... not in love with Kale Eddison (13 page)

“Well,” Kale
began when Izzie didn’t speak but merely looked him in the eye with
a look of confusion on her face, “I guess I deserve whatever’s
coming to me. Hit me with it then, I’ve broken my promise.”

Izzie studied
him for a second longer and then took herself by surprise when she
heard herself declare, “Who cares?” and grab Kale towards her so
that she could kiss him.

When she had
eventually pulled away, Izzie felt embarrassed. She didn’t know
what had come over her but she’d be lying to herself if she said
she didn’t enjoy kissing Kale. Izzie cleared her throat awkwardly
and avoided eye contact with Kale who was currently sitting looking
quite shocked but thrilled too.

“Ok,” Izzie
began, still avoiding Kale’s eyes, “let’s just forget that
happened. I don’t know what I was thinking but it won’t happen
again. I think it’d be best if you just drive me straight
home.”

Kale stared at
her, “What? After that … I – you … I really don’t understand you
Isobel Frank! I kiss you and then you kiss me and now you just want
to pretend like it never happened? Come on, despite your protests
to the contrary, the fact remains; you like me. If you don’t like
me, you would never have kissed me.”

Izzie had to
admit, what Kale was saying was true but she decided to chalk it up
to a moment of madness and nothing more. “I’d like to go home now
Kale.”

Kale made to
interrupt her but Izzie held up her hand, “No Kale, I don’t feel
very well and would like to go home.” She told him firmly and Kale
had no choice but to obey her.

Neither of them
spoke for the remainder of the journey and when Kale pulled into
the car park in town where Izzie had parked her car, she muttered
her thanks and quickly drove off, leaving Kale feeling very
confused indeed.

Chapter
Ten

Izzie awoke the
following morning, feeling absolutely wretched; she hadn’t been
lying to Kale when she had said she felt sick. Although, if she was
totally honest with herself; Izzie had been desperate to get away -
especially after their ‘incident’ yesterday. She really didn’t know
why she had acted the way she did. All she knew was that she felt
absolutely horrible today; her throat felt like she’d been
swallowing razor blades and her head was pounding. Izzie groaned as
it dawned on her that she was truly sick but, nevertheless, she
attempted to sit up. She felt light-headed at first but managed to
swing her legs onto the floor and slowly push herself up from her
bed.

Izzie shuffled
into her slippers and made her way downstairs to the kitchen; her
grandmother was there as usual and turned around when Izzie entered
the room.

“Dear me child,
you look like death! Are you feeling ok?”

Izzie just
about managed to shake her head at her grandmother before she
fainted.

Izzie could
hear a beeping noise but it was incredibly fuzzy; she was also
dimly aware that she appeared to be semi-conscious. The noise was
gradually getting louder and she tried to open her eyes. Nope,
nothing happened – she tried again. Blurry face – oh how her head
hurt – and her throat too – was she dying? God this felt like dying
– she opened her eyes again and found her vision a little clearer
but there was also a significantly bright light too – oh God,
please nobody tell me to walk into the light.

Izzie groaned
out loud and heard somebody close to her stirring – a shuffle of
shoes and then she felt a hand to her head, “Izzie? It’s Mum, can
you hear me?” Izzie tried to open her eyes again and heard her
mother speak again but not to her.

“Isaac, do you
think she’ll be ok? She’s till burning up, should we get the nurse
in or where’s Doctor Albright?”

Izzie heard her
father sigh wearily, “Calm down Mags, give her a minute. Look,
she’s trying to open her eyes again.”

Izzie was
indeed struggling to move her eyelids again but she somehow
eventually managed it and was surprised yet proud that they stayed
open. She blinked rapidly a couple of times and saw her mother’s
worried face swim into view – at least she could make out her
mother’s features this time.

“Oh thank God,
honey how you feeling?” Izzie noted her mother’s concerned
expression.

Izzie tried to
speak but all that came out was a raspy sort of croak. She tried to
clear her throat but found it hurt too much, she motioned to the
jug of water by the bed and her mother poured some into a glass.
Izzie managed a few sips but found it didn’t help her throat any –
if anything it felt worse.

“Do you think
you can talk now?” her mother encouraged but before she could even
attempt to reply, her father spoke instead.

