Inhale: Book One (bxb) ✔️

16. You're an amazing almost-boyfriend.

Everest Pierce

Miami, Florida (Disney)
November 17th.

I wasn't sure what drew me out of sleep, not until I shot up at the pitiful call of my name coming from Landon. "Ev."

I glanced over to the side of the bed Landon occupied the night before to find it empty. I rubbed my eyes, trying to gather my thoughts. "Landon?" I called because I swore I heard him call for me. "Landon."

"Ev, I'm..."

Those two whined words were cut off when I heard the sound of Landon dry-heaving before he ended up throwing up. I hopped out of bed after throwing the blankets across the bed. I grabbed the frame of the door to the bathroom, only to find Landon slinking down the wall with flushed cheeks, sunken eyes, and sweat beading down either side of his face. I froze for a minute, trying to assess my options.

"I'm pretty sure I have food poisoning." The weak boy against the wall pointed out. "It won't last long, but I need to try and stay hydrated. Can you..."

"Yes." I wanted to do something useful. Something. Landon was hardly strong enough to keep his head up. "Yes, I'll...I'm going to get Lennox to come sit with you, and I'll be right back."

Landon didn't answer because he was emptying bile into the toilet. I pressed my lips together, trying to gather the strength to leave him like this. It felt wrong. I hesitated before I finally willed my feet to move. When I stepped back into the room, I saw that it was only five in the morning. Luckily, the hotel we were staying in had vending machines with plenty of options. I needed to make sure Landon stayed hydrated.

Grabbing my phone from the nightstand, I rushed toward the door but not without stopping to quickly check on Landon. He went back to slumping against the wall, clearly uncomfortable. Oh, how I wished to take away his sickness. His sickness was going to prevent him from spending his very last day at Disney, and that thought crushed me further.

Shaking off my thoughts, I dashed out of the door and slammed my fist on Lennox and West's door. It was next door to ours, so I didn't have to go far. As I waited, I decided I'd need to call my parents and ask them how to help him properly. Giving him water couldn't be the only thing I needed to do.

The door opened with a very pissed-off-looking Lennox. "You better have a very good excuse for why you're banging on my door at five in the morning, peasant."

"Landon is profusely throwing up, and I need to find him some hydration. Can you go sit with him?"

Lennox sobered. "Yeah, I'll go over there. Let me grab your room key."

I didn't wait for him to return before I rushed toward the elevators. We were on the eighth floor, and I was still trying to will my brain to come back online. As I waited, I took my phone out of my pocket and immediately dialed my mom. When I pressed the phone to my ear, the elevator opened, and I stepped inside and hit the lobby button.

As the doors closed, my heart eased upon hearing the tired voice of my Mother on the other end of the phone. "Are you okay, sweetheart? What's wrong?"

I'd admit it to anyone who asked, but I loved my parents with everything I had. "Landon is sick with food poisoning, and aside from making sure he drinks something, I don't know how to help him. I'm sorry for waking--"

"Hush, my darling. You are on the right track with the water but grab some electrolytes. I recommend Body Armor but do not give it to him until he hasn't thrown up for thirty minutes. Otherwise, it's going to come right back up. If you want to try and find something to combat the nausea, try ginger. Ginger ale. Ginger tea. Ginger in general. In whatever form you can find it. He should be okay within a few hours. His body is essentially trying to expel the bad bacteria, and that usually happens rather quickly. He will be nauseous for a couple of hours after he stops throwing up, but otherwise, he will be okay soon."