Chapter Forty-Two

The instant I wake up, I know it's going to be a rough day. Before I even get out of bed, my joints are screaming at me. I stretch a bit before I get up, but my entire body argues in protest.

I lay there for a few seconds, preparing myself to get up. I slowly get myself in a sitting position and take a few breaths. I try to cautiously make my way to the bathroom, my body sounding like a bowl of crackling rice cereal the entire day there.

Step. Snap. Step. Crackle. Step. Pop.

"This is just great!" I shout into the air. "It's not like I have a massive show to perform tonight."

I grab my phone, light up the screen, and tap out a quick message to Willow.

SOS. Come as soon as possible.

It takes about three and a half seconds for her to respond.

On my way.

I pull the door open after one knock. Willow takes one look at me before her face twists with concern.

"What's wrong?"

I sit down on the couch slowly. "It's a bad pain day. Like bad bad. Hasn't been like this for awhile."

"Okay, so what do we need to do?"

"I don't know," I whine, putting my head in my hands. "I have a show tonight. This is the worst timing."

"What if we canc — "

"No. I won't cancel the show. You know that."

Willow nods her head. "Okay, so operation recovery starts now. I'll get you some pain meds. Start hydrating. Ice packs on and off every twenty minutes. Rest as much as possible. Take a nap. We got this."

I nod my head and try to smile but my confidence in this is a lot lower than hers.

"T-minus three hours until show time," Willow says gently as I lay on the couch, my eyes closed, trying to convince my brain to relax. "How are you feeling?"

"Better. But not my best. Everything is still pretty painful but I feel like I can actually pretend to be a normal human."

"Okay, well that means we're on the right track then. Here. More ice."

I grab the ice packs from her and put one on my right knee and wrist. That's the side of my body that tends to have more pain.

"Hey, you didn't wince when you did that. Improvement!"

I let out a chuckle. "Always looking on the bright side."

"Someone's got to do it!" Her face drops a bit. "But on a serious note, how are you feeling about the show? Do you think it's going to be doable? I know you don't want to but there's still time to —"

I narrow my eyes at her. "Willow."

She throws her hands up in defeat. "Okay, okay. I just thought —"

"Well stop thinking. I can do it."

Willow leans back on the couch and sits quietly. She starts tapping her foot on the carpet.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"Nothing's wrong."

"Then why is your leg about to launch your foot into space?"

"It's just . . ." she starts but then stops.

"Willow, just say it."

She turns towards me. "Do you think we should call Archer?"

"What? No. Why?" I prop myself up on the couch. Willow's eyes go wide. "I'm fine."

"It just kind of seems like something he should know. He can help. He'll be on stage with you. He can keep an eye out."

"And that's exactly why I don't want to tell him. He is going to be overly worried. He's probably going to try to convince me to cancel the show and when I don't, he's going to spend the entire time on stage watching me like a babysitter. It's better that he doesn't know. We can get this show done and then I can rest. It'll be fine."

Willow looks down and starts playing with the end of the blanket.

"What?"

She starts twisting the corner of the blanket around her finger. "I mean he is your boyfriend now. He'd want to know."

I know she's right. He deserves to know. And honestly if he finds out later on, he'll probably be hurt that I didn't tell him. I just know exactly how he's going to react and I don't want to deal with that right now.

Not to mention, we just had the conversation about his mom and I don't want to be someone he has to worry about.

No. I need to do what I've always done and just push it down and power through it. I've made it so far, today won't be any different.

"No. It's fine. I'm not going to tell him."

Willow lets out a frustrated breath.

I turn my eyes on her. "And neither are you."

"Well . . ."

"Willow," I say sternly. "No. I know you think you're doing what's best for me but this is my relationship. And I know this is new territory for us being that I've never really had a relationship like this but you can't interfere. I appreciate all you do for me but this is where I'm drawing the line. I'll tell him afterwards. Once I'm better so that he doesn't worry. It's unnecessary."

I also want to add that she doesn't know everything about him but that's not my place to tell her.

"Please," I stare right at her, pleading.

"Okay, fine. But only because I love you. I still think it's a bad idea though. I just want that on the record."

"It's been noted. And if this blows up in my face, you can say I told you so. I just need you to be on my side with this right now."

Willow nods. "I will. I promise." She awkwardly leans towards me but then pulls away. "I want to hug you but I'm afraid to touch you."

I reach my hand out to her and stick my pinky out. "Here, this doesn't hurt."

She wraps her fingers around my pinky and squeezes. "Love you, Al."

"Love you, too."

Then we both start cracking up laughing.