It was 4 in the morning when Luca came in to my room, telling me he had been sick twice, when I asked him why he didn't tell me the first time he said he 'wanted me to get a good sleep and didn't want to bother me'.
It was very sweet but I told him if he's ever sick again to just tell me, no matter what.
I also wasn't that surprised because I know there was a sickness going around his school
Since 4 he has been throwing up multiple times, every hour. It's now 9am and im supposed to be opening the cafe but Luca's too sick to be left alone.
"Mama, when is it going to stop?" Luca says, on the verge of tears as I rub his back while we kneel down over the toilet.
"You'll feel better soon, okay?" I give a kiss to the back of his head and keep rubbing his back in a soothing matter.
We soo go back to the couch, Luca snuggles up to me with a blanket wrapped around us. I can only pray I won't get whatever sickness he has.
I'm so tired, I try to fall asleep again but this time it isn't Luca that keeps me awake, it's my phone ringing.
Incoming call
Lewis 🏎️
"Hello?" I say when I answer the call.
"Lilah?" I hear Lewis' voice and he sounds confused, even though he's the one who called me.
"Yes, I mean you did call me?" I laugh a little, careful not to wake Luca who I think had finally fallen asleep.
"Yeah- I just, why isn't the cafe open? Is everything okay?" I notice a hint of worry in his voice as he tries to sound casual.
"Yeah, well no- I've been up all night because Luca has been really sick." I start stroking Luca's head softly.
"Oh shit, is it like a throwing up bug?"
"Yeah." I pause "How come you were at the cafe so early?" I just realise that it's early and Lewis usually comes around closing time.
"Wanted an early morning latte." He lets out a slight laugh.
"Well, sorry to disappoint." I start yawning before I can finish my sentence.
"Are you okay? You sound tired."
"I mean I am tired." I laugh quietly "I only got a couple hours of sleep before Luca woke me up and I haven't been able to sleep since." I explain and he's silent for a moment.
"I can come over and look after Luca if you want to get some rest?" He offers and my heart swells.
"Are you sure? You don't have to." I sigh out, but really I am desperate for some sleep.
"Definitely, I'll be over in half an hour."
"Thank you Lewis." I smile into the phone even though he can't see it.
"Of course, Lilah."
Luca suddenly looks up to me with panicked eyes, I know that look all too well.
"I have to go." I say quickly into the phone before hanging up and rushing Luca into the bathroom for another round of throwing up.
Shortly after we return to the couch- there's knocking on the door, I quickly get up and open the door- opening it to see Lewis.
I give him a smile and I dread my appearance, i probably have dark circles under my eyes and messy hair.
"Hey." I say and I gesture for him to come inside.
"Hey, you okay?" He asks softly as we walk towards the living room.
"Just tired, and I hope I don't catch whatever he has." I say as I point to Luca who is sleepily trying to watch the tv but his eyes keep falling closed.
"Lewis!" Luca says and his eyes brighten when he sees Lewis, although it's not as enthusiastic as it usually is because of how tired he is.
"Hey buddy." Lewis smiles lovingly at him as we sit on the couch next to him.
"I'll look after him while you get some sleep." Lewis says quietly to me and I can't help but smile, I'm so tired.
"Luca are you okay if Lewis looks after you for a bit? I'll be upstairs sleeping." I say softly to him.
"Of course, I like Lewis." Luca says with a little giggle and I can't help but smile.
I give him a quick kiss on the forehead and stand in front of Lewis "Thank you, genuinely." I say wholeheartedly.
"It's okay." He brings his hand up to briefly squeeze my waist and I nod.
Slipping into my bed, with my soft duvet and blanket after being awake for so long is all it takes for me to fall asleep within minutes.
_______
"Lilah?" I hear someone say softly, I don't know how long I slept for but I'm still pretty tired to the point I can barely open my eyes.
I do eventually open my eyes and I see Lewis kneeling down next to my side of the bed, his hand going softly through my hair.
I do a small sound of acknowledgment in my sleepy haze.
"Luca wanted to come up and sleep with you, he's not thrown up in a while." I hear him whisper and I slightly turn my head to see Luca lying down at the other end of the bed.
"Oh." I murmur before shuffling over slightly in the bed "You can lie down if you want." I attempt to pull back the covers but don't get very far because my hand is too tired.
I hear Lewis let out a breathily laugh at this before I feel him slowly slip into bed next to me. We are both facing each other, I close my eyes again and lean further into my pillow, sighing in content.
"I'm sorry if you get sick." I murmur gently, Lewis's hand comes back to my head to gently run his fingers through my hair.
"I don't mind." He says quietly, like he's also trying to fall asleep.
Right after I fall asleep again I hear someone throwing up in the bathroom- confused I turn around and Luca's gone, I didn't hear him leave.
Just as I use one hand to push myself up with my eyes still closed, I feel Lewis lay a gentle hand on my arm.