“Maggie, our
girl has tonsillitis; of course she finds it hard to talk.” Isaac
shook his head wearily and glanced at Izzie. “How are you holding
up kid? Just nod if you’re ok.”

Izzie wanted to
laugh at her mother’s expression; she didn’t look best pleased but
she seemed to be heeding her husband’s advice. Izzie nodded and
managed to get out a raspy and hoarse “What happened?”

Her mother
answered her, “Your Gran said you just hit the floor; passed right
out. We called the ambulance when we realised you had a fever.
Doctor Albright thinks that’s probably why you fainted … anyway I’m
just glad you’re awake now. You had us all quite worried, you
know.”

Izzie rolled
her eyes and forced herself to drink some more water before she
attempted to talk again. “So, how long have I been here?” she asked
croakily.

“A few hours,”
her father informed her, “and that reminds me I’d better phone your
Gran; she’s been worried sick, she wanted to come but I forced her
to stay home … I knew you wouldn’t want a whole fuss.”

Izzie nodded,
“Thanks Dad.” He smiled and exited the room, leaving Izzie with her
worried mother. “How much longer do I’ve to stay here?” Izzie
looked at her mother pleadingly but before her mother could even
reply, a doctor walked in.

The doctor
looked over at Maggie, “Your husband told me Izzie had woken up,”
he answered her unasked question.

Then he turned
his attention to Izzie, “Hi, I’m Doctor Albright, how’s the
patient? You’ve got quite a nasty case of tonsillitis but
thankfully your fever’s down a good bit … but to answer your
question, you’ll not be going home today. Yes your fever’s down but
you’re still not down to a temperature I’m happy with, so that
means you’ll be here for tonight – at least.” He added when he saw
Izzie’s glum expression.

“Terrific,”
Izzie replied miserably.

Dr. Albright
smiled, “Well at least you can speak a little; that’s a good sign.
Now, in terms of medication; I’m prescribing you an
anti-inflammatory, some painkillers along with antibiotics and a
throat spray.”

Izzie groaned,
“I’ll be rattling like a coin purse!”

Dr. Albright
laughed while her mother scowled at her, “Well it’s good to see you
have a sense of humour about it; nasty business tonsillitis but I’m
sure you’ll be as right as rain in no time.” He smiled at her and
left the room.

Her mother
yawned, “Well, if you don’t mind honey, I think your father and I
will shoot off … visiting’s over in fifteen minutes but we’ll come
back tomorrow around eleven-ish, ok?” She kissed Izzie on the
forehead and then she was gone, leaving Izzie to drift off to sleep
again.

The next
morning, Izzie woke up ridiculously early; she hadn’t slept very
well but she also felt a bit drugged up from all the medication.
Izzie could see the light shining through a gap in the curtains and
wondered what time it was. She tried to prop herself up to get a
drink of water but she nearly had heart failure; Kale was dozing in
the chair beside her bed. A few seconds later, a nurse burst into
the room; alerted by the sudden spike in Izzie’s heart rate.

“Are you ok
dear?” The nurse checked Izzie over and looked at her for an
answer.

Izzie nodded,
“Yeah,” she whispered hoarsely, “I just didn’t know
he
was
here.” She pointed to Kale and the nurse suddenly smiled girlishly,
even though she was a woman who was clearly in her forties and who
should know better.

“Oh my dear, it
was the sweetest thing; he’s been here from late last night –
insisted on staying with you. You’re a lucky girl to have Kale
Eddison by your bedside.” She smiled at Izzie and then left the
room.

Izzie quietly
poured herself a glass of water, careful not to make too much noise
so that Kale woke up. She hoped to quickly down the water and then
pretend to be asleep before he woke up; she really didn’t know how
to face him because of what had happened on Saturday. Izzie gulped
the water and then wriggled back down into the bed when she noticed
that Kale was beginning to stir, she closed her eyes and kept up
steady breathing; hopefully he’d be fooled into thinking that she
was in a deep sleep.

She heard him
clear his throat and move in the chair; it squeaked a little. Izzie
was dying to see what he was doing now but she couldn’t risk him
seeing her awake. She heard a bit more squeaking and she couldn’t
resist opening her eyes the barest of a millimetre; he was fumbling
around in his pockets for something. She watched him for a little
second longer but then closed her eyes again quickly when he
extracted his phone from his pocket. She heard him clicking the
buttons and then after a few seconds, he spoke.

