An hour after Anna and Joel had dozed off together on the couch, Ellie made her way out to the living room, her favorite dinosaur blanket wrapped around her shoulders.
Tears gushed out of her eye sockets, but she absolutely refused to let her mom see her in such a hysterical state.
Seeing Joel laying on the couch with her mother wasn't too weird, but sadly a quiet whimper left Ellie's frame before she could explain why she was awake. It was only 9 PM and the weekend, although Ellie was reasonably exhausted after practice...
She made her way over to the couch, lightly tapping Anna's shoulder, "Mama, mama..." She repeated softly, lips quivering while she spoke.
Anna and Joel's eyes immediately jolted open, as Anna reached forward to wipe away Ellie's tears, "What's wrong, monkey?"
As much as Ellie couldn't stand talking about her awful nightmares, she had gotten used to their nightly appearances every night, "I... I had a nightmare that my bullies beat up Riley in front of me..."
While Anna wasn't sure quite yet what Ellie and Riley actually were relationship wise, she did love Riley like another daughter. As long as Riley never purposely hurt Ellie, she was aces in Anna's book.
Anna's arms made their way around Ellie's back, pulling her in for a motherly hug, "Oh, darling... It was just a dream. Riley's safe. You're safe... Also, you mean your girlfriend, right?" Anna asked, taking any chance she could get to poke fun at the adorable teenage couple.
Ellie was completely oblivious to her mom being skeptical of their relationship, but she was raised right to tell the difference between the truth and lying.
So, instead of trying to lie her way out of this, Ellie nodded, wiping her eyes, "Yeah..."
Anna smiled, attempting to pull Ellie onto her lap but instantly becoming nauseated from too much movement.
Joel smiled at the young woman's motherly instincts, assisting Anna by placing her daughter on her lap, "There you go, kiddo. Safe and sound in your mama's arms."
Ellie's knee jerk reaction was to bury her face into her mothers neck, starting to whimper once more.
She began to lightly rock back and forth, her hand cradling the back of Ellie's head, "Shhh... Mama's right here. My poor little Rose."
Joel remained quiet not wanting to intrude on their little moment, but continued on with massaging Anna's stomach.
Anna spoke in a whisper quieter than a pin could drop, "Baby, how about you invite Riley and Sarah over? Maybe you guys can bake some cookies."
She glanced at Joel as if to ask him if Sarah could come over, receiving a nod in response, "Yeah, I'll call her. You carry Ellie up to her room. I've gotta ask you something afterwards."
Despite having a rocky history involving the phrase, "We need to talk," Anna knew she had a good guy this time around, so it was probably nothing bad... Maybe something good, perhaps?
During the five minutes it took to get Ellie laid down in her bedroom and to receive an answer from Sarah, Anna made her way back to the couch, sitting beside Joel, "What did you want to ask me?"
Unsurprisingly, Joel was known by his ex girlfriend Tess for being "the romantic type," so asking Anna out was a task Joel was no stranger to doing, "I just wanted to see what you thought about going out for dinner tonight? I know I brought you guys food earlier, but you weren't feeling good so I figured now would be better. I'm thinking just the mall food court and a movie?"
Hearing this triggered Anna's heart to burst out of anticipation. Finally, a man who wanted to see her happy, regardless of how tired she was or how she was dressed, "That sounds great! I never get to go out much. Is this like... A date?"
The young Texan was never one to easily give himself away and in a way, he still wasn't. Did Anna really think that they were going to the food court and a movie? Not a fucking chance...
With that thought, Joel nodded, "Yeah. Working with you, I've seen how you are as a mother and how you are as a coach. You are absolutely incredible both ways and you deserve a guy who treats you right. So, yes... This is me asking you out, Anna."
Anna's heart went from nonstop thumping to filling with nothing but joy and happiness, giving Joel a nod of acceptance, "Well, I accept! I'll go out with you."
Joel smiled widely, pulling Anna closer for a hug, "Good. Wear something that makes you feel good. If I'm gonna face the opportunity to love you, I want my girl to feel good."
Noting by his choice of words that Joel was serious about this made Anna's heart flutter, causing her to laugh softly, "Looks like I'll finally be putting my black dress to some good use."
Meanwhile, Ellie made her own personal hideaway in her bedroom by the window. Although Anna did say that Riley could come over, she still felt as if she had to hide everything. Another series of sad, unfortunate truths...
Taking notice of Riley jogging up to her house, Ellie sneakily opened the window. Something she was no stranger to doing. This wasn't her first time attempting to sneak out, but this would be the one occurrence where it would turn into a rookie mistake.
