Athena
"How is he?"
Fitz had just come back into our shared dorm room looking exhausted. His forehead was dotted with sweat and his clothes looked rumpled. I watched him throw his backpack to the corner of his bed as he sat down and started to remove his sneakers.
"Bad. Very bad. If it ain't obvious enough, I had just been to the toilet with him a few hours ago, and watched him puke out his lunch. God, was it hot in there." he said as he fanned himself with a random flyer.
I sat still on my study desk, my arm slung over the back.
This was really bad.
He was fine last week. I know for a fact Owen gets sick easily for random reasons, but the most common was being so exhausted, he was beyond his limits. I had only wondered what he did that tired him out so much, he started vomiting.
God, does he have the flu?
"Since when?" I asked, pushing myself away from my books and laptop, and turned my thin wooden chair toward Fitz, who had still been fanning himself.
He shrugged.
"I don't know. I'm guessing it could have started during the weekends but, when I saw him last Monday, he was already in bad shape." Fitz admitted as he laid on his bed, his arms thrown wide over his covers.
In the moments that followed, I was guessing Fitz was more exhausted than usual. During the short time I had stayed here, he usually had a little time to himself; to play games or watch an episode of a show. Now, his eyes were fixated toward the ceiling, his chest heaving.
Our silence was shared. Fitz took his time to rest, and I put my mind to work.
Owen rarely throws up when he has a fever. I'm guessing he has one since he had been so pale and he looked a little sickly earlier when I saw him, but vomiting? It could be the flu. But I have to be sure of it.
"What do you think happened?" I asked.
Fitz slightly raised his head to look and me and he sighed.
"I'm not sure, but I think he once told me he was trying out wheelchair tennis or something. I don't know if that helps connect the dots or not."
Tennis, huh.
I wracked my brains for things that could've caused Owen to get that sick. In the past, I somehow always get them right. He got sick from getting soaked in the rain once, and he got sick from tiring himself out while studying a few times too many. I was sure back then that it was a fever, but this is more than that.
Then it hit me.
"Fuck." I muttered.
Alarmed, Fitz slowly sat up and scratched his nape, looking a bit curious. His eyes slightly grew larger, and he sat on his bed, facing me.
"What?" he asked.
I stifled a little smile. Maybe there are some dots to connect, after all.
"Tennis made him sick." I said, realizing how unusual of a reason it was for Owen to get sick. Just because he tried a sport. Adorable.
The flu is like, some sort of virus that messes people up. While most can inhale droplets of the virus, germs from objects can be picked up by anyone who touched something with it, then rubbed it around the eyes, nose, and mouth.
I was guessing it came from tennis rackets. If he does not have a personal one and instead, loaned it off a local sports center, of course there would be germs. Then he would have to get used to his grip, since he's left handed. I would've had to predict him swiping his face with his hands after holding a borrowed racket to make sure I'm right.
I saw Fitz crack a smile and watched him shake his head unbelievably. Like me, I was guessing he's in denial too. I mean, it's ridiculous, but it's possible.
"Are you kidding me?" Fitz said as he tried to conceal his laughter with his free hand.
I nodded and snorted.
"I know." I said, laughing.
Fitz soon became comfortable laughing. Owen gets sick for ridiculous reasons, but this definitely stood out.
"Dude seriously gets sick from trying out a sport? Is that even possible?" he asked, still in disbelief.
I smiled and shrugged.
"I mean, it could happen. When you get extremely tired, your body gives in and sometimes, you can get sick. Well, for a fever. But I think he has the flu if he vomits and has other symptoms as chills and random pains." I said, continuing my train of thought.
Fitz looked at me, seemingly awestruck. I looked at him with a sheepish grin and threw one of my pillows over his head. That, caught his attention.
"You really are as smart as he says. I kinda forget that about you." he admitted, smiling crookedly as one of the corners of his mouth twitched upward.
I threw him another pillow, this time, he caught it as he stuck his tongue out as a form of ridicule.
"I don't want it to be my whole personality though. Nerd doesn't really fit me. Your Highness, on the other hand; that sounds a lot better. " I said, smiling to myself.
Fitz and I later engaged in what we think people perceive us as. We ended up being mostly on-point, but I don't think virgin, black kid with crippling social anxiety suits Fitz, and he doesn't think traumatized, short girl with separation issues fits me either.
Fitz grew to be more comfortable around people now, and he thinks I have slightly moved past from being so tethered to a guy who broke up with me.
We laughed about it, and kept roasting each other until both our stomachs hurt and we were both lying on the hard floor of his dorm room, our hands on our tummies because god, I kinda missed laughing.
"So you're really sure you two ain't getting back together?" he asked, looking at me from the side, after I raised a cluttered plastic cup in the air, jokingly vowing to never have another boyfriend and to always say yes to fluffy waffles.
I looked at Fitz like he was crazy, and I laughingly shoved him to his side.
"What made you think we'd be getting back together?" I asked.
Inside, I was conflicted. I know I wanted to be independent; to be my own person. But something draws me to try again.
I threw that thought away and looked at Fitz, who had now stopped laughing and instead, had a calm expression etched on his face.
"You look worried. That sounds like something that would make you come crawling back to him. Or maybe it's better the other way around?" he asked, smiling a bit widely now.
I got what he meant, and I immediately socked him in the stomach a little, holding in my laughter. I am not supposed to laugh, but I did.
"Stop it! It's not funny." I said as I narrowed my eyes at him and kicked his shin. Fitz kept laughing, and he laughed so hard, he had to take off his glasses to wipe his tear-stained eyes.
