Raindrops: A story of Life and Circumstance ; Chapter Eleven: An Eventful Interlude
I can’t say I was disappointed by the lack of interesting things leading up to my last night before school. After the chaos of the past year and the first day, it was a relief when Natalie put me into enforced bedrest. It was even better to have her by my side those two weeks. She rarely left, only to get food and other necessities. Maybe I was being a bit selfish, but I truly enjoyed her undivided attention after intentionally being ignored for several months. It made me feel happy in a way I hadn’t felt in a while.
Every day, she would bring me a variety of things, whether for discussion or for entertainment. I didn’t much like romance novels, but Natalie had picked up on my preferences quickly, and a flood of mysteries and thrillers had surreptitiously appeared in the expanding pile of volumes on the nightstand. Where she got them from, I didn’t know. From several discussions we’d had on the matter, short and stunted as they were, I knew she’d no intention of returning to the library. And, to be honest, neither did
I. I had no intention of meeting up with Minnette, alone or accompanied. There was something calming about just sitting together in bed and reading. When I was too tired or sore, she’d chip in. Although, she had a habit of blushing and omitting any risque content she came across.
At night, she tried to hide it from me, but I would often see her sitting up in bed with a flashlight, pouring over some textbook or another. She was still researching me, but some of her new books on the supernatural clued me into the fact I was not the only topic of her scouring. But Every time I asked her about it, she would put her glasses away and laugh tiredly before curling against me and singing until I fell asleep. It was unfair, but I could never get my eyes to stay open long enough.
Not that I had the chance to think about it much. Natalie kept me occupied for the entire week and a half, either with conversation or quiet companionship. She had a very guarded air to strangers who visited, but she would always relax around me, and I got many glimpses into the inner reaches of her mind. She was very much a philisoph, contrary to her outwards appearance. When she didn’t check herself mid-sentence, she displayed a very deep and introspective wisdom. She would often catch herself and laugh it off, but there was a sincerity in her eyes that I couldn’t not come to adore. I had met few honest people in my life. She was always honest with me.
But even she had her limits. I learned early on what not to ask her about. She would always distance herself from talking about her own past, and would freeze up whenever I tried to ask about her family. Her reaction surprised me, but there was nothing I could really do that didn’t involve interrogating her, so I let them be. Even then, I still learned from her. She had a faith in the world working itself out, something I couldn’t put much stock in, but I saw the doubt in her eyes when she voiced her opinion. It was like trying to find the bottom of a well. So many layers of falsification and artifice to dig through. I left it though, not wanting to be blunt or pushy with a newfound friend and companion, even one as odd and unlikely as her.
The week did have some challenges however. For several days, I was still not able to walk without aide. I don’t even want to describe the embarrassment and logistics of day-to-day necessities with her assistance. Ignoring the all too often necessities, Natalie was very patient and collected throughout the whole recovery process, which was a monumental help. We went on walks throughout the latter half of the week, mainly around the Dorm blocks, but it was far easier than anywhere else on campus. Besides, the chance to get fresh air was welcome after being confined in my room. The air was a little stuffy, even when Natalie opened the window, thoughtfully, to vent it. All things considered, I was more a full-time patient than a roommate, but Natalie bore the burden without complaint. In fact, she looked relieved that I couldn’t get into any more trouble while she watched. Not that I blamed her. I would much prefer to be babysat by her than to stop breathing randomly on the streets. Or run into any more random hex-happy strangers with white hair. Not that I was scared or anything...
To be fair, I spent the majority of the week in one of three states: Happy, Content, or terrified. Even if my days where just fine and dandy with Natalie keeping me happy and occupied, Nights continued to haunt me. I continued to have nightmares and terrifying dreams and hallucinations. I would wake up in the middle of night, and Minnette would be there. I would see her for a split second, by the door, on my bed, or across the room, and she would be gone by the time I blinked. It kept me up at night, and it began to show in my psyche. Natalie tried her best, but even she couldn’t keep me safe from myself. Often, she would stay up long into the night with me, and we would talk it out. But even that would not help. Natalie began to get bags under her eyes from the lack of sleep, and I began to show the same signs.
