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She paused for half a second, waiting for the usual ritual that happened between the bells. The little moment they carved out of the day for just them. She didn’t know what it said about them honestly that they were now the adorable PDA-loving couple in high school dramas she used to watch, but she enjoyed every moment she had with Ethan. He made her feel seen, loved, wanted.
Only he wasn’t here this time.
At the next bell ringing to signal her butt should have been in her next class, she frowned, disappointed and concerned that he hadn’t walked over like usual.
Maybe he was busy this morning, she decided, heading off to class. She was sure she’d hear about her tardiness later that night when her parents got the narc notifications, but oh well. One tardy wasn’t going to kill her academically speaking.
“Nice of you to join us today, Ms. Benjamin,” commented her math teacher as Amelia quickly took her seat while he finished up with taking attendance to submit to the office. “Now then, today we’re going to discuss—”
When she headed to her last class of the day, she caught a glimpse of someone who might know where Ethan was. By then, she was a nervous wreck about her missing boyfriend.
“Devon!” she called out to him, thankful that he heard his name and stopped to glance around. She managed to weave through the crowd, gripping her shoulder strap tighter so her bag wouldn’t get knocked off accidentally.
“Oh, hey,” Devon smiled when he noticed her. “Something up?”
“Have you seen Ethan lately?”
“E-man?” he repeated, blinking in obvious confusion. “I mean, last I saw him, he said he was headed home. Dude looked pretty rough.”
“Oh.”
“He’ll be all right, though. Think it’s just one of those 24-hour things. Shit was tearing through practice pretty hard the last couple of weeks. And our guy might be superhuman most of the time, but he’s still got some humanity in him.”
“Thanks, Devon.”
He nodded. “See ya.” He then jogged off to his next class while she did the same in the opposite direction.
After school was done for the day, she was going to walk to Ethan’s, she decided. Just to make sure he was going to be okay for herself.
Standing awkwardly outside Ethan’s home, she pressed the doorbell again, awkwardly holding the bag full of things she picked up at the local pharmacy in one hand and his pick-me-up drink in her other. She had been relieved to see his truck in the driveway earlier, but now, she was feeling the exact opposite because she didn’t also see his dad’s government vehicle. He was all alone in there. He probably hadn’t even told his dad that he came home yet.
“Ethan!” she shouted, hoping he’d hear her. “It’s me. I’m going to see if I can get inside.”
It wouldn’t have been her first time breaking into his house. It wasn’t going to be her last either, she was fairly certain.
It took her a bit to find the spare key as someone moved it since the last time. However, whoever it was didn’t move it that far thankfully—just in the next planter.
She unlocked the door a few seconds later, closing and locking the back door again before she progressed further inside with her goodies still in hand.
She checked the living room first, finding it empty. He wasn’t in the bathroom downstairs either. She headed upstairs to his room next.
“Ethan?” She kept her voice soft so she wouldn’t cause him unnecessary pain. “It’s me. Amelia. I brought you some stuff.” The second she saw the big lump underneath the covers in his bed move, she let out a breath in relief. She was ninety percent sure that lump was her boyfriend. She set the drink she bought him on his nightstand with the rest of the bag of goodies. “I didn’t know what kind of sick you were, so I maybe got a little bit of everything for you,” she admitted with a self-deprecating laugh. “And I brought you a drink Mom swears by, too. It’s one of those Starbucks drinks that you always give me crap over.” She sighed deeply when he still didn’t respond. “How shitty do you feel?”
“Mia,” he whined underneath the covers pulled up and over his head.
“Pretty shitty, got it.” She took a moment to think of everything her mother used to do for her when she was sick growing up. “Okay, so, I’m going to turn on the shower for you while you sit up and drink for me. The mint and tea should help open up your airways with the hot steam of the shower finishing the job for us. Plus, tea’s a good way to hydrate. Isn’t that what you’re always going on about to me? So, come on. Move your ass, Simpson.” She smacked where she was pretty sure his butt was.
“Don’t wanna,” he mumbled under the covers.
Rolling her eyes in absolute fondness, she grabbed the edge of his covers and tore them back a second later, ignoring his yelp of surprise.
“Drink,” she ordered, handing him the warm tea.
“So damn bossy,” he muttered while she headed towards the shared bathroom.
She turned on the water as soon as she reached the shower, making sure it wasn’t too hot to burn him before she rubbed a bit of Vicks Vapor Rub on the shower wall to work with the steam. When she was satisfied that she had everything ready for him, she headed back into his room, relieved to see him reluctantly drinking.
“Come on. We’re wasting water.”
“No, you’re wasting water,” he argued, sounding horribly stuffed up. “I was sleeping this off until you barged in here and started giving me orders.”
“The shower will make you feel better.”
“No, sleep will.”
“Ethan.” God, he was being a stubborn idiot here. “Just get your sick ass in the shower.”
“You shouldn’t be here,” he remarked.
“Yeah, yeah, you’re welcome, babe.” She grabbed the empty Starbucks cup from him the second she heard him slurping and caught his disappointed frown. “Shower. Now.”
“We’re not married yet, Mia. You can’t boss me around like this yet.”
