Addicted

Chapter 11

     I wake up next to Ryan again, with his arms wrapped around me. I have a pounding headache from last night, and I feel sick. I turn on my phone to check the time, and the first thing to catch my eye was the day. Tuesday. I have work.
     It was now 8:57 and I have work at 9:30. There's no way I could go in today. I'll just send an email.
     I kiss Ryan's forehead as his eyes flutter open for a second, then he goes back to sleep. I get out of bed, put on a pair of lounge pants and a tank top, and make my way to the living room. My laptop was on the table, so I grabbed it as I was walking by.
     I flop on the couch, right after closing the blinds, and put my feet on the coffee table. I open my laptop, and go into my email.
     I find my boss' email, and tell him I won't be in.
Hey Randy,
I'm sorry but I won't be able to make it in today. My head is pounding and it won't be good for my work. I don't have much energy and when I work, I want to be as energized as I should be, and be at the top of my game. I hope you understand.
     Thanks, -M
    
     I hit send, and close my laptop. No one else was up yet, so I was going to make coffee to wake me up.
     I walk over to the kitchen, and decide I was going to get some orange juice instead. Hopefully it wakes me up.
     I open my fridge and take out the orange juice. I take a glass from the cupboard and pour myself a glass of juice. I put the container back in the fridge and grab the strawberry jam. I take a piece of bread from the bag and pop it in the toaster. Nothing like toast and jam right?
     I put the jam on the toast and clean up my mess. I take my toast and orange juice over to the table and sit down. I haven't had toast in so long. I take a bite and the taste makes my stomach growl.
     "Damn.. I can make some good toast." I whisper to myself as I take a sip of my orange juice.
     I immediately spit out the juice all over the place. My tongue starts to burn as I run over to the sink to get some water.
     I check the container and I see why I spit it out. It's expired. Mouldy. Whatever you want to say.
     I throw the container out as I make my way back to my room. Great. My stomach was a lot worse now.
     I lay down next to Ryan as his eyes open.
     "Well good morning sunshine." He says in a sweet voice with a smile plastered on his face.
     "Good morning..." I say putting my head on his chest. He starts to rub my back and kisses the top of my head.
     "Maddie are you okay?" He asks me, looking down at me.
     "Yeah of course, I'm over last night, it was just a ga-"
     "No no no, that's not what I meant.." He says to me feeling my forehead. "You look really pale. Are you okay, do you feel well?"
     "Oh yeah yeah, I just drank orange juice that was gone bad. I'm fine." I say rubbing his arm.
     "Are you sure?" He asks me.
     "100% positive." I say to him, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
     "Okay well if there's anything wrong, just tell me." He says to me.
     I smile and thank him. He really did care about me. Well I think. I hope.

     After laying down for about 20 minutes, I know I was going to throw up.
I jumped up from my bed, accidentally startling Ryan. I run to the bathroom, and throw up. A lot.
     I can hear Ryan come behind me, as he pulls my hair back out of my face and rubs my back. It feels like my throat is on fire.
     I stand up, and brush my teeth so I don't have that disgusting taste in my mouth all day.
     "Are you sure you're okay?" Ryan asks me as we sit on the edge of the bed.
     "Yeah I'm sure.. It's just a hangover I think. Or it's just the orange juice. I bet that's what it is. I'll be fine."
     "No Maddie I don't think it is. Just please come to the hospital." He says rubbing my stomach trying to make it feel a little better.
     "No. No no no no no, I hate hospitals. I'm not going." I said standing up, but instantly fall back into Ryan's laps.
     "Yeah we're going. Get dressed. We won't be long. Don't worry. It's just to get some medicine for you and then we can come back here." He says standing up, and helping me to my feet.
     I try to convince him to not go, but he insists on bringing me. Even though I'm fine. I'll just prove him wrong.
     We walk out to the living room, and thank god no one is there. I didn't want to explain to Abby that she won't need to go, because she'd insist on going and I didn't want that to happen.
     "Okay let me just check my e-mail first, I need to see what my boss said." I say to Ryan as I open up my email.
      I don't even have to open up the attachment. All it says is "You're fired."
     What else could ruin this day? I don't bother to tell Ryan about it. I'll just leave it for later.

      "Hello young lady, and what's your name?" She asks me. I just hand her my hospital card because I didn't think I could talk. She asks me what's wrong, and Ryan explains to her. She gives me a hospital band and we wait in the waiting area.
     "Ryan I really don't like this...." I say fiddling with my fingers.
     He puts his arm around my shoulder and I lay my head on him.
"What if everything isn't okay? Ryan... What if it's something really serious? What if I-"
He puts his fingers under my chin and kisses me before I can reply. Suddenly I actually felt like nothing bad was going to happen.
Minute after minute, I started to feel worse. I felt like I was hit in the stomach with a bowling bowl, and it felt like a bomb went off in my head. I was still really dizzy and I felt like shit.
Then, after 20 minutes of patiently waiting, the nurse calls my name.
"Maddie....?" She says looking around the waiting area.
Ryan helps me up, as we walk over to her. He kisses my temple as we walk into the triage room.
     Ryan holds my hand and whispers in my ear.
"Everything is going to be okay Maddie. Don't worry."