Chapter 30

In My Head

Paul

The day drags on. Kelsey said she'd get off at four, so I make sure to be outside her house by 3:50. I play Candy Crush to pass the time.

She looks tired when she gets out of the car. I lean over to kiss her.

"Hey, babe. How was work?"

"It was okay." She slips the key into the lock and steps inside.

I grab her bag for her, and watch as she gives herself an insulin shot. She fills the syringe with a little air, sticks the needle into the insulin vial, pushes the air in, then flips the vial upside down. Once that's done, she pulls the plunger back to her dose, removes the needle from the vial, taps out the bubbles in the syringe and sticks the needle into her stomach.

"What's wrong with your pump?" I ask as she disposes of the the syringe.

"Nothing. I'm just running high, so I'm taking a shot."

High? How high? I read somewhere that if your blood sugar stays too high for too long, you could go into diabetic ketoacidosis and have to go to the hospital. Is Kelsey high enough to be in DKA?

"Are you feeling okay? I know sometimes you don't feel well when you're high."

"No, not really. But there's not really that much I can do except chug water and wait for it to go down. I'll hopefully feel better in a little bit."

We take my car up the mountain. I make sure she drinks at least one full bottle of water, throwing the empty bottle into my backseat. Kelsey gives me a small smile.

I park my car at the end of the access road. I faze and allow Kelsey to ride on my back. In my wolf form, I can smell that her blood is a little sweeter than normal, as well as the faint smell of her insulin. Right now, there's slightly more sugar than insulin.

We reach the campsite at around seven. Brady is the first to spot us from where he's leaning over a fire pit. Here's hoping he doesn't act stupid and fall in.

"We got a fire!" he yells. Seth immediately grabs some foil to make baked potatoes. Leah rolls her eyes.

We all sit around the fire pit. Well, I say all of us. Edward must think he's too good to sit with us common folk because he's standing in the shadows and stalking Bella. Which I guess is an everyday occurrence for him.

I slap down a five. "One three." I suck at Bullshit, so I'm not surprised when Kelsey calls me out on the lie and I have to take a handful of cards.

"Who's winning?" Kelsey leans around Leah to check in on Seth and Brady's competitive potato eating contest.

"I've eaten fifteen!" Seth calls, quickly shoving another one into his mouth.

"Eighteen." Brady says proudly.

"You two are gonna make yourselves sick and I'm gonna laugh." Kelsey warns, while simultaneously slapping down two cards.

After Kelsey's third Bullshit win, Brady and Seth join us for a few hands of Poker. I've lost count of who ate more, but my money's on Brady.

"S'mores!" Leah yells, coming up with a Hearshy's bar. Convenient that she just happened to remember that right as she's about to lose again.

"Yes!" Kelsey pulls out a bag of sugarfree marshmallows and stabs one. The rest of us grab the regular ones.

"Bet you I can eat more." Brady turns to Seth.

"How much?"

"Ten dollars."

"Deal."

Kelsey chucks a marshmallow at them. "You two are really gonna make yourself sick. That's probably not the best tactic for defeating vamps; puking all over them." Of course, that doesn't stop the two from eating as much as they possibly can. And in Brady's case, even more than that.

Kelsey's inside the tent when Brady starts to lthrow up in the bushes. Of course, we all have to add our commentary.

"Revealing your dinner." Jake starts, smirking.

"Blowing chunks!" Seth contributes gleefully.

"That flew three feet!" Leah notes, shaking her head in disgust.

"Technicolor yawn." Jake goes in for round two.

"Stomach reversal!" I yell, rolling my eyes. Kelsey did warn them.

Speaking of Kelsey, she emerges from the tent, noticeably not wearing her insulin pump. She's holding a small bottle of pills. She taps out a couple into the palm of her hand and offers them to Brady. She then turns to Seth and raises an eyebrow. Seth's a little green himself, but at least he knew when to stop stuffing his face.

My patrol feels like it takes forever! Although it might be because I can hear Kelsey shivering. I'm so relieved when Brady, still feeling a little queasy, comes to swap with me.

Kelsey's lips are turning blue by the time I climb back into the tent. "You okay?" I ask, reaching out to her. "You're shivering."

"It's freezing out here!" she burrows even farther into the sleeping bag.

I quickly settle myself beside her, wrapping my arms around her, and begin to run my hand up and down her arm to warm it, my fingers ghosting over her Dexcom. I watch as her shivering slows and she slowly drifts off. "Thanks."

"No problem. Try to get some sleep, okay?"

"I'll try. Night, Paul." she mumbles, already half asleep.

"Night, Kelsey." I brush my lips across her forehead. She almost immediately relaxes in my embrace, sleep claiming her.

The beeping of her Dexcom wakes me. The words Low Glucose are flashing across her screen, and when I check the number on her app, I see that she's 68. I grab a juice box, which is somehow not completely frozen, and quickly turn it in my hands a couple times to warm it a little. I then gently shake Kelsey awake.

I watch as she drinks the entire juice box and then lie back down and wrap my arms around her shaking form. Low blood sugar can cause the shakes. The shaking slowly stops and she sets her phone back beside her and turns into my embrace, almost immediately drifting off back to sleep. I hold her close, kiss her forehead, and allow myself to drift off to dreamland with her in my arms.

A/n: Hey, guys! I hope you guys like this chapter. In addition to updating this story, I'm also updating Chronic Love. Also, I'm debating on changing the name of this story to Sun Comes Up Tomorrow. What do you guys think? Here's the deal: if we can get to 111 reviews by Saturday, I'll update then. If not, it'll be on Monday. Later!

Lauren.

Replies to Reviews:

Sparkle15: I loved writing these chapters. I can totally see the wolves being competitive eaters. LOL. I hope you like this chapter, too; please review and let me know.

Loves to read books: I'm still debating on changing the name. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Chronic Love. I also hope you enjoy this chapter too; please review and let me know.

Twilightfanjm: My sister and I were debating over Renesmee's name. We quickly decided that Carlie (her middle name) Renesmee Cullen was a lot better. According to my baby name app, there were 154 Renesmees born in 2020. My app has yet to add last year's specific stats. I hope you like this chapter too; please review and let me know.