Bucket List

Trouble Begins

June 26th

I wake up to a sore throat, and a pounding head. I groaned, and cuddled closer in my sheets. Bad idea. I broke out into a coughing fit, each cough burning my throat.

Weakly grabbing my phone, I saw it was 10:29. I slowly dialed Liam's number. I was shocked when it only rang once, then he answered.

"Hello?" He asked. I sneezed into my arm before I got a change to answer.

"It's Ella," I croaked, my voice sounding rough and hoarse.

"Geez Ellie, you sound terrible,"

"Thanks. I regret not wearing a jacket yesterday. I'm sick," I coughed, and wiped my nose with a tissue.

"I'm really sorry, Ellie. Do you want me to come over?"

"No, my Mum is here. She's all better now, though. I'm really sorry I can't come over."

"That's fine. Get lots of rest and drink plenty of fluids," I laughed a bit, but broke out into a fit of coughs.

"You sound like a doctor,"

"And you sound seriously sick,"

"I feel like shit, though. Hopefully this'll be gone by tomorrow,"

"I'm going to let you go, so you can get some rest. Call me if you need anything," He said.

"Thanks. Bye, Li,"

"Bye, Ellie. Feel better," And with that, I hung up. I tossed my phone on my bed, and fell back down. I sneezed again, and groaned. Why did I have to be sick?

Okay, I was lying when I said my Mum was home. I heard her leave last night and she hasn't come back yet. Thankfully, she took Ian.

I peeled myself from my bed, and dragged myself to the bathroom. I looked at my reflection, and cringed. I looked horrible. My hair made me look like Medusa, I was extremely pale, and my nose was red. Great.

I slowly took off my pyjamas and pulled on a white tank top and red denim shorts. I slid on my red and white varsity jacket I had gotten. Okay, maybe I should've gotten it in a smaller size, because the sleeves went past my hands.

I walked back to my room and slid on my white Toms. I felt like grabbing a warm, tea to help my throat. I knew we didn't have anything like that here, so I decided to go by Starbucks.

I walked downstairs. It felt weird without my Mum here. I felt a twinge of pain in my stomach, but I ignored it. I grabbed my phone and walked out of the flat.

...

I sat at Starbucks, with my hands wrapped around a warm tea. I took a long sip, feeling the warm liquid sooth my throat. I sniffled and set the cup down.

"Funny to run into you here," The familiar voice said. I looked up, and saw Tyler standing in front of me, smirking. I sighed, and took another sip of my tea.

"Yeah, well it's a popular place," I said, my voice coming back. He sat down in front of me, and the smirk left his face.

"Okay, one, you look like shit," He said. I rolled my eyes, and sneezed into my elbow.

"I feel like shit too," I said.

"And two, I can tell somethings wrong. What happened?" He asked, worried. I took another long sip of my tea. I knew I could tell him, he wouldn't judge me or use it against me.

"My Mum took the 8,000£ I had in my bank account, for beer. Ian got her dead drunk. When I went to the mall yesterday, I was buying some candy for Sammi. Do you know how humiliating it was to be told my card was dead and to find out your Mum was drunk?" I asked. I was about to continue when I went into a coughing fit. He rubbed my back.