Cas was just about to get up from his seat when Iris objected, saying she hadn’t meant to come across like she wanted him to leave. He looked up at her with a flicker of surprise. She had been so quiet before that he’d thought she’d been offended somehow. He must have misread the situation. Too late, he realized he shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions so fast when he still barely knew her. Hell, even she barely knew her. It was way too early to gauge what she was thinking from just one prolonged silence. He should have just asked her directly if she wanted him to stay or go.
He almost opened his mouth to say that he wouldn’t leave her yet, but then froze when she added that she liked him and his company. The way she worded it made his face feel hot. He knew he had no reason to get flustered over something so simple—she probably hadn’t even meant it the way he’d taken it—but part of him wondered if perhaps she thought he was attractive too. The idea was unexpectedly appealing to him. With all the other women in the capital, he could never tell if they were genuinely interested in him or if they were just trying to get something from him. Even if nothing came from it, he enjoyed the thought of someone liking him for more than just his status.
Apparently, Iris was even more flustered than he was. As she tried to backtrack, a smile tugged at the corner of Cas’s lip. He thought her awkward stammer was kind of cute, and it made him feel a lot better about the accidental remark he’d made earlier. Knowing that she was clumsy too helped him to relax again. “I’m not going anywhere,” he assured her when she asked him not to leave. Making the connection that she might have thought he was going home because he’d turned the music off, he clarified: “I haven’t charged my phone in a while, and I don’t want it to die again in case my dad calls. Sorry, but the café is gonna have to be put on hold for now.”
When she joked that her brain was broken, he chuckled, “Maybe a little, but it’ll get better just like this will.” He gestured at her bandaged leg. Really, he wasn’t certain how bad her brain damage was from the fall, but he hoped she would be back to normal with enough time. The human body was supposed to repair itself when it was hurt, right? Surely the brain would fix itself too.
“I hope you will be,” Cas nodded when Iris said she could be home with her family by his next visit. He was starting to like their conversations quite a lot, but it was better for her to go back to the people who actually knew her. They would be able to help her reintegrate back into her life better than he ever could. Still, he wanted to keep in touch with her if she left. “And if you are…” he went on, standing up to rifle through the doctor’s desk drawer until he found a pad of neon orange sticky notes and a pen. He scribbled down a quick note on the top sheet and then pulled it off to hand to her.
“Here,” he smiled. “This is my personal number, so you can still reach me if they send you home.”
Noticing her fidget with her dress, his smile faded slightly. As she talked about the broken mirror, he glanced at the bathroom. Even though she said she would pay for it, he silently added it to his growing tab. A new mirror probably wasn’t too expensive, especially compared to healthcare fees, but it was still more money he would have to cover on her behalf, since the bill was already under his name.
Besides that, to him it was evidence that she was unhappier than he’d realized. Being cooped up in a hospital room all day probably hadn’t helped anything either. If he had been in her shoes, he would have wanted a way to take out his frustration about everything that had happened. Here, there was no way to do that. At least, no non-destructive way that he could think of.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, turning back to her. “I’m sure they’ll understand. And if you don’t want to tell the doctor, I could do it for you. I had something else I wanted to ask him about anyway.” He needed to find out just how much this whole thing was going to cost him. As much as he wanted to see Iris get picked up by a family member tomorrow, there was always a chance she would go yet another day in the hospital. He wasn’t sure how many more nights he could pay for without incurring his father’s wrath. In fact, he hadn’t expected to be charged for more than one to start with.
But if she can’t stay here, where will she go? He wondered, absently running his fingers through his hair. If the king forbade him from covering her stay any longer, the hospital couldn’t hold her. They didn’t have any other person to charge with the bill. They would have to make her give up the room to another patient who could pay for it.
Deciding that was a problem to think about if her family didn’t show up by tomorrow, he put it aside for now. “So, is there anything you want to do when you get out of here?” he asked, trying to lift her spirits again by changing the subject to something more lighthearted. “I know you don’t remember a lot, but maybe you can think of some hobbies you liked?”
Vaunivor,
Tlazolteotl,
Syrenrei,
AHeartlessNobody,
nachonacho,
Vampiretwilight