Chapter Forty Four- ill

"Tom, its Cassie" Dan said into his cell phone, panic written over his face as I lay down on one of the many cold benches pressing my hot face against it. I felt horrible, achy, with my head pounding at an enormous rate as if it had its own heart beat.

"Well, she looks horrible...in front of the flower shop...okay" He looked at me "Tom will be here soon" he stated

"Yay" I said sarcastically.

Dan chuckled as he sat down with my feet in his lap. "He would've forgotten all about the argument by now"

"Says you"

He patted my legs "Calm down"

"If I was any calmer I would be dead"

"I'm not liking the sarcastic remarks Cas" Dan sighed annoyed.

"Well hopefully this is just motion sickness, and it will be over in a minute. Or maybe I should play it up a little so that we can leave"

Dan pouted "I think that if it was motion sickness you would have gotten over it about half an hour ago."

"Has it been that long?" I questioned. He nodded his head.

"Cassie?" Tom called when he and Rupert were in visual sight.

I turned my head towards him as he walked over, with no sign of anger in his eyes.

He knelt down in front of my head and placed his hand on my forehead obviously taking my temperature. His fingers were nice and cold and felt fantastic on my skin.

Then he brushed the hair off of my neck and sighed "She has a fever"

I took this time to look at Rupert. I was still afraid that he was mad at me for ruining his day, now even further, but he scoffed. "This place was getting boring anyway"

I smiled my best convincing smile at him and he just nodded.

"Then let's go." He stood up along with Dan. "Can you walk Cas?"

I nodded, barley having enough energy to talk anymore.

He held my hand as we walked back to the entrance and to the car, rubbing soothing circles on my palm with his thumb.

When we got home Tom actually found a working thermometer and took an accurate temperature which happened to be 101.8. He sent me up to our room, when I protested that I didn't want to get him sick he simply brushed it off saying 'it's probably just a cold, I'll stay in one of the guest rooms for a couple of days'.

I woke up around three in the afternoon the next day, my temperature had gone up and I stayed in bed all day, watching television, and sleeping until Tom came in with a phone in his hand, holding it out for me.

I looked at him confused. Who would want to talk to me, who didn't have my phone number?

"Hello?" I said. I didn't sound like me at all with my nose being all stuffy, and my voice hoarse from coughing so much.

"Oh Cassie dear Tom told me all about you being sick" I heard Tom's mother speak on the other end. "He insisted that I stay at my house though" She scoffed "But I wanted to make sure that it was just a cold, what are your symptoms?"

"Mrs. Felton I'm sure it's just a-"

"I'm a mother I know when it's something mild and something serious" she said stubbornly.

I sighed "Headache, fever, stuffy nose, sore throat, cough, weird appetite...that's about it"

She sighed "Any stomach problems"

Ugh I almost gagged "No"

She sighed disappointedly again "Well it sounds like you do just have a cold, but if it isn't gone by Friday you be sure to call me and I'll be there in a flash"

I laughed, just for her sake "I'm sure I'll be fine by then"

"Okay, but drink lots of fluids and just get better, and come out to see me"

Great she wanted more visits. Not that I hated going over to their house, it was just still awkward and a very long drive.

"Okay" I told her trying my best to sound convincing.

"Alright then, goodbye dear"

"Bye" I said and she hung up, I coughed and handed then phone back to Tom, who was waiting patiently by the bed. He put it up to his ear, and then shut the phone.

He rolled his eyes and sat by my feet "It's like she only wanted to talk to you"

I laughed, sitting up straighter "Is it a bad thing that your mum likes me?"

"No, but it would be nice if she didn't love you more than me" He shrugged laughing.

"Aw is Tommy feeling neglected?"

He rolled his eyes again and then laughed "How are you feeling?"

"Blah."

He crinkled his nose "Sorry baby, I wish I could make you feel better"

"I know but it's just a stupid cold, it should go away soon"

"Hopefully" He smiled hopeful.

Then realization hit me "Get out before you get sick" I shooed him off the bed.

He laughed "Fine, fine I'll be back in a little while" he got up and left through the door.

I slept the rest of that day, and the next I felt a lot better. My fever had gone down to normal, and I was just stuffy and had a horrible cough, which is the reason why I am walking in the hall way, on my search for cough drops.

I held Tom's sweat shirt close to my body as I was about to walk down the stairs and I heard music. I walked back up the measly three steps I had walked down and walked towards a room I had never seen, I'd always figured that it was another guest room but when I peeked through the partially closed door I noticed that it was practically a recording studio. Not a full one, it didn't have all the equipment but it had some.

He was playing his guitar flawlessly, well flawlessly to me, with his blonde locks lying in front of his blue eyes. I hadn't noticed that his hair was slowly getting darker, Of course I knew about how he is actually a brunette. Though I didn't know that until I saw photos at his family's house, and I asked.

As I fell into my thoughts, he looked up causing me to jump back a little out of fright.

"What are you doing out of bed little one?" He asked smirking to himself.

I put my hands on my hips "Little one?" I huffed

He smiled crookedly.

"I was getting cough drops and I heard you" I explained

"Well did you like it? I'm thinking that I'm going to post it, but I don't know" He said fiddling with the strings.

"Post it?" I asked, what is that suppose to mean.

"Yeah youtube" he said in a 'duh' tone.

"I didn't know that you did that" I stated in my defense.

He shrugged "I do sometimes"

"Well I loved it" Then I coughed a little. "Hey what is the date?"

He looked on his laptop that was sitting next to him. "It's the thirteenth"

I gasped a little, but he didn't notice, I knew that it was coming up, but I didn't realize that it was today. "I know that your birthday is four days I haven't forgotten"

I stayed frozen in the door way, then without a sound walked back into our room and straight in the closet.

"Cassie?" He asked following me, catching on that I wasn't asking about my birth date.

I didn't answer him as I filed through clothes that were in one of my drawers.

He stopped next to me, eyes crinkled in confusion; he pulled the hair away from my face and put it behind my ear. "What's wrong Cassie?"

My fingers gently glided over the edge of paper I was looking for. I slowly pulled it out, knowing that when I saw it I would break apart again, like I always do.

My hands shook as I looked down at her warm brown eyes that filled my stomach with this cozy feeling of security. Her smile was gentle and sweet, her dirty blonde hair falling in curls, a lot like mine, framing her face.

I wiped away a small tear that was trailing down my cheek.

Tom looked over my shoulder. "That was your mum wasn't it?" he asked hesitantly.

I nodded my head and sighed, prying my eyes away from the photo to look at his sad eyes. "She died today eleven years ago" I held the picture close to my heart, as silent tears kept streaming down my face.

Tom pulled me against his chest, wrapping both his arms around me so that they were overlapping each other, and rocked us back and forth soothingly. I rested my head on his chest and closed my eyes, trying to stop the flood of tears. "This is the first year I haven't gone to her grave"

He held me tighter, almost as if his heart was breaking and I was the only thing keeping it together. "We can go if you want" He suggested.

I shook my head and broke apart from him "No it's too far away"

He clenched his jaw and swallowed, his eyes looked hurt.

"Can I just be alone?" I asked

He nodded his head "Of course"

As he left the room, I crawled into the bed and cried myself to sleep, holding the only picture I had of her in my hands.