Ch. 8: Popsicles for the Sick
A few hours later, my eyes flutter open, and I cast my right arm out to my side, before my head turns too. Oliver's not there anymore. I look around, and wipe the sleepy from the corners of my eyes. I get up slowly, supporting myself by inching against the wall.
I finally make my way out to the living room, where Oliver looks up from the paper. He springs to his feet.
"Morning, Katie," he says softly.
"Morning," I greet him back.
"How do you feel?" he asks as he puts a hand to my forehead and frowns as he removes it.
"Still sick. What time is it?" I ask. Judging by how much light is streaming in through the windows, it's fairly late.
"10:45," he answers as he makes his way into the kitchen.
"Oh no..." I moan. Late to work again...
"It's alright, Kates. I sent Alicia an owl and told her you were home sick today," he said turning back around and handing me a lime popsicle. Ok...Now I'm stumped.
"My mum would give me popsicles when I used to get sick as a kid. Always helped me," he says. I smile back at him and slide the cold, green rectangle in my mouth. So Ollie is taking care of me is he? Wait a minute...
"Don't you have training today?" I ask, sitting down at our kitchen table. Oliver is puttering around in the kitchen, getting himself some coffee.
"I have it in a few hours, and by then Angelina should be here," he says, looking at his wristwatch, despite the fact that there's a clock on the wall to his left.
"Angelina's coming?" I ask around the popsicle.
"Yeah. You're too sick to leave home alone, so I also owled Angelina, and she'll be here around 1 to take over," Oliver explains as he takes a sip from his mug. So they're taking care of me in shifts, eh? I smile and kept sucking on my popsicle.
So a few hours and a few popsicles later, I was laying on the couch with my head on Oliver's lap while he read the newspaper.
"Can I ask you something?" I ask suddenly. He folds the paper and tosses it on the floor. He looks down on me with those puppy dog eyes and I just want to melt.
"Why do you like Lore?" I look away. This is kind of embarrassing to ask, not to mention a little rude. But I really am curious.
"Well, she's pretty, and interesting," he says. That's it? From what other's say, I'm pretty and I can be interesting too!
"Why do you ask?"
"No reason," I lie. The doorbell rings and both of us snap up. I curl up on my side, feeling my throat constrict while Oliver gets the door. Angelina is standing there, here hands in her pockets.
"Where is she?" I can hear her whisper. Oliver turns and points to me. Angelina comes over and sits down next to me.
"Hey there sweetie. How you feeling?" she asks quietly.
"Better than last night," I mumble, curling even further into the arm of the couch. In the background, I can hear Oliver rummaging around. Then he walks into view.
"OK ladies. I'm off to training. I'll be back in a few hours," he says. Yeah, and you'll be too hot and tired to pay attention to me.
"Bye Oliver!" Angelina calls after him. Oliver waves and closes the door behind him. I sigh and Angelina turns to me.
"Need anything?" she asks. I turn to her and smile.
"A hug?" I ask. Angelina smiles and squeezes me tightly to her.
"So what's up? Oliver said he woke up and found you practically barfing your guts out in the bathroom at 4 in the morning," Angelina said. Hm...that's right. He found me.
"I had crab on my salad when I went out to eat last night with Marcus. Well, you know me; Most sensitive stomach in the world. I couldn't handle it and here I am. Sick as a dog," I say. Angelina smiles sympathetically.
"I'm sorry, sweetie. Can I get you anything to eat or drink?" she asks. I clutch my stomach. I feel a little hungry, but the feeling of being sick overpowers that hunger. Ugh, I hate being sick. I feel so weak and useless. I shake my head to Angelina but she gets up and goes into the kitchen anyways.
I close my eyes and hear her rummaging around in the ice box in the freezer. Probably getting me something to drink.
My eyes shoot open when I hear something pounding on the door. God dammit, it's my day off! I'm sick! And yet I still have people pounding on my doors! Wait...wonder who it is. I try to stand up, but my vision clouds over again.