Riley stood underneath the window, waiting for Ellie to make her grand entrance, "Come on, Ellie. I'm directly under the window!"
With a deep, adrenaline induced breath, Ellie tiptoed her way upward, holding onto the windowsill as a grip.
She stepped onto the windowsill, ducking her head down first before moving one of her legs out.
The quiet sounds of rain filled Ellie's hair, swiftly drenching her hair. Unfortunately, the rain caused her foot to slip, landing hard on her right foot. This created a loud thud, followed by a pain unlike any other, "F-FUCK!"
Riley stomped her way over to Ellie, gripping Ellie's arm and helping her stand up, "I told you this was a bad idea, Ellie! You never listen, do you? I could've easily just came inside the "normal" way."
Ellie sat against the windowsill, groaning softly because her foot was throbbing, "I don't wanna fucking fight with you, Riley! Can't you just help me up instead of tearing me to shreds verbally? That would be fan-fucking-tastic!"
Taking into consideration that her girlfriend couldn't control what occurred, Riley sighed, holding a hand out to Ellie, "Sorry... Do you still want me to stay over?"
Despite her anger only worsening by the second, the 12 year old girl accepted the offered hand, "Yeah. Please don't go..."
Riley hoisted Ellie up, giggling softly and beginning to wipe the mud from Ellie's face. When she fell out of the window, Ellie landed flat in a mud puddle, so now she had to shower tonight too...
She placed a hand upon Ellie's cheek, rubbing it softly while picking off the droplets of mud from her face. However, doing so created more mud, which made the two of them laugh harder, "Of course I'm not gonna go, Ellie..."
Riley occupied her sentence with a kiss, continuing it long enough to stop Ellie from talking. Although, her next phrase was a huge shock to Ellie, "I love you..."
Ellie knew that they were still young, but Riley made her believe in those old adages involving young love. Even if this was the most heartbreaking mistake of her life, she uttered those words back, "I love you too, Riley."
Taking Ellie's hand in hers, Riley's head turned upon hearing Anna's voice, "Girls, come on in. It's raining outside and I don't want you getting cold!"
Riley nodded, yelling back, "Ms. Williams, can you help me carry Ellie inside? She hurt her ankle..."
Anna nodded, the sounds of hurried footsteps rushing outside to Ellie's aid, "What happened?"
Of course, per usual, Ellie wasn't about to lie. She was raised to always be honest, after all, "I... I know you already said she could come over, but I still felt like I had to sneak her in. I opened the window, tried to help her in, and I fell out, landing on my ankle."
Although, Ellie was a pretty rebellious kid, at least she was honest and Anna couldn't be mad at teaching her wrong from right.
With a soft kiss to Ellie's forehead, she began to wrap Ellie's ankle in bandages and medical tape, "It's okay, monkey. I'm just glad you're okay. Now, there's a set of crutches in my closet. You know how to adjust them to your height. Absolutely no pressure on your foot for a few days, got it?"
Well, at least her mom took the truth in a good way, "Okay, mama."
Anna smiled, gently picking Ellie up and letting Riley walk first to open the door for them, "Joel and I are going out for the night. Are you three okay by yourselves?"
Riley nodded, giving Anna a playful salute, "Of course! Go get dressed up and enjoy your night, Anna. I'll take care of Ellie for you. You have my word."
Anna nodded, giving both Ellie and Riley hugs before hugging Sarah once she walked through the door, "Have fun, girls! Text me or Joel if you need anything. We'll be leaving in about 10 minutes!"
All three rambunctious teenagers nodded in unison, heading into the kitchen together in search of the ingredients for the famous "Williams Family" cookie recipe. Totally not a representation of what happened whenever Anna was broke and desperate for a snack while she was pregnant. Although, those cookies were damn near delectable and everyone loved them, weirdly enough...
Speaking of Anna, she remained in her bedroom while Joel had gone next door to his house to change. She hadn't gone on a "proper" date in years and even in the old days while Anna was married to Marlene, she had to pay for everything. Marlene was a huge contributing factor to Anna and Ellie bordering on the line of poverty. The reason behind why she lost her job as a nurse, or why she inherited awful self confidence issues.
She so badly wanted to embrace her baby bump while she was pregnant, but Marlene always ruined her confidence by calling her fat, commenting on how much she ate or telling her to lose weight. Marlene would even say that Anna giving birth to Ellie was what ruined their marriage...
