STUFFED

Emetophilia

Half asleep, Courtney reaches an arm over to the other side of the bed to see if Harlow is still there. Her hand hits an empty part of the mattress so she lifts her arm, moves it to a different spot, and then tries again.

All she feels is the recoil of an empty mattress. 

In a panic, Courtney forces herself awake. She turns her head to look over in the direction of Harlow's spot on the bed and squints. She calms down when she spots a huge lump under the comforter opposite of her. Harlow's bed is just so big that she was far enough away to not be able to reach him. 

Courtney crawls right up to Harlow and cuddles him.

Courtney ends up falling back asleep and the two of them lay next to each other peacefully for about another hour.

At some point Harlow slowly regains consciousness and nausea comes with it. He tries desperately to fall back asleep so he can ignore the upset feeling deep in his gut but he can't. At least Courtney is here. Somehow, Harlow feels worse than he did yesterday. Usually when he eats too much he can sleep it off, but apparently not this time. 

Courtney notices that Harlow is awake so she turns herself over onto her stomach and props herself up on her elbows. The best he can do is turn his head over in her direction. He's afraid to make any sudden movements in fear of disturbing whatever is fermenting inside of him.

"Morning handsome." Courtney runs her hand on the opposite side of his face, gently.

He attempts to reply but all he can do is groan in response. 

Courtney can immediately tell that something is off just by the way he looks. His complexion is so pale. 

The longer he's awake, the worse lying down feels. 

When Courtney sees him trying to sit himself up she begins to help him. It's a struggle but the two of them manage to get Harlow sitting upright eventually. She feels so bad. He's just sitting there, motionless, with his eyes closed and a slight grimace on his face holding his stomach with one of his hands. He feels so sick that he doesn't even have the energy to protest by making any sounds. Harlow wants Courtney to take care of him and baby him but he doesn't have the words to say it. 

He doesn't have to say it though, Courtney runs to his bathroom and soaks a cloth in cold water. She wrings it out until it stops dripping and it's just damp. She walks back over to the bed and folds it into a long rectangular shape before holding it up to Harlow's forehead. He doesn't react.

On the inside, he's really grateful for her kindness. It brings him back to the first night they met and how she took care of him and his bruised face. He'd like to tell her about what he's thinking about right now but he can't. 

Courtney feels so bad. She definitely pushed him too far. This is all her fault. 

"I'll be right back." She says to a comatose Harlow. 

He responds to her in his head and then he feels her leave. He doesn't want her to leave but he knows that she's probably only leaving to find something else to help him. 

Harlow doesn't know how much time has passed when he hears her walk back into the room. 

Courtney closes the door and crawls back onto the bed juggling a glass of water and a small plastic container. She sits right beside Harlow, facing him, and she can see the silent tears rolling down his big swollen cheeks.

"Awww Harloww–" She reaches up under his closed eyes and wipes the tears from his face with the backs of her fingers. Now she really feels terrible.

He's not really crying because he's sad, he's just overwhelmed; and he didn't like waiting in the room alone without her.