Joan Girardi put on her dressing gown and slippers and headed downstairs to get a drink.
"Joan, you should be in bed," Luke said, as he came out of his room. "You do look better..."
"I think it was the 24 hour bug that Grace had," she shrugged. Luke nodded. "Oh, by the way, thanks for looking after me. You're not so bad."
He nodded again, and smiled, and then disappeared in to the bathroom. Joan found her mother, her older brother Kevin, and her father sat around the table in the kitchen, eating pancakes. "Morning sweetie," Helen said, getting up to get Joan some breakfast.
"Morning," she smiled. "I feel a bit better today. I'll just get a drink and then get dressed."
"Can you manage some pancakes?" Her mother asked, feeling her forhead. "You don't feel warm."
"24 hour I think," Joan said, taking a glass from the cupboard. "But I don't want to risk breakfast just yet."
"Okay," Helen said, sitting down. "Well you'll let me know if you want something?"
"Will do," she agreed. She took her glass of ice water and went in to the lounge to watch t.v.
Soon, she heard Luke coming down the stairs and looked over to him, "Hey, geek, is it today you're going out with Friedman?"
"Yeah, but not until after lunch," He replied, sitting down beside her. He took off his glasses and removed a cloth from his pocket, deciding he needed to clean them. "Mom and Dad are going to that fundraiser thing today. Something to do with the police for him."
"Lucky them," she laughed. "Sounds incredibly dull. Is Kevin staying home?"
"No, he's going to meet up with some friends too," He replied. "So it's just you home alone."
"Cool," Joan said, "It'll give me some peace and quiet."
"Although Friedman and I might end up coming back here later on," He thought.
"Whatever."
"I'm going to go get breakfast," He said, putting his glasses back on. "Later."
-
Joan was still sprawled over the couch when Luke and Friedman came in several hours later, and even an hour after that when Luke came down for a drink. "Joan, I'm getting some soda. Want anything?" He asked, figuring as she was still sick that he should take pity on her.
"No, I'm good thanks," she sighed, changing the channel. "Nothing on."
"Never is," he shrugged. "Have you had anything to eat today? You should try and have something plain, like toast."
"I'll have some popcorn if it will make you happy, Luke," she smiled. He nodded, and went in to the kitchen. He returned a couple of minutes later with a tray. He put it down on the table, unloaded the popcorn and then picked the tray up again, heading off upstairs. "Thanks."
She found a channel showing Buffy The Vampire Slayer and grinned, setting down the remote. She used to love that show. "Mmmm, Spike."
It was nice just lying on the couch, doing nothing. Usually she was uber busy at the weekends, going out with Adam or Grace. Adam! She sighed and stood up, walking over to the phone. She dialled Adam's number, and waited as it rang.
"Hey, Adam, it's Joan. Hey. Yeah, so I'm really sorry but I had the 24 hour flu. Yeah. I feel better now, but it's best I stay home today. I don't think my mom would like me going out. No, I feel fine. Honest. But I'll just hang here. Maybe we could go see the movie tomorrow instead? No, don't say don't worry. I want to go. Honestly. Yes. Thank you for being so sweet. Yeah, I will. See you later. Bye."
He was such a good boyfriend, she thought, as she dived back under her blanket.
- Sunday -
"Joan!" Luke called, knocking on her bedroom door. "Joan!" Finally, he gave up and entered, finding her fast asleep. He called her name again. "Joan!"
Joan yawned, and sat up, glaring at him. "What?"
"Adam Rove is on the phone," He replied, chucking the phone to her. "I thought you'd want to be woken up."
"Oh. Right. Thanks," she yawned again, picking up the phone and then motioning for her brother to leave. "Hey Adam. Yeah, you know what, I do feel much better. I think I'm officially fine. Cool, I'll see you at 5 then. Bye."
She got out of bed and took a shower, got dressed and then ran down the stairs. Her family were all sat in the lounge, looking surprised to see her dressed. She smiled, and jumped down the last step. "Morning."
