𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐈𝐬 𝐀 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐎𝐧 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡

𝖙𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐱

"Imma figure it out." I replied, "Just try and get sum' rest." I replied, resting my head in the crook of his neck.

After that, he grew quiet—taking my advice, and for about thirty minutes things were looking fine.

Then all of a sudden he winced—causing me to shift my head up.

"What's wrong?" I asked, looking down at his body.

"I just got a sharp pa—OW." Just as he was talking he again winced, and this time I shifted from behind him and off of the bed entirely.

"yeah nah—c'mon, I ain't finna let you lay here like this no more," I spoke, opening up the dresser to pull out a pair of my sweatpants and T-shirt for him to wear comfortably.

I still didn't trust the hospitals down here, but while I was lying there behind Khalil I began to remember the one other option I had.

Ms.Eve, her and Khalil had talked a while back about both being in the medical field, and it's become something they bond over whenever we go see her.

If I trusted anybody to tell me what was wrong with him, it was her.

After carefully helping Khalil get dressed we made our way to my truck—where I again helped, gently, just making sure he didn't hurt himself more.

I've basically been taking care of him since he got sick, which is fine—I ain't complaining about it, if anything I like it.

But by the time we arrived at Ms. Eves' house, I could tell that me just taking care of him wasn't gon' work anymore—he needed a professional, or somebody close to it.

"How you feel?" I questioned,  placing my hand on his back after knocking on the door.

"I'm fine.." he mumbled, and I could tell he was lying and trying not to worry me too much, which was ironic.

When Ms.Eve approached the door, she wore a smile—but once she saw the state of Khalil her smile faded, and she grew concerned.

"Oh lord—what's goin' on?" She asked, opening the door for us to walk in.

"We were hopin' you could tell us," I spoke, helping Khalil inside.

"C'mon in here—let me get a look." She instructed as she closed the door behind us.

She then walked us to her living room where she instructed me to lay Khalil down, of course, I did it cautiously.

"lemme know if I'm movin' too fast," I mumbled as I lay him on the couch.

"it's okay, thank you." He replied, forcing a fragile smile.

" course baby." I replied, removing his shoes.

I looked up to see Ms.Eve looking between us with a knowing smile before walking over to Khalil's side.

"Alright sugar, first I'm gonna take your temperature.." she began, holding a thermometer to Khalil's lips.

Once I'd gotten both of his shoes off, I placed them on the ground near the couch and then stepped back to watch as Ms.Eve tended to him.

Characteristically I crossed my arms, but that was just a habit I seemed to have whenever I was thinking.

"what it say?" I questioned, looking over at Ms.Eve as she read the temperature.

"I mean it's a little high, but nothing really alarming." She replied, in deep thought it seemed like.

"Hun, do you mind if I feel over your stomach really quickly?" She asked.

I looked over at Khalil, because ultimately all of this was his decision—and whatever he decided, I was by his side one hundred percent.