“Hey Alicia -
what? Yeah I know it’s like seven in the morning. Huh? Oh, yeah I’m
good. What? Oh I don’t know – no, she’s not awake yet. Look, I was
just wondering if you could try and keep the press out of this.
Please, just give them whatever they want – whatever it takes; see
that it’s done. What? Yeah, I suppose that’s true … um, phone them
too then, tell them I’m not going in today. What? No just tell the
principal that something important and unavoidable has come up …
I’ll feed him some story when I go back. Huh? Oh, um, I don’t know,
probably all day. Yeah, I want to make sure she’s ok. What? Oh it
was a piece of cake, one of the nurses has a daughter who’s a big
fan; I signed an autograph and she let me on through. Yeah, ok …
thanks, bye.”

Izzie heard
Kale sigh wearily, “Sorry Iz, this is my fault; I really shouldn’t
have guilt-tripped you into taking pity on me and taking me on that
trail. When I called by your house and you grandmother told me what
happened; I felt so bad. Oh man, I’m such an idiot at times … I
know the doctor said it was just a very bad case of tonsillitis, so
that’s a slight relief but I can’t help think if I hadn’t forced
you to spend time with me, then we wouldn’t have gotten caught in
that rain … it’s probably what made you sick. Ok, I really need to
stop talking now … I just hope you feel better soon.” Izzie heard
him sigh once more and she still remained in her feigned slumber;
there was no way she could talk to him, even after what she had
just heard. Kale didn’t speak again but she heard his footsteps as
he moved closer to the bed. What he was doing, she didn’t know but
it was a little comforting knowing he was watching her sleep and
that he intended to keep a bedside vigil all day.

Izzie felt that
he was closer now; she could also feel his hand over her own. She
was quite touched by this gesture and wouldn’t mind if he stayed
like that all day … all day – ALL DAY? Izzie realised now that her
parents were due to visit at eleven and she really could do without
having to explain why a super-famous film star was at her bedside.
She figured she’d have to ‘wake up’, tell Kale that his gesture was
appreciated but she wanted to be left alone for the rest of the
day. Just as she was about to flutter her eyelids, she caught whiff
of a familiar aroma; Kale was definitely closer now. Izzie was
definitely going to have to open her eyes now, but before she
could, she felt Kale kiss her lightly on the lips. She couldn’t
help it when her eyes opened in shock when that happened. She saw
Kale withdraw back quickly.

“Hey, how you
feeling?” he asked her, a look of guilt mixed with concern on his
handsome face.

“Um,” Izzie
began croakily, “I’ve been better.”

Kale laughed
nervously, “Yeah, that’s probably partly my fault for getting you
caught in the rain.”

Izzie shook her
head, “It’s not your fault.” She grabbed the glass of water from
her bedside - in an attempt to avoid looking directly at Kale - and
took another sip of water.

Kale smiled
nervously, “Yeah, and sorry about
that.
” Izzie knew
immediately that he was referring to the kiss. She didn’t say
anything and Kale spoke again. “Um,” he shifted in his seat,
looking uncomfortable now, “you didn’t hear anything while you were
asleep, did you?”

Izzie didn’t
know whether to save him from the embarrassment or not but the
decision was out of her hands when she saw his expression; clearly
her
expression had given the game away.

“Oh, wow,” Kale
avoided Izzie’s eye line, “sorry about that too.”

Izzie shook her
head, “Don’t worry but I really think I should apologise to you,”
she paused to take another drink and continued, “I still stand by
us being friends and that’s why I want us to move past all our
previous behaviour. Honestly I think I was running a fever on
Saturday; I normally don’t act like that.” She told him jokily.

Kale studied
Izzie’s face, he had to confess; he was disappointed but he tried
not to let it show. After all, as long as Izzie tolerated him as a
friend, she would be in his life – which is what he wanted. Kale
smiled at Izzie but she noticed that it didn’t reach his eyes; she
decided to change the subject.

“So, that’s it
settled; friends it is. Now, how long have you been here?” Izzie
decided that this would be the best way to sneakily get rid of Kale
without him knowing that she was doing it deliberately.