"Just sit down, Katie. I'll get it," I hear Angelina say as she approaches the door. I look up, and the second Angelina opens the door, Alicia bursts in, almost knocking Ange on her butt.
"Oh Katie! How are you? How do you feel?" she rushes over to my side and throws an arm around my shoulders.
"I'm OK now, but I still feel a little sick. And I'm dead tired..." I admit. Well I am! Throwing your guts up is not only gross and painful, but it really exhausts you!
"Really?" she asks. I assume she's talking about being sleepy.
"Yeah. I haven't been able to sleep well,"
"Well, I just so happen to have brought a sleeping potion," Alicia grins. Ok, that's just ever so slightly creepy. I eye the small purple bottle as she pulls it out from her massive zebra-skin shoulder bag.
"Alicia,"
"Yes?"
"Burn that bag," I demand. Angelina snickers while Alicia gives us both a dirty look.
"You got something to drink?" she asks. I look over to Angelina who levitates a glass of water over to me. I give it to Alicia and she looks at the side of the bottle, squinting to read the small italic writing. I can barely read it either, but I guess Alicia has sharper eyes than mine.
"May I ask one question, before you drug me up?" I ask. Alicia turns to me expectantly.
"How the hell do you have this 'on hand'?" I ask. Seriously. Who the hell carries around sleeping potion? Alicia. Enough said.
"Well, when I get sick, all I want to do is sleep. My mum's friend gave me this sleeping potion when she was supposed to be watching me while I was sick. Well, I woke up a while later and felt good as new. All I had needed was some rest," she explains as she pours the thick, purple liquid into my water, where it proceeded to taint the clear liquid...blue? I must be getting delusional.
"Cheers," I say, as I raise the glass to my lips. Hmm, interesting. Tastes a bit like...lavender lemonade. Wow...kicking in fast. Yawn...I'll just close my eyes now...I curl up on my side and close my eyes, falling asleep to the murmurs of Alicia and Ange...
"Mmm," I groan as I flex my muscles underneath my sheets. Feels like I haven't used them in ages.
"You're finally up," someone whispers. Wait a minute, I thought I fell asleep on the couch? My eyelids flutter open and I see Oliver leaning over me. Just behind him, I see Angelina and Alicia asleep against the wall.
"What time is it?" I ask in a hushed voice. Oliver brushes a strand off hair out of my face and looks away.
"6AM," he replies. My eyes widen and Oliver smiles.
"Feeling better?" he asks. I look up into those warm pools of chocolate brown, and see he's hiding something. I nod, and he sighs, digging in his pockets for something.
"Oh and...you got this when you were asleep," he says as he hands me a crumpled letter. I look at the seal of a big fancy 'F' and see that it's unbroken. Good, no one tried to open my mail when I was out of it. I set the letter on the nightstand and turn to look at Oliver.
"So...how long have I been out of it?" I ask tentatively. Oliver runs a hand through his hair and sighs and looks off, probably counting.
"About sixteen hours," he whispers. My eyes bug out. What?!
"16 hours?!" I hiss. He puts a finger up to his lips to try to quiet me. He nods.
"We were worried, so we decided to all stay until you woke up," he whispers. I smile at him and reach out for his hand. Oh Oliver, you're too good to me. Ever my guardian angel.
"So how do you feel?"
"Weak," I say. Oliver frowns and squeezes my hand.
"Want me to get you a Popsicle?" he asks, starting to grin lopsidedly. I nod, and he hurries out of the room, his sweat pants rustling softly. He nudges Alicia's arm out of the way and exits the room. I stare after the door before remembering the letter. I pick it up of the table and look at it for a second before sliding a finger under the seal and breaking it.
Katie-
I heard about what happened, and I just want to apologize about the whole dinner incident. I hope you feel a lot better! Maybe we could go out and do something fun tomorrow, or whenever you're feeling better. Owl me back with a response
-Marcus
I look up and see Oliver coming into the room, a red popsicle in hand. He stares icily at the letter before he hands me to frozen treat. If I could gauge his stare versus the popsicle, I'd say his glare was colder. I suck on the popsicle and look up at Oliver. How cute, he's looking away. I smile against the popsicle and feel a cold drop run down my chin. Agh, cold! I rub it away and take the treat out of my mouth.
