Chapter 13

Chapter

Thirteen

Ella really must not have been feeling good. She didn't fight me once as I walked her up to her apartment.

Usually, if I made it to the end of her workday with her, she"d stop me shyly outside or just outside the front door of the old house situated on the corner a block from the university.

She looked flushed, cheeks red and hot. Not to mention, she was dead on her feet as she leaned on me.

Unconsciously, she took deep breaths of my shirt. Which, I admit, made me want to grin at the entire situation. She must"ve not been lying when she said that she liked my scent back at the roller rink last week.

Betas didn"t have the strongest sense of scent in most cases compared to alphas or especially omegas. So, the fact that she could scent me felt like we were meant to be.

My heart hammered in my chest at the realization.

I never really believed in the idea of scent matches or anything, but even the idea felt pretty magical in the back of my head– fiction or not.

We picked up the tacos I knew she would at least eat some of after she wolfed down five of them earlier this week. She hadn't been eating as much as she should"ve been while working on her project at work.

Poor girl probably didn"t have enough strength to fight off whatever bug caught her.

I kept us moving, making sure to check in with her all the way out to the car. I only paused in front of the slightly rundown apartment building she stood in front of. "This is really where you live?"

It wasn"t a question. I wished it was.

"Uh-huh." She dug around in her oversized canvas bag for a house key.

The door creaked loudly on its hinges as she made her way inside, not looking back to make sure that I was following.

The place itself wasn't bad exactly, but it wasn't good either. It beat the hell out of a lot of places I lived growing up, but I expected more from where Ella lived. I expected it to be nicer or at least structurally sound. The entire place smelled damp and I could hear the other people who lived here clear as day as we made our way up the stairs.

She pulled out a second key to let herself into her space. Or a shared space? To be honest, I was a little grateful that compared to the outside, the inside looked much better with a few photos on the fridge of people I didn't recognize and clean surfaces throughout.

"You don't live alone?" I asked.

"My friend. Rita," she said. "Remember."

"Must've forgotten," I said. "She's not around tonight."

"Working. Or maybe tonight is her night class?" Ella almost asked herself the question. "Getting my days all mixed up."

I stepped inside, closing the door behind us as she dropped her bag on the floor next to a few pairs of shoes, perfectly in a line. From there, she seemed on a mission, heading straight towards the one door furthest away from the door.

Her room was tinier than most closets, but organized. Oddly organized.

"You don't have a lot of stuff, huh?" I said.

"I have everything I need," she argued, though her voice was quiet as she kicked off her shoes. They tumbled along the cold, wood floorboards.

"I didn't mean anything by it." I watched her flop down on the edge of her mattress, swaying. It looked like it was the only place to sit down. All around her underneath the small window behind her was a wall of bent paperbacks. "You have books."

"I love books."

My lips quirked. "I expected you to have more clothes."

"I have enough for work."

"You're right." I moved towards the kitchen and unwrapped our food, leaving her to get comfortable. It was also small, but workable. However, she definitely wasn't hosting dinner parties any time soon unless she was serving saltine crackers and what appeared to be two different kinds of generic cereals which made me want to cringe.

They probably tasted like cardboard.

"I have plenty enough to get by. It's not much, but it"s mine." Ella smirked as she looked around, keeping her head up high. "And Rita's, of course."

"I'll get plates if you tell me where they are."

"In the cabinet over there by the sink."

Grabbing the only two plates out of the cabinet with a floral design, I laid out our feast before bringing it back to her room since it didn't seem like she was moving.

No. The place wasn"t much, but it was clear she was proud. "And you have a bed."

She moved back further on her bed until she was almost tucked up against the corner. Out of the entire place, that was where the most stuff seemed to collate in the form of pillows and different patterned blankets curled up around everything.

If I wasn't mistaken, I'd say a certain beta had a few omega tendencies.

"You know, it's an omega habit to make things cozy like that." I pointed towards her bed, light-hearted.

Maybe it was just how she was raised depending on what her parents" designations were. It wouldn't be the first time betas adapted to their surroundings.

