Chapter twenty nine
•Morgan•
I sit on the couch later in the evening, watching a random movie that's on the TV. Parker has been in bed all day and Romeo has been sleeping. I hear movement from upstairs, then I vaguely hear the shower turn on.
Not too long after, I hear footsteps coming down the stairs. Although, I still hear the shower so I know it's not Romeo.
Parker trudges in, a hoodie on with the hood up, covering his face, and jogging bottoms. "I'm so cold", he flops down on my left, with his legs on the couch and his head on my shoulder.
"You've still got a temperature", I feel his forehead. "We might have to postpone your therapist appointment tomorrow".
"I forgot about that", he murmurs, lightly.
"We'll see how you feel".
We sit in a comfortable silence as we watch the movie, until we hear Romeo walking down the stairs. He walks in, wearing a pair of shorts only.
"Are you not cold?" Parker asks. I grab a blanket from the back of the couch, putting it over him.
"No, I'm fucking boiling", he sits on my right, cuddling into my side.
One of them sneezes, the other coughs.
"What am I going to do with you two?" I shake my head to myself. "There's a high chance I'm gonna get sick now", I grumble however, at this point, with both of them cuddled beside me, I don't care.
And soon enough, they're both asleep.
A little while later, Will comes in, walking into the living room to greet me. "Hey", I whisper, loud enough for him hear me, but not too loud so that Romeo or Parker would wake up.
"You look like you've got your hands full", he chuckles, quietly.
"Yep", I chuckle along with him.
"Are you hungry? I was thinking of making a stew but since it's late, I'll make some spaghetti bolognese. Is that okay?" I nod, enthusiastically. "Okay, it won't be too long", he takes the bags he was holding onto the kitchen to start on the food.
Roughly thirty minutes later, Will comes in asking if I want him to bring it in here or leave it in the kitchen. I tell him to leave it in the kitchen, trying to get up without waking the two sleeping. Carefully, I lift Parker's head, leaning it on the back of the couch. I then lift Romeo's head off of my lap, sliding out before putting his head on a pillow. "Hm, what happened?" He murmurs, lightly.
"Nothing, I'm just going to get some food".
"Mm, 'kay".
"Here you go", Will passes me a bowl of food; I thank him before eating.
Just before I finish, Parker and Romeo come stumbling in, bickering with each other. "Woah woah, what are you two arguing about".
"He kicked me", Romeo grumbles.
"Yeah well, he sneezed on me and woke me up", they glare at each other.
"You guys must be hungry, I'll pour you some food", I begin to stand up.
"I'm not hungry", they say, simultaneously.
"Well you guys have to eat", I fill two bowls up, passing it over to them.
"Fine", one of them mumbles under their breath.
"You two aren't going to be able to sleep tonight", I shake my head at them, standing on the opposite side of the island to where they're sitting.
✯✯✯✯
I was right. Romeo didn't sleep until 3am, which I only know because I woke up while he was still awake, and stayed awake until he fell asleep. I'm pretty sure Parker didn't sleep either. I could hear shuffling down the hall when I woke up in the middle of the night.
It's now around 10am, and I assume Romeo isn't going to take no for an answer about going to work, he's buttoning his shirt as I sit up, rubbing my eyes.
"Why are you going to work? You're still sick", he grabs a tissue from the box, blowing his nose.
"I'm better now. I have to go and finish all of the paperwork and I'm already late", he buttons his top button, grabbing his jacket to put over it. "Bye", he pecks me on the lips before trying to walk away.
"Please don't go", I whine. "I don't want you to leave. Plus, you're sick".
"Babe, I really have to go", he takes his phone out of his pocket to check the time.
"At least eat breakfast", I give him the best puppy dog eyes I can.
He sighs, "okay".
"Yay", I smile, jumping up out of his bed. I'm wearing his T-shirt with shorts underneath however, the shirt is so big that the shorts are covered.
"Looks like Will's gone, but he made pancakes", Romeo says as we walk into the kitchen. He grabs two plates, putting two large chocolate chip pancakes on each. I thank him as he passes one to me, coming to sit beside me. We eat in a comfortable silence until he finishes, and I'm still struggling to finish the first one. "I really have to go now", he wipes his face with a napkin before standing, grabbing his keys. "I'll see you later", he kisses my cheek. I don't say anything except mumble a 'bye', as my mouth is full.
Once I finish eating, I take mine and Romeo's plates, putting them in the dishwasher. I then decide to go check on Parker, to see how he's feeling this morning. "Hey, P", I knock on the door before entering. "How are you feeling?" I sit on the edge of his bed as he sits up against the headboard.
"Better", he runs a hand through his hair.
"Better as in you feel well enough to go and see Dr. Jen?" He hesitantly nods. "Hey, you don't have to be scared. I'll be with you.. or not, if you don't want me there. And I promise, Jen is really nice".
"I just—I don't see why I have to go. Nothing has happened recently", he says, quietly.
"I'm not going to force you to go if you don't want to, of course not. Just think about it", I stand up, walking toward the door.
"I—I still get nightmares about it—him", I turn around. "I will go".
"Yeah?" He nods. "Okay, the appointment is in a couple of hours", I let him know before walking into my room to get ready. I pick out a simple black sweater with white jeans, taking them into the bathroom so I can change after I shower.
