"Pip?" Lin asked, opening the door to her room. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm going to PostMate in Panera, what do you want?"
"I don't want anything, I'm alright, thank you, though." Pippa kept her eye on her work.
"You haven't eaten today, Pip." Lin sighed and leaned up against the doorframe.
"Yeah, I have." Pippa defended herself.
"Okay, you had those crackers like six hours ago, you've got to be starving." Lin told her.
"Lin, seriously, I'm alright."
"Phillipa," Lin started, knowing using her whole name would capture her attention. And it did. Pippa looked up from her work. "I care about you, you know that. And watching you turn down food when you haven't eaten all day, scares me." That made Pippa think. He was right, but she also didn't have the time to eat.
"I know, Lin, and I'm sorry. I really am, I just can't run the risk of losing my scholarship, my parents would kill me!"
"It doesn't mean you can't take half an hour to breathe and to eat. I mean, Pip, you were so stressed this morning that you were sick, you need to take a break, please." Lin continued to slouch against the doorframe.
"But, Lin--" Pippa started, trying to fight back, but Lin soon cut her off.
"But nothing. C'mon." Lin outstretched his arms towards her.
"Can you give me five minutes?" Pippa asked with puppy dog eyes.
"Alright, five more minutes." Lin sympathetically smiled. He quietly closed her door. Pippa nodded to herself and got back to her work. In all honesty, she wasn't feeling hungry (but she knew her body probably needed food, regardless), and weighing her options, she'd rather be hungry than disappoint literally everyone she knew. She only had five minutes to spare, probably more like three at this point, but for whatever reason, she could not focus on her work. She kept finding herself reading the same sentence over and over again. She kept finding herself reading the same sentence over and over again. She kept finding herself reading the same sentence over and over again. And the room wasn't necessarily spinning, it was just blurry. Pippa felt her eyelids start to get heavy, and she succumbed to the feeling of exhaustion that had hit her. "Hey, Pip. It's been fi--Oh my gosh, Pippa!" Lin exclaimed, running over to the girl's desk, where her pen was now limply being held between two fingers. "Pippa!" Lin shook her shoulder. She slowly but surely started to open her eyes. "Oh my gosh, Pip, don't scare me like that." Lin caught the breath that he had anxiously been holding.
"Did...I fall...I'm sorry." Pippa shook her head.
"No, don't be sorry, I was just scared you fainted or something. But you're okay." He smiled. "Listen, I just ordered a bunch of food from Panera, because I didn't know what you wanted, and I honestly don't know what I want either, and it should be here in about twenty minutes."
"Thank you." Pippa said quietly. Lin leaned in and kissed her forehead. He jumped back, his eyebrows scrunching together, as he cautiously leaned in to kiss both of her cheeks. "What is it?" Pippa asked, equally - if not more - confused as Lin was.
"You're really hot." Lin told her.
"No, I'm okay. I mean, I have been in that room all day, and I do have long sleeves on, and--"
"Okay, one, why don't you change out of what you're wearing because you're in a sweatshirt, and that has to be killing you, and two, let me take your temperature." Lin nodded. Pippa nodded too, in return, quickly changing from her hoodie and sweatpants into athletic shorts and a tank. Pippa rarely wore any of these pieces of clothing by themselves, let alone together. You could see the majority of her bruises when she'd wear a tank top. But this was just Lin. She knew he wouldn't judge her for it. Pippa soon came around the corner, hiding herself from the PostMate delivery man as Lin picked up their food. He thanked the man and brought the food inside.
"Thanks for the food." Pippa sat down.
"Of course."
"And I finished my last catchup assignment, so now I just have to pass midterms, which are a bit away. But I'm finally on everyone else's page." Pippa said, proudly.
"That's good. I'm very proud of you, My Love."
"Thank you." Pippa smiled. She watched as Lin disappeared into the bathroom and came back mere seconds later with a thermometer. He proceeded in silence to take Pippa's temperature. The feeling of the thermometer under her tounge brought back childhood memories of being ill, as well as all the times Matt had frightened her so badly, she'd fall sick. Point of the matter is, Pippa didn't really love the idea of having a fever or being sick right now.
"101.4." Lin stated, like he was some type of doctor or something.
"Well," Pippa sighed, reaching for a baguette that was on the table. "What does that mean?" In the meantime of her question, Lin was bringing all the food around to the table.
"It means, that you're eating this..." Lin handed her a breadbowl filled with chicken soup.
"How'd you know this was my favorite?"
"Wild guess." Lin winked and sat down himself. "It means that you're eating that, and then you're going to sleep."
"How about instead, we watch a movie?" Pippa hummed as she swallowed another spoonful of soup.
"If you want to," Lin shrugged. "I'm down." This made Pippa smile.
"Yay!" She cheered quietly to herself, making Lin smile just as brightly.
~~~~~
It was nearing 11 p.m. Pippa had fallen asleep on Lin's lap, and the movie hadn't wrapped yet. Lin was mindlessly running a hand through Pippa's hair. He looked down at her, smiling at how calm she finally looked for once. Lin leaned down and kissed her - still burning up - forehead. He also contemplated moving her to bed, but decided not to. Lin situated Pippa more comfortably on the couch, moving himself over to the opposite sofa. "Goodnight, My Love." Lin whispered, shutting off the movie. He had made her feel better once, and he was on a mission to do it again.
