Love's Redemption (Chris and Maddie)

Brandon quickly caught the juice before it could spill. Before I could even turn my head, I heard a familiar voice right next to me. "Maddie, you really know how to handle men. I might need to come to you for lessons."

Lisa had finally seen my message.

I gave her a light tap. "Don't you know that scaring someone can be dangerous?"

"Scaring someone to death would be pretty expensive, wouldn't it? Isn't that right, Mr. Howell?" Lisa joked with Brandon.

Lisa acted like a sweet little lamb around Keith but would become really bold and outspoken with everyone else. I couldn't imagine how she managed to keep up the act with Keith. "Where's Mr. Marrow?" I asked, noticing that Keith was gone.

"He left," Lisa said, sitting down next to me and looking at Brandon. "Mr. Howell, you got two servings while Maddie didn't get any. Isn't that a bit unfair to your girlfriend?" Lisa's comment was clearly meant to point out that Brandon had eaten my portion. I gave her a gentle nudge to suggest that she should stop, as it might embarrass Brandon. Sharing my leftovers with Brandon was fine between us, but it might look bad if others saw it.

But I was wrong. Brandon handled it smoothly. He continued eating calmly and said, "Her serving is right here."

"Oh, so, you're sharing a serving, Mr. Howell. How romantic," Lisa teased.

"Yeah, Dr. Carline, maybe you should try this with Mr. Marrow next time," Brandon replied with a playful tone.

I laughed, but Lisa pinched the arm where I had gotten my blood drawn, and I winced. "Ouch, that hurts."

Brandon quickly said, "She just had blood drawn from that arm."

looked worried and

on Lisa's shoulder.

my forehead and asked, "How did you get a fever? What else is

like I'm swallowing razor blades," I said

a viral flu? How long has it

who was still eating calmly as if we weren't there. Brandon stayed

results for a basic blood

looked at me and added, "You seem better. If you still have energy to

really was my best friend. She was always teasing me,

Howell taking such good care of me, I'm

is the

as she stood

you get your

waved at her with a playful gesture.

did

I

are

just as a man walked over to