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Jeremy would be lying if he said he didn’t feel absolutely awful. His head pounded and his chest ached and his knees felt like they were going to give out. Really the only reason he even came to school was to see his friends. Mostly, Brooke though. The thought of seeing her at lunch was really what kept him going and not pathetically calling his dad to come pick him up.
He feverishly stumbled through the hall towards the cafeteria, lazily trying to keep his backpack on his shoulder. He made his way towards his table, remembering to stand up straight and keep his arms loosely swinging at his sides.
“Hi, guys,” Jeremy said, masking the raspy quality of his voice behind mock confidence. The group responded with a collective “Hey.” Brooke jumped up from the table to greet her boyfriend.
“Hey, Jer!” She squealed, pressing pink, glossy lips to Jeremy’s cheek. He quickly became extremely flustered and he heard Michael snort a laugh somewhere behind Brooke.
“H-hey, Brooke,” Jeremy replied shakily, putting a weak arm around her waist. They sat down on the bench across from where Michael, Jake, and Chloe we’re sitting.
“Holy fuck, Jeremy,” Michael started. “You look like shit.” Jeremy winced. He should’ve known this would happen. He should’ve known that his best friend of 13 years would pick up that something was wrong. Jeremy just shrugged, but Brooke had his back. She quickly smacked Michael on the hand and told him off.
“Hey! Just because you two are best friends, doesn’t mean you can pick on my boyfriend!” She scolded, and leaned into Jeremy’s side. Michael rubbed the new red mark on his hand and looked at Jeremy, who was struggling to hold onto Brooke. Michael sighed.
“No, seriously. Is something wrong?” Michael asked. Jeremy shook his head no.
“No, I’m fine,” he mumbled, now running his hand through Brooke’s hair.
“Mm, you’re so warm,” she sighed happily, cuddling into his chest. He lifted his head as to not breathe on her too much. The last thing he wanted was to get her sick. Michael gave Jeremy a knowing look, to which he rolled his eyes.
Only a few minutes into lunch, Jeremy was hit with a sudden itch in his nose. He quickly pulled his sweatshirt over his face and sneezed three times.
“Bless you,” Brooke cooed, though she had a small frown on her face. “Are you catching a cold?” She asked gently. Jeremy just shrugged again.
“Maybe,” he sighed, giving Brooke a tired smile. She rolled her eyes and put her head back on Jeremy’s chest. Jeremy couldn’t bring himself to eat anything. His throat and stomach couldn’t handle anything other than water at the moment.
After ten minutes of practically holding his breath, he was forced to muffle a congested coughing fit into his shoulder, which had Brooke going ballistic.
“Jeremy! That sounds awful! You shouldn’t be here. You should be at home, resting,” Brooke scolded him. And damn she was good at it. He just shrugged again.
“I’m fine. It’s just a little cold. It probably sounds worse than it is,” he attempted to reassure her, though the way congestion clung to his words and the meek rasp that was left of his voice did nothing to help his case. She shook her head and frowned at him.
“You’re impossible, Jeremy Heere,” she tsked.
Minutes later he was wracked with violent chills and the start of a migraine. He miserably pulled his knees up to his chest and buried his face into them.
“Jeremy? What’s wrong?” Brooke gasped worriedly.
“It’s so c-cold,” Jeremy stammered through chattering teeth. “M’ head hurts. Bad.” Brooke carefully picked up Jeremy’s head to get a good look at his face. His blue eyes were glossy and fogged over with fever and his face was ghostly pale with an unhealthy pink flush on his cheek bones. She gasped and quickly cupped a small hand on his forehead.
“You’re burning up, Jeremy,” she muttered softly, pulling him close. “You must feel awful.” He reluctantly nodded. So much for toughing it out. He sneezed harshly, which had him whimpering quietly. “Oh, you poor thing,” Brooke murmured. “Let’s get you to the nurse, honey. Michael, can you help me?” Michael stood and helped Jeremy stand. Brooke held Jeremy’s hand as the three made their way to the nurse’s office down the hall.
After a few brief words with the nurse, Michael and Brooke made their way over to the shitty cot that Jeremy was laid up in.
“Your dad’s coming to pick you up,” Michael said, fondly ruffling Jeremy’s hair. Jeremy nodded weakly.
“I’ll see you later,” Brooke said, pressing a gentle kiss to Jeremy’s warm forehead. “Feel better, Jer-Bear.” The two made their way out the door, but not before Brooke turned and waved a sad goodbye to Jeremy.
Before Jeremy knew it, he was being guided up to his bedroom by his father. He stumbled into bed and quickly pulled the covers up to his face.
“Take some medicine, kiddo. It’ll help, I promise,” Mr. Heere said, handing Jeremy a cup of purple liquid. Jeremy scrunched up his nose, but reluctantly knocked back the shot of medicine. Without another word, and flopped back down on his bed and quickly fell asleep.
A few hours later, Jeremy awoke to the sound of a soft knock on his bedroom door. He groaned in reply.
“Hey, son. Sorry to wake ya. There’s a pretty blonde girl downstairs. Says she’s here to see you.” Jeremy immediately knew he was talking about Brooke. He tried his best to take his hair, but knew he looked terrible anyway.
“Yeah okay. Tell her to come up,” Jeremy said, clearing the sleep out of his voice, but also wincing at how raspy it sounded.
“She’s real pretty, son. Is she your girlfriend?”
“Dad! Just tell her to come upstairs!” Jeremy squeaked, quickly falling into a coughing fit.
“Okay, okay! Save your voice,” his dad said, laughing, turning and walking down the stairs. Moments later Brooke appeared at Jeremy’s door, and knocked gently on the frame.
“Come in,” Jeremy said softly.
“Hi, Jeremy,” she greeted as she carefully walked into the room.
“Hey, Brookie,” he replied. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you, silly. Duh,” She snickered as she sat on Jeremy’s bed. She leaned over and gently placed her hand on Jeremy’s cheek. “You still feel a bit warm. But you look better,” she said, locking eyes with Jeremy.
“Yeah. My dad gave me something, and I’ve been sleeping since I got home. I feel better too,” Jeremy said pulling a blanket around his shoulders to fend off a chill.
“When are you gonna be back in school? You won’t be out for a week with the flu, right?” She asked, concern shining in her eyes.
“Nah. It’s just a bad cold. If I’m not back tomorrow, then I will be he next day,” he answered smiling softly.
“Okay, good. Because I’d, like, really miss you if you were gone for a week,” Brooke said, sliding closer to Jeremy on the bed. Jeremy blushed and smiled shakily at her, stammering flusteredly. Brooke giggled at him. “You’re adorable. Especially when you’re flustered,” she cooed, which only caused the blush to deepen.
“Really? Even when I’m a fevered mess?” Jeremy asked, not believing how lucky he is to have Brooke.
“Yeah. Still cute,” she said running a soft, manicured hand through Jeremy’s hair. He didn’t believe a word she said, but right now, he was just happy she was there.
“Mm. Thanks Brooke,” he murmured, starting to doze off to her touch.
“Shush. Go to sleep,” she ordered. But Jeremy had already beat her to it.