Needless to say, Anna left as quickly as she possibly could and was thankful enough to carry on a relationship of sorts with her former stepdaughter, Riley. Life was arguably better now than it was then, although it was about to get a whole lot better. Only Anna didn't know this yet.
She stood in front of the bathroom mirror, wearing her relatively new black dress and short heeled boots.
Anna hardly ever wore makeup and still shied away from it, but some products were better than others. Making her look like she didn't live the frugal life as a single mom working as a basketball coach...
Anna dug through her small assortment of makeup, selecting four products: Concealer, eyeliner, blush and a nude colored lipstick. The only products she ever wore to make herself look younger than she actually was. It worked out in her favor though...
She applied the blush, concealer and the lipstick successfully, but her hands naturally shook whenever she tried applying eye makeup of any kind. Yet another scourge of her existence...
As she began to apply the liner underneath her eyelids, she overheard a familiar deep Texan accent speak from the doorway, "Who's that pretty woman in the mirror? I'll give you a hint... I'm staring at her right now."
Usually, Anna would've broke out into a slew of continuous giggles whenever someone complimented her looks.
However, the sudden unexpected interruption caused the eyeliner pencil to stab her directly in the eye. This understandably caused a quiet little squeak of pain to leave her vocal chords. It hurt so bad she didn't get a chance to respond to Joel properly.
Fortunately, Joel took immediate notice right away, placing a comforting hand upon her shoulder, "I'm sorry, darlin'. Let me help you..."
He sweetly moved his hand to Anna's cheek, meeting tear filled green eyes after internally asking Anna to look at him, "Shit, I'm sorry, baby... We can wash it out, right? Did I screw everythin' up? If you cry, I'll fix it. That's on me."
Surprisingly, this triggered a sweet little laugh to leave Anna's beautiful frame, "Who says you know how to do makeup, Joel? It's fine." She sniffled, wiping a stray tear away.
Thankfully, Joel had more than his fair share of experience doing makeup, between previously being married and having a teenage daughter, "Don't worry, darlin'. I'll fix it."
Joel replied, taking a piece of paper towel off of the wall mounted paper towel roll. He gently dabbed at the stray tears as well as the individual eyeliner stain. He started to trace along Anna's eyelids slowly and carefully, creating jaw dropping, flawlessly gorgeous wing liner, "There we go, baby. Do you like it?"
To say that Anna's self confidence levels went from below zero to through the roof was an understatement. However, damn... She looked good, "Like it? I love it, Joel! Thank you!"
Joel laughed lightly, wearing his trademark black dress pants, a three quarter sleeve dress shirt and a matching leather belt with black boots, "Of course! Let's get going. Ladies first."
He grabbed Anna's shall jacket from behind her closet door, helping her put it on and heading outside towards his car with her.
Joel was known for being the typical gentleman, opening the car door for her and taking her out for dinner spontaneously. If this was how things were going to start, Anna could get used to this...
On the opposite side of the spectrum, the three teenagers remained in the kitchen. One cracking eggs, one busting out the hand mixer and the other coyly eating the cookie dough and doing nothing else...
Riley laughed upon noticing the cookie dough on Ellie's face, wiping it off with the tip of her thumb, "Ellie, you're gonna get yourself sick."
Ellie shook her head, boosting herself onto the countertop on one foot, "No, I won't. I've been eating raw cookie dough for years. What's so different about this time?"
Riley's expression now turned from funny to seriousness mixed with genuine concern, "The eggs aren't fully mixed in yet. Raw egg is gonna get you sick."
Taking quick notice of Ellie attempting to dip her spatula into the raw cookie batter again, Riley's hand wrapped around Ellie's wrist before she could try to eat it, "Ellie, babe... Please put the spatula down."
That cute little nickname was enough to make Ellie listen to her girlfriend, tossing the spatula across the counter into the sink, "Okay, sap."
During their cute moment of silence, Sarah stood by the stove, making sure the eggs were fully mixed in before rolling each cookie into a ball. Obviously, she didn't want Ellie to end up sick on her watch, but it helped to know that the eggs were still raw to avoid that happening ever again.
Meanwhile, Joel pulled into the parking lot of Anna's favorite five star restaurant, receiving a confusing smile from the young mother right away, "Didn't you say we were going to the mall food court and the movies, or am I tripping balls?"
As always, Joel had an answer and a logical reason for everything, "Well, maybe I just wanted to impress you, sweetheart. And don't worry about money. I'll cover everything for you, tips included."
