Royally Kissed | ✓

09; the precautions

"Aoife, it's Arthur."

"Arthur? As in Mister Arthur Arthur?" She yawned immediately after that like she had all the time in the world to drag the conversation on.

He sighed and droned on, "Yes. That Arthur. And drop the formalities, please."

"What's up?" Her voice had perked up then as she regained half of her comprehension. She paused for a split second and blurted, "Jeez, it's too early for this. You clearly need something. What is it?"

"Sorry for calling in such an ungodly hour, but listen, it's Paige and I'm here in her bedroom. It's a long story−" he prompted, when Aoife was about to bombard him with hundreds of questions, "I need you to come here and help me throw her body−"

"What did y−"

"I'm kidding." He grinned for a moment. "She fainted and I need you to bring some medicines for her. But you have to be stealthy. No one knows but her−and now you, that I'm here."

"I'll just bring her water. Pretty sure she keeps her medicines in one of her drawers." The phone made rustling sounds which was coming from the other line, and Arthur had pictured her peeling off her blanket and moving around.

But that wasn't the reason why he had a deep frown on his forehead. "What d'you mean?"

Alas, Aoife said she was on her way and then the line went dead.

After a moment or so, he heard a soft knock against the door, and then he opened it like he couldn't open it so fast enough that Aoife all but blinked minutely. He watched how her hair fractionally flew away before letting her through, ignoring the inquisitive scowl on her face.

Before closing the door, Arthur carefully peered outside to check if someone was around. Coast was clear.

Arthur simply pushed his hands into his pockets as he anxiously followed Aoife's actions, who was cautiously placing the pitch of water and a glass atop the bedside table, peering sideways to the sleeping Paige.

"What did you mean by that?"

"What?" asked Aoife distractedly, pulling out a drawer from Paige's vanity. After picking the right remedy, she fished it out and turned to him. "About this?" she held the bottle up, walking towards Paige's bed after Arthur nodded, "She's been feeling sick lately. It's her stomach. She thought it's just a simple stomachache or of some sort. But she's experiencing constant pains and her medicines don't seem to do the trick. It's a good alternative when she wants to tone it down; but the effect, I think, doesn't really last long."

A pit in Arthur's own stomach suddenly occurred. "Did she already see a doctor, though?"

Aoife shrugged while she whispered Paige's name. "I don't know," she responded, pausing from trying to wake up Paige and straightened up. "We all assume she hates to visit hospitals. It reminds her of her grandfather when he fell terribly ill. She loves her dearly."

"I understand."

"Hold on−what're you doing here, really?"

He went still for a moment, thinking of ways on how to start this. Scratching the side of his head, he let out a sigh. "She's my girlfriend and I wanted to see her and I also don't want to see Archer right now so..."

"Wait, what?"

"I wanted to see her and I don't want to see Archer's face at the moment−"

She blinked. "Wait, no. We'll get into that later. Backtrack a little bit."

Arthur's frown deepened, crossing his arms. "She's my girlfriend?"

"That." Running a hand through her blonde locks, she put one hand to her hips as if she were his older sister. Arthur was twenty-one while Aoife just turned twenty-four. He also thought she had the hots for Archer and he kept on jeering her about it, and that made them rather friends, add the fact that they'd known each other for quite sometime now. "Why?"