Colin's posts

"Oh... oh lord..." Jaden stammered.

"What...? What is...?" he started to ask, before the gears started to turn.

"YOUR ALLERGY!" he exclaimed.

Desiree managed to nod in response.

Jaden furiously looked around, before seeing Desiree's purse out of her reach... and raced over towards it.

"Your pen's in here, right!?" he asked.

Again, Desiree managed to nod.

He rifled through it until he found her EpiPen, made sure it was ready, and paused for a fraction of a second, nodding quickly. He went back to her, took the pen, and jabbed it into her outer thigh.

"I'm going to call Rene!" he then said to her.

Ryker paused.

"Eh?" he muttered.

"Arissa?" he asked.

"She has something to do with you being tired?" he asked further.

"...how?"

His pupils shrank when he felt this... barely.

"...wh... what...?" he muttered.

"Ohhhh, what is this...?" he wondered.

"I don't like this. Not one bit." he mumbled further, stepping outside his room.

He looked around, before checking Desiree's room.

She wasn't there.

"...Desiree?" he called out.

He checked the bathroom, not there. He checked where the washer and dryer were... not there. He checked the kitchen. Not there.

'The hell?" he muttered, figuring the last place to check was the den.

So that's where he headed.

"Oh, just something I feel I should say." Ryker replied.

"Just... yeah." he said.

"You've done SO much for my life." he went on.

"Also, tired?" he asked.

"Wanna go and lay down in one of the bunk beds?"

Jaden was silent for a moment.

"Actually, yeah." he said.

"I think I'll just go now." he told her.

"Collapse on my bed and read until I fall asleep." he went on, standing up.

"I'll see you later." he told her.

"If you need anything, or something happens, or whatever, knock on the door." he finished, before heading off.

"Well, at least there's that." Jaden replied.

"But yeah, feel free to have some food... whenever." he told her.

"I might hit the sack early." he went on.

"I never need much sleep, but I feel drained." he continued.

"So yeah, might go to bed... relatively soon."

".....following you?" Jaden asked.

"That's not good." he said.

"Seriously. That's... quite unnerving." he commented.

"Well, let me know if it persists." he continued.

"I'll see if I can't find some way to help." he went on.

"Like, maybe have someone watch over or something." he offered.

Jaden smiled at her.

"Hey. No worries." he said.

"Seriously. It's all right." he told her with a small smile.

"It's no imposition, and I'm glad you like it here." he went on.

"After all, everyone needs a safe and comfortable place to come back to." he reasoned.

"Surprised me, too." Jaden replied.

"But hey, food is food." he told her.

"And yeah, I brought back some stuff." he went on.

"Some potato salad, some pasta salad, there's also some actual pasta there, with a tub of the sauce, a thing of soup, some various Chinese foods..." he listed off, thinking about it some more.

"Lotta stuff, actually." he chuckled.

"I grabbed and made off like a bandit." he snickered.

"But I grabbed the pasta sauce and pasta for you, in specific." he then told her.

"Nah." Ryker replied.

"I just know you like more than just classical." he told him.

He then looked forward, watching the road come towards them.

"Hey." he said.

"I know I've said it before, but thanks." he said further.

"Thanks for showing me that life IS worth living."

Jaden looked over towards her and sighed.

"Yeah, I know." he said.

"But it didn't." he shrugged.

"Guess everything that needed addressing got addressed." he went on.

"Good thing, too." he then said further.

"That was... one of THE most boring times of my life." he went on.

"Ended an hour early, still felt like a damn eternity." he muttered.

"Not all bad. Brought back food from the buffet." he then added with a smirk.

"Thanks." Ryker said, accepting it.

"Music, huh?" he asked.

"Go ahead." he told him.

"This rental comes with access to that broad-range radio service." he continued.

"You can either scan for what you want, or enter a genre, and it'll find stations for ya." he went on.

"Love technology." he chuckled.

"Yeah, see ya." Jaden responded.

He then made his way back to the den, thinking about how Desiree was acting.

"...am I overthinking this?" he wondered.

-Some time later-

Jaden groaned as he stepped through the front door, a plastic bag in his hand.

"Uuuuugh." he said.

"Jeez, that was life-draining." he mumbled, making his way to the kitchen.

"Desiree!?" he called out.

"You home?"

"............all right, then." Jaden muttered.

"I'll... I'll just be in the den." he told her.

"You want anything for when you're done your bath?" he asked.

"Something to eat, drink, what?" he asked her.

"Just lemme know and it'll be here waiting for you." he added, sincerity in his tone, as he smiled at her.

"Oh, and if you're on edge, use the yellow bath bombs labelled 'Breathe'." he then suggested.

"Seriously, it is a GREAT de-stressor."