After ten minutes of watching them talk, I didn’t know how she could stand the cold. Shivers shook me so bad my head ached. Naturally, I leaned back against Clay and wrapped my arms around myself. The heat of him penetrated through the back of my borrowed flannel warming me fractionally, but not enough to stop the shaking.
Giving up on the attempt to warm myself, I reached back and grabbed both of his arms pulling them around me, chattering out, “I don’t feel good.”
He willingly wrapped me in his arms curling around me slightly trying to warm me. His chin rested on the top of my head. I did feel warmer, but the tremors continued. When he placed a hand briefly against my forehead a few minutes later, I knew he’d heard my complaint.
“Do I feel warm?” I turned my head around and up to look at him.
He met my eyes and shook his head. I lost my train of thought for a moment. I’d forgotten he’d pulled his hair back so I could see more of his face and smiled absently. He had nice eyes. Expressive. My brain began to feel foggy and I knew he could tell when his brows drew down in concern. I didn’t like his frown. It detracted from his lovely brown eyes. Chocolate. That’d taste good.
I realized my mind had wondered and reined it in. “I think I’m ready to go, but I don’t want to leave Nicole here either. What are my chances of getting her away from him, you think?”
He shifted his gaze to the couple on the other side of the porch, studying them intently. I followed his gaze.
Their quiet conversation of two had grown to an animated conversation including a few of Randy’s towel wearing friends who’d joined them. Nicole still smiled, but I could read a new tension in her stance. I’d been right. She wasn’t ready for all the male attention she was receiving based on pieces of a bold suggestion I overheard from one of Randy’s friends.
“I think now’s a good time to s-see.” The chatter at the end slipped out despite my Herculean effort to keep it in.
Clay loosened his hold on me, letting me lead the way while keeping a hand on the small of my back. As I made my way toward Nicole when someone moved in my way, an arm snaked out from behind me and jostled them aside. There would be a few hung-over strangers tomorrow wondering how they bruised their shoulders. But I wasn’t going to complain. I continued to feel worse and really wanted to get to Nicole so we could leave.
The guys in the group saw our approach and bristled. I tried on a rare smile, but knew it lacked wattage because I felt like crap. “Hi, guys. Sorry to interrupt, but we need to pull Nicole away for just a minute.”
Nicole quickly chirped in, “I’ll be back in just a minute. Can someone get me a soda?”
She took me by the arm and turned me around forcing Clay to step aside so we could pass. We didn’t look back, but walked right off the porch and started to cut across the yard in the general direction of my car. Her arm linked through mine propelled me along more than she realized.
“Thank you for that. It was really weird the way they were acting tonight. I guess mermaid sends off the wrong vibes. I hope he remembers talking to me though. I liked it until his friends showed up.”
Her astute observations brought a trembling smile to me lips. “Yeah,” I agreed, “He s-seemed okay. D-don’t trust his friends.”
“Are you okay?” she questioned me with concern lacing her voice.
Behind us, I could hear Clay’s soft footfalls.
“I think I’m getting sick or s-s-something.” I felt colder without Clay’s borrowed warmth. “Clay felt my head, but s-said I didn’t feel warm.”
“Is Rachel going to be home tonight? You said she’s going to school for nursing, right? You can check with her to see if there’s something going around on campus. The nursing students doing clinicals always seem to know.” Nicole switched position so her arm wrapped around me, chafing me in an attempt to warm me. I thought it hilarious since I wore a flannel and she had a strapless dress on.
“Good idea.” The sounds of the party slowly faded to a normal decibel. I tried using my sight to make sure no one followed us and felt a sharp pain in my head instead. I flinched and immediately stopped my effort. Nothing appeared in my brief peek. No lights at all. That never happened before.
When I spotted the car down the block, I sighed in relief. All I could think about was getting home, taking a hot shower and going to bed. Clay surprised me by jogging to the car to start warming it up. He held the door open while Nicole helped me into the front.
“Do I look as b-bad as I f-feel?” I tried to joke. The shivering grew worse.
Nicole looked at Clay, but he kept his eyes on me so she answered, “Well, you do look like you’re coming down with something. I’m so sorry I begged you to come out tonight, Gabby,” she apologized sincerely.
“Don’t w-worry about it. It w-was r-really interesting,” I assured her, forcing the words through my tensed jaw.