Magnetic Collision

Chapter 10

After spending several hours sitting by at the kitchen table filled with mindless scrolling on her phone, Candice was alerted by the sound of harsh coughing. Lucas had awoken in the midst of a particularly bad fit. She was by side before even she knew it, with water in hand, anxiously waiting to see if he could manage to calm it down. Fortunately he did, although it left him panting, and despite the visible tiredness on his face, there was no going back to sleep anymore.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, handing him the cup.

"Like death." he answered a somewhat raspy voice. Determining whether that was from sleep, or from the illness practically impossible, for the time being at least. "How come you're still here?" he wondered, giving her a strange look before pouring every last drop of water into his mouth. His throat felt like dry as a desert, but the liquid provided some relief at least.

"I couldn't just leave you all on your own like that, it would have been plain irresponsible." she claimed, taking a seat on the armrest by his feet.

"... What time is it?" he questioned, disoriented by his nap.

"Little after 6 pm." she responded simply after taking a glance at her phone.

"And you stayed here the entire time?" she just nodded. He fell silent for a couple of seconds, a flash of surprise washing over his face. "... You didn't go to uni? Because of me?"

"I have a conscience, you know? I couldn't have slept well tonight if I just left you to deal with it all on your own." she explained, putting on her best act of nonchalance. Judging by his small grin, he didn't buy it though.

"Miss Perfect skipped her lessons for me... I guess I should be grateful."

"You really should. I've never done this before, and I won't do it ever again."

"Oh my, I am REALLY special then, aren't I?"

"You just found me in a charitable mood, don't let it get to your head." she dismissed him, but secretly, she was absolutely delighted. Despite still being visibly ill, and possibly a bit hangover, he was back to the bickering idiot she knew. A positive sign at last. "I prepared some fruits for you... But if you dare to laugh at them, I'm going to choke you to death with them."

"How could fruits turn out so bad that I would want to laugh at them?" he furrowed his brows as the girl disappeared into the kitchen to fetch the fruits from the fridge. His confusion didn't last long however, the moment he had them in his hands, Candice could tell he was stifling a smile.

"Shut up."

"I didn't say anything."

"But I can see that you're thinking something, and that's bad enough."

"They aren't that bad... Just look a bit like they were peeled by an armless 5 year old."

"I know that too, thank you very much, no need to point it out." she turned her head, cheeks blushing with a mix of embarrassment, and frustrated anger. Despite his snark, Lucas ate a piece.

"Thanks for doing all this. Genuinely." he said, shooting her a soft smile that made her heart skip a beat. She may have hated his playboy persona, but she wasn't sure she was equipped to handle him being so honest. It was an experience far too rare to be prepared for.

"Don't mention it. Since you don't really seem to have anyone you're particularly close to, someone needed to make a sacrifice." she responded jokingly, the serious atmosphere having made her nervous.

"You aren't wrong about that, unfortunately..." he let out a bitter laugh before taking another piece. Even if it was just fruit, at least he was eating. He started doing a lot better after he woke up this second time, or Candice thought so at least. Most likely, he was neither very ill nor drunk, but the symptoms of the two made each other worse when combined. Once the effects of the alcohol had mostly worn off, he improved almost immediately.