I woke up with what seemed like a sledgehammer slamming the back of my head. it hurt to flutter my eyes completely wide open. the tears had dried up, they stuck like glue. My head hurt and I was feeling extremely cold because of my fever (which I had no clue how high it'd gotten now). I couldn't properly move my body. I grabbed my phone from under my pillow to check the time, and that's when I noticed my hand was shivering. Through the shaky screen I saw that it was past 10 PM now - three hours since I'd gotten back here and my fever had seemingly only worsened. Unfortunately the rest that I'd had didn't do anything to make me feel better.
But aside from the time there were also other numbers that I saw on my phone; like the number of calls I missed. One was from Danny. 'You made the right decision. The photos look amazing!' I sighed. Yep, the photos look great, but I look like vomit now. One was from Cody, and he'd probably told D-Bry to call me because I also had one missed call from Goat-face... and apparently, Jon had finally shown some sign of concern and he'd called me, too. Nope, I'm not trying to sound bitter. To my surprise, it looked like he'd been calling me not too long ago and surprising me more was a pop-up of his newly sent text message.
'You in your room?'
I was about to type in a reply but I could feel a giant big ball of itch bubbling in my throat and rolling right up and all of a sudden I was coughing like a helpless virus-infected person. I dropped my phone. My coughing was intense as it kind of threw my body for each cough I spewed. I had to sit upright and cover my mouth and hold my face in place. My throat was just burning. This is terrible, I realized. When I had that brief amount of time to breathe even just a little bit properly, I was almost feeling my skull break in half. If I wasn't coughing, I was either being devastated by my tremendous headache or feeling extremely cold that I shivered like fudgesicles. This was the worst day of my life.
Because of severe pain, my head fell into my hands and there was no way to make the pain stop. Until I felt something fizzing in my chest, crawling quickly up my throat and I knew I was about to throw up. I gathered all my strength to get up, and with a swirling vision staggered my way into the bathroom. I started puking all over the sink.
It was the toughest moment of my life! Whether it was guts or some kind of demonic blood, I had no idea what I was puking out that it had to be so forceful to my throat and to my mouth and to my intestines. I was literally holding on to the sink with both my hands, hanging on for dear life, as I vomited like a dragon spewing fire.
I wasn't sure if I'd only imagined it, but through the vomit sounds I produced I managed to hear someone calling my name.
"Jill!"
And this time I was sure I wasn't imagining it because I felt hands holding me still by my waist and shoulder.
I took a moment to look in the mirror through a curtain of hair over my face and saw Jon. It was a bit blurry and dazy because of the tears, yes, but it was Jon. He was here.
"What happened to you?"
A shock started boiling at the back of my neck and shot up my head and I couldn't think straight. I wasn't able to answer him and more vomit came out of my mouth. The sink was literally wrenching my guts and pulling out all that was left of my body. I felt Jon pull back my hair with his hand and rub my back smoothly with his other as I puked all my rainbows.
I was so darn weak now. My legs were feeling all spaghetti - same exact feeling I got whenever I tried to do seven failed springboard moonsaults in one training session. Somehow I managed to turn the faucet on to wash the mess on my face and on the sink.
Jon's hands were still holding me steady. At this point I was truly powerless. My stomach felt empty, and my legs felt like they had no bones in them. My vision was spinning, and I struggled to reach for the face towel and wiped my face.
Everything was almost such a blur now. A microphone feedback-like sound surged through my left ear and my sight dimmed, and I felt even groggier than I already was. I slowly turned around, my steps weak and slow as I tried to make my way out with Jon's assistance. As I held onto the doorframe with one hand, I collapsed.
Jon caught me just as I almost hit the ground, and the back of my head was scooped by his arm.
"Jill! What's - " He didn't finish his sentence. He slid his other arm under my legs and soon I felt him carry me. My eyes were halfway closed, not wanting to get any dizzier with the painful vision my sickness brought me. The side of my head lay against his chest as he carried me. He gently laid me down on the bed. I opened my eyes and he was kneeling by the bed.
