Yeah, apologies for breaking the streak on weekly updates.

Scarlet Fever: Part Five

Since the party fell on the weekend, Wolf spent the night with Scarlet on her farm and awoke in her place. He changed into outing clothes and went into her kitchen to prepare some breakfast, also known as toast and jam with a pot of coffee. He got the bread out, put some slices in the toaster, and was about to grab some jam from the fridge, but he turned around to see Scarlet shuffle into the kitchen. She's still in her pyjamas but her face is pale and she's sniffling with some tissues in her hands.

"Woah, babe, still hungover?" Wolf asks. "Do you want anything?"

"I'm congested," Scarlet says weakly.

"Is that all?"

Wolf doubts that's all, especially when he puts the back of his hand on her forehead and it's alarmingly warm. Scarlet coughs in her sleeve and Wolf prepares a glass of orange juice for her. He shakes his head. Was she sick throughout the night and he slept through it? Now he feels terrible (and not in a physically sick way).

"Yeah, Scarlet, go back to bed," Wolf orders.

Scarlet whines. "I don't wanna."

"You're hungover and have a fever."

"I'm dying."

Wolf grins. "Not if I can't help it."

The toast pops out of the toaster and he takes out a slice. Wolf smothers a thick layer of Grandmère's homemade strawberry jam on it and shoves it in her mouth. Scarlet laughs a little as she takes the piece in her hand. Wolf picks up Scarlet and puts her on the couch, wrapping her in a blanket. He returns to get her a glass of orange juice, her phone, and a box of tissues. She looks up at him and smiles as she takes another bite of her toast.

"Do you have medicine?" Wolf asks.

"Probably just Grandmère's prescribed medication," she responds.

"Yeah, let's not touch those. I'll grab some for you. Where's the nearest drugstore?"

"The city."

Wolf laughs. "Oh, farm life. I'll live it for the rest of my life if I could."

Scarlet pauses, looking up at him. Her heart swells as she replays that last sentence in her head. Before she could say anything, Wolf kisses her forehead. Then he grabs her keys from the bowl by the door and he steps out. She hears her car engine whirr for a bit, probably because he's looking up directions to the pharmacy on his phone, and drives away.

Scarlet smiles contently. As she sits back and nibbles her toast. She has never loved Wolf Kesley more than now.

-o-

Cinder awakes, lifting her head from the pillow. She yawns and looks over at Kai's side of the bed, noticing that he isn't there. She doesn't recall coming back to Kai's childhood home but knew that was their plan. They would never return to his place at Torin's completely drunk.

One time that happened, Cinder ended up asleep, curled up at the foot of Kai's bed while Kai was passed out on the twins' floor, cuddling a giant stuffed zebra. The twins got to laugh at it in the morning, unlike Torin and Mallory.

Cinder touches Kai's side of the bed since the sheets were rumpled. The spot is cold so Kai must've been up a while ago.

Despite the cold air hitting her, waking her more, she hates leaving the warmth. Cinder stretches, fixing her ponytail since hers dishevelled in her sleep. She wouldn't be surprised if her ponytail came apart at the party and Winter fixed it in the car as Cress was driving them home.

Cinder heads downstairs and sees Kai asleep on the couch, hugging a tissue box. She nudges him and he groans, turning over in his slumber.

"Kai?" Cinder asks, lightly shaking his leg. He squints his eyes for a second but fully opens them when he notices her. "Kai, are you sick?"

Kai coughs into his blanket. "I woke up in the middle of the night like this and went down to get something and ended up sleeping on the couch. I was gonna go into a guest room but conked out the moment I hit the pillow. I texted Torin saying we were here and I would stay for a bit because I don't want to get my family sick."

Cinder nods. "And I think my hangover is going away quicker than I thought."

Kai pauses. "I forgot I have one or that I'm supposed to have one."

"Maybe I don't think I drank too much since I spent most of the night kissing you."

Kai narrows his eyes. "I'm blaming you for me getting sick."

"I'm not sick."

"You gave it to me."

"I could only give you cooties," Cinder grins. "Go take a nap. I'll go make or buy soup and grilled cheese. Probably buy."

-o-

Winter was up bright and early. She took a cold shower despite taking one when she returned home. Aside from Cress and maybe Wolf, she was the most sober one in her car — speaking of, since Cress drove them home in her and Cinder's car, their car is at Cress's place. Later problem. Cress hasn't even texted her yet. So, Winter took her morning meds alongside a nice omelette she made for breakfast.

When Levana came down for stairs, Winter serves her a plate and a steaming cup of coffee.

"Thank you," Levana says, sipping the coffee without blowing it first but not flinching. "Where's Cinder?"

"At Kai's," she responds. "Cinder just texted me saying he got sick after the party and she's gonna stay with him for a bit longer."

"Is she sick?"

Winter bites her lips from inside her mouth. She knows Levana's way of caring about Cinder's health is making sure she, herself, doesn't get sick first. As if Levana ever gets sick cause Winter can't remember a time when Levana took a sick day, let alone was actually sick.

"Bit hungover but nothing else," Winter says.

"Good. If I had to commend Dear Channary on something, it was handling the leutomosis pandemic that happened a few years into her tyranny. Not one case in Luna, hence why Lunars never get sick nowadays."

Winter raises a brow. "That's not how medicine works."

"Who are you? Jacin?"

Winter laughs a bit. "If Cinder said that and you responded with that, she would say that was the meanest thing you've ever said to her."

Winter smiles as she takes a bite of her omelette and Levana even cracks a grin behind her coffee mug.

-o-

Cress was in the middle of texting her mom about the University of Artemisia and Winter about when and where to return her car when she hears a knock at the door. She gets up from her breakfast at the kitchen table and opens the door only to see Thorne coughing into his arm.

"Thorne?" Cress asks. "You don't look so good."

"A rarity," Thorne responds, his voice an octave deeper since his throat is scratchy. He sniffles. "I drove to some random field on the outskirts of town and got you these."

Thorne pulls out a makeshift bouquet from behind his back and Cress's heart drops. It's a beautiful blend of multicoloured wildflowers tied together with a straw wrapper. She sniffs them and smiles at the scent of the forest, almost reminiscing over that night they spent in the woods together.

"I was trying to find watercress but I don't know where to get them. I think I have allergies," Thorne mutters, wiping his nose on his sleeve.

"Watercress is at the grocery store," Cress says with a small smile. "And you're sick. Kai and Scarlet are as well."

Thorne pauses. " … I don't even know what a watercress is."

"Come in. What are you doing?"

"Showing that I love you." He sneezes into his arm as he walks inside her house. "Spades."

Cress pats his other arm as she walks into the kitchen to find a vase for her flowers. Thorne may have been drinking last night but he certainly remembers what she was telling him. A part of her wishes she never had attempted that conversation.