Hazel's

October Twenty-Eighth

A few days had passed since I had asked Clair to by my girlfriend and I could not have been happier. We went to an amusement park in the city, bowling with a couple other people that Clair knows from her psychology class, and we also just hung out a lot in the secret room in the library. That was my favorite place to spend time with her. Silent movies were her favorites too, so we always had a blast going through them all and talking about our favorite parts.

Tonight we were planning on going to the planetarium. I was so excited to go and sit under the stars with her and point out the constellations. I could almost picture her head resting on my chest with our fingertips aligned, counting the stars together. All of a sudden, I heard my phone ring.

"Hello?" I heard a couple coughs from the other end.

"Hey Spence," Clair said. My heart fluttered and I smiled, excited to hear her voice.

"Ready for the planetarium tonight?" I asked. I heard a couple more coughs followed by a trumpet like sneeze.

"Uh Spence, I don't think tonight's gonna work out," she said. I could hear the congestion in her voice. "I have a fever of 102, and honestly I feel like shit. I'm so sorry, Spencer. I was really looking forward to it," she ended.

"Don't worry about it, ok? Rest up," I said, an idea forming in my head. We said goodbye and hung up, but I was already outside running to the walgreens. What kind of stuff do girls like? I mean, clearly girls like chocolate and stuff, but is that something she can eat right now? What if she's too sick to digest it? Oh well. I picked up a couple red bags of Lindt chocolate balls and threw them in my basket.

Ten minutes later and I was at the checkout counter. I had in my basket: four bags of Lindt chocolate, a pack of hot cocoa mix, some bubble bath fizz balls, a few gossip magazines, two strawberry scented candles, three cans of chicken soup, and the movie Mean Girls. I'm not sure why, but Clair obsessed about that movie whenever it came up in conversation. I paid for the stuff and walked over to the bus stop. I had taken the bus to her sorority only a couple times, but I knew the route pretty well.

The bus pulled over and I got on, tipping the driver a little bit extra with the leftover change from the drug store. The ride there was short. Once I got there, I rang the bell and Sarah opened up the door. She was the girl with the dark hair that I met on the way to the party a couple weeks ago.

"Hey Spencer. How are you?" she asked kindly. I smiled and stepped inside, taking off my coat.

"I'm doing well. How about you?"

"Just great, thanks," she smiled. "Do you remember which room is Clair's?" she asked me. I shook my head. "Don't worry about it, follow me," she turned around and I followed her up the stairs to the third door on the left. "Be careful in there, okay? She's not feeling too well," Sarah warned. I laughed and thanked her before opening the door and stepping inside.

In a puddle of blankets on her bed, I saw Clair being supported by at least seven pillows stacked on top of each other, flipping through a magazine. She looked up and gasped, clutching her hand to her heart.

"Oh my gosh, you just scared me so much. I was not expecting you," she laughed, looking up at me. "I don't want to get you sick, you should go".

"Now, what kind of a boyfriend would I be if I let my girlfriend suffer through a fever of 102 alone?" I sat down on her bed and raised an eyebrow at her. She giggled and looked down at the blankets. "That's what I thought. Anyways, I brought you some stuff". As soon as the word 'stuff' came out of my mouth, she perked up and smiled.

"Aww, you so didn't have to," she blushed. I placed the bag on the bed as she looked through its contents, pausing to look up at me and smile every couple of seconds. "Oh my gosh, you are the best boyfriend ever," she smiled at me. "I would totally kiss you if I weren't contagious". I smiled and ran my fingers through her hair.

We spent the next hour watching Mean Girls until Clair fell asleep. As soon as she did, I cleaned up her used tissues, pulled the blankets up to her chin, kissed her forhead lightly and slipped out as quietly as I could. I can almost swear I saw her smiling as I closed the door.

~ . ~ . ~

"Hello? Hello? Is this Spencer? Spencer! It's your mother!" I heard through the other line on my cell phone. I rolled my eyes and smiled before responding.

"Mom! I can hear you!" I shouted before she could continue with her screeching.

"Whoops!" she laughed. "So tell me everything, what's new? You haven't called me back at all this week!" she stated.

"Well, I met this girl-" I was cut off by screaming. I rolled my eyes.

"Donald! Get over here!" I heard her calling for my dad. "Wait, Donald! Get Lisa and Jeff too! They have to hear this!" I rolled my eyes again and groaned into the phone.

"Moom! Is this necessary?"

"Absolutely this is necessary! You have never once mentioned the word 'girl' in my house! Hang on, Daddy is fetching Auntie Lisa and Uncle Jeff from the living room. Ok... Ok they're here. I'm putting you on speaker," I heard a click from the other end, followed by a group 'Hi, Spencer'.

"Hi everybody," I responded.

"Spence, tell them about the girl!" Mom pushed me.

"Fine," I said. "Her name is Clair and we've been dating for a few days now". I could hear squealing from my mother and my aunt.

"Congrats, son!" I heard my dad say.

"Thanks dad," I awkwardly responded. After talking a little bit with each person individually about how yes, Aunt Lisa, you could totally go blonde if you wanted to, and yes mom, you should definitely host Thanksgiving again this year, I was able to make up an excuse that I had to go work on some biology homework. It was actually true, but I was not planning on doing it right away. They said 'Goodbye, Spencer' in unison, which was pretty creepy, and then hung up. Leaning back on my pillow, I thought about home for a little bit before falling asleep.

~ . ~ . ~

First author's note:

Oh hello there, readers. Are you guys liking Hazel's so far? If so, PLEASE Comment and Vote! It means so much to see that people are enjoying the story! :)

XOXO

- Stephanie