Just Play Along

Thirty-Seven & Thirty-Eight

“We’ll get you upstairs in a few minutes,” he said when he’d turned back to me, “I’ll just sort out the bill.”

I nodded gently, taking a deep breath and closing my eyes to regain some composure. “Make sure you’ve eaten enough,” I said quietly, looking over at his plate. He looked about half done with his food and as I stared down at my own plate I noticed that I hadn’t touched any of my food. Just looking at it made me feel sick!

“Come on,” Aston said, pushing his chair back.

“You’re not done,” I protested feebly.

“I’ll order something up.”

“No you finish that,” I said.

“Jess,” Aston sighed with exasperation. I looked up at his annoyed face and decided I best give in. He grabbed hold of my arm as I moved to stand up and then wrapped his arm tight around my back to steady me. I was definitely feeling light-headed now, and without his support I probably would have fainted to the ground.

The others chorused a good night and get better to me, and then Aston led me out of the hotel restaurant and back up to our room.

“Go and get on your comfiest pajamas,” he said as he led me into my room. I sat on my bed for a minute, thinking about it, before stumbling over to the toilet to be sick.

“Ast!” I cried out as I sat slumped on the bathroom floor, I was too weak at this point to even be able to stand up.

He came jogging into the room, tutting when he saw me there. I was sick again, and then he helped me stand up so I could clean my teeth. Instead of leaving me to get changed myself he sat me on my bed as he went through my things to pull out something for me to sleep in, helping me change as tiny tears leaked from my eyes. I felt absolutely miserable; whatever the sickness was had hit me like a truck.

“You’re so hot,” he breathed out, “Maybe we should take you to the hospital.”

“I just want to sleep,” I sighed.

“Jess…”

“Please,” I replied, “I promise I’ll tell you if it gets worse.”

“Ok,” Aston said, his eyes catching my own as he quickly wiped my tears away. “Come on then,” He said, helping me to my feet again and guiding me out of my room, his arm tight around my back.

“What?” I asked as he led me over to his big bed.

“I’m going to open the sliding door to the deck, so you can get lots of fresh air,” he said as he helped me climb into the bed. “It’ll be much better than your little room with just the window. The air con will just make it stuffy in there.”

“Thanks,” I said, laying down and closing my eyes. My head was spinning and I could hear Aston bustling around. “You should go out with everyone,” I said as he placed some water down next to me.

“I don’t think so,” he said, “We’re in a foreign country, and if you do need the hospital I’d rather be here.”

“I’m sorry,” I said sadly.

“Just get some sleep,” Aston said, “I’ll be in the main room watching TV or something if you need me.”

“Can you watch in here?” I asked after a second.

“But…”

“It’ll soothe me.”

“Sure,” Aston replied. I heard him moving about some more and then the lights flicked off and the TV switched on, the bed dipping down as he climbed in on the other side. Pretty soon I fell into a restless sleep, shivering with fever.