After I finish getting ready, it's already 12pm. "Parker", I knock on his door. "We've gotta leave soon".
"Okay", I hear from inside the room. My phone buzzes on the way down to the living room.
Hayley: hey! what are you doing today?
Morgan: parker and i are going out :) what are you doing today?
She may be my best friend, but I don't want to tell her about Parker going to therapy. That's not my choice to make.
Hayley: nothing, but i have so much to tell you! can i come over tomorrow?
Morgan: yeah of course
I check the date on my phone. Halloween's in two days, meaning my birthday is in fifteen.
"I'm ready", Parker walks into the living room in a T-shirt and jeans.
"Do you want some lunch?" I ask, walking into the kitchen.
"Uh sure", he shrugs. I end up making him a sandwich as he claims he's not that hungry.
"You ready to go?" I ask after around half an hour.
"Yep", he sighs, following me out to my car.
During the journey, I make conversation with Parker to get his mind off of everything. We listen to music and laugh about the weirdest things, until we pull up into the car park. "Don't worry", I put my hand on his shoulder. "If you don't like it or you feel uncomfortable, we can leave and we'll never have to come back here again. Okay?" He nods. "Let's go".
"Morgan, what are you doing here?" The lady, Gina, at the front desk exclaims as she sees me.
"Hi, Gina. I'm here with Parker. Parker Jones", I move to the side so she can see him.
"Oh yes", she logs him into her computer. "Nice to meet you, Parker. You can both go and take a seat", she gestured over to the waiting room. There's not many people in here, except from an older man sitting at the back, a teen boy who looks around nineteen, and a girl who looks roughly the same age as me.
"Charlie Thomas?" One of the doors open, revealing another therapist. Her face turns to shock as she looks over to where Parker and I are sat. She finally takes her eyes off of us as the teen boy, Charlie, walks up to her and they both go into the room.
"Did you see that?" I mumble to Parker.
"Yeah, it was weird", I nod in agreement.
"Parker Jones?" Jen walks out of her room. "Morgan, lovely to see you again, especially when you're not the one in the room", she hugs me.
"I know. It's great to see you too", we pull away from the hug. "Do you want me to come in with you?" I ask Parker; he nods.
"Okay, let's go", Jen leads us in to the spacious room. She takes a seat in her chair as we take a seat on the brown couch opposite, with a coffee table in the middle.
Jen starts the session by asking Parker various questions to get to know him, and why he's here. He speaks about everything he's already told me and some things I didn't know, but I can tell he's still holding back.
"That's all we have time for today", Jen closes her notebook as Parker and I begin to stand up. "You did really well today, Parker".
"Um, thanks", he smiles, slightly.
"We can schedule another appointment for next week if you would like", she stands with us. I look over to him, waiting for his answer.
"O—okay", he nods.
We say our goodbyes before leaving the room. "I'm proud of you. Well done", I tell Parker as we walk out to the waiting room. There are different people waiting now, the teen boy has gone, so has the girl. The weird doctor walks out of the room the same time as we do, being replaced by a different doctor. She walks over to the older man who was sat there when we got here, whispering something to him while looking at us. "Let's go", we walk out of the door, quickly.
"Watch out", I hear Parker say but it's too late.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry", I hold my arms out to keep the girl steady. It's the girl who was in the waiting room with us.
"S—sorry", she takes a step back, shuddering.
"Are you okay?" She nods, pulling her hoodie sleeves further over her hands.
"Yeah, I—I think I left my keys in there", she points to the building before walking toward it. I turn to look at Parker who just shrugs and continues walking to the car. I take my car keys out of my pocket, unlocking the car before getting in with Parker.
"Look, there she is", Parker points out as the girl starts walking out of the building. "She looks stressed".
"Yeah", I agree with him. "Do you think I should go talk to her? To see if she's okay", I ask him, he nods. "Excuse me", I get out of the car, walking over to her. "Are you alright? Did you find your keys?"
"Um, no", she picks at her hoodie sleeve.
"Was it your car keys or your door keys?"
"It—it was both. I have to keep them together just incase I forget one. But I guess it's not that great if I lose one, because now I've lost both", she chuckles slightly, looking down at her feet.
"I can help, if you'd like", I keep my voice soft. She doesn't say anything for a moment so I continue. "I can drive you to wherever you need to go. Is there someone at your house?" She shakes her head. "Well you can come back with me and I'll drop you back home later. Do you know when someone will be there?"
"Not really. I live with my dad and he's not home often", she looks down.
"You can stay, we won't mind", I try not to keep on. "Anyway, the offer's still there if you want it. You can take my number", she hands me her phone for me to put it in.
"Thank you for helping me", she takes her phone back.
"It's no problem, honestly", she smiles genuinely, but I can still see the apprehensive look on her face. "You don't have to worry, if worse comes to worst you can always give me a call", she thanks me again before walking away, typing one thing into her phone. "Let's go", I say to Parker as I get back in the car.
hmmmm :) idk about you guys but I love ava already
updated authors note:
ngl, i only didn't update yesterday because i cba😭
and fun fact, exactly 2 years ago today i was in nyc and had giant chocolate chip pancakes (as mentioned ^^)