"Calling In Sick" by Cayster
Summary: What happens when Lucas and Peyton, who now consider each other best friends, are stuck in their apartment with a relentless cold all week long?
DISCLAIMER: I do not own "One Tree Hill" or anything remotely close to the wonderful show. Pity on my part.
Chapter One: Rude Awakenings and Pills
Coughing and sneezing erupted violently from Lucas Scott's congested chest. It was only three in the morning, but Lucas knew that going to work and enduring his terrible cold there was out of the question. He got up out of his rather cozy bed and staggered over to his bathroom and looked through his medicine cabinet.
"Cold medicine, cold medicine, cold medicine," Lucas mumbled stuffily and softly to himself as he searched for the 'PM Relief' pills.
Since his eyes were watery and red they were causing great hindrances for Lucas to find his much needed remedy. Finally he found the orange box on the counter the whole time, where he had left it after dinner, and sleepily pulled the tab of the box back. He reached into the slim box and pulled out the last square container which safely held two red and orange pills.
Lucas then started to pick at the corner of the container and agitatedly tried to pull at the corner until finally he got a large enough piece of aluminum like paper and started to pull slowly. Just as he was doing so someone rounded the corner quickly and appeared in the bathroom's doorframe, which frightened Lucas and caused him to pull the paper off the capsule container quicker and sent the pills flying into the air and then falling down the sink's drain.
"Hey jackass! People like me," Peyton pointed to herself, her eyes were red and watery as well, "would like to get a decent night's rest, but I can't since you're making all this racket!"
She looked at the medicine box on the pedestal sink and then to the empty packet of pills Lucas was holding. Peyton was as well dealing with the nasty little cold Lucas was given. As a matter of fact, nearly everyone on the campus was infected by the cold.
"You did not just have the last cold pills?" Peyton more exclaimed than questioned.
"No," answered Lucas truthfully, "they flew out when you scared me half to death."
Peyton paused for a second and then sneezed loudly. Lucas quickly grabbed the Kleenex box and handed it to her. In turn, she took a tissue out of the box and blew into it; Lucas looked on in a pitying fashion. He was the one who had given the cold to her and she liked to remind him every chance she got.
Peyton then threw the tissue away and looked up at Lucas menacingly. "So you're telling me," Peyton pointed to herself once again, Lucas was a little intimidated by that fact, but he was also slightly amused by it too, "that the pills have flown away?"
"Yes," Lucas said with a smirk on his face and marched groggily out of the bathroom and back towards his room.
Peyton stalked after him unable to drop the 'pill' issue just yet. "Oh no you don't, Luke!" She called stuffily as he plopped himself blearily on his bed. "I'm not going to let you go fall to sleep until you run out and buy more medicine," Peyton continued bossily with her arms crossed and sniffed involuntary again as a result of her runny nose.
Lucas turned over and smiled into his pillow; he loved getting a rise out of his roommate. He didn't move any muscles apart from those that contracted his evil grin.
"Scott, I'm warning you," Peyton half-yelled, it was actually really funny how the cold affected her voice, "I'm not in the mood to be ignored— not at all!"
He couldn't help letting a small laugh escape him. Lucas heard Peyton huff resolutely and then out of no where, he was jumped on.
"Gerroff!" Lucas shouted to the best of his ability as he tried to overpower her, but it was futile since she was on top of him so she was basically in control.
Peyton's evil laughs told him that she was successful with agitating him, at least to her standards.
"Really Peyt, get off me!" Lucas cried out as she continued to lay on him trying to make it really agonizing for him.
She smiled as she heard him and then pulled her golden curls back into a ponytail to keep them from falling into her face; she must've wanted to see his discomfort clearly. "Nope, not until you do as I say, buster!"
For some sickening reason— well aside from actually being sick— Peyton loved torturing Lucas this way.
"No," Lucas said determined to stay in bed until his eyes stopped irritating him senseless. "Get it yourself," he added offhandedly.
"Well, I'm not going to move unless you go get the medicine." Peyton said calmly, but her placid tone freaked Lucas out more than her upset nature.
Grudgingly, Lucas clenched his fists together and said, "Fine, whatever."
