𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝚴𝐘

CARE

Danny opens the front door to Andrew's apartment and both Lexi and him hold both of Andrew's hands, dragging a heavily drunk and sleepy Andrew to his room. They place Andrew on his bed and after tucking him up, Lexi gets ready to leave.

Danny: Lexi you should maybe go back to your house tomorrow. It's already late in the night. It's not safe outside for you to go alone and I can't come to drop you off because I have to be with Andrew right now. He needs someone.

Lexi: I'll be fine Danny. Just- just be with Andrew. Take care of him.

Lexi was about to leave, but before leaving, she gently caressed Andrew's cheek. She panics on discovering that his body temperature is way higher than normal. She quickly asks Danny to bring her a thermometer from Andrew's medicine drawer.
After a minute, the thermometer showed the reading ~ 104°F. Without a second thought, she decides that it would be wise of her to listen to Danny and stay the night at Andrew's place.

Danny immediately arranged for a sponge bath for Andrew and handed the sponge and bowl with cold water to Lexi. 

Lexi: Andrew has a very high fever, Danny. I don't think that the sponge bath would work.

Danny: Let's just try it once. It'll work. Trust me. He tells me that when he's had a bad day, your video call or your text or even your mere thought is enough to cheer him up. Your love and touch will definitely make him feel better instantly.

Guilt starts to kick in the whole of Lexi's body after hearing what Danny said. She was the reason he'd smile after a bad day, but now, she's the reason he's had a bad day in the first place.

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Suddenly, Andrew starts to shiver intensely. Lexi immediately takes out 3-4 blankets from his cupboard to cover him up with them. One by one, she lays the blankets on top of him, trying to make him feel warm. She starts to give Andrew the sponge bath. She dabs the wet sponge all across his face - onto his forehead, tired eyes and his rosy lips. Every time her hand touched him, his shivering reduced, but his heart's suffering? Nothing could reduce that.

When Danny went to change the water in the bowl which was no more cold, Lexi starts to feels uneasy. With shaky hands, she gets up to grab some pills from her purse and quickly gulps them down along with the glass of water kept on Andrew's side table. She then proceeds to grab a chair and sits down at Andrew's bedside.
Her mind was troubled with all sorts of thoughts when all of a sudden, Andrew's phone, which Lexi had switched back on in the car when he was sleeping, rang. Hurriedly, she keeps the bottle of pills on the side table beside the glass of water. She checks the caller Id. It was Andrew's mother. Unable to understand what to do, she decides to trust her instinct and picks it up.

On call~

Karla:  Hola Andrew. ( Hello Andrew ).

Lexi: Mrs. Davila, esta es Lexi, Andrew's Best Friend. ( Mrs. Davila, this is Lexi, Andrew's Best friend ).

Karla: Ah Lexi, te conozco. Andrew habla de ti todo el tiempo. ¿Cómo estás? ¿Cómo está Andrew? ( Ah Lexi, I know you. Andrew talks about you all the time. How are you? How is Andrew? )

Lexi: Bien ( Fine ). Andrew's sleeping actually. Can I tell him to call you up later? 

Karla: Sí, sí, no problem. Pero es un poco sorprendente que esté durmiendo. Eso es inusual en él. Hope everything is okay, querida. (Yes, yes, no problem. But it it is a little surprising that he is sleeping. That is unusual of him. Hope everything is okay, dear.)

Lexi: Everything is okay. It's just that we are tired because we were at a party until late today. That's why Andrew told me to stay over for the night. 

Also I'm sorry Mrs. Davila, mi no hablos Espanol en casa. ( Also I'm sorry Mrs. Davila, but I don't speak Spanish at home )

That's why I can't speak Spanish fluently. I'm able to understand whatever you say though. I'm learning from Andrew. 

Karla: It's fine Mija. Mi no hablos inglés either, pero sí entiendo el idioma. De todos modos, cuídate. Dile a Andrew que me llame mañana. ¿Bien? (It's fine dear. I don't speak English either, but i do understand the language. Anyway, you take care. Tell Andrew to call me up tomorrow. Okay? )

Lexi:  Sí  ( Yes ), sure. It was nice talking to you Ma'am. Adiós ( Bye ).

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As soon as Lexi hangs up the call, Danny walks in with the bowl of refilled cold water. After a few hours of continuous sponge bath, both Danny and Lexi decide that it would be a good idea to call the hospital to send a doctor to check on Andrew, as his body temperature refused to lower below 100°F. Soon after, a doctor came in and began to diagnose Andrew.

Doctor: He's taken a whole lot of stress about something. On top of that, the amount of alcohol that he has consumed is so much that he's gonna have severe headaches and nausea tomorrow. First thing in the morning, he should consume atleast 1 whole glass of lemon water to kind of neutralize the effect of alcohol. Also, I've prescribed a few tablets to help him with the hangover. Now, about the fever. I've given a few medicines for the fever. Don't let the temperature fluctuate too much. Little below 100°F is fine. Atleast one person should be there continuously to monitor him in the night.  He'll be much better by tomorrow morning. Take care.

The doctor hands the medicines over to Lexi and leaves. Somehow, they manage to feed the medicines to Andrew. Danny goes to sleep in the guest room after sometime. Lexi stays up all night, looking after Andrew. 

"Love is not always easy, but it's always worth it in the end."