***Annalise's P.O.V.***
"Annalise, I don't feel good," Louis' voice spoke up from his bed on the other side of the room. With a sigh, I turned on my phone in order to check and see what time it was. The room was dark, but the curtains weren't drawn so it could've been three in the afternoon already. The clock said that it was only six in the morning, though, and that was a little too early for my taste. After shutting off my phone again, I turned on my left side and clicked on the bedside light so that I could see Louis.
"Don't feel good as in you're going to throw up, or your head hurts?" I wondered. If it was the first then I would have to go into the bathroom to get the trash bin, but I was hoping for the second. He looked pale, though, and that was a clue to whatever ailment he had. Honestly, he looked miserable. His expression was one of a cringe and a look of disgust mixed together.
"My stomach really... hurts," he let out the word through chattering teeth. He was shivering in his spot, but there was the glimmer on his forehead that signified that he was sweating. By the looks of it, he was practically giving off enough sweat to fill a few buckets. Wasting no time, I pushed off my covers and made my way over to the hotel room bathroom to fetch the trash bin. "Annalise," Louis groaned from the room which only encouraged me to speed up my actions. As quickly as I could, I got over to him and saw him holding his hand over his mouth as his cheeks puffed slightly. Great; this was fantastic.
He didn't even have a chance to grab he bin from me before he was leaning towards it and heaving. I closed my eyes so that I wouldn't have to watch him puking his guts out, but I couldn't block out the sound of his awful hacking. Without even having to look, I could tell that my hands were shaking. That disgusting feeling of bile rising up in the back of my throat decided to make an appearance, and-just as Louis was finishing up his puking-I shoved the bin towards him and hurried back into the bathroom. Vomit burned the back of my throat, and I bent over the toilet when it finally made its way out.
"Annalise?" Louis' strained voice called from the bedroom, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," I answered once I was sure that my own fit of puking was over with. I didn't feel sick or anything; I just didn't have the strongest stomach when it came to things like that. Hearing Louis puking just set me off, but I would be fine after puking once. So, I wiped my mouth so that there was no excess, and then flushed the toilet with a small groan. After I had washed my hands and splashed some water on my face, I walked back out to Louis who regarded me with tired and worried eyes. I gave him a smile to reassure him that I was okay, and I sat on the edge of his bed. He was clutching the trash bin to his chest as if it was the only thing that was keeping him alive. "How about you? Are you feeling better after puking?" I wondered while scooting closer to him so that I could look more closely at him.
"Not really," he replied truthfully. Just after the words left his mouth, he abruptly stopped before he could continue, and he was emptying the contents of his stomach into the trash bin once again. I looked away and tried not to focus on the sound until he was finish. He was panting once he was done, and he gave a heavy sigh once he finally caught his breath. Letting his head rest on the head board of his bed heavily, he turned his head so that he could look at me with miserable eyes.
"Aw, poor guy," I cooed which only made him jut out his bottom lip at me. He coughed a few times after the simple action, but he didn't puke afterwards which was good. I was trying to figure out what he could possibly be sick with. It was completely possible that it was the flu or something like that, but the symptoms could have been anything from minor to very serious. I put the back of my hand to his forehead only to quickly pull it away. He was burning up, and it was as if I was touching a furnace. "Fuck, you're hot," I mumbled out with a deep frown.
"Thanks," he couldn't help but joke before he was coughing again. A cringe filled his features afterwards, and he mumbled out his next few words, "My head hurts."
"I know; just take it easy, okay?" I told him to which he gave a small nod and swallowed thickly. A sympathetic look took over my features and I let my hand dance across his cheek gently. He leaned into the touch while shutting his eyes and letting out a soft hum. The simple reaction caused a smile to take over my lips, and I gave his cheek a soft pat before pulling my hand away. There was a knock on the door, and I jumped slightly which made Louis chuckle.
When I got to the door and opened it up, I was greeted by a fatigued Harry. He was dressed in his sweatpants and a t-shirt which showed me that he had been asleep before and put on whatever was laying around. His posture was even slumped as he leaned up against the door frame with a drooping expression. "Anna is Louis in there?" he asked after giving me a short 'hello.'
"Yeah, he's-," my words were cut off by the now familiar sound of Louis barfing in the background. Harry's face scrunched in disgust and he stuck his tongue out to further show how much the sound made him feel sick for himself.
"That's great," Harry sighed heavily while running a hand through his curls and then continuing, "we were supposed to have a meeting in the lobby later on today, but Zayn woke up an hour ago feeling like shit. Niall's complaining too."
"Oh gosh, I'm sorry," I offered before proposing a possible explanation, "Maybe they've all caught a virus or something?"
Harry shook his head at that, "nah, a few days ago we went to this deli down by the studio and they all ate some weird meat there, I guess."
"What about you and Liam?" I questioned.
