Just Off The Key || Lizrei

Chapter 14: Hum Hallelujah

Liz was crying. Though she was obviously trying to hide it, taking bunny bites of the vegan chili Rei had made, a sort of terrified smile fixed on her face.

Tears were about to start rolling down her cheeks, but she kept eating it. Now that was, that was just true love.

Rei had taken one bite of hers and nearly vomited into the sink. Now that her esophagus was permanently damaged, she was eating bread and milk. Liz, apparently, refused to acknowledge that the chili was anything less than amazing, or anything more than tolerantly hot, and she plowed right on through.

Rei winced as Liz started sniffling. Her eyes had turned bloodshot and she was looking a little sweaty. Jesus Christ, what had gone wrong with that recipe?

"Honey, just stop." Rei pleaded, reaching over to prevent Liz's spoon from dunking into what was essentially lava, again. "I did something wrong. You're going to make yourself sick."

Liz shook her head vigorously and breathed deeply. Well, at least her lungs were still functioning. Surely her other organs wouldn't last much longer.

"No, it's good." Liz insisted, though she couldn't hide the frightened look in her eyes when she dunked her spoon in for another bite.

Rei made a noise between a sigh and a laugh, and swiped the bowl away from Liz to pour it down the sink. Or in the trash. It would probably cause the sink pipes to disintegrate and they'd have to call the plumber again.

"Hey." Liz protested weakly. She looked dazed, like she didn't know what was happening. Rei put a glass of chocolate milk in front of Liz, and felt her girlfriend's forehead with a cool hand. God, she was on fire.

Rei had ignited her girlfriend.

She watched Liz give up the pretense of enjoying that meal, and chug her milk before laying her head down on the table wearily.

"I told you, you didn't have to eat it, honey." Rei said, scooting closer and rubbing Liz's back slowly.

Liz whined into the tabletop, though it was muffled by her arms. "It tasted good. And I was hungry. And you said there were-were cookies for dessert...Now my stomach hurts."

Rei rolled her eyes, but kept rubbing, and placed a cool hand on the back of Liz's neck. She had said over and over to stop eating it. Liz just didn't learn. Apparently her iron stomach had made her believe that she could handle this concoction.

Pssht. Even Barnaby wouldn't go near that pot of lava. Pot of fucking disaster.

Liz sat up suddenly and looked at Rei with a pained expression. Rei knew that look. Unfortunately.

"Are you going to be sick?" she asked quickly.

Liz was already standing up when she nodded, and Rei followed her hurriedly into the bathroom, just in time to pull blonde hair out of Liz's face.

Rei grimaced as Liz retched. She would make herself vomit if she focused too much on the noises, which, yeah, that would be exactly what they needed. God, Liz probably felt like a Charizard right now. Hurling up flames. She looked more like Charmander. Tiny little Charmander.

Liz emptied her stomach as Rei just rubbed her back and focused on Liz's cartoon fish shower curtain. That's a clownfish. That's a dolphin. That's the sound of vomiting. That's a seahorse. That's the smell of stomach acid.

Oh God, Rei was seconds away from hurling when Liz finally stopped and slumped back, breathing heavily. Rei regained control of her own stomach through sheer determination and brushed the hair out of Liz's face with a sympathetic smile.