Peyton smiled down at him brightly; whether he would admit it or not, Lucas was always captivated by its radiance, but he aside that thought quickly because Peyton was still lying on top of him causing his legs to fall asleep. Peyton wasn't overweight or anything but deadweight added a lot of extra pain.
"Now can you get off me?" Lucas barked throwing his arms up in exasperation.
Peyton laughed as she rolled off him and onto the other side of the bed. "I would think you would've liked it, Luke. After all, you love it when girls are all over you."
Lucas laughed sarcastically, "Right, I'm into girls throwing themselves at me."
"I'm glad you finally admitted it." Peyton said as she got under the covers and reached for a tissue on his night stand.
Lucas ignored her as he pulled on a sweatshirt over his white t-shirt and slipped on his white Nikes. He just kept his black shorts on; there was no reason to change out of them even though it was getting chilly since fall was coming to a close.
"See you," Lucas said as he left his room and grabbed his keys off the kitchen counter.
"Bye," he heard Peyton call back as he opened the door.
In all honesty, Luke hadn't had a single girlfriend, friends with benefits relationship, or fling since he had been enrolled to UNC. Lucas just didn't feel like it was right or okay, for some reason. It wasn't because girls on the campus didn't notice him or didn't think he was boyfriend material, actually many girls did throw themselves at him because he was on the basketball team, but Lucas just didn't give in to their very tempting offers. Many guys on the team thought he was gay, but when Nathan told them about his triangle relationship with his roommate and her best friend a few years back, they all thought he was a true ladies man and didn't rag on him any longer.
Peyton though had a few relationships when she hit the campus, much to Lucas's dismay. He had to deal with her boyfriends eating his pizza, drinking his beer, and playing on his XBOX. It royally pissed him off, but he kept his mouth shut. Peyton liked them and they made her happy for the time being and they didn't ruin too much in the mix either. Lucas had to admit, not openly of course, that he did get a little jealous every now and then when he saw Peyton hug or kiss her boyfriend at the time. He thought it was just his bond he had with her was trying to protect her and nothing more, even though he never had fully gotten over Peyton, but he never thought about that ever since he went out with Brooke three years ago during their senior year at Tree Hill High. Besides, Peyton was his roommate and his closest confidant.
She had grown to be his best friend ever since she moved into his apartment last minute two years ago. Peyton was thinking about getting a dorm, but Lucas offered her his other bedroom as long as she splits rent with him and she obliged. Ever since then, they had grown close because they had to; they both had to deal with loss at the same time. When his Uncle Keith died in a car accident, Lucas barely ate, spoke, or even left his room for a few weeks. Nathan and Haley tried to cheer him up and get him out of there, but that only hacked him off more. It was Peyton who knew how it felt to lose someone that you loved, after all she had to deal with the same thing since childhood, and she was the one who helped him out of his depressive state. Peyton was the only with patience and compassion when he needed it the most and he was forever grateful.
He walked down the staircase from the third floor quickly, even though he was sick, he was in no mood to be out long because he wanted to go back to sleep. Lucas was down in the lobby in no time and pushed the entrance/exit door open roughly and cool air immediately ran over his face and through his hair. The early morning breeze felt nice, but it felt odd to be out this early before the sun had even risen; he should come out around this time more often, it felt serene.
The store was only a block away which was very convenient for them since they didn't have to travel very far at all to get what they needed at anytime they felt like it; a quick walk down the street was all it took.
The bright lights of the store burned his already watery eyes, but this caused them to water slightly more to his consternation. He marched on though and entered the intensely lit store.
"May I help you sir?" The clerk behind the counter asked as Lucas stopped to look up at the signs in the middle of each aisle for 'medicine.'
Lucas scratched the back of his head and smiled, "Ugh, yeah. Which aisle is the cold medicine in?"
The clerk thought quickly, "Aisle Seven, it's near the back."
"Thanks," Lucas said as he headed towards the back quickly while looking up for the number seven and spotted it in the middle. He rushed over there and went down the aisle looking for the orange box for the exact cold medicine that was helping him a lot and found it a few seconds later. He grabbed one box and then stopped in thought.
