "Sorry, I was trying to be encouraging..."
"Whatever..." she said "Gods, I'm in so much pain right now... all my stomach muscles are screaming, why the fuck are my stomach muscles sore?"
"I don't know, I've never drank before." I said "Is that not normal?"
"Maybe it is if you have this much..." she said tiredly "Fuck, I'm not going to drink for a while..."
"That's a good idea..." I said "You really scared me, Missy. The internet said you were dying..."
"I don't think I was dying." She said "I think maybe I was like, in danger of dying, but I wasn't dying."
"You were just laying there, I kept having to look and make sure you were breathing..."
"Well, I'm ok now, so don't be all weird about it." she said "I'll be ok soon."
"Yeah, Sunday night, I think." I told her "From what I read, it'll be Sunday night before you're ok again."
"Fuuuck..." she said "This sucks ass... I'm still all buzzed and drunk feeling, and I'm already hungover, how is that fair?"
"Maybe they'll give you painkillers?" I said hopefully
"You can't mix painkillers and alcohol, Amber." she said flatly "I doubt they'll slip up there."
I chewed my lip and thought about it for a moment "...Well, I'll be here with you, the whole time, that's good, right? I'll need Henri to bring my carrying case though, to sleep in and... stuff."
"'And stuff'." she said, raising her eyebrow
"'And stuff' is why Kensey was all wet earlier, I'd really rather have my case." I explained
Marissa frowned "Oh, huh. That had to suck... Sink?"
"Yeah, sink." I said "I want to see if Henri can message Quince to bring some stuff for us, and we can give Kensey back to her."
"I don't want to see her..." Marissa said "I remember fighting or something?"
"Yeah, her and Tracy told your backstory, and you bonked their heads. Tracy bled, even."
"Oh, shit, yeah, that sounds right..." Marissa looked sick "Fuck... I- fuck... Now I have to see them..."
"To apologize?" I asked, curious. I hadn't known her to say she was sorry yet, and I was interested to see how she did it here.
"To... say something. I don't know what." Marissa said "Fuck, I haven't hurt them in like, five years, I feel like shit now..."
"Well, I'll tell Henri to get them both here... I want my tablet and some clothes that aren't clown clothes, and I need my case."
"Maybe I'll put that off until later..." Marissa said "Give myself time to prepare."
"It needs to be sooner than later," I told her "Your mom doesn't know I'm here, and unless you can pull a slight of hand and pretend Quince just brought me whenever she shows up, I'll need to hide the whole time she's here, and I don't want to suffocate under your pillow."
"You could just go under the blanket, that's not hard." Marissa said
"There'd be a lump." I pointed out "She'd see me."
"Not if you hid in the tent between my-" Marissa started to counter, then stopped, remembering she was in a hospital robe "...When Henri gets back, I'll get her to text Quince, yeah."
I lay back on her thigh and looked up at her face. I loved this angle, upside down, her looking down at me, laying and feeling cozy... She lifted her hand onto me and pet my stomach and I held her finger. I was glad she was ok, she was in a rare mood today, snippy and pushing too far, even being rude to me, but there was still that layer of 'I don't quite mean it' or maybe 'I just want to be rude' that helped me not to take it seriously.
The door opened again, and Henri walked in with a tray of food. Eggs, toast, a carton of milk, some jelly, and a bowl of something white and grainy. She sat in her chair, put the tray on Marissa's bed, and pulled Kensey out of her purse, sitting her on the bed next to the tray.
"It was too crowded in the mess hall." Henri said, still sounding angry "I figured we would just come up here. Amber, I got you breakfast too, it is not fancy, but it is something."
She handed me a tiny paper pill cup, the size of a bucket to me, and I looked in. There were small, green pellets in the bottom, the size meatballs would be if they were my sized, and they smelled kind of like grass and falafel.
"Don't do it, it's not worth it." Kensey warned me "They're like grainy balls of sawdust."
"This is what other class Bs eat?" I asked, pulling one out and looking at it
"Yeah, poor ones." Marissa snorted "That shit is the legal definition of 'edible' and that's all."
"Solidarity, then." I said, and braced myself
I took a bite, and instantly regretted it. It was dry, grainy, and somehow doughy, all at once. The flavor was... 'plant', with some kind of 'spice' added in, but it wasn't one I could identify. I chewed, and it fell to bits, covering my tongue in powder, drying my mouth out and turning into a sticky, waxy paste. I grimaced, and swallowed, putting the rest of the pellet into the cup and pushing it away.
"Solidarity or not, that tasted awful..." I said "That's like, the worst thing I've ever tried to eat, that's meant for humans?"
"Wellll...." Marissa said jokingly
"Hey!" Henri snapped "Not funny!"
"I know she's kidding, it's fine." I said "But yeah, no, I'm not eating that. Thank you for thinking of me though."
"We'll need Quince to bring you some food too, then..." Marissa said
"Quince is coming?" Kensey asked, suddenly nervous
"Yeah, we, uh, need some stuff." Marissa said "My phone, her case, stuff."
"I really hoped I'd get to stay with you guys longer..." Kensey said "I just... that pencil case, her attitude, I'm just not looking forward to seeing her."
"It will be ok." Henri said "Marissa and I will talk to her, won't we?" she glared at Marissa, who looked nonplussed
"Give me your phone, I'll text her." Marissa said, holding out her hand
"I do not have her number." Henri said, shaking her head
"I'll do it on social media, come on, she has DMs open, she'll see it." Marissa insisted.
"...fine." Henri said "But only because we are talking to her about treating Kensey well."
"Whatever, fine." Marissa snatched the phone out of Henri's hand and tapped quickly, and was soon typing, her thumbs flying across the screen "Amber, what food do you want? I'm telling her to get your tracksuit and your pajamas for clothes."
"Uh, there's nothing thawed, so... anything is ok, but she needs to microwave it first? It might be hard with her fingers, to push the buttons, maybe she could use a toothpick?"
"That's a pain..." Marissa said "I doubt she'll do it, but I'll ask."
"My heart is beating like a drum..." Kensey said "I'm just- ugh, I'm so nervous..."
"Hey, just remember what I told you, it'll be ok." I told her
"Ok, message sent." Marissa said "Now, what food did you get me?"
"I did not get you anything." Henri scoffed "I got my food for me, they will bring you food whenever they feel like it."
Marissa frowned "If I give you my toast later, can I have your toast now?"
"I wanted the toast now, so I got the toast now." Henri said, dipping it in the grainy white stuff "You can wait."
"...fuck it, I'm calling for a nurse." Marissa muttered "My stomach is in knots and I'm starving."
I moved the cup of ick back to Henri's tray and lay against Marissa's thigh next to Kensey, taking her hand in mine. Her fingers were too big to lace with mine at the base, but our fingertips could interlock. I smiled up at her encouragingly, and she looked back down sadly.
"It'll be ok, I promise." I told her
"Easy for you to say, you're sleeping with the enemy..." she muttered
"Well, we're not-" I said, then changed my approach "Tell you what, if she'll get you a tablet, we can video call every day, ok? I'll coach you through stuff, right?"
"...Ok, yeah, that's fine..." she said "Thanks. I still think there's something wrong with you, this relationship is... not healthy, but... thanks for being there for me."
I smiled again and wiggled her hand. I knew my relationship wasn't 'normal', but it wasn't unhealthy. We communicated, we cared about each other, we respected each other, most of the time, and that's what counted. I wasn't sure if Kensey'd be able to have the same kind of relationship we did, but I could do my best to coach her into a safe, comfortable owner/pet relationship that worked for her, she... just might have to make a few concessions along the way.
~~~