"What happened to you?" He asked worriedly, not really needing an answer. He quickly got up, looking all panicked. "Wait here." He bent down to cup my face. "I'll be back real quick." I watched as he disappeared through my hotel room door and closed my eyes back for a while because I couldn't stand staring at something for so long, it hurt my head severely.
I turned to my side, grabbing the covers desperately and pulling them over my body. The coldness at this point was unbelievable, and I was shivering like someone injected something into my body. I just stayed like that, like a wet, parentless chick with nowhere to go. I'm not sure how long Jon had been out but right now I could already hear his footsteps back in my hotel room.
My eyes still closed, I could hear him just behind me, laying something on the end-table beside the bed. "Jill," he spoke softly, but I had no strength to turn. It was like one move I made would let the cold touch my skin and I couldn't handle that.
"Jill," Jon prompted once more. I only grumbled. It hurt to move, to talk. "Come on now." His hand was on my arm, carefully pulling me to turn to him. He touched my neck. "God, you're burning up," he said. "What did you do?"
I bathed in the rain and handled too much stress today. Of course he didn't need to hear that. I was cringing and grumbling as he was lifting my body to sit up, barely withstanding all the ache I felt. He sat next to me and held me. He was handling me with utter care. The way he held me in his hands - it was tender, but protective and firm, like I was the most fragile piece of ceramic in this room.
Like he didn't want me to slip from his hands.
Unlike earlier - earlier, when he'd almost treated me like the wind. I had literally felt like an overlooked ghost, then. The pain from that and the guilt of disappointing him was still fresh, but now that he was holding me at this very point I was having mixed emotions. Pain, guilt, and thankfulness were now washing all over me. Hot tears welled up at the back of my eyes. My head was cradled in his arm, laying into his chest. I looked up at him.
There was no more coldness in those beautiful blue eyes. All they spelled were warmth and concern. Care. But somehow I couldn't erase the face he'd had earlier this afternoon, which clearly displayed disappointment. I couldn't forget how upset I'd made him, and just how frustrated he must have felt with me when I'd had him wait for that long.
An unmanageable tear rolled down my cheek as I stared up at him. "I'm sorry," I whispered. He frowned. "I'm sorry," I said ever so weakly and I burst. I cried into his chest, wrapping my arms tightly around him and staining his shirt with my tears.
He didn't speak for a moment. He only soothed my back up and down while his other hand smoothed my hair. Because of the high fever and all the emotional pain welling up inside me, my body shook against his arms with each sob I made.
"Shhh," he said softly. Very slowly he pulled me away from him so he could look into my tearful face. "I'm sorry," he said in a deep voice. I let out another burst of tears and uncontainable sobs followed. He hugged me close again, tight against his body. He kissed the top of my head. "I'm sorry," he whispered in my hair.
And then we just stayed like that for a short while, holding each other. We weren't saying anything since the second we'd both said our sorry's. After a few moments, we pulled away from our embrace. My sobs had finally worn out and it kind of felt like we were both ready to talk. It was probably because I had vomited and cried a lot that I was feeling a little less terrible right now. He looked at me, and brushed the strands of hair from my face.
"I'm sorry," I said, my voice slightly breaking.
"Why?" His brows knit.
I sniffed. "I let you down." A tear rolled down my cheek again and I quickly wiped it.
He shook his head. "No, you didn't." He held my hand tightly in his.
"But you were cold to me. I know I disappointed you."
He sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb. "That was inconsiderate of me. I'm sorry." He looked at me apologetically, and gave a tight-lipped smile. "Don't worry about that anymore. Let's take some meds."
He slightly turned to his side, where the bedside table was and took the capsule and glass of water. "Here." I obediently took the capsule into my mouth and took a long swig from the glass.
I couldn't open my eyes any wider and they felt sore from crying. I momentarily rested against the headboard and closed my eyes for a little while.
There was quite a shift in weight right where Jon sat on the bed. He tugged at my forearm and I opened my eyes. "Come here." He was holding a wet face towel. He scooted closer to me and started gently rubbing the wet cloth on my forehead and cheeks. His other hand was carefully moving the hair from my face as he continued rubbing. "My poor girl," he said in an exaggerated sympathetic tone. I smiled weakly.