"Should I get another one, too?" Lucas asked himself softly as he grabbed another one. "Yeah, might as well save the time for getting another one just in case."
Lucas went back up to the counter where the store clerk was standing, looking bored. The tall, gruffy brunette smiled as Luke was seen coming towards him.
"Hi," the clerk said, "did you find everything okay?" It was like he was ordered to ask this question because he asked it in a monotone voice.
"Ah, yeah, perfectly." Lucas said as the clerk started to ring up the two medicine boxes.
"You're total is $5.32," he said bagging the two boxes. "Would you like a recite of your purchase?"
Lucas reached into his sweatshirt's pouch and pulled out his wallet and got out six dollars. "No thanks, go ahead and keep the change," he said handing the money to the clerk and then grabbing the bag.
"Hey," the clerk shouted as Lucas started walking off, "I just wanted to say good luck next Friday against Duke."
Lucas smiled back at the clerk, "Thanks!"
The clerk waved and smiled as Luke headed out the door and then said something inappropriate about Duke, which caused Lucas to laugh for a while.
A few minutes later, he was unlocking the apartment door and opened the door quietly. Knowing Peyton she had fallen asleep and he did not want to wake her again and be berated once more. So he closed the door cautiously and softly laid his keys on the kitchen counter and then headed into the bathroom and restocked the two cold medicine boxes into the medicine cabinet.
Out of no where another fit of coughing evaded Lucas loudly.
"Crap," Lucas whispered hoping that that hadn't woken up Peyton if she had fallen asleep. He stood there silent for a couple of seconds listening if he could hear movement, but nothing made a sound.
Lucas then tiptoed out of the bathroom and towards his bedroom trying to be as silent as he could. His bedroom door wasn't closed and he could see Peyton sleeping peacefully on his side of the bed. He smiled to himself as he took off his shoes and then walked over to his closet and took off his sweatshirt and hung it up.
When he turned around he saw two beautiful hazel eyes staring at him and a gorgeous smile to match them.
"Hi," Peyton greeted sleepily as she pushed the covers off of her and sat up. "I guess I'll meander over to my room now."
Lucas waved his hands, "Nah, go ahead and stay in here. It's not like we haven't ever shared a bed before, at least not since Keith…" He didn't finish his sentence; Lucas still couldn't put himself up to saying 'passed away' or 'died.' Both of those sayings just caused an invisible knife to sear his heart.
Peyton looked a little shocked, but she recovered her foothold. "All right, but I get this side of the bed."
"Yeah, yeah I know," Lucas said as he walked around to the other side of the bed and eased himself slowly on to the bed. He could sense a little tension now radiating off of Peyton. She hadn't shared a bed with him in a sixth months and even then she had a boyfriend so she must've felt secure enough to be able to sleep in the same bed with him. He could easily understand her awkwardness towards the situation.
So Lucas cleared his throat and got under the covers, "Well, ugh good night, Peyton."
"Good morning, Luke," Peyton said followed by a small giggle.
"Yeah, good morning instead." Lucas said softly and he fell into a deep slumber of harmony.
Author's Notes:
Well that was just the first chapter of probably three to five, I don't know. I actually came up with this story while I was reading the latest Harry Potter book and I had to stop reading to write the first couple of paragraphs down in my journal. Funny when inspiration hits when you're bored and disappointed.
I do hope that you enjoyed the first chapter. I thought I provided some good back story as to why they were living together and some of the recent intimate relationships they had had. Believe me, something will develop between these two friends and it's not going to happen in the next chapter either. Give time for the story to develop (like in two chapters) and you'll see some real L/P action.
Please tell me your thoughts on the story so far because I'm a nervous wreck when I unveil any story to readers so I definitely need some reassurance from anyone who reads it. Thanks so much to all of you who do take the time to read this story; it's definitely not going to be a 7-15 chapter story like "Hold On" and "Further" so you're not going to have to wait a while to see the conclusion of this story than for the other two. So I hope you like this so far and if you don't I would love to hear why and if you have any constructive criticism too, I would also like to hear it. Thanks so much!