"But you laughed. I saw you laugh. ADMIT IT, CALIMERIS. YOU LAUGHED AT YOUR EX." he said, still laughing.
His laugh was toxic, and as if it was on-cue, I had started to laugh too.
"I THOUGHT IT WAS NORMAL TO LAUGH AT YOUR EX." I retorted.
Fitz shook his head, until his laugh died down into a subtle smile. He shrugged.
"You're not wrong, though. But seriously, you do look a little worried." Fitz pointed out.
I sighed.
"That obvious?" I asked, half-raising a brow.
He nodded.
"Yep." he said with a tight-lipped, yet knowing smile.
He was making fun of me. I groaned and buried my face into my palms, waiting for the floor to just open up and swallow me whole.
"God."
Fitz laughed a bit before he shrugged and looked at me.
"You wanna visit him? I mean, you can make up an excuse. Tell him you're just gonna grab a few things before you leave again. You know, things like that." he said.
I folded my arms across my chest as I stared out into our plain white ceiling.
Do I want to visit him?
I shrugged.
"Maybe. Depends." I finally answered.
Fitz groaned and seemed to stop himself from a near face palm, before he looked at me. It was as if he seemed to know more than I do, like he was the ex-girlfriend, and I was the friend to those who broke up.
"You could just, go. It's actually pretty simple." he finally said.
I looked at him weirdly, until I had a revelation.
Huh.
Was it really that simple? Or was it just a horrible product of overthinking?
"Wow."Â I said. It was the only thing I had on my mind, and I just seem to blurt it out.
Wow, indeed.
"I mean, there's a high chance you're probably gonna sneak out and see him once I nap for a while. If you're gonna do it, why not now?" he said.
I closed my eyes and thought for a while.
It may not be the time to go talk out our feelings or act like normal friends, but I guess we could start slow. Well, just for me, I guess.
I opened my eyes again, and looked at Fitz, who had an eyebrow raised, waiting for my verdict on the whole situation.
"Fine. Just because you told me to." I said as I stood up from the floor and went over to my own personal stash of fever meds. I don't have anything for the flu, but I could go some time later to grab some.
After wrapping some meds along with some more biscuits, I think I was ready enough to go out and drop these off. These will be my ticket into Owen's dorm room. If someone stops me or gets suspicious, I could simply tell them I'm leaving these over at Owen's. It was an innocent play, and the ball was in my court.
Fitz waved a hand at me as he still laid on the floor and made kissy noises before I went out. I shot up my middle finger at him and before I knew it, I was in front of the door, ready to leave. I looked at the knob first, reaching and retracting my hand from the knob.
I'm just gonna check up on a sick person. It's just someone you knew from high school. Nothing's gonna happen, I thought.
I hesitantly held the knob to our door and walked out, thinking about those same three thoughts over and over again. Sick person. High school. Nothing's gonna happen.
It was a simple concept, but the closer I got to Owen's dorm room, all the details became finer, like wine that aged beautifully. This sick person is Owen. A guy you dated for the latter half of high school. Something always happens when it comes to people you used to be in a relationship with. I don't have that much experience with someone normally breaking up with me, and I am beyond terrified of all the possibilities.
In my head, I kept thinking, why the fuck am I doing this?
My forehead was dotted with cold sweat and I feel hot in my clothes, although the only thing I wore was a sleeveless shirt under some short overalls. My hair had even been tied into a low bun, with my baby hair flinging out and about, sticking to my forehead sweat.
Why am I nervous? Do I seem nervous?
It was just the opposite hallway from where Fitz and I were bunking. A short walk. If I squint good enough from Fitz's door, I can see Owen's. Then before I knew it, I was right in front of his door.
It was a plain white door, nothing too weird nor too flashy. It was just a door, with a person behind it.
But it was not just any person, it was someone I held to my heart once. Someone who made me feel like I was the most amazing person in the world. Someone who was undeniably, my home.
With one swipe at my forehead and a deep breath that followed, I held the handle to his door and realized it had not been locked. Slowly opening the door to peek inside a little, I exhaled in relief as I saw his familiar dark brown locks peeking out from under the covers of his bed. I felt something twinge around my chest, as I noticed how he had been facing what was once my former side of the room.
I slowly crept inside, my footsteps as quiet as a mouse. I don't plan to wake him, and it would be so awkward for him to wake up to me sneaking in.
As I went further inside, I noticed the gift basket I sneaked in a little while ago had moved, as it was now above his bedside table. He took a few meds I see, and he managed to eat a few biscuits I had put in there.
I smiled, and I slowly walked up to him, still sleeping soundly as he faced the opposite way. I was a bit thankful for that, since it gave me a pretty good opening to replenish the meds he had taken a while ago.
I slowly took out the empty blister packaging from the meds he had already taken and took care of the remaining biscuits he had. As I looked down on his sleeping form on my right, I let my eyes wander across what I can currently see from him, and it was half of his face.
He was sleeping on his side, and as I looked over his face, he really was pale. A small, fuzzy towel was right beside his face, and his wavy hair spilled down onto his pillowcases. His breathing was evenly-paced.
I even smiled a bit as I saw he had Eragon, his stuffed dragon, tucked under his arm.
I slowly finished up fixing his meds and similar to how I entered, I left quietly too. Hopefully, he wouldn't even notice I had been here at all.
It was good seeing him.
-----
Hi everyone!
It has definitely been a hot minute since the last update, and I apologize for the quick hiatus. I just want to tell y'all that ur girl officially graduated!
Thank you all so much for all the support you have shown so far! I really appreciate the votes, comments, and even those silent readers who came upon this book! Thank you! Ilysm<3333
With love,
Bea