The first smile I'd shown since this entire disaster had begun.
It stayed on my lips for a brief amount of time until he started to tug at my shirt. My weak but firm resistance and the puzzled look on my face made him stop. We stared blankly at each other.
"What?" He frowned.
I knit my brow. "What are you doing?"
"You need to tidy up," he said simply, his face giving me that 'duh' look.
I swallowed and quickly grabbed the cloth from his hand. "I can do it myself."
He groaned. "Would you stop being a child? You clearly can't do it yourself, you can barely move."
"No, I got this." I tried to start with my left arm but he snatched the towel away from me.
He let out a sarcastic chuckle. "Let me do it." I crossed my arms over my chest and looked away. He sighed heavily. "Jill. Relax, will you? I'm just going to get you cleaned up. You can't sleep in those." He wrinkled his nose at my clothes which I'd been wearing for almost six hours now.
I avoided his stare. "I'll change my clothes."
"Ugh. Jill - "
"I can do it."
He rolled his eyes and sighed. He smiled a smile of defeat. "All right," he said. "But I'll give you a sponge bath."
I thought for a second. "With my clothes on," I said more in question-like tone than a statement.
"Do I have a choice?" He chuckled and scooted closer to me. "Come on." He stretched my arm and began sponge-bathing me. He finished and then went to my other arm. When it was time to proceed to my back, he moved closer in front of me, circling both his arms around my small frame to sponge my back. Loosely hugging me and sponge-bathing me. Hitting two birds with one stone. I felt him lift the hem of my shirt from behind me and his hand went underneath to work on my back.
He did these repeated long strokes down my back. The dampness of the cloth together with the warmth of his touch relieved me. My headache didn't go away, but the relief I felt soothed me enough. I looked up at him and he was so close. My eyes could feel his steady, deep breaths. His eyes were so blue against the sallow lamp light in this room. He stared down at me with a serious look, as he continued to rub my back.
"Thank you," I said in a low voice.
He just smiled and leaned down to kiss my forehead. His hands finally left my back and went to my torso. When he'd tugged at the front hem of my shirt, I looked at him hesitantly.
"Relax." He softly patted my cheek. Then he'd reached his hand inside, making sure not to pull my shirt all the way up as he began to rub chest. Had I not been this sick, this whole moment would have been a sensual, sweet one. But all I really wanted was to get rid of the headache and this fever. It really was kind of sensual when his towel-holding hand glided all over my chest and I could tell he was trying to be careful not to touch my breasts. But when a small part of his hand accidentally bumped with my bra-covered left boobie, I froze and widened my eyes at him. He just widened his eyes back at me, and then pretended to look everywhere but at me, his eyeballs dancing with such a mischievous dimpled smile. What a love. Just what I needed to feel like a million bucks.
"All right," he said when he'd finished. He got up from the bed and went to my suitcase, rummaging through my clothes. "Pajamas?" he asked, holding up the loose t-shirt and pajamas he'd pulled out. I nodded. He walked to me and tossed the clothes. I took them, look at them in my hands and then back at Jon. For a moment we were just awkwardly staring at each other.
I cleared my throat. "I'm going to change now."
He didn't say anything for a moment. Then, like he remembered what he was supposed to do, he spoke, "Right." He turned his back on me.
"What are you doing?"
"What?" He shrugged, his hands in his pocket. "Go change now."
I shook my head and tried to change fast. I first took my plaid shirt off and quickly put on the new one. Taking off the jeans took a while and some effort.
"No peeking!" I yelled as I pulled my jeans off.
He ran a hand through his hair, not really looking over his shoulder or anything. "Hurry up." I could imagine him rolling his eyes playfully again. I smiled at the thought. I slid into my pajamas and did the best part of the night: take my bra off. Oxygen for boobies!
Hurriedly, I slipped into the covers and lay down. "Done!" I shouted but my voice was still breaking.
