and destructive. And I can’t stop myself from wanting to know this feeling more.
Drift Nets - Oversized gillnets, often miles wide, that are allowed to drift freely. Controversial because they kill other marine animals that swim into them.
“So…” Presley comes inside my room with a brown bag in one hand and two cups balanced in the other. “I had to smuggle this in, and the fisherman came in looking for you with his brother. Maybe I should hook up with the brother? He’s fucking hot.”
Still recovering from the breathing treatments, my breath comes faster. I pull off the oxygen mask on my face, staring at the bag. It’s been eight hours since Avie left, and Presley said she’d bring me dinner. That’s eight hours of being hungry and thinking about said fisherman. I want to beg for details, but I also don’t want to appear too desperate.
“Cool,” I mumble, shifting to sit up in the most uncomfortable bed imaginable. You never realize how great your own bed is until you’re forced to stay in the hospital.
Presley sets the bag down on the tray next to my bed. I eye the oil stains seeping through it. “Cool? That’s all you have to say?” She pushes a loose strand from her face. Her hair is tied up on top of her head. She’s not wearing makeup, and she’s wearing sweatpants. She looks homeless. I smile to myself, thinking if Avie walked in, she’d literally freak out if he saw her like this. To me, this is what makes Presley so damn beautiful. “What the hell?” Reaching into the bag, she hands me a hamburger from The Grisly Den.
I take it. “What am I supposed to say?”
“I don’t know. Something. He’s crazy hot, and you’re like, whatever.” I peel the wrapper back. Fried deliciousness invades my senses. If only she knew I was far from “whatever” status with this guy.
Presley reaches for her own burger and then moves around my bed to the chair Avie had been sitting in earlier.
“Did you talk to Avie today?” I ask, wondering if he kept up with his end of the deal we made. Okay, it wasn’t a deal, but I’m curious if he said anything to her.
Her brows lift. “Nope. He sent me a text asking if I could bring you food. That’s it.”
Frowning, I take a bite from the hamburger. A distant door closing captures my attention. “Keep an eye out for that nurse.”
Presley snorts, talking around her food. “Which one?”
“The one with white hair who looks like she has a knife permanently shoved up her ass.”
She nods as if she knows exactly who I’m talking about. “She’s down the hall.”
I finish chewing what’s in my mouth, take a small drink from my shake, and then carefully push the rest of the burger away. “She said I shouldn’t be eating fast food.”
“You shouldn’t be.”
“They don’t know what they’re talking about here. I just want to go home.”
“When do you get to leave?”
“Couple days, I think. They want my fever to go down first.”
Presley sets her burger down. I look over at her, and the expression on her face says it all. It’s the same one everyone wears around a girl like me. “I’m worried about ya, J.”
With unease, I shrug off her concern and pick at the edges of the tray in front of me. Do you know how many times I’ve heard that from the people in my life? Damn near every day since my parents died. And I always tell them, “Worrying gets us nowhere.” Because it doesn’t. My mom, the most laidback person I’ve ever met, had been a firm believer that we’re all along for the ride on this thing called life. Sure, she was quoting Prince, I think, but she was right. Some things are out of your control. Like getting a heart transplant. I had no control over that, and if someday this heart quits too, still not a damn thing I can do about it.
I’m grateful to have a friend like her. It’s not every day someone like Presley Dakota comes into your life, and I’ve had her since day one.
“What did I miss today?”
She looks up from her hamburger. “Other than Kylo asking me a million times if you were okay?”
I roll my eyes. “Other than that.”
“Not much.”
For the next few hours, Presley lays in bed with me, and we watch Netflix on her phone. I can’t focus on much of anything, let alone the movie playing.