A/N: 38 degrees Celsius is about 101 degrees Fahrenheit.
Being Sick
You know what the worst part about being sick is? The way you have to blow your nose every 30 seconds.
I was supposed to go out to the movies with my girlfriends tonight. Hell, I was supposed to go to school yesterday. But when I awoke with a splitting headache, overflowing nose, and aching muscles, I supposed it would be a good idea to take my temperature. Once I did that, I guessed that I should stay home. Because that's what people with a fever of 38.3 degrees Celsius normally did, right?
So once I was sick with a horrid cold, I had to call for a substitute (which I'm sure my students had so much fun with), and had to cancel all of my plans.
I was supposed to have fun this weekend. Day of school and diner with a-normally-out-of-town-but-was-currently-in-town friend on Friday. Then lunch and movies with girlfriends today/Saturday. And the best part was supposed to be a day home on Sunday, full of relaxing music, funny home-owned DVDs, and eating my XL/8 ounce (8 ounce!) Hershey Chocolate bar. I had been saving it for a special occassion, and, although I'm still going to eat it, the original intention was to NOT be miserable when I ate it.
So there I sat, in my appartment, surfing channels on TV at two in the morning because I was unable to sleep. I took a sip of my Diet Coke, sneezed, groaned, then blew my nose for approximately the millionth time that day. There was some old Western movie on, and, knowing that there was nothing better to watch, I let the remote control sit on my lap for a while.
The one guy in the film reminded me of Hatori. He was a doctor, of course, but he was so quiet. I thought he was a wuss until one of his buddies was shot. Then he sort of turned evil and shot three out of four bad guys down with a shotgun. It was pretty cool. The actor had the strangest eyes. They were such a pale shade of blue-green that they looked fake. I was mesmerized as I watched the doctor bandage up his wounded friend.
"Thanks, Al," the injured cowboy said with a grunt. He gave a strained smile. "You always manage to come through."
I sneezed.
"You're just lucky I don't shoot you myself," Al, the doctor, replied, giving his friend a pat on the arm. "You need to watch your back, John," he added as he stood and brushed off his pants. "I mean it."
I grimaced at the amount of mucus in the tissue I had used seconds before.
John waved it away, rested his back against a nearby wall, and sighed. "Hand me a beer, will you?"
I rolled my eyes. Men. A bullet to the leg, and all they want is a cold one. Then again, if I was shot in the leg AND being tended to by an incredibly gorgeous doctor, I'd want a beer to bring me back to life as well.
Sneeze. Groan. Blow nose. Groan.
The phone rang, and I looked at it, puzzled. Who in God's name would be calling me at this time of night? After four rings, I picked it up. "Hello?"
"Mayuko-chan?" I recognized the voice almost instantly, and snapped to attention. "What are you doing up at this hour?"
I was about to ask him the same question, but instead I sneezed. I let out a frustrated "ugh!", hit the arm of the sofa I was sitting on, then turned back to the phone. "I'm sick. It's just a nasty cold." I sneezed again, the mucus that I hadn't blown out before now flying onto the sleeve of my jacket. I let out a moan. He asked me exactly what was wrong with me, and I tried to sum all of the misery up in a few words.
"Sounds like a sinus infection," Hatori finally said.
I blinked. "How could you tell if you haven't even seen me?"
Hatori chuckled. "I'm a very experienced doctor, Mayuko-chan."
I decided to ignore that. "Well, whatever, I'll be better by Tuesday."
"Do you want me to bring you some medicine?"
I resisted a cough, because God only knows what kind of disgusting shit that would bring out of my aching body. "No. I'll be fine. How come you're up at this hour? And why are you calling me?"
"Ayame heard from Yuki that you weren't in school yesterday," Hatori explained.
"So you decided to call at two in the morning?"
"It's actually three."
I looked at the clock on the TV and made a face. "Still."
Hatori sighed. "I don't know, exactly." He let out a defeated 'hm'. "I guess I'm caught."
This was kind of becoming too much. Hatori was calling me, in the middle of the early morning, asking if I was alright. Was he thinking about me? I mean... what other reason would he call at this time? And yet, he couldn't be calling about me. This is Hatori that we're talking about.
I shook my head, which didn't help my headache, and tried to clear my mind. "Why don't I hang up and you can go back to sleep?"
Hatori was silent for a moment, and I was afraid that I had hurt his feelings. "Yes... I'll talk to you later, Mayuko-chan. I hope you feel better."
"Uh-huh." I sniffed with no effect. "Thanks for checking up on me. I appreciate it, even when it is an abnormal time to call."
Then there was another pause. And, I can't really explain it... but it was as if I could tell he was smiling. The thought made me feel warm, and as I hung up the phone, it felt as if everything was ok.
Then I sneezed once again. And I remembered that everything was not ok. The yellow color of the goo that had exited my nose was proof of that.