She snorted, shaking her head. “So sure that I’ll be wearing your ring someday, are you, Simpson?” At his confused look, she urged him to stand so he’d do as she asked. She glared when he continued to refuse. “Why are you being so damn difficult?”
“Sucks, doesn’t it?” he muttered.
Oh, if he was going to play like that, then she was going to play dirty, too.
She pulled her phone out with an obvious look of challenging him to try her.
“What are you doing?”
“Who, me?” she replied as innocently as she could muster. “Oh, I’m calling your dad since you obviously don’t want my help.”
“No. Wait! Stop! I’ll be good. Promise.” He scrambled to his feet, swaying horribly but managing to stand a few seconds later. There was a sheen of sweat beading up above his brows that quickly dripped down and rolled across his flushed cheeks. “Don’t leave, Mia. Please?”
She was taken aback by the rare tone in his voice for half a moment before she quickly shoved her phone back into her pocket.
“I won’t, babe. I’ll stay right here with you.”
She watched the absolute relief bleed into his body after her declaration.
“That said, you’re going to have to shower alone, though. Wouldn’t want to have any unfortunate accidents, would we?” she teased him lightly.
“You’re horrible,” he groaned, shivering before he slowly walked to the running shower.
“Yeah, but you love me anyway.”
He muttered over his shoulder, “Sometimes . . . but thanks.”
She watched him disappear behind the closing bathroom door and waited a bit for him to resituate himself, texting her parents so they knew where she was . . . and texting his dad so he was aware as well just to ensure there were no misunderstandings here if he came home.
When her phone lit up at a call, she sighed inwardly before she answered it.
“I know what you’re going to say, sir, but I couldn’t just leave—”
“—never mind that, Ms. Benjamin,” Ethan’s dad replied, sounding horribly frazzled. “Where is he currently?”
“I sent him off to shower. Mom always would put up a bit of Vicks on the wall to help open up my airways when I was sick so I figured I could do that for him.”
“So, it’s a cold then?”
“Maybe?” she replied with a shrug. “I don’t know exactly. He sounds pretty badly stuffed up . . . and he’s—well, between us, sir—he’s whiny in a way I’ve never seen before.”
“That’s a normal symptom for him when he’s sick,” his dad remarked distractedly. “Does he have a fever, do we know?”
“I don’t. Sorry. I didn’t think to check for that.” Though, why would she, she knew? Whenever she was sick, one of her parents were right there to nurse her back to health. She never had to do it in reverse for someone she loved. “When I found him, he was wrapped up in the covers. I thought if he drank that stuff Mom gets for me when I’m sick and took a Vicks shower, it’d help perk him up at least like it always does for me.”
“Where are you currently, Ms. Benjamin?”
“Outside the bathroom in the hallway, sir.” She was annoyed he asked, but she knew he would. Their parents were always too damn worried the kids would become their karma’s revenge not to ask. “However, I’m close enough I can hear him, sir, if he slips or anything,” she made sure to tack on.
She winced in sympathy at Ethan’s barking, violent cough that followed her comment. Whatever this crap was, it was deeply embedded in his lungs already. Poor guy.
“Other than his whining remarks, did he seem like himself mostly?”
“Kinda. I mean, he asked me not to leave him when I joked I was going to leave his needy ass with you a few moments ago. Seemed really upset over that for some reason.”
“Damn it,” his dad muttered under his breath. He then sighed heavily before he sucked in a lungful of air. “I’m on my way home now. However, Ms. Benjamin, I need your word about something first. Could you give me it?”
“Of course, sir.”
“If I asked you to step inside the bathroom to keep him company, would you act appropriately and not take advantage of this situation in anyway?”
“Uh, as in, you want me to sit in there, the bathroom, with him while he showers?” Weird. That wasn’t what she expected him to ask of her. Ethan’s dad always seemed more worried than her parents ever were of the kids doing something that would result in baby grandkids someday.
“Yes, Ms. Benjamin. Not in the shower, of course, but outside, like sitting on the toilet lid while I make my way home.”
“I mean, sure, I can, but . . . why, sir?”
He exhaled forcefully before he said, “In the past, when he’s been horribly ill, he’s tried to hide himself away in his mind to ignore the reality of the situation. It’s a pattern he’s formed that I’ve been trying to break him of to no success unfortunately.”
She glanced at the closed door, thinking back to how she had found her boyfriend earlier.
“In other words, he’ll get stuck in his own head?”
“In a way, yes. In the past, this wasn’t an issue. The school would contact me to pick him up, but with him being able to drive himself now and so close to being a legal adult.”
“Understood, sir. I’ll keep him company until you can get here.” Having experienced getting stuck in her head herself sometimes, she got the importance here, why his dad was worried enough to break a rule of his to allow this. The mind played awful tricks at times on a person, especially when someone was at a low point and feeling miserable already.
“Thank you, Ms. Benjamin. I’ll see you shortly.” The line dropped a second later after he hung up. If Admiral Simpson was coming from base, it’d be about ten to fifteen minutes before he arrived.
All right then. Time to repay her boyfriend back for all the times he stepped up for her during the short time they were together. He wouldn’t be alone with his thoughts anymore.