"What?" Her eyes popped up from where she looked into the bag, taking the plate I offered. "Oh, yeah? I um, I didn't know that."

"You're kidding. Didn't you take designation classes growing up?" I asked.

She pushed her pillow back again as if to be more comfortable. I sat down in front of her on the other side of the bed, not wanting to get in her space once she put a taco on her plate, dipping it into the lime crema.

Already she looked a bit better as she took a bite.

"Uh, no." She hesitated. "I was homeschooled when I was young."

"Not even in college? I know that some schools have that nearly mandatory these days."

"Optional for betas," she said.

Huh.I guessed that was probably true, though I remember the class being already on my schedule pretty well. Without designation in college, I wouldn't have met Liam.

Though I swore Prestford made it mandatory for all first years ever since it became more mainstream to come in contact with all designations in the everyday. But that was also right. Ella never went to college. Not formally.

Somehow I kept forgetting that.

I dipped my chin in a nod.

Grabbing a taco, I ate one myself. This place was definitely on the list for top take-out spots when Marko wasn"t home.

By the time Ella finished her meal, I watched as her eyes started to close again in small blinks.

I smiled, watching it happen. When they popped open to look at me and then the bed, a nervousness was back and on full display that I hadn't seen in a few days.

My forehead wrinkled. "Are you okay?"

Ella swallowed. "I feel a little better now that I ate."

"Good." I reached out and took her plate. "I"ll take that. How about you change and climb into bed? I'll clean this up."

"I can get it."

"Don"t worry about it. You look tired," I said. I wanted to take care of her even though with her wide eyes it seemed she still wasn"t used to it. "Do you want me to stay with you?"

"You don't have to do that."

"I don't mind."

"I'm sorry, I really don't feel well," she tried to force a laugh as she reached out for her blanket that had fallen to just over her calves. She picked at the soft seam. "Maybe you could just stay, please? Just until I fall asleep? Or until Rita gets home?"

"I can do that." I reached out a hand to brush over her arm. At least she didn't back away from me. "Then I'll head out so you can get your rest. Ella?"

"Yeah?"

"Call me in the morning then, okay?" I asked.

She nodded.

I smiled. "Good. I want to know how you're feeling then. We can always reschedule our plans because how you're feeling does not look fun."

She shook her head.

"We'll have your deadline to celebrate smashing out of the park when you are ready."

"Night, Cal. Thank you."

"No need to thank me. Sweet dreams, beautiful." I stood up with our plates and rinsed them off in her sink before leaving them to dry.

Yawning myself, I went into the bathroom and washed my hands before looking up in the mirror that pushed out from the wall and hovered halfway open.

I pushed the mirror shut. It hovered back forward again.

Okay. This was it. It was official.

Ella lived in a shithole. It might've been decorated nicely, but it was still a shithole.

Demetri would have a conniption if he was in this place.

I ran a hand through my hair and opened the medicine cabinet to make sure nothing was blocking the hinge. She had a cute pink toothbrush and a mini, travel-sized toothpaste. As my eyes scanned the empty contents, my gaze stuck on the second shelf.

I picked up two green translucent pill containers.

Glancing over my shoulder, Ella remained in bed. Her breaths already rose and fell steadily. It was more than fantastic that she trusted me so much to relax and sleep with me still here.

I really shouldn't be snooping through her medicine cabinet.

But these pills... I popped the top and looked at the tablets. The one kind of looked like blockers I had seen before, though I didn"t think they made them anymore.

Years ago, before they made better scent blocker sprays and soaps, Demetri took one or two before we went out to high-profile events though I remembered them being duller in color. The others in her cabinet I rolled around in the palm of my hand, I had no clue what they were for.

I snapped the caps closed and put the containers back into her cabinet before I turned back towards Ella. She was already asleep. Her cheeks were still flushed and the rest of her body remained twisted in her obnoxious amount of blankets. One foot stuck out the side.

She had a cold or caught some sort of illness from the college, I was sure. Right?

A thousand other options ran through my head as she shivered and ducked down deeper between the pillows.

Was my girl sicker than she admitted?