Nightmares ➳ Connor McDonough/ Before You Exit Fanfic { edited }

Eighteen

Gwen's POV

It was Monday, which meant I had to get out of bed and actually go outside to go to work. I hate life.

I silently groaned to myself because work was one of the things that I was truly beginning to despise. Braiden made it a little bit easier, but it still sucked pretty bad.

For some stupid reason, Connor had somehow caught the flu and I had to take care of him as soon as I get home from work because I doubt any of his brothers knew what to do, and because he asked me if I could and honestly, how could I ever say no to Connor.

"Hi Gwen," Braiden greeted me as I walked through the door, but I simply ignored him, hoping that he would get the message that I was in a bad mood. "Okay, I'll shut up." 

Six extremely tiresome hours later and I was back in Connor's apartment where I decided to stay the night. Avery and Tanya will manage by themselves. And I'm literally just down the hall if they needed me.

He was on the sofa, groaning about how much his head hurt and I was in the kitchen trying to look for a towel to dab his head with because I read online that that helped.

I opened the cabinet above my head and let out a relieved sigh as I saw a bunch of towels stacked up into piles before I grabbed a baby blue one and filled up a basin with some water. I wasn't sure if I had to use warm water or cold water, so I just settled with whatever the kitchen sink had to offer. Either way, it was still water and I still had to dab his forehead with it.

As another groan echoed throughout the apartment, I hurriedly walked over to his side and sat on the floor, tucking my legs underneath me, as I wrung out the towel and placed it on his forehead.

"How did you even catch the flu?" I asked, continuing to dab his head.

"I don't know," he groaned in reply. "But it sucks."

"Shh, your head will hurt more if you talk too much."

"I don't think more is possible. I feel like someone is pounding on my head with a mallet," he continued to groaned.

"I said shush so you better shush."

"Bu -- " he was about to say something again, but I decided to shut him up by kissing him.

"Woah. You should tell me to shut up more often," he said as soon as we pulled away, looking quite dazed because I really did catch him off guard with that one.

I decided to take his temperature, so I asked Connor if he had a thermometer and where he kept it.

"It's in the bathroom cabinet," he replied, pointing a weak finger at a door in the corner.

Once I got up to head to the bathroom, I bumped into someone halfway and nearly fell over as the wind got knocked out of my lungs.

"Sorry," I wheezed out, placing a hand on my chest, as a hand wrapped around my arm, trying to steady me a bit while I caught my breath. And once I looked up to see exactly who I'd bumped into, I just forgot to breathe altogether.

"So you're Gwen," said the boy, I'd just bumped into. He had dark hair and hazel eyes and I recognized him from all the times he'd opened the door for me. Riley was his name, I think. He looked like quite the heartbreaker with his looks and all. Definitely gifted with a gorgeous face. Just, damn.

"Riley?" I asked.

"In the flesh," he replied, chuckling a bit, before finally letting go of my arm and stuffing his hands deep in the pockets of his grey sweatpants.

I let my eyes fall away from his face just little a bit and noticed how muscular he was and I couldn't help but swallow hard as I let my gaze wander back to his face before giving him a weak smile.

Stop staring, Gwen.

Suddenly, a chorus of groans filled my ears and I raised my eyebrows at the dark-haired boy in front of me.

"Uh, Toby has the flu too," Riley explained and I watched how his lips moved when he talked. "He caught it from Connor."

I nodded my head, looking away from Riley to look at the door to my side. It was slightly ajar so I could look inside, just enough to see a boy in his bed, curled up into a ball.

"I won't be surprised if I get sick too," Riley chuckled and I sent him the same weak smile from a while ago.

"Um, I should get the thermometer," I said, cutting our little conversation short, as I walked around him and entered the bathroom, sighing to myself.

I checked my reflection in the mirror and my cheeks were a bright shade of pink, letting me know that I had been blushing in front of Riley probably the whole time we were talking. I hope he didn't notice, but he probably did.

"Gwen?" Connor groaned and I remembered why I came in here in the first place.

I opened the bathroom cabinet above my head and found the thermometer. In fact, I found three.

They were all in a line with paper towel wrapped around the ends and labels on each one. The first had Connor's name scribbled in his handwriting, the middle one said Riley, and the last one was Toby's, of course.

I quickly grabbed the one that said Connor and rushed back to the couch where he was currently lying face down with his left hand on his forehead.

"I haven't felt this crappy since Megan and I broke up," he muffled into the pillow, but I was able to pick up what he'd said.

"Is she your ex-girlfriend?" I asked and he rolled over, his eyes slightly wide as they seemed to turn a shade darker.

"Oh, you heard me?" he asked and I nodded, keeping my eyes on the tube of glass in my hands. "Yeah she's my ex."

I honestly didn't really care about his ex-girlfriend and all the ugly details on why they broke up, so I didn't bother asking him about it. Yet.

"So, I heard you and Riley talking," Connor said, changing the subject as I put the thermometer in his mouth and it dangled awkwardly from his lips while he talked.

"Uh, yeah -- he seems really --" I trailed off, not really knowing what to say. I couldn't exactly tell Connor that his brother was impossibly hot right to his face because God knows how that would turn out. "He seems nice," I finished.

"Yeah, he's pretty outgoing, so he's really good with people."

I nodded my head, deciding to just agree with him, as I continued to dab his forehead with the damp cloth, his brothers hazel eyes still burned at the back of my mind.

You love Connor.

~

a/n: this is what happens when you write a connor fanfic when you have riley feels but he won't really affect the plot in any way don't worry.