Page 61 of The 21-Day Boyfriend
“Please, Mila, I asked you not to smoke in here. Are you trying to get me evicted?”
She exhales the smoke out of the window, then shivers in her shirt, which is decidedly too thin for December.
I grab the blanket strewn over the sofa and walk over to her, wrapping it around her shoulders. Her hand brushes against mine as a sign of thanks. Her fingers are trembling.
“Is everything okay?”
“I was wondering whether I could stay here tonight?”
I sit on the windowsill with her. Mila passes me her cigarette, but I shake my head. I’ve been trying to quit for six months now. The fact that she keeps offering them to me doesn’t help.
“What happened?”
“The usual.”
“Did you have another fight with Ethan?”
“No, everything with Ethan is fine. I just needed somewhere to stay for tonight.”
I push her hair back from her face; she flashes me a weak smile.
“You’re taking your meds, right?”
“I knew you’d ask me that.”
“Mila…”
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”
“You know how this works. You feel fine, decide not to take them because you think you don’t need them, and when you stop taking them…”
She gets up from the windowsill, cutting our conversation short. She heads into the kitchen and I follow her.
“I don’t have to take them all the time, you know.”
“That’s not quite how it works.”
“What are you, a doctor?”
“No, I’m not, but I care about you.”
“If you really cared about me, you’d just let me breathe.”
“Is that not what I’m doing?”
She shrugs.
“Am I putting any pressure on you?”
“A bit.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to worry about me. I can manage. Besides, Ethan is there now, too.”
I try to avoid rolling my eyes.
“Do you want a cup of tea?” she asks, changing the subject again.
