Chapter 10 - Home Sick

Back at the Candy Bar, Jimmy was serving his customers per usual. However, ever since Cindy discovered him working here, she's been dropping by more often, mainly to tease him. Jimmy and Sam had a talk about the matter, so Jimmy acted more rational to her. There were more people around this time so with or without the talk, he wouldn't make a scene.

"While it was nice of you to remember my old favorite," Cindy mentioned fondly at the counter. "I do have a new favorite though."

"Alright," Jimmy stated. "Go ahead."

"I'll have two scoops of the butterscotch ripple," she expressed in an energetic manner.

"That's gonna amount to $2.99," he motioned the register. "Will that be cash or card?"

"I got my card right here," she whipped it out.

As she was paying for it, Jimmy was lost in his own thoughts. The strange thing is that, without the fierceness from our childhood, she's almost like Sheen in how hyperactive they both can be. Still takes some getting used to… "And here's your receipt. Let me get that made."

"Now was that so hard, Neutron?" she teased while chuckling and proceeding to sit near one of the booths.

"Says the person who promised she wouldn't laugh." Jimmy shot back as he was putting her ice cream together. "Besides, it's not that long to make so there's no reason to walk away."

"Well, that just makes the anticipation of the treat worth it," Cindy shrugged as she sat down.

Jimmy would've gone and handed the dessert to her at the table, but due to a few customers going in, he needed to take their orders first. Meanwhile Cindy observed as he took their orders then she looked towards the window, thinking to herself. Okay, maybe it was a tad rude to walk away when the order was ready. I mean the ice cream is just sitting there, so maybe I should just get up and grab it before it melts. As she was about to get up, the unexpected happened.

"Here's your ice cream," Jimmy stated as he was next to her booth. As she got up, she accidentally knocked Jimmy over along with the ice cream which landed on his face. Cindy however, fell backwards into her booth. Some people looked and made comments but neither of them noticed.

"Great to know some things don't change," Jimmy sighed as he looked to the ceiling.

She laughed nervously. "My bad." She got up from her booth and pulled him up.

"No, I should've seen it coming," Jimmy said sheepishly as he stood up. "That said, don't you usually have better reflexes than that?"

"I guess I was just out of it." She said, also sheepishly.

"Makes sense." Jimmy walked away. "I'll be back with a new cone once I get what's left of this one off." As he came back, he saw her with a new cone already. I guess Sam beat me to the punch, he thought to himself.

"You okay, Jim?" Sam asked him as he returned to the cashier. "I haven't seen you make a mess in awhile."

"I'm not sure what happened, but I'm fine now."

"In that case…" Sam handed Jimmy a mop. "You can clean this floor, while I serve the rest of the customers."

"I guess I should've known where this was heading."

"Yup, now get to it, yeah!"

He mopped around the restaurant and eventually Cindy's booth. "So is the second cone better?"

"Only cause I actually get to have it," she teased and then looked away. "Sorry that by the way."

"It's fine," Jimmy shrugged. "It gave Sam a reason to get this floor cleaned." It's been a few months, he thought. "So all's well that ends well right?"

A few days later, Cindy showed up to the Candy Bar. She hadn't seen Jimmy much at college, but that was to be expected since they took different classes. Deciding to get her usual, she figured to say hi to him here. However, she only saw Sam and one other coworker. After having her dessert, she couldn't help but ask the owner where Jimmy was.

"He called out sick today," Sam said to her. "When I saw him working yesterday, he was sneezing quite a bit so it wasn't too much of a surprise, but I hope he gets better soon."

This took her in silence. She couldn't help but feel bummed.

Jimmy on the other hand was stuck at home without much to do. He attempted to watch a movie on the futon, but couldn't bring himself to focus all that well. "Pukin' Pluto," Jimmy said to himself as he sniffled. "That ice cream mishap the other day really did me in. I should've known better to take care of my immune system."

As the day progressed, he passed out on the futon. He woke up to the sound of someone knocking on the door. He squinted his eyes at the kitchen clock to check the time and realized it was past 5pm. He was out of it for a solid four hours. Jimmy then heard the sound of the door knocking again. He moaned and winced due to being sick and attempting to get up from the futon. The way he slept left him a bit sore. As he trudged over to the door, he checked who was on the other side through the peephole. Much to his surprise, he saw Cindy on the other side with a bag. This shocked him as he had no recollection of telling her where he lived. He promptly opened the door to see her.

"Hey Neutron," Cindy waved. "How are you feeling?"

"Just peachy, but I gotta ask…" Jimmy started. "How did you know where I lived? There was no way you could've doxxed me!"

"Yeah, sorry for the intrusion," she explained. "Sam had some stuff to give you to help you feel better and I picked a few things up along the way."

"Figures he'd tip you off," he murmured. "Anyway, just a moment," he shut the door. His room wasn't too shabby, but it wasn't clean either. He had VOX swiftly tidy up the room and spray some disinfectant to freshen it up a bit. "Okay, you're good," he said as he opened the door.

"I guess this isn't too different from my dorm," Cindy commented. "Though it's a tad simpler."

"I like to think of it as easy on the eyes, especially after a long day." Jimmy then asked. "Why didn't you text me in advance?"

Cindy put some things down, "I did! Check your phone!"

Jimmy opened his phone to see that he had six messages and two missed calls. "Okay… In my defense, I was asleep." He was about to ask her what she brought, but one of the messages mentioned Sam sending some medicine over.

"I'm not entirely sure it's alright for you to do this-" he was cut off by his own coughing fit.