"I got it." He says, looking a little sleep dazed as he rolls out of bed.
"Thank you." I slump back into bed and my heavy eyelids close with no bother.
I don't know what I did to deserve to meet Lewis, but I am so thankful. I just hope all of this sickness passes by Christmas- I'd hate to get Lewis sick for Christmas.
Luca walks in first and comes straight to my side, cuddling into my chest, Lewis follows him and lays down on the other side of Luca- who is now sandwiched between us.
I get a good couple hours of sleep, not being disturbed by Luca but I'm not sure if I didn't hear him and Lewis helped him or he slept as well.
I've just noticed how long Lewis' eyelashes are, I've only been staring at him for a few moments- I can't help it, he looks so peaceful when he's asleep.
He suddenly opens his eyes- I widen my own slightly.
"Were you staring at me while I was asleep?" He asks, in a very deep sleepy voice and I can't help but think about how hot it sounded.
"No, I just opened my eyes." I lie, and we stare at each other for a minute in silence.
"Are you gonna be able to open the cafe tomorrow?" Lewis asks quietly, probably so he doesn't wake Luca up.
"Hopefully, Eloise said she can look after him tomorrow- assuming I don't get sick." I explain to him and he nods.
"Maybe you should stay off, just Incase you get sick?" Lewis suggests and I close my eyes "I can't afford to close another day." I say softly.
"Oh." He lets out and he's silent for a while so I think he's dropped it.
"I can go out and get groceries if you like?" Lewis offers and that's actually a very good idea, I'm low on food and was needing to do a shop.
"Only if you don't mind, my card is in the kitchen in my purse." I tell him the pin as well, which maybe isn't a good idea Incase he just bails and steals my card, not like he'd get that much money from my card anyway.
"Just don't spend over £100." I look up to him as he gets out of the bed, he nods in response.
"See you later." He smiles at me and I return it.
Seeing as Luca is asleep I think I'll wrap some presents, I carefully pick Luca up and place him in his own bed so I can wrap the presents in my room, thankfully he doesn't wake up.
I was able to get Luca quite a few things, lots of essential stuff he needs and also things he wanted.
I didn't get myself anything but that's okay, I'd rather see Luca happy with all his presents.
I did actually get Lewis something as well, I've seen him wear some nice bracelets so I found a leather bracelet that is engraved with a small line work of a heart and a star.
I wrap the nice box and tie a ribbon on it, I place it with the pile of presents I've wrapped for Luca.
Once I wrap enough I take them downstairs to put them under the Christmas tree in the living room.
I hear shuffling in the kitchen and I get a sinking feeling in my stomach, nobody else is here apart from Luca.
I grab a candle stick and slowly walk towards the kitchen.
I take a deep breath with my eyes squeezes shut to prepare myself, I quickly turn the corner and the guy jumps back shocked.
"Lilah." He laughs and I slump my shoulders- now laughing with him.
"I thought you were someone breaking in." I say when we finally stop laughing.
"And you were going to defend yourself with a candlestick." He says and I realise I'm still holding it defensively.
I look down at the candle stick and look up to Lewis confidently "Yeah."
I only just now see the mass of bags filled with food Lewis got, I widen my eyes significantly.
"Lewis..." I trail off shocked "How-" I'm confused because there's no way I had enough money to pay for all of that.
"I took care of it." Is all he says as he continues taking the food out of the bags.
"There's like a thousand pounds worth of food here." I exclaim as I walk further into my kitchen.
"You didn't even take my card!" I gasp up at him.
"Oops." He says, with a small nervous smile creeping up on his face.
"I also got food for Christmas Day." He says when I walk up to him.
"Thank you." I surprise him- and myself by bringing him in for a hug, I go on my tiptoes to wrap my arms around his shoulder, his hands coming to gently wrap around my waist.
"I wrapped some presents while you were gone." I mumble into his neck, before pulling away from him, he gives me a little squeeze.
"Oh yeah? What did you get Luca?" He asks as we go back to sorting through the food.
"You'll have to wait until Christmas morning to see." I say smiling smugly.
"What? No way." He laughs and I shrug.
"You only have to wait like 6 days."
"I promise I won't tell Luca." He says and it sounds like a kid trying to defend himself which makes me laugh.
"Good try." I place all the fruit into the fruit bowl, which is basically over flowing- which I don't mind, I could live off of fruit.
"Mama." I see Luca smiling, looking a lot better with more colour in his face.
"Hi sweetie." I smile down at him as he wraps his arms around my leg. "Are you feeling better?"
"A little bit." He takes his fingers and shows me how little and I laugh.
"Can we watch a movie." Luca asks excitedly and I nod.
"How about you go pick one while me and Lewis finish putting all of the food away?" I propose the idea to him and he grins widely.
"Okay." We watch as he runs off into the living room.
a/n
I kept losing service while writing this and it kept putting me off the app but I got it done ✌️
please vote/comment if you enjoyed the chapter xo