One In The Same - Jess Mariano

Fever-Drunk

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  Y/N stood nervously outside school, waiting for Lane to arrive. Her nails were bitten down, chipped black polish remained. Her face still had a pink tone to it, though she looked less like a tomato than before. She looked over to see the scene that was playing out in front of Doosey's market. Taylor had a vein angrily popping out of his forehead. Seeing him on the verge of exploding only did a little to calm her embarrassment, and when he made eye contact with her, she gave him a two finger salute, which made him turn purple and his left eye twitch.

  "Look at this! No puppy dog trailing you today?"

"He walked in on me changing this morning," She blurted out, a little too loudly for her own liking. Lane's eyes bugged out in shock.

  "What?! How did that happen? Did you not lock the bathroom or something?"

  "He was throwing up in the bathroom and came out while I was in my jeans and bra. We made eye contact and everything, though his eyes definitely went down for a second. I just threw on my shirt and ran out," She explained, flushed and lowering her voice to below a whisper. Lane nodded slowly, trying to hide how funny she found it.

  "Sounds like things are heating up between you two," Lane had a mischievous glint in her eye.

  "Don't be gross, I still hate him, remember?" She just laughed, shrugging her shoulders.

  "Sure you do. I can tell there is something going on in that big brain of yours." Y/N groaned, knowing there was no talking Lane out of her delusion. She just hoped that Jess would forget about the whole ordeal by the time she got home, and that she could go about her day in peace.

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  The day at school was awful for Y/N, as no matter how much she tried, she couldn't help but think about Jess. Whether he was okay now, as this morning made it evident he was not. Also, if he would make a comment about what happened in the morning. Usually, it would be obvious she had a bunch of teasing to come, but if he was in a bad state, that lowered the chance of it all.

  Hunched back, she walked into the diner, nodding at Luke before heading up to the apartment. Clattered sounds came from behind the door, so she pushed in, instantly feeling her heart pick up. In front of her eyes, Jess was stumbling around, as though he was drunk, leaning his weight on the counter, with a glass in his hand.

  "Jess, what are you doing?" She moved quickly to his side.

  "Trying to get a glass of water," Jess mumbled, his words slurring slightly.

  She sighed. "You can't even hold yourself up, Jess. Let me help you." She curled one arm around his waist, leading him to a wooden chair by the small kitchen table, where she sat him down, pouring him a glass of water. "Here you go," She offers him the glass and he puts it to his lips, weakly. "Don't drink too fast, you don't wanna get sick again,"

  He nodded, sipping at the water, but his eyes looked glazed over. It looked like he didn't have a clue if what was happening was real or not. Y/N knew that she had to get him over to his bed, or else he might collapse and hurt himself.

  "Come on, let's get you to bed," She puts her arm around him once again, helping him get up carefully, and leads him to his mattress. A box of some pretty strong painkillers lay by the bed, and she gently laid Jess down, which ended up a bigger feat than she expected, as Jess was leaning heavily on her for support. Once she got him down, she picked up the box of meds, reading the information and side effects.

  "How many of these did you take?" She asks the boy who is slumped over on his side, grumbling in pain. Not getting a response, she opens up the small box and notices 3 are gone from the sheet of pills. "Jess! The box says take one a day, did you seriously take three? No wonder you're delirious,"

  "Work," He mumbles fever-drunkenly.

  "What?"

  "You've gotta go to work, Luke's waiting," His congested voice trails off towards the end. Y/N hesitantly gets up, grabbing the abandoned glass of water and puts it by Jess.

  "Just, try to get some rest. I'll be up as soon as I can," He nods, pushing further into his pillow.

  Y/N throws on her apron, taking several looks back at the helpless teenager, then walks downstairs. Luke instantly notices the girl's furrowed brow, face flooded with concern.

  "Go back up if you want."

  "Huh? No, it's really okay, we can just take turns checking on him. You know, make sure he doesn't choke on his own tongue. I'm working today." Her eyes fix on the ground, hiding her panic and worry for the boy that is obvious on her features.

  "It's okay, kid. Just go upstairs. Be careful though, he is very loose on painkillers. He called me dad earlier," Luke pats her on the shoulder, lovingly.

  "I'm so gonna use that against him when he's better. Thanks Luke," Y/N turns to go upstairs, but spins back around to give Luke a quick, but tight embrace, then runs away to go see Jess.

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  As his fever raged on, Jess seemed to be getting more and more loopy. He was too stubborn to fall asleep, instead asking Y/N for things like tissues, a wet cloth, leftovers, you name it. She wanted to just tell him no, at least once, but his pouty face pulled on her heartstrings.

  He'd run out of requests, his last being for her to sit with him and listen to some music, as it helps him get to sleep. This was something Y/N shared a mutual understanding for, as it was previously the only thing to drown out her father's drunken yelling from the other room every other night that she lived with once Penelope left.

  "You know... I must be the luckiest guy in the world to have such a pretty nurse taking care of me," Y/N rolled her eyes, as this was definitely not the first inappropriate comment Jess had made since she came back to see him.

  "I'm just trying to make sure you don't die, alright? It's not like I'm doing this for fun."

  "Is that right?" He sits up, leaning his head on the girl's shoulder, and looks up at her, staring directly into her eyes, "I bet you love having me all helpless and dependent on you," Even hopped up on drugs, he still knew how to be smug. Y/N felt a pang of irritation.

  "You're not helpless, you're just sick. And trust me, I am not enjoying this as much as you are," Jess puts his hands up in surrender, only able to hold himself up without support for a minute, before he falls back into the mattress, nearly in slow motion.

  "Hey. You ever heard the one about the sick guy who asks his nurse to give him a sponge bath?" His eyebrows lift suggestively, and he starts laughing at his own joke. She lightly pushes him, but a hint of red heat creeps up her neck. "If I ask nicely, would you do that for me? Last request, I promise," His eyes are filled with playfulness.

"You suck, Jess." She says, with no malicious intent, and he laughs again, which quickly turns into a series of coughs.

  "Well, I'm gonna go lie down, just yell if you need me,"

  "Stay," Jess mumbles, "It's only fair." Y/N tries to find reason within what Jess said. Clearly he was referring to how they both slept in the same bed when Y/N got sick, and that she probably wouldn't catch the same bug twice, but they had fallen asleep by accident back then. Before she can argue, Jess starts grumbling annoyingly, throwing a fit like a small child, so she crawls under the covers and he instantly quiets down.

  "Thank you," He whispers, before falling into deep sleep, and Y/N smiles softly before following suit.

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