Richpez: Plus one

Sick

I wake up suddenly and feel pain through my back and the sides of my stomach, I sit up and notice how bad my head is throbbing. I bring my hands to my head and hold it, closing my eyes as I massage my forehead. I look back at Joey who is still fast asleep then turn and pick up my phone, the bright light shines into the dark room and I squint my eyes to read '4:23' displayed on the screen, I sigh and lie back down moving slightly back into the crook of Joey's arm. I pull the covers up to my chin and close my eyes. I lay there slightly shivering, holding the comforter tightly.

I manage to drift off slightly but a gurgle of my stomach shoots me back up, I quickly fling myself out of bed and run towards the bathroom lifting up the toilet lid and letting out all the contents of my stomach, I feel the tears roll down my cheeks and watch as the salty drops fall into the filled toilet.

When I finish puking I lay back onto the bathroom floor curling up into as much as a ball as I can with my huge stomach, I let the tears fall from my eyes, I really didn't like being sick especially vomiting.

I lay on the cold floor shivering and shaking with sobs, "are you okay Lo?" Joey asks not waiting for an answer walking straight to my side as he sees me lying on the floor, he places his hand on my shoulder and rubs it softly. "Come on Lo lets go back to bed" he says and I comply letting him help me up from the ground, Joey puts his arm around my waist guiding me back to the bedroom. When we are back in the room I hop back into the bed leaning up against the headboard, Joey kisses my forehead and leaves the room.

He comes back a few minutes later with a bottle of fresh cold water and a thermometer, he passes me the drink bottle and I take a long sip of water then place the bottle on the bedside table. Joey places the thermometer in my mouth and feels my forehead, "you're burning up" he says his voice sounding concerned, he pulls his hand away form my forehead and places it back down to my stomach on top of my hand, "I feel cold" I say through the thermometer in my mouth, Joey rubs my hand and pulls the covers more over me. He pulls the thermometer out of my mouth and looks at it, "104" (104f, 40c) he says with a sigh, he places the thermometer on the bedside table, tucks me in with a kiss on the head and walks back round to his side. He slides in next to me and wraps his arms around me rubbing my shoulder, bringing warmth to that spot, eventually I fall back asleep in his arm.

I wake up hours later and everything hurts, my head, my stomach, my back, my feet, everything. I sit up and feel a cough coming, I shake as the violent fit of coughs escapes my body, Joey is by my side again as soon as he hears me, he rubs my back and when I finish coughing he passes me the water bottle from earlier, I take a long sip and let the cool liquid soothe my dry and itchy throat, I sit back up and place the bottle on the bed side table again, "You okay Lo?" Joey asks sitting adjacent to me concerned, I nod slowly and he gives me a look of sympathy, "would you like some toast?" He asks and I nod again, "thank you" I mutter out and he smiles a sad smile getting up, kissing my head and leaving the room.

He enters the room a few minutes later with a piece of plain toast which I gratefully accept, I manage to take a few small bites but can't muster any more than that and place the plate on the bedside table, Joey was at my side while I ate and when I put the plate down he was quick to ask how I felt, as well as give me hugs and kisses. I mumbled out a barely audible response, even I wasn't quite sure what I said but the message seemed to get across as we both shuffled down in bed snuggling into each other.

***

I didn't remember falling asleep but I woke up quite a few hours later to a fairly dark room, I didn't know what time it was but presumably I had slept most of the day as shown by the light in the room.

I picked up a blanket from the bed and made my way out to the living room dumping myself down onto the couch, Joey sat at the other end and looked up as I entered, he was again quick to ask how I was feeling which I responded to with a low "hmm" then after a moment of thinking I added "I guess I feel slightly better" Joey nods resting his hand on my leg the closest part of my body to him, "do you think you could handle dinner?" He asks, I think for a second, did I really sleep the whole day then I nod slightly "yeah, I probably could handle something small."

He nods and I slide down the couch adjusting my position to my side so I'm facing the TV, Joey hands me the remote and I turn on housewives. He then leans over to adjust the blanket so I'm fully tucked in, "do you want me to get you anything else?" He asks, I think for a second before answering "no I think I'm good."

I watch the TV in a daze, nothing really makes sense it's just this weird feeling of fuzziness so I close my eyes only partially hearing what's happening. My head pounds with the weird sensation and all I want to do is sleep, but I also weirdly feel like I have so much energy at the same time as being absolutely exhausted.

I turn my body into the couch blocking out the light and closing my eyes.

***

I am woken up by a small shake of my arm and slowly I turn to face Joey looking right down at me, "thought you might like something to eat, you've barely eaten today" he says and I nod sitting up with a rub of my eyes, "here" he says handing me a glass of juice, "thanks" I say my voice small and raspy, I take a small sip at first then scull the rest down. Joey who stands by me takes the glass and replaces it with a bowl of soup I thank him and he returns to the kitchen.

He re-enters with a bowl for himself and a refill of my glass, I thank him again and he sits down next to me, the TV is still on and after my little snooze I am actually able to watch it.

"You know you didn't have to have soup as well" I say after the long sound of silence, he shrugs and continues eating (drinking), I roll my eyes, the corners of my mouth turned up slightly, he knew exactly what he was doing.

A/N Soup is not for eating. Soup is for drinking and throwing on the ground as you demand real food. That's it thanks for reading