~ Jaden ran up the stairs two at a time to catch up with the rest of the group. Esther had stopped on the landing and had started talking again about another painting, a portrait of an ill-looking man. Takyle stood still, both feet planted rigidly on the floor. The effort to keep from tapping her toe impatiently was probably killing her. Andrew was staring at the painting and nodding thoughtfully at everything Esther said. From the look on his face, Jaden could tell that, though he was giving a good show, Andrew's mind was altogether somewhere else.
The entire group continued on to the next landing, where the scene played out again. As he stood listening to Esther prattle on, a discordant and random thought slipped through Jaden's mind.
"If my father could see me now..." Jaden shook his head slightly, stopping when he realized that if anyone was paying attention it would just make him look psychotic. Nothing his father did or said or thought mattered anymore. And all the better for it. His loss.
As they began climbing to the third landing, Andrew winced and his hand crept to his stomach. He caught Jaden looking and forced a thin smile.
"Whatever the doc gave me to sew me up seems to be wearing off." Jaden immediately began worrying accordingly.
"How bad does it hurt?" he asked.
"It's nothing I can't live through," Andrew assured, straightening up a little. Jaden stepped closer to him and lowered his voice.
"Andrew, there's no reason to kill yourself for this race."
"I'm not killing myself for the race, it just hurts a little is all. I'll be fine." Takyle turned around at the voices and fell back to walk on the other side of Andrew.
"You're in pain? How bad is it? I knew we should have thought more seriously about stepping out of the race." Takyle stopped talking and bit her lip, looking at Andrew expectantly for answers. He shook his head.
"I'm fine, it just hurts a little. The doc gave me some pain pills, I'll take one after a while."
"Why don't you take one now?" asked Jaden.
"Because I want to see how bad it gets and I don't want to waste the pills and they might have side affects that could interfere with this task that we're eventually going to do. Are those reasons good enough for the two of you or should I go ahead and think of a few more?"
Jaden glanced at Takyle, fairly sure that she would go off on Andrew for his snippiness. She didn't. She took a deep breath.
"Ok, just please don't hurt yourself, Andrew." She sounded surprisingly calm. Jaden felt the need to throw in his own thoughts.
"Yeah Andrew, don't be an idiot," he said. Andrew glanced sideways at him.
"I try Jaden, but it's just so very hard to deny my true nature."
"Oh hardy- har. I'm serious."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Would the two of you just calm the hell down?" Jaden felt that he and Takyle were already being pretty damn calm, especially considering the circumstances. Their good friend in absolute agony. Well maybe not agony as such, but still.
"We're calm," was all Jaden said. "We just love you sooo much is all," he added, leaning in towards Andrew with his eyes squeezed shut and his lips forming a grimacing, over the top purse.
"Oh for crying out loud!" Andrew shoved Jaden away from him, but he was laughing as he did it. "Freak."
So he wasn't in enough pain that he wouldn't laugh. Jaden took that as a good sign and let most of his worry go, simply determining to keep a careful eye on Andrew for now.
The three finally reached the third floor where Esther stood, holding a door open and looking huffy since they'd made her wait for five extra seconds. That, and all their attention wasn't on her now. Jaden figured that that was most of it.
"Come now," she snipped. "There's a task you need to get started on." ~
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