Eat Fresh

Morning afters

Sundays, the one day of the week socially accepted as "the day of rest". The streets outside stayed quiet, allowing the people residing inside the houses time to sleep. The morning sun slowly rose over the neighborhood houses, the beams of light nudging Diego awake. Diego had no clocks in the living room, but by one glance at his phone, he saw it was too early for him. He couldn't go back to sleep though, the anxieties he had buried from last night were finally surfacing. Elias was asleep, in his bed. The thought of being so close to Elias brought the butterflies back to his stomach, this time they fluttered around more viciously. Unfortunately for Diego, the glance at his phone also revealed dozens of missed texts from Olivia. Most of them telling him about their next date, another event her family was putting on. It wasn't for another week, but Olivia still made a big deal about finding an outfit to match the dress she had already picked out. 

The event was the same one put on every year by Olivia's family and some other close family friends. This event was always Olivia's favorite, a big dance. It was her favorite for numerous reasons, but the main one was she was the one who would choose the theme. In the past years, Olivia had chosen themes such as Renaissance, Disco, and even a garden theme one year. This year, however, Olivia knew of the perfect theme. 

Diego had worried enough about going to a banquet with Olivia's family, and now he was expected to go to a ball? Olivia's texts weren't vague about how she had perfectly planned a semi-masquerade ball, and how Diego was not only expected but would go or face the consequences. 

Diego put his phone down on the nearby coffee table, he had enough worries in his mind, he didn't want to add another thing up there. Allowing his body to sit up on the couch Diego took four deep breaths in hopes it would calm his racing heart, but instead, his throat felt stiff with tears. Holding back the warm tears, he got up and went into the kitchen. Whenever Diego's anxiety's acted up he found busying his mind was his best defense. So, he began making breakfast. He never made an actual breakfast for himself, but he had guests today. Diego prepared his own feasts of eggs, bacon, and other hangover treats. Diego wished he knew what was causing Elias so much pain since he was clearly going through something. But, just as his grandma always said, "food and friends are the cure to everything." 

When Diego finished with the food he finally managed to look at the clock, finally, it ticked to 8 in the morning. Pleased with the spread of food in front of him, all he needed now was someone to help him eat it. Diego let go of the towel he used to clean the dirty dishes, looked at the perfectly set up table, and decided that was as good as it would get. Turning back around he walked the few feet to his bedroom door, he never felt so scared to go into his own room before. Diego decided to knock first, another thing he never had to do before. No response. Taking a deep breath in, Diego slowly turned his door handle and creaked his door open. He was able to open it a few inches before being able to get a good glance inside to see Elias wrapped up in at least four different blankets. Diego watched a few seconds, watching as Elias would breathe, and the mountain of blankets would rise and fall accordingly. Elias looked just as peaceful as he did the night before. Diego almost didn't want to wake him up. Almost. Diego knew Elias's parents would start asking questions if they hadn't heard from him in a while, so the only reasonable decision would be waking him up. Diego creaked the door open a few more inches, allowing him enough space to pass through. 

Elias never remembers his dreams, he's always slept lightly so he never got the chance to enter a night of good REM sleep. But as his vision in his dream darkened, and was woken up by Diego shaking him, he remembered every detail. Elias's cheeks blushed the slightest, and then was met with the worst headache he'd ever had. His face turning to a grimace and falling back onto his pillow just made him feel nauseous. 

"Good morning," Diego said, hesitating as he spoke. Elias wanted nothing more than for every noise to cease to exist, every sound making his head hurt more and more. There was something about Diego's presence that made him feel better though. Something about seeing him calmed Elias's upset stomach, actually now it feels worse. Sitting up in Diego's bed, Diego's bed- suddenly Elias's stomach hurt more. Memories of last night came flooding back, and before Elias knew what was happening he knelt before a toilet getting rid of what was left of last night.