Take a Number

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Author's Notes:

Something happened in the school cafeteria yesterday so...umm...guess that's where my inspiration for this chapter came from.

_________________________

Jess *sits on the bed on the left*

Nick *walks out of the bathroom* "How come you always wanna sleep on the bed closest to the bathroom?"

Jess *shrugs shoulders* "Less chances of stumbling over stuff in the middle of the night, if I have to go pee, because it's closer."

Nick *laughs shakes his head while walking over to the bed on the right* "We should probably text mom."

Jess "Yeah....go ahead."

Nick "Why me?"

Jess "It was your genius idea! Plus, you're the responsible twin, remember?"

Nick "Yes and I am being responsible by reminding you to text your mother your numbers of the day, and if you could be so nice to also include your brother's numbers? Yeeaaahhhhhh, that would be guh-rate."

Jess *makes face* "You are NOT the boss on Office Space! And umm yeah, your idea, so you do it!"

Nick "Jess! Just text mom! You already have your phone in your hand!"

Jess "I don't wanna!"

Nick *glares at Jess*

Jess *glares at Nick*

---Twin Stare Down---

Jess "Are we doing a TSD over a text message?"

Nick *grins then frowns* "Darn it, Jess! We need to tighten the rules of TSD's and make it so no one is allowed to talk during these anymore! I used to be so good ....from now on just keep it zipped during TSD's."

Jess "Fine!" *glares at Nick*

Nick *glares at Jess*

Jess *starts making weird faces*

Nick *tries not to smile, sighs* "Fine, you win...I'll send it."

Jess *fist pumps* "YES!"

Nick *gives Jess a look*

Jess "I mean, thank you, Nicholas."

Nick "Uh huh."

Jess *points at Nick* "Dude, you so look and sound like mom, when you do that!"

Nick *rolls eyes, grabs phone off the night stand* "Can you at least grab the meters and read off the results for me?"

Jess *gets up without a word, grabs both meters*

Nick "Whenever you're ready." *sits there, waits*

Jess "Oh, OK." *grabs her book and starts reading*

Nick *O_O* "JESS! Are you serious?"

Jess *laughs* "GOTCHA!"

Nick *makes face*

Jess "OK, OK.....if I do pluck your gray hairs will the responsible no-fun old man stuck inside your body leave?"

Nick *throws pillow at Jess*

Jess "Why you gotta be so violent....*sees Nick's look, smiles* OK...OK....umm whose first?"

Nick "Does it really matter?"

Jess "Umm...I don't know....does it? Can you give me a hint maybe...?"

Nick "JESS! Gosh...are you serious? You are worse than Joe sometimes!"

Jess *looks at Nick, not smiling*

Nick "OK, maybe not worse than him but aarrgghh!" *smiles but holds hands out as if he was strangling someone...probably Jess*

Jess "Mine. 100. 100. 100. 100..."

Nick "Jess."

Jess "100, 100..."

Nick "Jessica."

Jess "100. 100."

Nick "JESSICA!"

Jess *grins* "117. 54. 219. 172. 89. 133. 157. 109. 231....and I haven't done my night check yet."

Nick "OK....mine?"

Jess "Yours were...150. 294. 482....

Nick "Wait, what?"

Jess "...897. 978..."

Nick *laughs* "JESS! Really? Come on our meters don't even read above 600...you're making this way harder than it could be."

Jess "Sorry, I'm just so excited about tomorrow and ..."

Nick *laughs* "I noticed."

Jess "Alright, really quick: 150. 76. 219...HEY! Our post-Mickey D's numbers were the SAME! I didn't notice that!"

Nick *extends fist* "Blood Sugar Twins!"

Jess *gets up off her bed, bumps fists with Nick, sits down on Nick's bed* "90. 192. 120...how do you always get these round numbers?...169, 147, 109...and you also haven't taken your before-bed one yet...obviously."

Nick "OK. Thanks....man, traveling really had us bounce all over the place today...." *sends text*

Jess *still looking at meter* "Yeah...." *zips up meter cases*

Traveling, especially across several time zones is exhausting for anyone, but for us diabetics it can be quite difficult. Meal times usually change and with all the waiting and traveling, we are usually less active, so we can run higher because of that....or all that walking from one terminal to the next can make us go low....we usually end up eating out somewhere and guessing the exact amount of carbs in a meal is almost impossible....you get the idea.

*KNOCK KNOCK*

??? *muffled* "It's dad!"

Jess*gets up, opens door, lets dad in*

Dad "I forgot to tell you, we have to get up at around 8AM tomorrow morning. And I just talked to mom and she said you hadn't sent in your numbers yet."

Jess "Yeah, yeah, we just did that." *sits back down next to Nick*

Dad *smiles* "Oh OK."

Nick "Let me see my meter, please....might as well test right now."

Jess *tosses meter to Nick*

Nick *catches it* "Same time?"

Jess *sighs* "Fine."

*both check their blood sugar*

Nick *holds out meter for meter swap*

Dad *watches*

Jess *just stares at her meter's countdown*

Nick *looks at dad, shrugs shoulders, pulls back meter*

*beep beep beep beep*

Nick "Hm...264. Really? Man, that airplane food really kicked my butt! Whatchu get?"

Jess *stares at her number*

Nick "Jess? What did you get?"

Jess *still staring at her number, mumbles* "But I feel fine..."

Nick *raises eyebrows*

Jess "I'm gonna retest."

Nick "What is it?" *tries to grab Jess' meter*

Jess *pulls away* "Stop! It's my number!"

Nick "But we always tell each other our..."

Jess *retests*

Dad "Nick, let her retest."

*beep beep*

Jess *sees number, throws meter across the room*

Dad *O_O*"Jessica!"

Nick *gets up to get meter*

Jess "DO NOT touch my meter!"

Nick *holds up hands* "OK, OK."

Jess *goes to pick meter off the floor*

Dad "Nick, Jess is right. It is her number and if she does not want to share it with you, then she doesn't have to."

Nick "But dad,.."

Dad *holds up hand* "No!"

Nick "Dad, my sugar is high from that airplane food so I'm guessing, so is her's *points at Jess* We need to know the number so she knows how much insulin to take to come back down."

Jess "Dad, I can't be high. I feel fine."

Dad *puts arm around Jess* "You seem kind of angry to me..."

Jess "Dad, I'm angry because of the number I got...not because I don't feel good."

Nick "Remember earlier when you felt fine but you tested and got a number in the 50's? But then sometimes you get really shaky and you're only in the 70's?"

Jess *nods*

Nick "That is exactly why they make us test so much...because sometimes the way we feel does not match our numbers...the only way to know where we're at..."

Jess "...is to check often." *sighs*

---silence---

Jess "I'm at 300."

Nick *half smile* "Well, at least you got yourself a round number, too."

I took my correction shot and gave dad one of our room keys so he could come wake us up tomorrow morning. Dad told us to set our 2AM alarm and just do our night check ourselves though ...and we were going to go to bed but that's when my cell phone rang.


Jess *checks caller ID* "Can you answer it?"

Nick "Mom?"

Jess *nods*

Nick *sighs, signals Jess to hand him the phone*

Jess *hands phone to Nick*

Nick "Hey mom.....oh...this is Jess' phone, huh? Sorry, our phones are hard to tell apart sometimes....

Jess *smacks forehead with her hand*

Nick *bites his lip* "....yes, I know Jess' has a purple I

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