"Geez, your voice." He spun around and picked up my dirty clothes, tossing them onto the couch before joining me in bed.
He lounged on his side so that he was facing me. He reached to caress my cheek. This was sheer joy and relief. Peace. "Does your head still hurt?"
I nodded slowly. "Maybe I just need to sleep it all off."
"Yeah, you do." He smiled and continued to stroke my cheek with his thumb.
I weakly smiled back and took his hand from my face. "I'm sorry."
He narrowed his eyes. "Jill, no. I'm sorry."
"No, I'm truly sorry. I should've thought about the whole situation carefully and – "
He kissed my lips and quickly released them. "Nope. I was a douchebag, period." He softly pecked my lips one more time. "I should've thought more of what you could've possibly been going through just to put all that shit together. And now you're sick. I'm sorry." And another kiss. "I'm sorry. Forgive me?"
I gave him a compassionate, reassuring smile. "Of course." Sometimes all I could feel was how hard it was to please him. But if going through many obstacles a day would mean that I could see this adorable face and have the chance to be with this caring, tenderhearted version of him, then I'd be more than willing to get sick every now and then.
He smiled, his dimples showing, then gave me a thoughtful look. "Remember that one afternoon I got sick and you took care of me?" He twined his fingers with mine. My lids growing heavier, I grinned a bit unconsciously, remembering everything so vividly in my head. It was the day when we'd gotten into some kind of quarrel and I'd had to drive to Cincinnati to return his phone back to him. We were not together at that time yet.
"Yes, and you weren't only sick. You were also drunk."
He laughed. "I was so drunk and sick that time, when I saw you I actually felt so extremely happy." He licked his lips. "Guess I wasn't stone-drunk then, because if I was, I would've run to you and hugged you without constraints. I was already crushing on you big time."
"You're so cute." I giggled softly, my eyes half-closed but I was looking at him. "Actually, you may have been stone-drunk at the time because you actually hugged me."
"I did?"
"Yeah, when you finally decided to apologize after lashing out at me a few nights prior to that day," I pointed with mocked annoyance. "You actually needed to be drunk before you could say sorry to me." He laughed and I continued, "You were saying sorry to me and then you were just almost nuzzling my neck."
"Excuse me? I wasn't," he protested.
"Yeah you were. You wanted me that bad." I chuckled in a dazed manner.
"I bet you enjoyed that so much," he snickered.
My brow arched slowly. "Whatever." I managed a really limp slap on his chest. And then we were laughing softly. He pulled me into his chest and wrapped an arm around me. "You do realize you could catch the flu now, right?"
He snorted. "I don't care. If I get sick I'm pretty sure you'll take care of me," he replied confidently, his voice vibrating into my ear that was pressed against his hard chest.
I giggled. "Oh yes I will." I draped an arm over his stomach. His hand that was stroking my hair momentarily went down to soothe my back up and down, and it was really slowly putting me to sleep.
His hand suddenly stopped at my middle back. "You're not wearing a bra?"
I freaking awoke like ice cubes got stuck up my nose. "Jon," I tried to exclaim but it really sounded lazy and I was slowly laughing. "We, girls take off our bra when we sleep. It's the best feeling in the world."
"Hmm." He paused. "When you guys take off your bra, it's the best view in the world."
"Good grief, T. Master." I laughed, feeling myself get even drowsier.
"Hey, rest now, weary head."
"Dunnt leave meey," I slurred, squishing my face into his chest.
"Nope. I'll stay here." I felt his lips softly press against the top of my head, and then I was out.
A/N: Well would y'all look at these two? Aren't they so funny sometimes? One moment they're bickering like 5-year-olds, the next they're simply being sweet lovers like how they are in this one.
Hey everybody! So. What did you think? You certainly don't think think these two have gone through enough challenges, do you? They are JUST getting started. Isn't it going to be an adventurous, wonderful journey for Jon and Jill? :))
Comments, predictions, violent reactions, expectations - I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR/READ 'EM ALL, AS ALWAYS.
Thank you so much for all your support for this story, all my love to you guys! You guys are the best! See you in the next chapter guys! ^_^
