“I wasn’t going to.”
“I just need to …” She paused, her breathing loud. “Get my meds. Then I’ll be … okay …”
He picked up his pace again. “If it gets too dark you’ll need to switch the torch on your phone so I can find you … Seren?” He looked at his phone but had lost the connection. Calling back just got him her voicemail. He cursed the dodgy phone reception before concentrating on where he was going. As he ran he called out to Seren at regular intervals but assumed she was somewhere on the road and would be easy to spot. He was approaching the edge of the town when he finally set eyes on her.
“Are you okay?” He crouched in front of her, a hand on her shoulder.
“I just …” Her chest heaved with every breath. “I needed a rest.”
“Do you need to go to the hospital? I’ll go and knock on a door, get someone to drive you …”
She shook her head firmly and strained against him to get to her feet. “I just need to get home.”
“Can you walk?”
“Think so,” she whispered, holding his arm for support.
“You don’t sound good.” The wheezing was intense, and he wondered whether he should be taking her to the hospital rather than home.
“I’m okay,” she said, taking painfully slow steps.
“I can carry you,” he suggested. “Put your arm around my neck.”
“No.” Her eyes flashed with amusement. “I can walk.”
“I can see that, but it’ll take less than five minutes if I carry you, and approximately all night at the speed you’re walking. Let me carry you … that way I might make it back to the party sometime tonight.”
Seren stopped walking. “Need to get back to your girlfriend?”
“Will you please put your arm around my neck?” When she did as he asked, he lifted her into his arms.
“I knew this would happen,” she murmured into his neck.
“That I’d end up carrying you home after you ate peanut butter brownies?” he joked.
“No. I knew it was just a crush.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You said you were in love with me … but I knew it was just a crush and you’d be over it in about five minutes.”
The bitterness in her voice made him think she wasn’t okay with the idea of him getting over her. He thought of the way she’d been looking at him in the pub on Wednesday, and his tragic heart was filled with hope once again.
“You’re already loved up with someone else,” she said. “So, I was right.”
He hoisted her higher in his arms. “I already told you, Holly’s not my girlfriend.”
“Yeah, right.”
It was difficult to read her features in the dim light, but she sounded jealous.
“We’re almost home,” he said, then kept quiet until they were at her door. Gently, he set her on her feet and paused to catch his breath. With the door open, they both stared at the steep staircase. “Couldn’t live on the ground floor, could you?” he teased.
“I can manage,” she said, taking one tentative step after the other.
“Good.” He waited patiently behind her while she made her way up. “I mean I could definitely carry you … no effort at all really …”
Her laughter brought on a coughing fit halfway up the stairs, and he put a hand on her back while she calmed herself down again.