STUFFED

Blowing Chunks

Burping is the only thing making Courtney feel better, until it doesn't. Her body betrays her with a pressure sitting in her throat that feels like a burp but isn't.

Her throat is filled with hot, half digested food and when she opens her mouth it all comes spilling out. The screams from the cohort intesify as people move further and further away.

Courtney is on her hands and knees helplessly dry heaving. It's uncontrollable. She has completely lost control of her body and just has to sit there and watch everything she ate at lunch come back up infront of her.

For a second it stops. She takes in a breath, trying to regain her composure but it's far from over. She slowly closes her mouth and when her lips touch, her body shudders and she shakes her head as the icky feeling returns.

Pressurized vomit sprays out of her closed lips and onto the floor.

Her hands start to disappear under the regurgitated puddle as it starts to expand over her fingers.  

"It's still coming out!"

"How did all of that fit inside of her?!"

Courtney threw up until she felt empty. And weak. She wiped her mouth with her forearm and went to stand up. This was so embarassing. She went from feeling proud of herself back to being the school's fat slob. She just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. 

She walked out of the gymnasium and didn't look back. She reeked of sour vomit. Courtney ducked through the halls as fast as she could. Only a couple people noticed her odd state but for the most part she made it out of the building unscathed. 

When she got home she walked through the door and collapsed right there on the hallway rug sobbing. Between the physical exercise, throwing up everything in her stomach, and the crying, Courtney passed out from exhaustion within twenty minutes. 

Three hours pass before she wakes up. Everything feels hazy and she's still exhausted. 

Any food left over on her body has dried up and crusted now. The layer of dehydrated puke cracks on her hands as she reaches for her phone. The screen lights up and the lock screen is packed with names and messages. All ten guys have reached out to her to see if she's alright. There are missed calls from Mitchell, Aiden, Carter, and Bradyn and the group chat is still blowing up. 

There must have been a video circulating around because how else could they have known what had happened? Courtney doesn't have to put in much effort to find the videos. Multiple people have the video up on their snapchat stories and the school instagram page has reposted it like three times. She winces at the sight of herself. It looks even worse than it felt. Courtney shuts her phone off and starts crying again.

She doesn't have enough energy to get off the floor. She's physically shaking from the dehydration and shame of it all. She knows that she needs to tidy herself up but she doesn't have the strength to do it. Courtney wishes there was someone home to take care of her. 

Laying down on the ground she rests her forehead on her arm. Closing her eyes makes her dizzy but so does keeping them open. She is just about to drift off again when her phone starts buzzing. She flips it over to see Bradyn trying to call her again. 

She answers the phone with a weak hello.

"Courtney?" There is so much concern in his voice, "Are you okay? We've been trying to get a hold of you–" He rambles on about how worried everyone is about her. It's so out of character for him and it makes Courtney feel cared about. She starts crying softly in the background while he keeps talking on and on, "–We were literally just texting in the group chat to see if someone should go over to your house to see if you were okay, wait let me text the guys and tell them that you're okay–"

Bradyn becomes aware of how much he's been talking. He hasn't stopped for a breath or even to let Courtney answer his question,

"Sorry. Are you alright Courtney?"

Courtney half whimpers her response, "No." 

"What's wrong? What can I do?"

"Will you come here please?"

"Yeah of course. Hold on okay? I'll come over right now."

He doesn't let her hang up the phone until he gets there. 

On a normal day, were she fully conscious and not so distraught, there would've been no way she'd ask Bradyn to come over and help her. 

When Bradyn walks through the front door she breathes a sigh of relief. She feels safe and somewhat stable for the first time all day. She knows she's in good hands. His voice is filled with empathy when he speaks to her and slowly works on getting her up off the floor.

Under different circumstances she might be turned on by his touch but right now she doesn't have the energy for that. She half expects for him to assist her in walking upstairs when he peels her off the floor but to her surprise he completely picks her up in his arms; taking on her full body weight. He doesn't seem to struggle at all. He even walks up the long flight of stairs and into the bathroom without breaking much of a sweat. 

Bradyn puts Courtney down on the toilet seat and then goes to the tub to run a warm bath. He runs around the upstairs collecting soaps and towels. 

When the tub is halfway full of warm water, he tips a blue colored bottle over the water near the faucet. Bubbles start to froth on the water's surface and the room fills with the soothing scent of lavender. When he's content with the water level Bradyn shuts off the water. He looks around briefly and is satisfied. She has everything she needs to get herself cleaned off.

Bradyn stands there awkwardly. He doesn't know what to do with himself now. He should probably leave so she can get undressed but he doesn't want to leave her without supervision. 

"Uh... You can... I'm just gonna go so you can..."

Courtney reaches out for his hand, "Please don't leave me."

Bradyn melts at her request, "Okay. I'll turn around so you can get undressed then I'll take your clothes to the wash and come back."

She follows his directions and feels a bit bad that he has to carry her smelly clothes. Courtney slides into the tub and under the suds. The soapy bubbles provide enough privacy so only her shoulders and feet are exposed. Bradyn returns carrying fresh clothes. He drops them on the counter then goes to sit on the ground beside the tub. There's crusted vomit in her hair so he starts there. 

Bradyn squeezes some shampoo into his hand and then runs it through her hair. He watches as she closes her eyes and starts to relax. After lathering for a few minutes he dumps cups of water over her head and rinses it all out. He does the same with conditioner.

Having him run his fingers through her hair is so soothing and when he stops she opens her eyes to make sure he hasn't left. Sure enough, he's still sitting right in front of her. He smiles as she reaches a hand out to him and he starts cleaning it. He rubs it with a wash cloth and then dunks it under the water before bringing it out to inspect it. If it wasn't clean enough he'd repeat the process. Then he moved on to her other hand.

She inspected his work and even under her nails was spotless.

When he was finished, they sat there looking at each other for a bit. It wasn't awkward at all. 

Bradyn reached out and pushed her hair behind her ear. His touch was so tender. The rest of the process was as soothing as the bath. Once she got out and got dressed Bradyn blow dried and combed her hair. He insisted on doing it himself, he wouldn't let her touch the brush.

Courtney was feeling a lot better. She had almost forgotten about the contents of her stomach going viral on the internet. They were laying in her bed when Bradyn suggested they get something for her to eat. He leaves the room and returns with soup and crackers. Bradyn sits cross legged infront of her and spoon feeds her soup. He's so cute. He seems very content and smiles as he does this.

She's never seen him be so caring. It's a nice contrast to his normally stoic exterior.