Eventually though, it did end. My Aunt dropped by with the little bits of furniture I had acquired for my room, and I felt much better seeing her again. I don’t know if it was just homesickness plaguing me, but my condition improved immediately after I’d embraced my Aunt after two weeks of separation. She was a little concerned at my appearance, and the fact I was still limping everywhere, but I shrugged off her concerns with an increasingly elaborate ruse about studying and exercise. Natalie commiserated my story, sensing the reason behind my lie. It was a blessing to have her during the furniture moving. Most of it was just simple things, small pieces that were easy to handle. I could handle those. But the nightstands and chairs were something else. Normally, the residency department would help to move things in and out of the rooms for a price. Unfortunately, well-funded as we were with Natalie’s checkbook, they were not available. Very few students had arrived early, and as such, neither had the majority of the staff. So, by means of Natalie, and by extension her very well-toned chauffeur, we were saved a good deal of legwork.
The afternoon wore me down though, and by the end, I was almost glad to see Aunt Vi go. She’d been very perceptive, and it was not easy to explain the reason that only one of the beds was used, the one preexisting set of sheets, or total lack of evidence that we weren’t sleeping together. My aunt was one of those people who thought they ‘knew', and the sly smiles she gave to Natalie made me want to crawl into a hole and hide. I’d never given much thought to it, honestly. Our only visitors where Sarah and, occasionally, Sam. Sarah didn’t care, knowing us as she did, and Sam very obviously disapproved, but kept his opinion to himself. I suppose I’d become used to it. In truth, I’d barely even objected when she’d climbed into bed the second night, so I suppose it was ingrained. Not that I minded, which was concerning in and of itself. It saved us some room. Natalie’s one bed sufficed for both of us, saving me the hassle of buying one.
By the time orientation rolled around, I was feeling up and active again, fully rested, and able to walk on my own. But Natalie insisted on walking me down anyway. She held my hand all the way there, drawing more than one interested stare. She ignored them, but I was still shrinking against her, which if anything convinced everyone we were together. She took this in stride, pushing past each of the onlooker to our seats.
Casually, she sat us down in the middle rows and held my hand, even across seats. She had a small smile on her face, looking forwards to the stage. In the light, she was simply radiant, eyes bright blue and attentive. And when she looked at me, they crinkled in a beautiful way, as If I was her own little inside joke. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of her. My own emotions were much cloudier. I felt much better when she was around, like I was together again, but I still felt the pang of loss every time I saw her. The feeling was muted, since, for all intents and purposes, as she’d all but replaced Chloe. Almost an Identical role to play in my life, but in a very different way. Chloe was my shoulder to cry on. Natalie was a hand in mine, always there. Perhaps that was what she’d learned to do from her research, but it secretly made me happier than I could understand. Whatever I was to her, she’d quickly become my one and only friend outside of Aunt Vi. And, If I was being honest, I might have confided more in her than even Aunt Vi.
I settled into my seat, relishing the restored freedom of movement. It had been a serious pain having to rely on Natalie for everything. As much as she had acclimated to it, it was a relief not having to make her walk me to the bathroom. I still had several scarring experiences from when I’d fallen in the shower. But I would never speak of those again, ever. I shuddered slightly. Natalie raised her eyebrow quizzically, but I made a brief ‘don’t ask' face, and she laughed quietly to herself before focusing on the man walking onto the stage, lights fading in the open-air pavilion they’d set up for the occasion.
“How’s everyone doing tonight?" A wide variety of responses echoed around the room, a wave of simultaneous voices rising. The man laughed and held up his hand for silence, and the crowd slowly dimmed down again.
“Good to hear. I’d like to welcome you all to Calmouth, and I must say, this is looking like a great year now that all of you miscreants finally bothered to show up." He laughed and held up his hands to show he was kidding. “No, the administration, meaning me... would like to apologize for any inconveniences regarding our week-long delay of the autumn semester. We’ve been doing some renovations lately, and our legal team advised us not to have drunk college students around heavy machinery." A wave of laughter rolled around the room and he paused for dramatic effect. “Sounds crazy, but we had to listen to them. The board threatened to give us a permanent leave of absence if we didn’t comply."
He walked over to the center of the stage and began his large opening speech. I will admit, I drifted through much of the middle of it, head drooping onto Natalie’s shoulder. But from what I could gather, he was bidding us good luck and a good year. And then... Something about expectations? I couldn’t quite remember as a cheer went up around me for whatever stereotypical callout he’d ended his speech with. I stirred and took in a deep breath, causing Natalie to burst into subdued laughter.
“Did you get any of that, Maddie?" I narrowed my eyes at her, but she just smiled wider, and I couldn’t help but feel my own vexation melt away. I sighed and shrank slightly.