Joel responded, stepping out of the drivers seat and heading over to the passenger side door, opening it, "You should know the drill by now. Ladies first."
Anna couldn't believe this was really happening, but she was soaking up her first ever real fancy date where the expenses weren't covered by her. This made sense though, because money was frequently tight for her.
Anna watched as Joel held open the entrance door with his foot, getting hit in the face with the intoxicating fragrance of freshly made food right away. The familiar smell was strong enough to warrant droplets of saliva to form below the surface of her mouth.
She had somehow managed to zone out completely while Joel was getting their table. Anna was so out of it that she almost didn't notice the young man place his hand upon her shoulder, "Follow me, darlin'..."
Anna headed through the busy floors of her favorite insanely priced restaurant, watching as Joel pulled a chair out for her.
The beautiful woman plopped down, taking the menu into both of her hands and scanning through the hundreds of options.
Although, Anna was the basic date, who always ordered the same three things and routinely alternated between them. Put simply... She was very easy to please.
"Your mother's very easy to please."
"I'm with you. My bar is very low!"
Joel took hold of one of Anna's hands, slowly wrapping his callused fingers around Anna's smaller hand, "What do you want to eat, sugar?"
Sugar... Now, that was adorable, receiving an immediate laugh from Anna, "Just my usual. You've brought me here before, so you know what I like."
Joel nodded, telling the waitress his order and then sneakily ordering Anna's favorite desert alongside her actual order.
Once the waitress had finally left their table to bring their orders, Joel had decided to move next to Anna instead of sitting across from her.
Unfortunately, the sudden urge to kiss the young man at her disposal in public was running high, however Anna couldn't help herself any longer. She had been waiting for the right person for so long that Anna was quite confident she would never find the right person... Now she had the right person, all she had to do was make things official.
Anna gently cupped the side of his face, her thumb running along his freshly shaved cheekbones. Instead of stalling like she had done during her and Marlene's first kiss, she automatically went for it, without hesitation.
Joel really wasn't expecting Anna to go for it so soon, although he was glad that she had enough self confidence to realize she was safe with him.
His hands made their way around Anna's waist, adrenaline rushing through both of their minds during their short lived, much needed kiss.
It didn't take Joel long to pull away though, upon noticing the waitress approach with their food. He placed a generous $50 tip down for the young lady, kissing Anna's forehead lovingly, "Look at your order, darlin'. I ordered your favorite desert too."
The heart attack inducing desert laid in front of her, a mountainous piece of cheesecake bigger than her head. 13 years ago while Anna was pregnant, she could've put this entire thing away herself, but not anymore. A doggy bag was a necessity tonight, "Holy shit, thank you..."
A moment of silence passed by with only the light clinking sounds of silverware being unraveled. Anna had ordered her favorite fettuccine Alfredo with a side salad, while Joel ordered the same thing but with coleslaw instead of salad.
Both of them split a bottle of wine too, a rare commodity that Anna hadn't experienced in years. After all, Ellie was born before Anna was of legal age to drink, so she hardly ever drank alcohol for the sake of her health. It was a personal choice, not a need.
Before Anna had moved on from her polished plate of pasta to enjoy her desert, she gave her stomach a few minutes to properly digest this time around. She didn't want to throw up again. It gave her too many disgusting flashbacks of her brutally horrendous morning sickness, getting sick off of something as basic as breathing in air...
Now that it was nearing 10 PM, "date night rush hour," was kicking in at full swing. From her past experiences working in one of the busiest businesses known to man, you would think Anna would be used to tight enclosed spaces and a lot of people.
Well, she was very badly out of practice, developing heavy claustrophobia due to so many people needing her attention 24/7 in the hospital. This led to her reasoning behind quitting...
Anna's eyes jolted from table to table, her heart rate skyrocketing through the roof before she even had the chance to stop it. Her fingers began to nervously tap against the table nonstop, resulting in an unstoppable lip quiver afterwards.
Joel had some notion of what was happening, as he draped an arm over her shoulders, "Anna, sweetheart... What's wrong?"
Anna was unable to stop the impending panic attack wreaking havoc on her heart rate. When Joel spoke up about his concerns, Anna immediately buried her face into Joel's neck, hot tears illuminating from her frame.
As difficult as it was to see Anna in any type of distress, he was quick to calm her down, "Shhh... Hey, don't cry, my little sugar bear. Take a deep breath and tell me what's going on."
Hearing how much Joel cared about her triggered Anna to remove her head from his neck, sniffling quietly, "I... I don't do well in a room filled with people. I'm c-claustrophobic..."
