Chapter 15: Reward
I was lying there on the floor, my jaw feeling like it was about to fall off, and Nina was kneeling next to me. "You are so cute," I said, and the second the words left my mouth, I thought, ’Oh, shit. Did I just say that out loud?’
Nina just looked at me, her head tilted a bit. "Eh?" she said, like she wasn’t sure she heard me right.
’Yep, I definitely said it,’ I thought. My brain usually had a better filter than that. Maybe getting punched scrambled it a little. I didn’t panic though. It was out there, so I figured I might as well own it.
I tried to sit up again, and this time Nina helped me, putting a hand on my arm. The pain was still pretty bad, but at least I wasn’t flat on my back anymore.
"Sorry," I said, looking at her. "That was, uh, out of nowhere. And I’m sorry about yesterday too. For all that stuff I said in the hallway. I was a complete jerk." I figured I should just get it all out while I was at it. "I’d understand if you hated me after that."
She didn’t say anything for a second. Then she reached out and her hands were on my face, gentle, like she was checking if I was okay. It was a weird feeling, having her touch me like that after I’d been such an asshole.
"I was never angry with you, Kofi," she said, her voice soft. "Just sad."
I just looked at her. I didn’t know what to say to that.