She immediately went to pat his back. "I'll be fine. I dosed on some immune support vitamins before coming here," she bragged as she pointed a thumb at herself. She then pointed at him. "You, on the other hand, need some rest, so get to bed."

Jimmy didn't feel up for arguing as it would've been a waste of energy, something he had little of at the moment. He then did as he was told. "What are you going to do?"

Cindy sadly said, "Listen… I'm sorry. I most likely got you sick from knocking your face with ice cream."

"Heh, if it makes you feel better, it was probably Sam's floor that did me in," he smirked to lighten the mood.

"Still, I was being stubborn when I could've picked up my food, which led to that mess," she said solemnly, before acting cheerful. "So I wanna make it up to you by making you a nice dinner to get you back into ship shape!"

"What is it?" he couldn't help but ask as he put the covers on.

"It's an old Vortex recipe for chicken soup." She then began putting the ingredients in. "My folks would always say it's the only real way to fight a cold."

"No crazy spices, right?" Jimmy asked suspiciously.

She played along. "Guess you found me out. What're you gonna do about it?"

"What did you do?" He attempted to get up but coughed instead.

"Okay, sorry. I was just kidding. This recipe is strictly by the book, so don't worry." She teased. "Not this time anyway." Cindy then walked over to him. "We need to check for a temperature. Got a thermometer nearby?"

"Yeah," he pointed to Vox. "I'd have to get over there to use it though."

"Figures you'd overcomplicate things." She then thought with a chuckle as she looked at her forehead. "I think I know a way."

"What's that-?" Jimmy asked, immediately answered by Cindy putting her forehead against his. This caused him to immediately blush causing his temperatures to rise. SO CLOSE, he thought as this happened. He could feel her breath as she started laughing.

"Oh my," she teased. "Looks like we got quite the fever!"

"Wha- what kind of game do you think this is?" Jimmy asked, feeling flustered.

"I had to find out some way," she half-heartedly explained as she let go. Next thing he knew, she got him an ice pack and put it on his forehead.

"Wow, this feels nice." he said. The cooling sensation caused him to get sleepy.

"Okay, Neutron. Take it easy until I have dinner made. I got it from here!"

"Okay… then…" Jimmy dozed off. This scenario is kinda strange. It's almost like… almost like… his thoughts went to his dreams.

In this dream, Jimmy was also sick and Cindy was taking care of him. However, things were different. They were married and lived together.

"Hey, don't worry about me." Jimmy said as he was in bed. "You got work today. You shouldn't miss that."

"No need to worry about that hun," Cindy reassured him. "I got enough days off saved. I can spare one to take care of you."

"Are you sure this won't cause any problems with work?"

"I am sure, and as your wife it's my responsibility to make sure you recover!" she said proudly.

Eventually, Jimmy's dream and reality began to merge. Back to reality, Jimmy woke up, but only partially. Thanks to the fever, elements of his dream carried over into his perception of reality. In other words, he thought he was still dreaming when he woke up.

"Dinner's ready!" Cindy sat next to his bed. "If you wanna eat this without making a mess, you gotta sit up!" She helped him get up, even in his dozed state. "Hmm, looks like it'll be a bad idea for me to hand this bowl over, so open wide!"

Jimmy did as he was told and opened his mouth. "Ahhhhh," he said in a monotone voice. That's how he was fed throughout the meal. Cindy had a bit of fun with it without going overboard and making a mess.

"You know Jimmy, you're one lucky guy." Jimmy's perception of Cindy spoke to him. "Didn't you enjoy this exclusive meal from your loving wife?"

Meanwhile in reality, Cindy said in a playful and semi-sarcastic manner, "So Neutron. Seeing you're full, I take it that the food was at least okay by your standards?"

Jimmy responded with a smile of relief. "Yeah, your cooking was amazing. Thank you, Cindy."

Cindy took a second to process his answer. It seemed so earnest, and what shocked her was that he called her by her first name again. This caused her to blush almost as intensely as Jimmy would. Eventually, she got ahold of herself and saw him begin to nod off once again. "Heh, thought you could startle me with actually using my first name, huh? Why not try that again, Nerdtron?!"

This was only met with Jimmy falling back to sleep. She couldn't help but feel disappointed that the moment had passed. Still, she was stubborn to get him to say it again. "Come on, say it!"

No response as he was fast asleep. She sighed as she moved closer to him and then spoke more softly, "I wish you'd call me by my first name again. If you did…"

Cindy wasn't quite sure why she said this next part but something in her couldn't help but say it. "...maybe I'd kiss you, for real."

She then laughed at the idea. "Heh, neither of us would dare say that when we were younger. I thought it was weird that you dreamt it when we were kids! Oh how times change."

"Still… Can I… Jimmy?" She quietly asked even though she knew this would fall on deaf ears. "Just… this… once," she started to lean in.

All of a sudden someone knocked on the door. Cindy immediately jumped up and attempted in vain to shake off the blush. She peeked through the peephole to find Carl with some things of his own to help Jimmy. She opened the door.

"Oh hey Cindy!" Carl greeted her. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh- uh, I just wanted to check up on Neutron. He's a bit out of it and just went to sleep."

"Oh okay." Carl easily bought that. "I'm about to do the same."

"Alrighty then, I'll leave you to it!" She was taking her leave. She felt a tad embarrassed.

"Wait, do you need a ride?" Carl offered.

"No need. I'm pretty close by!" Cindy began to run, while still blushing, "Take care!"