There are few things grosser than someone sneezing in your face. And after you get over how extremely grossed out you are, you start worrying about getting sick. Some people worry more than others, and some people barely worry about it at all. After all, what are the odds of you getting sick just from someone sneezing in your face?

That was the basic thought-process that went through Erin's mind when someone at school accidentally sneezed in her face. Kim freaked out, but Erin didn't think it was anything to worry about. She'd never been seriously sick before.

But here she was, lying in her bed the day after. Her nose was so stuffed up she had to breathe through her mouth, which made her already-sore throat even drier and more painful, especially when horrible, hacking coughs shook her chest.

There was a low buzz coming from Erin's bedside table, drawing her half-closed and dreary eyes to see her phone screen lit up. She groaned, scooting over a bit in her bed and stretched her hand as far over as she could to grab the small device. She opened up the text message Jake had sent her.

'Where are you?'

Erin glanced at the time and saw that it was almost 8 o'clock. School was bound to start soon. It really sucked that she was missing a day a few weeks into her Junior year. They were supposed to be studying for a test coming up.

'Not coming to school today. Got sick.'

She kept the phone on her bed next to her, just in case he texted back, but ended up dozing off. It felt like she'd only just closed her eyes when she felt something touching her face. She scrunched up her nose, trying to turn away from it, and then something took her hand.

"Erin, baby wake up." a warm voice spoke above her.

She groaned again, trying to bury her face in her pillow, but ultimately decided to see what he wanted. She turned her head enough to peak one eye up at Jacob.

"Hey, you weren't kidding when you said you were sick, huh?" he commented sympathetically, brushing the back of his knuckles over her cheek.

"Mhm. Damn kid sneezing in my face." she grumbled grouchily. Jake cracked a smile, tucking her hair behind her ear so he could have a better view of the part of her face not hidden by a pillow.

"Well, as soon as you're better Kim's gonna say she told you so."

Erin barely managed a glare before the light of her bedroom made her head throb and her eyes fell shut.

"Head hurt?"

"Mhm." she mumbled without opening her eyes.

"Here, take this."

Erin peaked her eyes open to see Jake holding out his hand, a small aspirin resting in his open palm, and a glass of water in his other hand. She smiled appreciatively at him as she took the pill and swallowed it with a gulp of water. She handed the glass back to Jake, laying back down on her back.

"Thanks Jake." she whispered with a small smile.

Jake smiled back. "No problem. I also brought you a box of tissues." he nodded to where he'd placed it on her table, "You need anything else? There's soup in the kitchen." he offered.

Erin's brows furrowed a bit in confusion. "There is? We don't have soup."

Jake rolled his eyes. "I brought some."

"You are going to cook?" she asked, partially nervous but mostly teasing.

Jake stuck his tongue out at her. "For your information, Emily found out you were sick and was going to bring her homemade chicken noodle soup for you, but I offered to bring it since I was planning on ditching anyway to come see you." he explained.

"Your dad's going to kill you for skipping."

"That's what you got out of that?" he rolled his eyes before leaning a bit closer to her and saying slowly, as if talking to a child, "Emily made you soup."

While the thought of swallowing anything down her dry, scratchy throat didn't sound appealing, her stomach grumbled at the thought of any food cooked by Emily Young. Plus, warm soup would probably be one of the only things that would be soothing instead of irritating to her throat. A quick glance at her phone told her it was 10:16 in the morning. No wonder she was hungry.

"Mmm, okay. Yep, that sounds good." she agreed.

Jake chuckled at her before standing up. "Okay. It'll take a few minutes to warm it up, but I'll be right back with your soup."

As promised, Jake returned about five minutes later with a large bowl of steaming chicken noodle soup. He placed it on Erin's bedside table so he could help her sit up against her pillow. She wasn't sick enough to need help apart from that, she could eat on her own, but Jake saw as she took the first two bites that her hair kept escaping from behind her ear and getting in her mouth.

"Here, I'll braid your hair back." Jake offered, carefully moving the bowl back to its spot on the bedside table.

"What? No, I can do it." Erin argued nervously.

Jake looked at her in confusion as he grabbed her hairbrush and pulled the hair tie from around the handle. "Why? I can do it. I want to."

"But…my hair's gross." Erin argued quietly.

Jake gave her a small, amused smile. "Erin, it's fine. I want to. You can't keep eating if your hair keeps falling in the soup."

Erin sighed in defeat before turning around just enough that her back faced him. Jake scooted behind her and began combing his finger from her hairline down her scalp to gently pull her hair back. Erin tried not to cringe, thinking of how greasy her hair felt. She hadn't felt well enough to shower when she woke up, which she had planned to do when she fell asleep the night before. However, despite feeling embarrassed that her boyfriend was touching her hair and probably thinking about how greasy and gross it felt, it did feel nice. Both the touch and the fact that someone was caring for her. She'd never had anyone care for her when she was sick before.

Jake quickly braided her hair down her back before scooting back so she could turn back around.

"Thanks." she smiled sheepishly as he carefully placed the bowl back in her lap.

"Don't mention it." Jake shook his head with a smile of his own.

Erin leaned down and took a deep breath in through her nose. She couldn't smell it, but the steam did clear up her stuffed up nose a bit. "Mm. I bet this smells so good. How good does it smell?" she asked, almost desperately before she took a spoonful of the soup.

"Oh, it smells delicious." Jake nodded with conviction. "Unfortunately, Emily says I'm not allowed to have any since she made it for you." he pouted.

"Oh, you poor baby." she mock pouted in return, "Well, maybe I'll leave you a bowl."

When she finished the bowl, Jake returned it to the sink before joining her in her small bed, cradling her to his chest to keep her warm and chase away her very small fever.

Gradually, the warmth surrounding Erin went from uncomfortable to cozy, slowly lulling her into sleep. Of course, the thumping of Jake's chest near her ear helped as well.

Jake tilted his head to watch her doze off, her lips barely moving as she mumbled under her breath.

"Mmnn…Jake…love you…" she mumbled quietly.

Jake breath caught and he stared down at her, unsure if he heard her right. Her mutterings fell silent and her breathing slowed down, a slight whistle whenever she breathed out through her less-stuffed up nose.

A large smile spread over Jake face. After a moment, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her clammy forehead. He pulled back just enough that his lips brushed over her skin as he whispered against her head, "I love you, too."

XXX

Aw, aren't they cute?!

Also, I'd like to answer the question I'd received a couple times on the last chapter. No, Nessie will not be making an appearance. I like Nessie, but in this story she never happened. We're just going to say either Edward and Bella didn't do the deed, or they used protection like smart people, and then Bella was changed a few days later, blah, blah, blah. Whatever they did is not really my problem for this story.