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“Are you sure you don’t want me to bring you anything?” Athena offers as she leans on the table. “You sound terrible.”
Apollo sneezes again as his sore voice echoes through the phone. “I’m fine.”
Still bluffing...
Normally a sneeze is nothing, but Apollo didn’t even bother to get out of bed to go to work yesterday, and Athena had to head the office by herself. When she called him yesterday to see where he was, his voice was cracked and hoarse..
It’s now the weekend, and he sounds worse than he did yesterday. He’s definitely ill. Now the conversation is going in circles because he keeps denying it.
“You’re full of shit. I’m bringing some soup over.”
“Oh, good timing!” Juniper calls out from the kitchen, “I need help harvesting the crops. Apollo, I hope you’re feeling alright. Will you tell him I said hello and I hope he feels better soon?”
Athena nods, listening to Apollo ramble a bit that he’s okay, just a bit dizzy and needed an off day because his calico wouldn’t get off of him.
Athena rolls her eyes with that last excuse. “Come on, just admit it.”
“Admit what?”
“You feel like garbage and you can’t get out of bed.” Athena finally confronts him. “It’s okay to ask for help from friends. I’m coming over to bring you food and you can’t stop me.”
“I wasn’t going to,” Apollo hacks in a coughing fit. “Thanks.”
“Yeah. Junie says hi. Rest up, I’ll be there in a bit. Ciao!” Athena hangs up the phone. “Maybe we should just make that ungrateful bastard canned soup.”
She means ‘ungrateful bastard’ lovingly. Apollo’s usually the best.
“Oh, that’s not necessary. I got a pretty decent crockpot chicken noodle recipe and it’d be good to use that chicken we got yesterday so it doesn’t go bad,” Juniper hums, already trailing off on a new recipe. “We got broth...potatoes...okay, we got everything. Let me grab the carrots from the garden.”
“Do we have celery?” Athena asks. “Or noodles?”
“Celery is disgusting, though I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to add some in for him. Noodles, yes, but those are added in last. Don’t throw anything in the crockpot just yet.”
Juniper goes outside with a basket as Athena follows her to the greenhouse they share. She picks some ripe tomatoes as Athena watches, trying to figure out what her girlfriend is looking for, but she’s more confused as she observes.
She steps back as Juniper plucks some dirt covered carrots, putting them in the basket and handing it to her.
“Can you wash off the carrots?” Juniper asks, not even turning to her girlfriend. It’s a common situation they’re in now.
“Yeah, sure!” Athena grips the basket and begins to go inside their little house and washes the veggies. She’s surprised how much dirt is on the plants, and it takes a lot longer than she was expecting to get it all off.
“Okay, I got everything. I’m going to add an onion in,” Juniper places the vegetables on the counter. “Oh, that looks good! You’re a great help!”
She kisses Athena’s cheek as she begins cutting up the carrots, tossing them in the crockpot. Athena scrubs the onion, trying to get all the dirt off. Juniper goes to the fridge, grabbing some of the chicken, shredding some of the meat and putting that in the soup. Athena offers the onion as Juniper begins to chop it up.
Athena wishes she can help more, but steps aside again as Juniper pours the broth in. It looks like a one person job anyway.
Juniper pauses, then looks over at Athena. “Can you grab the ingredients for my bread?”
“Oh, will we have time for that? We can grab rolls from the store.”
“We definitely will. It’s not as if he’s going anywhere. I’m going to try that bread maker you got me.” Juniper smiles. “Let me see what else I can help with. Would Apollo want something sweet?”
“Oh, definitely.” Athena chuckles. “If he can taste it. That sounds like a nasty cold he’s got.”
“Well, either way, I want cookies.” Juniper smiles a bit, looking through her recipe book. A small paper falls out, scribbled with familiar handwriting. “Oh, what about this oatmeal chocolate chip? Oh, this is your bruncle’s recipe.”
“Oh, yeah, that’d be good. He used to make those for our family all the time!” Athena laughs. “Save a few for him, I bet he’d love to hear you tried the recipe it out.”
“Oh, you aren’t getting out of this so easily. You are helping me out,” Juniper’s voice has a playful threat as she grabs a bowl. “No exceptions!”
“Alright, alright,” Athena grabs a rubber band, pulling her hair up as she looks at the ingredients after washing her hands. “Hmm, some chocolate chips, brown sugar…”
“Yep!” Juniper hums. “Butter, eggs, oatmeal. Just put it on the counter.”
As they grab the ingredients and start baking the cookies together, Athena uses her height to grab the mixer and baking sheet to put on the counter. Mixing the dough together, Juniper drops a dollop of dough on the sheet, twelve evenly on the sheet.
“Oh, yum!” Athena takes a bit of the cookie dough, chewing it down.
“Athena! That’s dangerous!” Juniper lectures with a bit of a laugh, pointing the wooden spoon at her. “Please be careful!”
With that, Athena looks over to put the cookies in the oven. “Junie?”
“What?”
“We forgot to preheat the oven.”
*
It’s mid-afternoon when everything is ready to go. The bread fresh out of the breadmaker, the cookies cooled off and just a bit crispy, Juniper grabs a container to fill up with soup for the next couple days. In a little basket, Juniper makes a carekit for her friend. There’s some extra tissues, a dosage of medicine, and a heating pad she’s sewn by hand. After she’s done making the basket presentable, the two go over to Apollo’s apartment.
He answers the door, wrapped in a blanket and looking exhausted. He keeps his distance and covers his mouth when he sneezes again.
“So you did it,” Apollo coughs in his arm, even with the mask on his face. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. You need anything else?”
Apollo shakes his head, “No, but I appreciate it.”
“I hope you feel better, Polly!” Athena exclaims, then looks away. “But you better take Monday off.”
“Yeah, I think what I have is contagious.” Apollo frowns as his little calico mews, saying hello to the guests. “I’ll call Mr. Wright tomorrow.”
“Okay, I should be alright to run things by myself. Call me if you need anything else.”
“I will. Stay safe.” Apollo waves as he takes the basket and closes the door.
“Oh, he sounded terrible,” Juniper frowns. “Well, off we go?”
“Off we go! It’s time to eat our own food!” Athena beams, “I’m starving.”