The next day, I went to the table where I usually sat with Lovi and Toni at lunch. Recently, Toni's friends Francis and Gilbert had started joining us, and Gilbert had started bringing Arthur's cousin, Matthew, to sit there as well. About a week ago, he'd yelled at all of us for not remembering Matthew's name, and now we only occasionally forgot it. Matthew seemed embarrassed about Gilberts actions, but never spoke out against them.
Today, everyone was there – everyone except for Lovi. I looked at Toni, who had started in on his homemade lunch. "Toni, where's Lovi?"
Francis glanced around the table. "Hm, I thought someone was missing."
Toni said "He's home with a fever today – I think he caught some kind of bug in the café last night. He tried to eat breakfast this morning but threw up a few minutes later. I wanted to stay there and take care of him, but he said to come to school so that both of our grades wouldn't drop."
"Oh, the poor dear!" said Francis dramatically.
"Aw, poor Lovi," I said sadly.
"Man, that sucks," muttered Gilbert. Matthew quietly nodded his agreement.
"Can I come over and see him?" I asked. "I'll have to ask Eliza and stepfather first, but I'm sure it'll be okay!"
"Sure, that's fine – I called boss earlier and asked if I could have the day off to take care of Lovi. He said okay, as long as I work an extra hour tomorrow."
"Well, crap. I can't come; I've got a fucking doctor's appointment after school."
"I can't come either," said Matthew regretfully. "Al said that he really wanted to see a movie with me, and I don't want to break my promise."
"I think I can come," said Francis happily. "I'll have to check, of course, but I'm pretty sure it's fine."
"Alright!" said Toni happily. "That's settled!"
We set to eating our lunches.
Francis and I rode Toni's bus after school. The bus driver lady was really nice – even though we didn't have passes, she let us ride this time (but she did say that we had to have them next time). I sat next to Toni, and Francis sat on the seat across the aisle.
When we reached Toni's stop, we got off and walked a block to the apartment building. Coming through the glass doors, we climbed the stairs up to his and Lovi's apartment. Toni took the key out of his backpack and unlocked the door, letting it creak open. The apartment was sparsely furnished, but nice all the same – a green couch against the wall, a small kitchen area, a dresser, a door that presumably led to the bathroom, and a bed next to the window, where I saw Lovi sleeping. His face was a bit flushed and his breaths were slightly shallow.
Toni hung his backpack on the hook and went into the bathroom, coming out a minute later with a small white thing. He hurried over to where Lovi was sleeping and felt his forehead, taking his hand off just a couple of seconds later. Francis and I came to Lovi's side too. I noticed some crackers and a glass of water on a napkin next to the bed. Lovi was starting to wake up. He looked around tiredly, his eyes half-closed.
"Toni?" he mumbled. He smacked his mouth a few times in order to speak better. "Feli? Francis? Wha're you doing here?"
"We came to visit you, fratello!" I said. Francis nodded. "We all missed you at lunch!"
"Mkay…" He lifted his head, turned it to Toni, and tried to glare. "What the hell're you doing here? Are you skippin' work?"
"Not exactly… I explained the situation to boss and he said that I could skip today if I put in an extra hour tomorrow without pay."
"That's not good… don't want to lose mon—" he was interrupted by a coughing fit that lasted about 30 seconds. Toni gently pressed him back into the bed and gave him the glass of water that was by the bed. Lovi drank, coughed a bit more, and gave the cup back to Toni.
"Have you eaten at all today, Lovi?" asked Toni worriedly.
"No. Not hungry."
"Hm… try to eat something tonight, okay? Just some crackers?"
"…fine."
"Okay, I'm going to take your temperature and see if it's gone down… keep the thermometer under your tongue, okay?" Lovi nodded and Toni stuck the white thing (the thermometer) in his mouth. It beeped a minute later and Toni checked the display.
"Hm… 102.5… it hasn't gone down much. That's not good…" he looked at Lovi. "You've been in bed all day?"
"I tried to get up once, but then I fell over and decided to go back to bed."
"Oh, that's not good," said Francis. "You really should stay in bed when you have a fever, even if you feel like getting up."
"Shaddup." Lovi rolled over, but looked back a second later. "Thanks for coming to visit."
"No problem, fratello~!"
"Oui, anytime."
Lovi had rolled over by this point and gone back to sleep. Toni looked at us and sighed. "I hope he gets better soon… I'm really worried."
"Don't worry!" I said happily, keeping my voice down as to not wake up Lovi. "I'm sure he'll be fine! I remember he's had a couple fevers before, and he was always feeling better in a couple days!"
"It's just… I don't like seeing him sick. Not only that, but we can't afford a hospital."
"What exactly is going on there, anyway?" said Francis curiously. "I don't think I've heard how all this happened… Feli, you and Lovi are brothers, correct? How did he end up living with Toni here?"
Toni explained the situation to him as briefly as possible.
"I see…" he glanced at me. "Is your stepfather really so horrible?"
"I don't really think he's horrible… but that's just me," I said. "He's often busy with his playing, 'cuz he plays the violin and the piano. And he's always going away on trips to concerts and things… he's kind of strict and really formal-looking and he talks all proper."
Francis frowned. "He sounds like a prick."
I giggled. Toni laughed. Francis smiled. Footsteps came down the hall—
Footsteps? I frowned. "Aw, I think Eliza's coming to pick me up. Stepfather didn't want me staying for long, for some reason."
Sure enough, there was a gentle knock on the door. "Feli? Toni? It's Eliza… I'm coming in, okay?"
The door opened and Eliza stepped in, her face lighting up when she saw us. "Feli, Toni, hi! You must be Francis," she added to Francis. He smiled and nodded. Then she saw Lovi lying in bed and hurried over to him. "Oh, Lovi! Are you feeling okay?"
Lovi turned over and woke up. He looked up. "Eliza?"
"Oh, sorry, honey! Did I wake you?"
"Yes."
"Sorry! How are you feeling? Are you getting enough fluids? You've stayed in bed, right?"
"'m fine," he mumbled. "Just tired."
"Okay, hon, just get better soon, okay?" She kissed his forehead and left him to sleep. Francis seemed to think it was funny how much she fussed over him. Coming back to where we stood, Eliza said "We have to get going, Feli. You know how your stepfather is."
"Aw, okay." I turned to Toni and Francis and said "Bye, guys! Toni, can you tell Lovi I said bye when he wakes up?"
"Sure!"
I walked out the door with Eliza, stealing one more glance back at Lovi.
Translation:
Oui = Yes