"We waited to eat until we got back to the studio and could get something from the Starbucks in the lobby," he clarified, "Plus, I've checked the symptoms of food poisoning and it's pretty on point." He took his weight off of the doorframe and straightened up. "Just keep an eye on him, okay? This one site said that if they can't keep liquid down, if they're running a really high fever, or if there's blood in their diarrhea then you should take them somewhere to get looked at."
"Okay, I'll make sure he's alright," I assured him which managed to get a smile from him. He gave me a short wave before he was turning to walk back towards his hotel room. I shut the door so that I could go back to Louis and sit beside him. He looked like he was trying to get out of the bed, and quite urgently at that. Quickly, I was by his side, and helping him up so that he could rush to the bathroom. I felt so bad for him; he looked so disgusted and uncomfortable, and I could only imagine how badly it hurt. He didn't even wait for me to leave the bathroom before getting right to business. I just turned away to give him privacy and walked out of the bathroom.
"Sorry, Annalise," he called in between his puking and other business. He really sounded horrible, but I had never dealt with someone who had food poisoning, so I couldn't tell if it was normal or not.
"Don't say sorry, Louis," I argued back while leaning on the closed door of the bathroom. "You can't control when you get sick. Just let it all out." After standing there for a few minutes and letting him do as I said-I went and got my phone at one point just to distract myself-he finally seemed to be calming down. "Is everything... okay?" I questioned, sincerely hoping that he understood my question and that I wouldn't have to explain what I meant.
"Yeah, it's fine," he told me. There was the sound of water running while he washed his hands before he opened the door and leaned up against the doorframe. He looked like he could pass out any second from being up so early in the morning and then puking his brains out. I held onto him as I helped him back to his bed and made sure that he was settled in his bed before I handed him the trash bin again just in case.
"You should try drinking something to see if it stays down," I suggested. He nodded in answer and watched as I got up to go get a water bottle from our mini refrigerator. After handing it to him and giving him an encouraging smile when he sipped down the liquid. He paused for a moment, "oh please, not that look."
"What look?" I wondered with a sort of amused expression. He took another drink from the bottle before gesturing towards me vaguely.
"That overbearingly sympathetic look," he answered with a sort of bitter tone in his voice. He was just pointing it out then? Had he missed the previous looks of sympathy that I had sent his way? Apparently he had, because he was just then complaining about it. It was no secret that Louis hated to have everyone and their brother offering him their sympathy, but in that case I couldn't help it. He just looked so weak and I couldn't help but to feel bad for him since he was going through so much pain.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I brushed off his words before focusing in on something else, "are you feeling better now?"
"A little," he nodded along with the words and then shifted a little in the bed. "I'm just tired." He put the trash bin on the side table and slid further down in the bed so that he could find a comfortable position. As I stood from the bed and held onto the covers so that he could move around without getting tangled in them, he looked like he just couldn't get to the right place. With a groan, he stilled in the bed and pushed his head into the pillow. I took it as his sign of 'this is the most comfortable I can get for now' and tucked the covers around him, but he soon caught a hold of my wrist when I was about to turn away. "Please don't leave," he pleaded.
I couldn't help but to let my heart flutter at his words. My feelings for Louis were definitely taking it as an encouragement, and I was hoping that they wouldn't be fueled to dangerous proportions. I hadn't really been around Louis lately; I had been trying to distance myself from him for a short time just to make sure that I wasn't mistaking my feelings. The only thing that happened was that I missed him more, and I had been back the day before because I couldn't take it anymore. A smile took over my lips as I regarded him, "Louis, I'll be right over in my bed."
"I know," he sighed, but his eyes showed that he was going to beg further. He looked so cute with his purposely wide eyes and his pout. I could tell that whatever he was going to ask for, I was going to have to comply. "But I thought that we could maybe cuddle?" he proposed. My smile only widened even more, and I walked around to the other side of the bed in order to slide under the covers. Louis let a smile slip onto his lips as he watched me, but it was soon changed to a look of surprise when I looped my arm around his waist and snuggled up to his back. "Aren't I the big spoon?" he questioned with a perplexed but very amused expression. I was shorter than Louis, and I couldn't exactly wrap around him like he usually did with me, but it still felt comfortable.
"Even the big spoon needs to be the little spoon sometimes," I mumbled. "Plus, I don't want you to puke in my hair just because you have to be dominant." He let out a chuckle at that, and he grabbed my arm gently in order to pull me closer toward him. After a while of lying like that and having my heart practically beat out of my chest from the close proximity, I could hear the soft and regular breaths from Louis. He had fallen asleep, and I allowed myself to do the same after my heart had decided to calm down enough.
At some point, Louis woke up again and went through another round of throwing up. It wasn't as bad as the last time, but he complained about his stomach and head hurting. It was a little gross to be so close to him while he was sweating a ridiculous amount once again. However, I got over it and brought out a wet rag to press to his forehead in order to try and help with the fever. I let him lay his head on my chest when he felt the sick feeling going away and was just left with the fever. He fell asleep like that, and his fever broke soon after which was enough to put me at ease again. He was alright again, and that's all I needed to know.