Everyone's excited for Thorne and Cress to meet each other's parents and we're getting there!
To Ask For the Crescent Moon: Part Five
The next morning, Winter awoke with her hiccups. She wasn't sure how she managed to sleep through the night with them. She figures that her hiccups paused once her body was tired past exhaustion and continued when she was energized. Winter was glad that it was the weekend so she wouldn't have to face school or even miss a day, and that her friends were all available to come over and help her out with her hiccups.
None of them were medical experts or even close, but they all have the internet.
To start their path to a cure, Winter tried holding her breath and swallowing air but she hated the feeling of not breathing.
"Come on," Kai encourages, "it's like walking and chewing gum at the same time."
Winter lets go of her nose and exhales. "It's - hic - not the same!" She'd rather walk and chew gum. Anyone would.
Cress approaches Winter with a glass of water from the fridge. "The site I'm on says to try and drink this quickly. The author is allegedly a doctor so it seems credible."
"Mine came from a potential mother who seemed trustworthy," Kai mutters.
Winter shrugs before chugging the whole glass in one go. She hands it back to Cress and starts coughing, tearing up. Cress pats her back as Winter wipes her tears with her sleeves. Her coughs calm but only for the hiccups to return. Winter isn't sure if they're getting better or worse but now her chest hurts.
"My site said gargle," Wolf mutters, scrolling on his phone. "Gargle the backwash, I guess."
Winter looks at him strangely. "I'm not - hic - doing that."
Wolf shrugs, still looking at his phone. "Suit yourself."
"Swallow a spoonful of sugar," Thorne reads. He looks up from his phone for a second. "I swear, that's a song from a movie."
Winter groans. "Don't - hic - encourage - hic - me to sing that - hic."
Thorne laughs a little as he hums it for a few bars. "I guess the song or the sugar will help."
Cinder exits the kitchen with a spoon and a jar of brown sugar for Winter before heading back in the kitchen for more supplies the others would call out if they find some home remedy that would work. Winter makes herself a spoonful of sugar which tastes great until she tried to swallow some granules that didn't melt on her tongue or cheeks. Winter wishes she didn't finish the water Wolf gave her since she entered another coughing fit that turns into hiccups.
"Maybe you need a different type of sugar," Kai suggests.
Winter sighs, hiccupping again. "I'll get - hic - diabetes - hic -"
"Diabetes and hiccups…" Cress mutters, fiddling with her hair as she continues scrolling on her phone. "Not a nice combination. Maybe this doctor's site has a diabetes page." She starts tapping like a mad hacker on her phone's screen.
"Diabetes is a bit of an exaggeration, don't you think?" Kai asks.
Winter's glare, which was accompanied by hiccups, wasn't as threatening as it should've been. It still didn't stop Kai from excusing himself to the kitchen to help Cinder when he wanted to get away from Winter. It didn't help that Cinder ran out a few seconds after Kai arrived.
"Here," Cinder says, running from the kitchen pantry. She hands Winter a paper bag which she hesitantly takes. "Try breathing into this."
Winter huffs and puffs as if her life depended on it which, in a sense, it does. She doesn't want these annoying hiccups anymore with an impending dance around the corner. Winter was starting to grow hesitant about going to the dance since she didn't want to tag along with her friends who were going with their significant others. Winter has no problem with going alone but it's different if they're just hanging out. This is a school dance. It's supposed to be loving and intimate! At least if she still has hiccups, it's a legit excuse to stay home by herself.
"Aces, she'll get light-headed," Wolf says.
Scarlet leans forwards in her seat and claps Winter's paper bag on the exhale, popping it. Winter jumps at the sound, Thorne yelps, Cress almost falls out of her chair, and Wolf glares at Scarlet's snickering.
"Okay, fine, maybe we could tell her Jacin ran away again," Scarlet says.
"Not - hic - funny," Winter says.
According to another site Kai found, being upside down helped with hiccups so Winter twisted herself around. She's now in reverse on the couch, curls draped on the floor and legs dangling on the back of the chair. Her necklace rests on the base of her chin as blood rushes to her face.
"Okay, but this is funny," Scarlet says.
"Babe," Wolf says in a serious tone.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Someone - hic - catch - hic - my legs," Winter says.
Winter presses her hands against the floor and flips forwards, throwing her legs like a gymnast to stand again. Scarlet and Wolf catch a leg each. They slowly lower it to the ground and each take one of Winter's hands to help her up. Winter brushes herself off and fixes her hair, still hiccuping.
"The internet did say that scaring you works the best," Cress points out.
"A doctor said that," Kai says. Cress doesn't look up from her screen but shrugs.
"How about meeting Cress's dad?" Thorne suggests, ignoring Cress's adorable glare (finally looking up from her screen). "That sounds terrifying."
"Dr. Darnel - hic -is one of the nicest men - hic - I've ever met," Winter responds. She smiles proudly at Cress before hiccuping again.
"How about meeting your parents?" Cress says. "You barely mention them except for when they're not home. At least you've met my dad before just not as the boyfriend. I don't even think I've seen your parents."
Thorne pauses, biting his tongue because she does have a point. It doesn't help that everyone's nodding their heads. Thorne considers his parents and his social life as two vastly different circles in his life that don't overlap, and he likes it that way. He believes his parents prefer it that way as well.
"Okay, so Plan B," Thorne states not even knowing Plan A. He hoped someone would fill in the blanks for him but like before, nothing.
"So, you going to the dance?" Scarlet asks Winter.
Winter shrugs. "I believe I would."
"Good." Scarlet shoots a look at Wolf. "Save Kai and me a dance."
They look at Kai who nods and Cinder who conveniently disappears into the pantry and closes the door behind her. Wolf shrugs, still sticking by his instincts not to go to the dance.
"But if - hic - I still have this - hic - I'm staying home," Winter says.
"Come driving with us," Wolf encourages. Cinder's chanting from inside the pantry.
"Shut your spades," Scarlet says, kicking his shin.
"Either way - hic - nothing really scares me," Winter says, "- hic. Enough trauma - hic." She circles a finger over the three scars under her eye.
Those words leave everyone, including Winter's hiccups, temporarily silent.
"Okay, Crescent Moon, we'll meet our parents tomorrow," Thorne states.
"Tomorrow?" Cress asks.
"Tomorrow. I swear to the stars."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Are you really, really sure?"
"Spades, Cress, I just swore to the stars. What more do you need?"