“No, not really. Something about greatness?" She shook her head disapprovingly. Standing, she hauled me up by my hand, forcing me to join her out of the row of seats. She, of course, had probably sat up and listened to the whole thing. As I’d learned, she had a tremendous capability to remember things. Worn out, and ready for bed, I was more than ready to fall down. The woes of the past week wore heavily upon me, and I wanted nothing more than to fall into Natalie’s soft memory foam bed. I leaned on her as we walked to our dorm hand in hand. She simply took it in, breathing out in the chill night air. I looked up to see her eyes turned skyward, staring at the stars. It was perhaps a little cliché, but the starlight sparkled in the glazed look in her expression. I could tell by then that she was in deep thought about something.
We walked, in silence, the entire way back to our building. And then to our room. As soon as the door shut, Natalie sighed out and took her shoes off, placing them neatly in the small rack we’d co-purchased for convenience. I followed her example, and we staggered our approach to bed. While she showered, I brushed my teeth, and vice versa. It was difficult sharing the one bathroom, but we’d worked out a small routine during our two weeks in interim. As It was, I was the first in bed. It felt very, very good to just sink into the plush foam after walking all the way to the other side of the campus and back. Several minutes later, I heard Natalie tread softly across the room to the dresser. Moments after that, she slid under the covers and curled up against me, arms winding around my torso. I turned over so we were facing each other, and opened my eyes. She was laying on her side, watching me back.
“Tired?" I laughed wearily and nodded.
“You are too. Don’t deny it. No staying up late tonight, okay?" She rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t hide the amusement buried within them.
“Yes, of course. Sorry for keeping you awake." I sighed and closed my eyes dramatically.
“I need my beauty sleep, you know." She laughed and turned onto her back, pulling me closer against her. I barely heard her response, breathy and half-sighed as it was.
“No, you don’t. Now go to sleep." I laughed softly, but a smile played across my face. What was I doing here? I didn’t care. I snuggled against her arm, disregarding any sort of logic. It didn’t apply anymore, did it? Not in my crazy and topsy-turvy life. She relaxed slowly, and her soft humming was replaced by her slow, steady breaths. Was it not the ultimate contradiction, that the thing that made no sense felt best to do? Philosophy could wait for another day though. I allowed my thoughts to settle and matched my breathing to hers. I loved to listen to it sometimes, always soporific and peaceful, her breathing. I drifted off, feeling more secure than I had in days.
---
The morning could not have been nicer. Much contrasted to the first one, we woke up around the same time, and just stayed in bed for a while. Until I pushed Natalie out, climbing after her reluctantly. I carefully perused through the two drawers we’d allocated for me. Today was the first day, and the pressure was mounting. I looked over at Natalie, who’d begun changing into a pair of Khaki’s and a dark blue blouse. Stylish as ever. After a moment of indecision, I pulled out my one pair of jeans, and chose a simple black shirt to complement it. Sometimes simple was the best. Natalie sighed and fetched her beige sweater, which had, against all odds, dried safely. She took the opportunity to throw my good-as-new black coat that I’d studiously ignored for the last year. However, under Natalie’s watchful gaze, I wasn’t allowed to forget it, even on sunnier days. I pulled it on, mockingly sighing like she had moments before. We shared a laugh about it before finishing up our dressing and final preparations.
We walked out of the dorm building into the bright, bracing September air. It was slightly overcast, but I barely noticed. The sun was more than warm enough, even without the coat. The wind was troublesome, but we managed to walk in a straight line towards the cluster of buildings that housed the different on-campus breakfast joints. We’d become increasingly fond of a small bakery that specialized in cupcakes, which were much better than Natalie's, though I never told her as much. Although the look on her face was priceless when she’d bitten into the first non-homemade cupcake. We ordered two to go and ate them as we walked into the central campus, talking about the day ahead.
Our schedules were very different, and we’d be on opposite ends of the campus for almost every minute of the day. I was somewhat loathe to leave her, but it was only for a few hours, and I’d come to terms with that. It occurred to me how dependent, exactly, I‘d become on Natalie, and the notion was slightly worrying. Had it only been two weeks since we met? It honestly felt like longer... But, I suppose, after spending every one of those fourteen days with one person, anyone would grow attached. I ended up leaving her at the small park in the middle of the campus, with a hasty ‘see you later' and a forcefully extracted promise from me to meet her there for lunch. I gave my solemn oath and she walked down the sidewalk, north bound for the math and science complex. I, on the other hand, continued straight ahead, my first class of the day was an English Lit. class. Conveniently located in the central hub of campus. I wasn’t much looking forward to it, but they were required for a reason.
Today would be fine, right?
