Complicated People, Complicated Love

Sick

Lucas

     I'm carrying Maya in my arms, running down the school hallway. She's not moving and she feels limp as I run, I can feel her breathing going shallow. Her shallow breaths wheeze through her lungs.

    "Stay with me, we're almost there!" I hear myself yell. And then I hear her breathing stop, it's like I can feel it in my bones, her breath just stop. I go chilly all through out my body. I place her down on the floor. "No no no no no, Maya!" There's nothing I can do, I just know that there's nothing to be done. "Maya!" I scream.

     I open my eyes and the sun is coming in through my bedroom window. My heart is racing, it was just a dream. I'm sweating and when I sit up I feel dizzy. I look at my bedside clock and see that it's ten o'clock on a Wednesday! I must have slept right through my alarm.

     I wipe my runny nose and grab my phone. I have two missed calls and nine missed texts from Maya asking me where I am and if I'm okay.

     I try to sit up again but my head feels clouded. I put my feet to the floor and stand up. My vision blurs and I'm dizzy again. My nose is practically dripping with snot and I feel like I'm going to throw up. I sit back down slowly and rub my eyes.

     "Not coming to school today, sorry I took so long to reply, I think I'm sick. I'll miss you today," I text and send it to Maya. I get a text back almost immediately. "I'll be right over," it says.

      "I don't want to get you sick Maya, and plus, you have school," I text back, secretly smiling at her wanting to come be with me.

     "If you're trying to get me to stay at school, you know you're going to fail. It's school," I laugh but then hold my head at its persistent throbbing.

     
       Maya appears at the door twenty minutes later.

     "You look horrible!" She says oddly right as I open the door.

      "You say the sweetest things to me Maya Hart," I say holding in a cough.

     She gives me a sassy smile and walks in, handing me a bowl of chicken soup. I smile and resist going in for a kiss, as to not get her sick too.

     I follow her into the kitchen. She slips off her hoodie while she walks and puts it on the counter as I place the soup in the microwave.

     "What do you think you're doing? Sit down you dork," Maya says taking my place by the microwave and pushing me in the direction of the couch.

      "It's just a cold Maya, walking won't kill me," I say, sitting down on the couch willingly despite what I just said.

      "No, but rest will help you," she insists as the microwave beeps that it's done, Maya pulls out the steaming bowl of soup and sits beside me on the couch.

      I take the bowl from her and blow on spoonful of it as the hot steam makes its way into my face. She looks tired, probably as tired as I look right now. The clock in the corner says that it's 10:30 in the morning.

       "So how was your two minutes of school?" I ask taking a sip and letting the warmth radiate down my throat.

       "School-ish," she replies. I feel her hand on my head, her fingers combing through my hair and I close my eyes.

       When I wake up Maya's sleeping beside me. She's not beautiful when she sleeps, her mouth hangs open and she snores very lightly, and this, despite being sick, makes me smile. This girl wants to be with me. ME! How could I not smile at that?