Thankfully, Joel always found a way to make things a little bit easier for people with relatively common fears.
Although, it was hard for him to imagine Anna being afraid of anything, "Oh, sweetheart... You ain't gotta worry about that. That's why I'm here. Even if I can't take your fear away, I hope I can at least make it better."
Anna's heart exploded like fireworks, as she dropped her head down to rest upon his shoulder. Wiping her eyes with his fingers, Joel laughed softly, kissing her forehead, "You're safe. You're strong. You've got this. Remember that. I don't like seeing you cry, darlin'. Let me see that beautiful smile."
A wide, toothy grin quickly spread across Anna's face, leaning in to give Joel another kiss, "I'm sorry, my king. I'm just a little bit overstimulated, that's all."
Seeing how this was no surprise for Joel, he smiled, poking the fork through the piece of cheesecake, holding it out to Anna, "Open up, sugar."
Despite feeling more like a teenager on the inside, Anna loved this romantic side of Joel. Feeding her forkfuls of cheesecake, paying for everything because she couldn't, offering to drive... All the things a real man should've been. Anna was beginning to give up hope that she would ever find the perfect man or woman, but now she was sure she did...
Anna opened her mouth, biting the immaculate tasting delicacy off of the fork. Her hand resting upon Joel's bicep, enjoying the finer things in life.
By the time dinner was over with, Joel filled out the waitresses checkbook, standing up. He placed Anna's jacket over her shoulders, overhearing Anna's cellophane go off with a text message alert, "Was that your phone or mine?"
Anna nodded, removing her cellphone out of her jacket pocket and turning it on, "Mine. Riley just texted me. It says, "When will you be home? Ellie accidentally ate raw egg while we were baking cookies and just puked all over the floor. I got her all set up in the bathroom and noticed she was bleeding too. She started her first period as well..."
Joel's gaze turned from loving towards the woman in front of him, to immense concern for Ellie, "Oh shit. Text her and tell her we're on our way home, Anna."
Anna nodded, a look of fear filling her eyes as she texted Riley back, "We'll be home in 20 minutes. You girls can stay over tonight to help take care of Ellie. Did you clean up the mess?"
Riley texted back right away, "Yes. I mopped the floors and put a towel over the area. She's really sick, Anna. She's begging for you..."
Even though Ellie was 12 years old and approaching full force teenage years fast, knowing that she still begged for mama while she was sick was something she hoped never went away, "Don't worry. I'll be home soon. I taught her how to use feminine products already. They're under the bathroom sink."
Now, all the new couple had to do was haul ass home to take care of sick little Ellie. Anna didn't bother asking if Joel was going to stay over. She already knew that if her little girl was sick, the answer was a definite yes.
Once Anna had texted back the very vague instructions, Riley remained in the bathroom with Ellie.
They may have argued constantly as a young teenage couple, but seeing her girlfriend super sick, on her period and suffering a sprained ankle made Riley question the way she treated Ellie.
Riley lightly patted Ellie's back in a comforting fashion, the sounds of dry heaving leaning Ellie's ailing body, "It's okay, Ellie... It's okay. Your mom's on her way."
Throughout the course of an hour, Ellie had already projectile vomited four times, leaving her physically exhausted. It came to a point of where she could only dry heave and nothing else came up... She was hopefully done, however now she was scared, "R-Riley..." She whispered, slowly moving her head from the toilet bowl.
Riley, like always, immediately came to her aid, bending down to one knee behind her girlfriend, "Yeah, babe?"
Ellie was so sick that she couldn't even smile at that beloved nickname, "C-Can you help me walk to my room? I-I've got a trashcan by my bed..."
The nearly 15 year old could never pass up the opportunity to impress her girl, "Sure, but I'll do you one better. Hold on tight."
With that thought, she helped Ellie stand up, wrapping a bath robe around her shoulders and picking her up, "I've got your crutches in there by your bed. If you need anything, I'll be sleeping out on the couch."
Ellie weakly nodded, her pale, freckled features glancing up at Riley as she was placed within the comfortable confines of her bed, "Blanket or no blanket?"
Ellie carefully shook her head, "N-No blanket..." She answered, already sweating bullets and pointing at her nightstand, "Can you take my temperature please? I have a thermometer in the top drawer."
Riley nodded, slowly opening the drawer and digging out the thermometer, turning it on. She began to trace the device along the back of Ellie's ear, listening to the deafening beeps that followed.
