Love Rivalry (A Gabriel Landeskog and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Fanfiction)

Chapter 9 - Hooky

Halloween

Ryan's POV

I woke up at 8:50 this morning. Ten minutes before Ashley wanted to be awake so we could go costume shopping, something I wasn't planning on doing. I carefully made my way out of bed, and downstairs. Luckily, Taylor and Jordan weren't awake yet, so I grabbed a box of tissues and went into the kitchen. I grabbed a small wash cloth and ran it under hot water. I wringed all of the water out and pressed it on my forehead, leaving it for a few seconds. I took it off and felt my head, making sure it was warm enough, but not too warm. It was the perfect temperature. I looked at the clock quickly. 8:58. Just enough time to get back upstairs and into bed. I carefully got back into bed, as not to wake Ashley, and pretended to be asleep. After 2 minutes, I heard her phone alarm go off and she quickly turned it off and woke me.

"Ryan, babe, wake up." She said softly. I opened my eyes to find my beautiful girl looking at me with a white smile. I smiled briefly before letting out a fake cough.

"Are you okay, babe?" She asked. I couldn't believe I was going through with this. Lying to the greatest girl in the world. I continued to cough, feeling really guilty.

"My head is throbbing." I groaned. A worried look had replaced her beautiful smile, which pained me. She placed her hand on my head and moved it to various spots.

"Ryan, you're burning up. Let me take your temperature." She said. We didn't keep a thermometer in the house, which wasn't a good thing, but it works for the situation.

"We don't have a thermometer." I told her, honestly.

"Do you have any pain killers?" She asked.

"In my bathroom cabinet." I told her. She shot up off of my bed and into the bathroom, quickly coming back with some pills.

"I'll get you a glass of water. I'll be right back." She said, darting out of my room. I quickly had time to reflect. There was no turning back. I had to go all the way through. I couldn't believe I was capable of lying to Ashley. She is the very last person I'd lie too. I felt awful for having her take care of me, when I'm just faking it. She soon came back with a glass and grabbed the bottle of pills and took out 2 capsules.

"You have to take these. They'll help your temperature go down. Does anything else hurt?" She asked, worried.

"My throat." I said. God, another lie. I truly felt sick now. I took the medicine she gave me, and laid back down.

"I don't think you should go tonight. You're too sick." She said. I tried to recover from my web of lies.

"No, I'll be ok. Maybe it just needs a few hours. I should be fine by then." I told her. She shook her head.

"No babe. I want you to stay home, you could have strep throat. You definitely have a fever. I want you to feel better as soon as possible, and if that means you can't go with me tonight, so be it." She said.

"Are you sure?" I asked. She nodded.

"I'm sure. I need to take a shower. I'll let you go back to sleep." She said.

"Ok, babe." I said, defeated. I wasn't happy at all. I just lied my out of a costume party, and for what? Because i'm selfish? Yup, that's it. I feel horrible. My thoughts kept me awake even after Ashley got out of the shower. Before she left, she kissed my forehead, something I didn't deserve. She quietly closed the door behind her and left. After a while, I fell back to sleep, feeling horribly guilty.

Ashley's POV

Poor Ryan. I can't believe he got sick. He looked pretty pale too. He had a fever, and a pretty sore throat. His speech was coarse, and he just wasn't himself. I hated leaving him like this, but he assured me I should go, with or without him. I got dressed and gave him a quick kiss on his forehead before leaving. I was walking down the stairs, when I saw Taylor sitting at the table, eating a bowl of cereal.