Dysphoria

Chapter Fourty Four

I woke up completely disoriented to the sound of a phone alarm going off some where in my room.

"Nate. Nate. What is that?"

He groaned reaching his hand to grab for his phone on the bedside table.

"Aw fuck." He said silencing his phone.

"What? Whats wrong?" I said opening my eye a crack to look at him. The little bit of sunshine on his face made his eyes look caramel brown.

"We have to go the the hospital." Nate sighed easing back into the bed pulling me closer to him. "Remember?"

"The hospital?" I mumbled completely disoriented by what the hell he was talking about this early on a Saturday morning. "What are you talking about?"

"Remember Lexi's volunteering thing? Yeah, we have to be there in an hour."

"Are you being serious?" I sighed closing my eyes again hoping this was some kind of mistake. It has to be some kind mix up. I thought about the dates in my head, it wasn't. "Fuck."

"I don't wanna get up." I grumbled as Nate spooned me. He felt like the worlds best weighted blanket.

"I don't either." He kissed the back of my neck, his throaty morning voice against the back of my neck gave me the shivers.

After a few minutes I felt my stomach begin to churn. Despite not having a drop of alcohol in my system, I felt groggy and nauseous and my head ached like I had a hungover.

I slowly lifted myself from the bed and made my way to the bathroom. By the time I got to the sink, I could feel the vomit coming up the back of my throat. I gagged and gagged until my throat was burning and the urge was gone. I was embarrassed knowing he could hear this whole ordeal. My throat burned raw as I brushed my teeth and gargled mouthwash which was the only thing I felt helped the morning sickness.

"Hey are you okay?" Nate frowned anxiously as I came back into the room.

"Yeah I'm fine, it happens all the time. Its not a big deal." I grabbed a water bottle from the side of the bed and took a drink to cool my throat.

"Are you sure you're okay to go?"

"I wish it was any other day...I need like four more hours of sleep but, we promised Lexi we'd go." I sighed, hating my guilty conscience from stopping me having a lie in.

"Well I'm only going if you're going." He yawned, flexing his arms then folding them behind his head like a pillow. I couldn't help but smile at him, he looked too big for my bed but strangely comfortable in it.

"Yeah...I guess we're going then, it's only for an hour." I said half heartedly.

"Alright well, I'm gonna go shower at my place and I'll come pick you up in say a half an hour. That work?" He said with his back turned pulling on his jeans.

"Yeah that works." I smiled a little, feeling warm inside at the way he was eager to be around me despite the fact I just puked up my guys.

I watched as he zipped up his hoody and grabbed his phone and keys in one hand.

"Alright, I'll be back in a little bit, be ready." He said kissing the side of my head before he quietly sneaked down the stairs and out the front door.

Despite my body's protests, I tiredly got into the shower myself and quickly washed up. Feeling a little more like myself and less like a corpse, I dried off and pulled out a comfortable summer dress and a pair of flat sandals. Once I was dressed I towel dried my hair and gathered most of it up into a claw clip.