"Oliver...How come we never do anything anymore?" I ask. I've been thinking about this a lot lately.
"Wh-what?" he sputters, turning to me, looking like a cute Scot caught in headlights. Yes! I admit it! He's cute! And I've gone crazy too! Bwuahahah! Ooh right, he's here...
"We used to hang out a lot. Then we just...separated. These days you're too busy with Lore or Quidditch," I say pointedly. How bout you get rid of Lore and I'll forgive you for your neglect? Oliver's eyes lower and I start to feel a little bad I said anything at all.
"Yeah, well even when I'm not busy with Lore or Quidditch, which I admit is rare, you're out with Flint," he says. Ooh, he practically spits Flint's name. Do I sense some anger here? Yes. Yes I do.
"Oh no. Don't try to turn this around on me! Besides – it's clearly both our faults," I reply matter-of-factly. I put the popsicle back in my mouth and look up to see Oliver roll his eyes, then throw me a playful smile. Thank goodness I'm sitting instead of standing, otherwise my knees would have collapsed from that look. Stupid cute Oliver!
He glances down at his watch and then looks back up to me.
"Sorry, Kates. But I have to go," he says, taking a step toward me.
"Training?" I ask. Blah, never enough time for me anymore.
"Yeah. But I'll try to get home straightaway and we can have dinner," he says. Hah, so he's trying to make it up to me? I put the popsicle between my knees and pull the covers up to my shins before I turn back up to him.
"Sounds good to me," I say, giving him a sweet smile. He leans forward, places a hand on my bare thigh and kisses me on the forehead before turning to leave. Wow, I can feel my skin burning from where he touched it. And his lips are so soft... Wait a minute! Why the hell has no one dressed me?! I've been in skimpy boy shorts this whole time?! Agh!... Did he just kick Alicia?
"Wake up!" I hear him command as he walks out the door. I bite my lip to stifle my laughter as Alicia looks around groggily.
"What? I'm up! I'm up!" she yells. Of course this in turn wakes up Angelina. Angelina's arms fly about. Hehehe.
"What?! What's going on?!" she yells, smacking Alicia in the face with the back of her hand. Hahahaha.
"OW!" Alicia cries out as her own hand flies to her mouth. BWUAHAHAHA.
"Oh shut up, Katie," I hear Alicia hiss at me. Of course I'm doubled over in laughter on my bed and Alicia and Ange are just now getting up from the floor.
"Wait! You're up!" Ange cries before both girls converge on the bed.
"How do you feel?" Ange asks, putting a hand to my forehead and nodding approvingly.
"Much better! But was I supposed to be out that long?" I ask, turning to Alicia. Angelina put her hands on her hips and turns to Alicia, looking annoyed. Of course Alicia is blushing brightly and wringing her hands together.
"I sort of...overdosed you. But I'm happy that you feel better!" she says, trying to cover up her blunder. Oh Alicia, you silly girl.
"It's OK though. That was probably the best sleep I've ever had," I say truthfully. Mmm, indeed it was. I stretch out and the girls look at me with smirks across their faces. What? Did I miss something? Are you laughing cus I'm in boy shorts?!
"What?" I ask. Ange and Alicia shake their heads.
"What?! Tell me!" Alicia sticks her tongue out at me, and I look around. A-hah! I grab my wand and poke Alicia in the stomach.
"If you don't tell me, I'll hex you!" I say. I see Alicia gulp, because she knows I'm telling the truth. I told Fred and George in our seventh year that if he didn't let me study, I'd turn them into mice and let Hermione Granger's cat...uh...Crookedlegs, no that's not right...Crookshanks! Yes! I told them I'd turn them into mice and let Crookshanks have a bit of fun with em. They didn't let up so let's just say Crookshanks had a bit of fun with two red mice that night.
