One more day

chapter 16

Nicks pov <3

"Just take deep breaths Jules." I said to the breathless girl in front of me. My hands were on her waist, trying to help her stand but it seemed like she was struggling. Her skin felt like literal fire on my hands, which is odd considering it's not hot out. The colour had drained from her face, with the result of her looking extremely pale.

"I can't hear you." She said under her breath, barely loud enough for me to hear. She had taken her airpods out moments earlier, so her hearing should've been fine. She suddenly went limp under my arms.

"Woah woah woah, Jules careful there." I said whilst tightening my arms around her to stop her from falling over and hitting her head. I sat down and pulled her into my body, having her lay down with her head in my lap.

"Jules." I called out to her. There was no response. "Hey! Jules!" I was freaking out, my mind running a million miles a minute. Mainly a mix of what the fuck just happened and why. I brushed the hair out of her face and looked for a pulse on her neck. Lucky for me I found it, however it was nowhere near as fast as it should be considering she's been on a run for the past like 30 minutes. What am I supposed to do? She's alive, she's breathing but she's not conscious. I decide to wait a minute, consistently checking her pulse to make sure she isn't dead every couple of seconds. Soon enough her eyes flutter open, and I'm met with her gorgeous eyes. I breathe out a sigh of relief.

"Hey there." I said softly. "How you feeling?" She blinked a couple of times before flinging her hand to her head, slightly rubbing her temples. She started to sit up but I quickly stop her, pushing her down by her shoulders before she could even get halfway.

"Stay lying down for a bit, it'll help." I told her. She looked up at me and nodded, still looking quite out of it. I have a bad feeling about this, there's no logical explanation to her sudden fainting, which sparks many worrying questions.

"Have you had any water today Jules?" I asked her. People faint from dehydration all the time, maybe she just didn't drink enough water.

"Yeah I've had a shit ton." She spoke, her voice sounding quite raspy. "I'm fine Nick, really. It must've just been a one off cause I feel great." She pulled herself off the ground, with me hesitantly getting up with her. She swayed a little before steadying herself she started jogging again.

"Oh fuck no, I know you are not still running right now." I said whilst sprinting in front of her.

"Move Nick, I have to finish my run. I'm fine!" She cried out.

"5 minutes ago you were unconscious on the floor! You're clearly not fine, just leave it. Your run can wait for you tomorrow, right now we gotta get you home in one piece." I told her. She seemed very unsteady on her feet, and appeared worryingly calm given the circumstances. She huffed and stomped her foot before pouting her lip like a child.

"Fine," she mumbled. "If it helps you sleep at night I'll go home."

"Thank you" I breathed out before engulfing her in a hug. "You scared the living shit out of me, don't you ever do that again." I whispered into her hair. I felt her nod where her head rested on my shoulder. But that wasn't the only thing I felt. Her shoulder blades were more prominent than usual. As I pulled away I looked at her and finally noticed why she looked different. The whole time since I've been back she's looked different but I couldn't put a finger on it until now. Her cheekbones are more defined, and her jawline too. Looking at it closely you can see her collarbones too. Her eyebags are so much darker than they used to be and she seemed much paler, although maybe that was due to her being unconscious a couple minutes ago.

"Jeez you look like a ghost Jules. Do you even sleep?" I asked her.

"Yeah of course I do." she said laughing. "Everyone sleeps, you need to sleep to live don't you?"

"Yeah, you do. But you look like you're getting like an hour of sleep, maybe two max." I told her

"I sleep like 7 hours, relax Nick." She said whilst beginning to walk.

"I'll walk you home." I offered her.

"I'm not 5 years old, I can walk home by myself." She replied. God she's so fucking stubborn. "Don't worry I won't get kidnapped by the big bad wolf." She turned around to face me whilst delivering her snarky remark. I gave her a look and stood with my hands on my hips.

"That's not what I'm worried about." I said.

"Fine, fine." She raised her hands in defense. "You can walk me home." We started walking again, with her stumbling side to side every few steps.

"Make sure you eat when you get home, yeah?" I said to her.

"Yeah I will." she replied

"Promise?"

She hesitated before saying "Promise."

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suprise! I'm back y'all. It's been a while since I posted a chapter so sorry bout that. I've been going in and out of lockdowns (I live in aus :D) and haven't been on top of my schoolwork so I've been trying to get that done first but now I've balanced it better so hopefully I'll be uploading more frequently!

Thought I'd switch things up and do this chapter in Nicks POV, how we feel about that? I'm thinking about doing it every couple of chapters if you guys like that. As usual make sure to look after yourselves loves <3

- J

:)