One glance at the thermometer was enough to make Riley want to crawl in bed with Ellie, "103.2... Holy shit. Alright, well, instead of sleeping on the couch, I'll lay in here until your mom gets here, babe. I'm sure you could use a warm cuddle session."
Ellie once again wasn't about to deny this offer. She loved her girlfriend and wanted to show it, "Okay. Come here..." Ellie replied, slowly moving over to give Riley a spot to lay.
Riley laid down beside her slightly younger girlfriend, her arms resting upon Ellie's aching stomach. With a weak little smile, Ellie whispered quietly, "Do sick patients still get goodnight kisses?"
A cheerful snort of amusement escaped Riley's mouth, rubbing Ellie's stomach in circular motions, "Of course they do!" She responded, leaning forward to give her girlfriend a slightly deeper kiss than the one they previously shared, "Get some rest now, my Ellie Bellie."
Ellie almost glared at Riley with a disapproving smirk, breaking out into a laughing fit instead. Although, that nickname was ridiculous...
Ellie's head dropped into the warm presence of Riley's chest, groaning softly once her first round of cramps started, "Ow..."
Riley playfully nuzzled her nose into Ellie's hair, giving her a kiss to her temple, "It's okay. The cramps are normal, babe."
After a few minutes of laying in bed with Ellie, both girls had dozed off into a rather deep sleep. Sarah remained passed out on the living room couch where Riley was originally supposed to sleep, leaving a silent ambiance throughout the house.
Joel used Anna's set of house keys to unlock the door, pushing it open and taking immediate notice of his daughter sleeping on the couch.
He held up his pointer finger towards his lips, whispering softly to Anna, "Shhh, looks like the girls are asleep. Let's try not to wake them up."
Anna nodded, removing her heeled boots upon entrance, setting them next to the door. This was only a precautionary measure to avoid the clinking of the high heels waking everybody up.
Joel silently disposed of the towel on the living room floor, applying carpet cleaner to the slight stain left behind by Ellie vomiting. Next, he leaned over to give Sarah a kiss to her forehead, whispering soothingly, "Goodnight, baby girl."
However, Anna headed into Ellie's bedroom, peaking her head in long enough to check on the cute couple. She smiled sweetly at the adorable sight, quietly closing the door.
They met up in Anna's bedroom. Joel was watching in admiration as she began to get undressed in front of the bathroom mirror.
He whistled playfully, walking up behind her, "Holy shit. You never cease to amaze me, darlin'. I'm one lucky man."
Anna laughed lightly, holding onto the counter with one hand while she struggled with pulling up her pajama pants, "If you're the lucky man, then I'm the lucky woman."
Joel watched with an amusing smile at her hilarious failed attempt at putting on her pants while standing up, "Need some help there?"
Unsurprisingly, Anna shook her head, smirking subtly, "You're just looking for a reason to stare at my ass. You think with your dick, don't you?"
Instead of reacting offensively to that comment, Joel crossed his arms, walking over to assist her anyway, "No. I think with my heart instead, sugar." He answered, tying the drawstrings into a knot on the front of her pants and pulling her in for a kiss.
Not even realizing that he still had to get ready for bed, Anna was quick to remind him, "I've got a few baggy sets of pajama pants if you wanna borrow those tonight. I'll wait in bed to give you some privacy."
Although Joel didn't want her to wait for him in bed, he took her up on the offer of privacy anyway, "Alright!" He responded, pulling away from the kiss and gently wiping dried eye makeup off of her face with a makeup wipe.
With that thought, Anna headed back into her bedroom, making herself comfortable underneath the covers while she waited for Joel's return.
It only took about two minutes for Joel to make his presence known, sitting beside Anna. As hard as it was for Anna to admit that she once again didn't feel well, she had too, "Joel?..."
Joel head jolted upwards upon hearing the twinge of discomfort in Anna's voice, "Yes, darlin'?"
Anna adjusted her sitting position on the bed to try and stop the uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach, "I don't think it was my dinner, but I don't feel good..."
Not even having to ask what was wrong, Joel pressed the palm of his hand up against her forehead, "You're a little warm, sweetheart. How about we lay down and get some rest and maybe you'll feel a bit better in the morning, huh?"
Anna could never pass up the chance to cuddle into her personal pillow and let the sound of his heartbeat whisk her away into dreamland, "Okay."
Joel turned on the television to a random channel, giving Anna her chance to cuddle into his chest. He began to sing his personal favorite Pearl Jam song. A tune he had sang to Sarah since before she was even born, technically...
"Future Days of You and Me..."