"Maybe your sleep was so good, because you had someone next to you," Angelina pipes in. My eyes lower in shock, but I can tell Alicia is breathing a sigh of relief. She doesn't mean?
"No!"
"Yes! He spent a couple hours next to you before he got up," Angelina says, grinning with pure joy for me. I smile, but I don't know why I was so shocked. Before the girls came over, Oliver stayed in bed with me till I fell asleep. But then again, I had asked him to.
"Oooooooooh," Alicia coos as she pokes my side.
"Me thinks he likes you," She says. Angelina nods in affirmation next to her. I roll my eyes.
"And me thinks both of you should go to hell," I say, kicking the sheets away from my shins. The girls look down and then to each other, their shoulders quaking with laughter. Grr, what now?!
"What?!" I demand angrily. Why is everything I do so hilarious today?!
"Have a little...accident, Katie?" Alicia asks, pointing to the sheets between my knees. I look down, and see my popsicle has completely melted in a pool of red. My sheets! Wait...Oh real mature guys.
"Ha ha, very funny," I mutter sarcastically as I kick off the side of the bed and stand up. I pick up the dripping popsicle, which is nearly gone, and rush to the kitchen. I hear the girls laughing in my room, probably telling nasty jokes to one another. I briskly walk back to my room, and what the-?
"OW!" I yell. Alicia and Angelina poke their heads out of my room and start laughing, seeing me flat on my ass on the floor.
"I slipped!" I yelled. Stupid popsicle! Argh! I get up off the ground and turn my back on the girls. I better clean those stupid popsicle puddles up before I slip on it again, or before we attract ants. Grr. Stupid ants. Not even magic can keep those damn things away. I turn around angrily because I hear the girls laughing even harder, pointing at me.
"God dammit guys! What the hell is so funny?!" I scream. Alicia is on her knees, her face buried in her hands she's laughing so hard. Angelina is hunched over, clutching her sides, pointing at me.
"What?!"
"Your! Your shorts! Ahahahah!" Angelina manages to squeeze out through fits of laughter. I look around me...and see a red splotch on the back of my shorts.
"ARGHHH!" I roar in anger. It's not funny dammit! I grab a rag from the sink and chuck it at Angelina's face. It lands right on target, with a loud smacking sound to boot. I storm into the bathroom and slam the door as hard as I can. I look in the mirror, and see a furious blush on my face. I turn to get a better look, and I sigh when I see a red popsicle dot on my white shorts. Stupid girls – that's so not cool.
I turn on the shower before I shed my clothes, leaving them in a small pile next to the toilet. The water feels good against my oily, sweaty skin. Man, it feels so nice to be getting clean after being drenched in sweat from throwing your guts up. I run an ivory bar of soap over my stomach, and it grumbles in response.
"Ungh, those two better be making me breakfast," I mumble to myself, my mouth half filling with water when I said it. I scrub my head furiously with shampoo and conditioner for a few minutes until I finally feel clean enough.
I step out of the shower and pick up the towel off the rack. I wrap it around my body, and shudder. It's wet.
"OLIVER!!!" I yell. Stupid prat didn't even have the decency to put a drying spell on it! And lovely, I don't have my wand. This just further proves my theory that he should NOT USE MY TOWEL.
So out of the bathroom, I sulk, damp and dripping, stomping to my room and slamming that door as well. Watch, it'll turn out to be Thursday. And the only day I hate more than Monday is Thursday. It's always been a crappy day as long as I can remember. Sure good things have happened on Thursdays, but the majority of bad things have happened on this dreaded day.
I gripped my wand and cast a drying charm on my hair, and I felt it dry against my bare shoulders. I dropped my towel after I was sure the door was locked (still a habit, even when Lore wasn't there) My feet felt a little sticky against the hardwood floor as I padded over to my closet. I pulled on some clean underwear and tugged on a pair of tan corduroy capris. To top it all off, I pulled on a white short sleeved polo and some white Adidas shoes. Hehe, even though I'm a witch, I'm still a sucker for Muggle fashion.
