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Thursday, May 3rd, 1990. 2:18 PM
Willow stirs from her nap, rubbing the grogginess from her eyes.
She was meant to have a 9 AM today, but she got to stay home since her professor cancelled the class. He said something about being sick or whatever. All that means is that Willow got a much needed afternoon nap.
Willow stretches and walks into her and Michelle’s shared kitchen, opening the fridge and grabbing a pitcher of lemonade.
Whilst pouring herself a glass, she looks up and notices Michelle’s keys are still on the key hook.
Today is Thursday, so she should be in English class by now. Why is she home? Willow thinks to herself, chugging the cup of lemonade.
Michelle has only skipped her English class twice. Once she was sick, and the other time she had a doctor's appointment. This class is important to her degree and herself, she wouldn't miss it without reason.
Maybe it was just cancelled. Willow reasons with herself, placing the finished drink into the sink, rinsing it off.
Or maybe Mich is sick. Or hurt. Or maybe she overslept. Maybe Willow should check on her, make sure she’s alright.
Willow slowly creeps up in front of her bedroom door, carefully opening the door to not startle Michelle.
The first thing Willow sees as she peaks in is Michelle laying on her stomach, bundled up under a navy comforter.
Michelle stirs, groaning as Willow fully steps in the room, shutting the door behind her.
“Mich? You alright?” Willow walks up to Michelle’s bed, carefully nudging her shoulder.
Michelle turns her head towards Willow. Her black, messy hair is stuck to her forehead, her cheeks are flushed, and her eyes are barely open.
“...We’re out of Advil,” Michelle whispers in a barely audible voice. “Can you get some for me Willow?” Michelle groans in pain, “Please, I’m having the worst cramps.”
“Oh, you’re on your period?” Willow cocks her head in confusion. I thought she didn’t get bad cramps? She thinks to herself. “I thought you didn’t get bad cramps?”
“U–Usually I don’t. But when I’m stressed I do.” Michelle pauses, her face contorting in pain. “I have exams coming up, you know…”
“Oh, sorry, didn’t know that.” Willow runs a finger through Michelle’s hair then swiftly stands up, “I’ll go get you some Advil– wait, do you need anything else?”
“Can you buy a heating pad? If you have the money of course, that’s all.”
“Yeah. Yeah I can buy one.” Willow places a kiss onto the top of Michelle’s head, then heads for the bedroom door. “I’ll be back in like 30. Love you Mich.”
“Thank you, Lo. Love you too.”
The door shuts softly behind her.
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Willow arrives at the shitty little drug store, which is about a five minute walk from their dorm.
This is the type of place where whenever you walk in you feel like you’re gonna get mugged or kidnapped before you even have the chance to checkout.
Despite this, Willow continues in, grabbing a basket and heading for the medicine aisle.
On her way there, she spots a bag of Hershey’s Kisses. Perfect. She thinks, picking up the bag and placing it into the shopping basket.
Standing in front of the rows of Advil, she needs to decide which to get. The off brand ‘Advil’ is cheaper, but what if it's less effective? However, they’re on a tight budget, and $5.99 for Advil is ridiculous for a broke college student, compared to the $2.99 for the off brand.
But then again, Mich said the cramps were really bad. Whatever, she can splurge this one time.
Willow throws the name brand Advil into her basket.
Before she leaves, she makes sure to look for a heating pad. Which was actually pretty cheap. 15 dollars for something that’ll probably last a few years is pretty reasonable.
Willow places it in the basket, then heads to checkout.
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Willow practically throws the front door open, running into the dorm room, quickly locking it, then immediately running to Michelle’s room.
The bedroom door swings open, Michelle sits up, startled at the sudden movement and noise.
“Jesus, you didn't need to rush, Lo.” Michelle giggles as Willow walks up to her, bag in hand.
“Sorry. Anyways, I got you a bunch of stuff.” Willow starts taking stuff out of the bag, listing what it is.
“Okay, first I got you a bag of those mini chocolate things that are wrapped in the foil,” Willow softly throws the bag onto Michelle’s lap.
“Then I got the name brand Advil, you said your cramps were bad, so I didn’t wanna get the off brand shit in case it didn't work as well, you know?” Willow hands her the bottle, then pulls the last item out of the bag.
“And finally, I got you this heating pad! It was actually pretty cheap, 15 bucks. Should last us a few years, assuming we don’t lose it or break it or some shit like that.” Willow places the box onto the floor, looking back at a satisfied Michelle.
“Thank you so much, Willow. You’re a lifesaver.” Michelle pries open the bottle of Advil, immediately putting the pills into her mouth, chugging it down with a probably day-old glass of water.
Willow smiles and nods at Michelle, then tears open the box with the heating pad inside. It’s one of those plug in ones, so it shouldn’t take any effort to set up.
She carefully takes it out of the box and plugs it into the power socket, turning the dial up to medium, then placing it atop Michelle’s abdomen.
“There you go. You can turn this dial to turn the temp lower or higher, but be careful, it could burn you if you set the temperature too high. And– oh!! Don’t sleep with it on, it could cause a fire. Maybe turn it off every few hours and make sure the wire doesn't get too hot.”
Michelle laughs, nodding at Willow. “Okay, okay. Overprotective much.”
Willow rolls her eyes and smiles. “Do you need anything else, Mich?”
“Mm…” Michelle hums, pausing to think to herself.
“I need a nap. Wanna nap with me, Lo?”
Willow nods and climbs into bed, tucking the two of them into bed.
The two turn to face each other, Michelle burrowing her head into Willow’s shoulder, heating pad between their bodies.
Willow places her hand on Michelle’s back and pulls her in closer, resting her head on Michelle’s.
“You’re okay, right Mich?” Willow whispers into Michelle’s hair.
Michelle pulls back slightly, looking up at Willow. “Huh?”
“You just said you were stressed. That just kinda worries me, you know?”
Michelle sits up a bit, “Oh. Yeah I’m okay. I just have really tough exams coming up soon, and my Math professor is a prick. His stupid exam is overlapping with my English presentation– I mean, who the hell schedules an exam at 11:30 am on a Thursday when your classes are at night Monday through Wednesday?! I even told him I had a presentation and asked if I could take it another day, but he just said no. This guy doesn't allow rescheduling or retaking anything! My English professor is much more reasonable though, so I can probably just give the presentation on a later date if I ask her.”
Willow smiles a bit, then nods. “I’m glad your English teacher isn’t a prick at least,” She pauses, “Sorry for asking, I just thought something else happened.”
Michelle grins and lays back down. “Don’t apologize, Lo. Thank you for asking, I’d tell you if anything was wrong though, alright?”
“Okay, thanks.” Before Willow fully lays down, she presses a kiss to Michelle’s mouth. It’s short and soft, but all they needed.
They pull apart, smiling at each other before going back to their original position.
“I’m gonna turn this off, okay Mich? We can turn it back on when we wake up.” Willow carefully turns off the heating pad, then moves it to the foot of the bed.
“Mm–kay..” Michelle mumbles sleepily, nuzzling further into Willow’s shoulder, melting in her arms. “Love you.”
“I love you too.”
Her breathing evens out, and Willow places a soft kiss into Michelle’s hair, before Willow closes her own eyes, beginning to let sleep overtake her.
Two naps will do, is the last thing she thinks, before her consciousness fades.