Bumps in the road | J. Puckerman (1)

Frozen

When we got back to school after our trip, I was still feeling like crap, it had been over a month and I still wasn't feeling better. We called my immunologist to get an earlier appointment to see if there was something going on or if I needed to change meds around. I didn't care what I looked like, because I felt like my body was literally about to shut down. I put on a pair of grey sweats and a T-shirt with Jake's letterman jacket, throwing my hair into a messy bun.

Jake and I were walking in the hallway hand-in-hand, with me leaning on his shoulder. He was practically walking for me. I heard Daniel and one of his friends laughing, and all of a sudden there was slushy in my hair. Most of it went on Jake because that's who it was meant for. 

I looked over at Jake and he was standing with his hands out and his eyes closed. The blue ice was all over his face. It was in his eyes and probably his nose and mouth. Somehow my body pushed all the hurt away so I could help him.

"It's Emily," I said, softly taking his hands. "It's just me. We are going to walk to the locker room and get clean and calm."

This is not what he needed. He didn't need to be overstimulated, he didn't need to be made fun of, he didn't need any of this. He just stood there, shaking and not opening his eyes.

"Jake," I said, softly touching his face causing him to flench. "Jake, it's just me. Let's go help, baby. You are okay."

Marley skipped over to meet us in our normal spot and stopped in her tracks when she saw what was happening. "Oh no," she said in a soft voice. "What happened? Well, I guess I know what. Who did this?"

"Jackass," Jake, said in a quiet voice, still frozen in place.

I shook my head, "Daniel, as always. We just need to go to the locker room and have some breathing minutes and get his body to calm itself down a little." I told her, then looked at Jake who was clenching his jaw, "Jake you are okay let's go," I told him, grabbing his and walking to the locker room. 

When we got into the locker room, I sat jake on one of the benches and walked over to the sink to get a washcloth with water. When I came back, he was digging at his eyes with one hand and scratching his throat with the other. "Hey, hey, hey, Woah," I said softly, "let me have your hands, my love." 

He shook his head and kept scratching at his head and face. I sat down on the bench next to him and softly scratched his back, "can I wipe your eyes, handsome?" I asked, I knew they needed to be wiped off but he needed to be in full control of his body. 

"Just don't make me blind. It's in my nose Ems," he cried, scratching harder at his head.

I softly rubbed the washcloth on his eyes, rotating it so it was only clean touching his eye each time until his eyes wern't sticky anymore, "all done," I said, kissing each of his eyes super soft to replace the sensory that he was feeling. "how about you go shower to get not sticky and then you can have some hugs or whatever you need?"

He looked up at me with huge eyes, "but don't leave unless staying is uncomfy?" he wisperd. 

"I will stay in here, my love. I'm going to grab your basketball practice clothes and a towel to have ready for you," I told him, walking to unlock his locker. I knew his combo becacuse I would steal his clothes if I was having a bad day and couldn't get to him, Blaine, or Marley. 

He took his shower and changed his pants, he came over to the bench with no shirt on and his hair dripping wet. He plopped down on the bench next to me and put his hand on my chest, "Can I put my head here? Or no because it's all wet?"

I pulled his head onto my chest and softly kissed his head, "You can very much so put your head there, my love," I told him. I softly made little circles in his hair on the side of his head that wasn't touching me with one hand, and softly scratched from his neck to his back with my other hand. 

We sat there together for a little while and I hummed our songs You Belong With Me and Let Me Love You to help keep him grounded. I offered to help him dry off his hair and get a shirt on him, but that made him get a little nervous because he was worried about feeling the slushy again. 

There wasn't anywhere either of us had to be, so we just sat there. We sat there sitting super close together and making sure to stay grounded and take deep breaths. 

"I am so super proud of you," I whispered, kissing his head again. "You got through this so fast and didn't even get loud at Daniel."

"I want to get loud at him, but we are the bigger people. I would one-hundred percent like to hit his head in a locker right now, but that could get me in trouble so I will just do it in my head," he decided.

My stomach started getting weird again, this had been going on for almost two months, what the hell was happening. I started to get dizzy and see little spots in the room. My feet started getting heavy, and I dropped my hands from Jake.

"Ems?" He asked, it sounded like his voice was coming from three rooms away insted of right next to me. "Emily? Emmy? Hey, what's going on baby girl?

I started slowly blinking my eyes, finding it harder to open them everytime. "I'm... I'm... sorry," I said, trying to make my voice strong but it came out as a whisper. 

At some point, my head got heavier, Jake's voice got farther away, and the little spots took over. The room went black.