"Got anything for me?" I ask as I stepped into the kitchen. Alicia and Angelina were both nursing two steaming mugs of coffee. I saw a letter on the table, and looked at it inquisitively.
"Oh, it's just a letter from a client of mine," Ange said, shoving the letter in her pocket. Hmm, wonder what's up?
"By the way, did you find a pad?" Alicia asks, a smile tugging at the right corner of her lips. Oh that's it.
"I hate you," I say angrily as I plop down in my chair.
"And we love you, too, sunshine," Ange says happily, taking another sip of her coffee.
"We made you some pancakes," Alicia said, levitating a stack of the thin golden cakes over to my chair.
"Syrup?" Ange asks, raising her wand expectantly. I shake my head. Ooh, these smell good. Hopefully they didn't poison them or anything.
"Nah I'm good," I say as I cut up a few bites of pancake and stuff them in my mouth.
"So what are we going to do today?" Ange asks, turning to Alicia.
"Dunno. I think the shop will be OK without us for another day," Oh right, Alicia has been with me since yesterday. Hmm, o well. Our little shop should be safe. I hope...
"Why don't we go shop around? I already told Caleb and Richard that I wouldn't be in today. Hopefully Richard can deal with the meathead alright," Ange snorted. I had to jog my memory for a minute, but I finally put a face to each name. Richard was a large, elderly man who owned the gym, and ew. Caleb was that overly muscular gross guy that tried to hit on Alicia and I. Hehe, Ange called him meathead. Hee hee.
"Shounds goot to me," I say through a mouthful of pancakes. My friends grin and take a few more sips of coffee, not breaking eye contact. I wonder what's up. They're acting a bit suspicious. I eye my next bite of pancake before shoveling it in my mouth.
About a half hour later, I find myself flanked by my two best friends as we walk down the street.
"Where should we stop first?" I hear Ange ask from my left. I look around and am suddenly pulled sharply to my right by Alicia. In the window, next to a cornucopia, I see an assortment of shoes. High heels, Mary Janes, boots, sneakers. You name it, it was in that window. A window, which Alicia was currently pressing her nose up against.
"Shoes," she whispered. Ange and I snicker as we can see her breath fan out on the glass.
"Careful now, don't drool!" I say. I wink at Ange, and we both snicker a little more. In the blink of an eye, Alicia whips around, grabs both of us by the arm, and before we realize it, we're in the air conditioned shoe store. White shelves upon white shelves were brightly lit, showcasing all the different shoes.
"Wowwwww," Alicia said. She is such a shoe freak.
"Hey ladies! How are you guys doing today? I'm Mia if you need any help," a really young witch approaches us and introduces herself. Her wand is poking out of her tight, faded jeans, and you can see the bottom of her belly button ring from under the hem of her tube top, which Ange and I have so graciously named, the boob tube.
"Thanks," Alicia says. Mia, if that is her real name, giggles at Alicia's look. Hey I would too, in fact, I just got over laughing about it. I mean...the girls' eyes are wide and starry, and I bet if she could, she'd buy every pair in the store.
"Looking for anything in particular?" the young witch asks. I can't get over how young she is. Must be fresh out of Hogwarts. Alicia turns around and looks at the girl, her eyes watering. Maybe the lights are too much for her. Or maybe she's just weird...I'm leaning towards weird.
Huzzah! And that's it for today's post! Now on to the Hall of Fame!
-Ihopeforanarchy
-imrad
-Kathy
-Fernanda
-Denise
-Paradise-unknown
-SumeR's girl
-Soccer Bitch
-old school rocker
-lindalee4
-BadgerQueen
-Crying Pixie
-Inu-Kokoro
-Sreeeti
-Shadowstar21
-PhyrePrincess
Heheh, thanks for reading guys! And mayyyybe if I get enough reviews I'll post more today. Until then, Love to you all, and tea for some! (random i know)
English-Foxlette
STILL lookin for fic ideas!