Her suggestion stirs a smile from him, appreciating such a wise strategy, “That’s a good idea, though I hope that boy is just studying... Yeah, I have friends I can stay with, and well, my girlfriend too.” He hasn’t been her boyfriend long at all, and there’s a note of shy delight when he states the relationship with Sadie.

Laying on his side makes conversation a little awkward, and now fully awake, he turns to the task of sitting upright. Pushing through his hand against the mattress to raise his shoulders with his back held stiff, he adds a push with his lower elbow to get partway up, then extends that same elbow to move higher. Nearly there, he has to use his trunk muscles to finish the transition, and holds his breath as he does so. Allowing himself to slouch uncharacteristically, he takes a few deeper breaths to improve the pallor of his skin around the bruises.