"You're feeling better," Will grinned. "That's good. I assume that was Adam on the phone?"
"Yep. We're going to see this really, really old movie later," she explained. "I cancelled on him yesterday."
"Is your homework all done?" He asked.
"No...but I've been sick. I'll do it before I go, I promise," She assured him. "Mom, could you make me some pancakes please, as I missed out yesterday?"
-
After her very late breakfast, Joan headed upstairs for a while. Luke was sat studying in the living room, and Helen, Will and Kevin had gone to do the shopping. "Hey, Joan, Dad gave me money for a pizza. What top..." he stopped as he reached the top of the stairs, and saw Joan in her room, doing what appeared to be sit ups. "Sit ups?"
"Yeah, they help me calm down when I'm nervous," She replied.
"Oh. What are you nervous about? I'm the one who has a test tomorrow," he frowned.
"Which you will do fine on," she told him, shaking her head. He was like...a genius! "I'm just worried about math is all. I'm not doing very well."
"Are you going to be a great mathematician?" Luke smiled.
"Nope."
"Then don't worry about math. You've got more of a talent for English," and he walked off. "Oh wait...pizza topping?"
"Tuna and sweetcorn on my bit," She said, standing up. "So was that Grace you were talking to on the phone earlier?"
"No. It was Glynis, panicking about this test we have tomorrow. It was weird, she doesn't panic like that, ever."
"Everyone panics, they just don't show it," She shrugged. "I didn't think you and Glynis were really talking much, at the moment."
"No, we are. It's just...weird," He sighed. "I'll go order the pizza. If I get it now, it should arrive just before everyone gets home."
"Ok."
- Monday -
Luke hummed to himself as he jogged up the stairs, in search of the hairbrush. He was about to go out and meet Friedman to watch a new Discovery Channel special.
His search took him to the bathroom, but the door was closed. "Joan, have you seen my hairbrush?" He got no reply. "Joan?" He sighed and crossed his arms. He couldn't go out with his hair a total mess. He frowned as he heard heaving. She was being sick again. He knocked on the door, "Joan, are you decent? Joan! Joan!"
"Get lost," she called, her voice croaky again.
"Joan, I'm coming in so you'd better be decent!" He sighed, taking a deep breath and opening the door. He found her exactly as he expected too, sat barfing her guts out. He moved forward, and moved her hair out of the way. He rubbed her back, as his mother had often done with him, and shook his head. This was weird, looking after his sister as she threw up. It was mom's job, or dad's. But he didn't really mind doing it – he was just worried about her.
Finally, she sat back and wiped her mouth. Her eyes were bright red. He left her for a second to find a glass, and filled it up with tap water. She washed her mouth out a couple of times.
She looked at him sadly, and then leant forward, wrapping her arms around him. A weird week this was turning out to be. He hugged her for a minute, and then let her go. He stood up, and held out his hand. "You should go to bed."
"I'd rather just sit on the couch," she sniffed. "And watch t.v."
"Okay," he agreed, helping her up. "I'll get you some bottled water."
"Thanks for holding my hair," she sniffed again, as they walked down the hall. "I thought I was over this."
"I told you not to go to school. Couldn't believe you actually wanted to go," Luke smiled. "I should have realised then that you said that because you have a fever. You should have taken it easy."
"I felt okay until about an hour ago," she said. "Maybe I'll stay off tomorrow. But only for a day. I felt fine most of today."
"Okay. Come on, let's get you set up on the couch," he said, and she put her hand on his arm as she walked along. "You feel dizzy?"
"No...just a little weak," she replied. "You were going out weren't you?"
"I'll call Friedman and cancel. Nobody will be home until about 8 tonight," Luke told her coolly.
"I'm not that sick. You can still go out," She assured him as she went down the stairs.
"I don't know, might be akward as Glynis was going too," He sighed.
"Okay," Joan nodded. "As long as it's not really me that's stopping you."
"You sit down, I'll go get you some water," he ordered, and she sat down on the couch, grabbing a cushion and snuggling up.
"Thanks bro."