Together just you & me.

Chapter 12 - Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty.

So it's Friday.

And it's a terrible Friday indeed.

First of all, I'm late. I forgot to set my alarm last night but thankfully Jessy called to ask if we'd walk to school today, even though she only lives about 5 minutes away from school and I live about 20. I tell her not to wait as I'd literally just woken up.

Second of all, I've sneezed about 10 times in the space of 5 minutes, my head is pounding, my throat is aching and when I looked in the mirror, I nearly screamed at the sight of myself; I'm as pale as a ghost.

When I walk downstairs for breakfast, my dad is the first person I see as always. I act as if nothing's wrong, but when he sees me, he gasps. 

"Sweetie, are you feeling OK?" he asks, dropping his newspaper and getting up from his chair.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine," I lie.

"You look so pale," he says. He puts his hand over my forehead and shakes his head, frowning.

"Dad I'm going to be late for school-"

"Let me take your temperature." he says, ignoring me.

He goes to the medicine cabinet in the kitchen and takes out a thermometer.

He tells me to open wide and I obey, and he puts it in my mouth.

I sigh impatiently.

After a few moments, my Dad takes it out of my mouth and squints at the thermometer. 

"39· C! Is that even possible?"

"Dad, I need to leave-"

"You're not going anywhere today, love. You're staying home."

"But Dad-" I'm trying to sneeze, but I can't. Ugh I hate it when that happens.

My Dad chuckles. "No buts, now get back to bed."

I sigh and trudge back upstairs. 

It's not that I want to go to school, I was just hoping that maybe, just maybe, today would be the day Jason just might ask me out.

But no, lucky Lizzy's in bed with a cold.

                                               * * *

Dad's took a day off work to keep an eye on me, I told him not to but he insisted on staying home. And then I thought maybe a day off would do him good. He comes upstairs a few times to check on me or fill up my mug with hot lemon and sugar, which is nice.

It's 7pm when the sound of my ring tone awakens me from my light sleep.

It's an unknown number, I answer it thinking it might be Jessy calling from her mum's phone.

"Hello?" I croak.

"Guess who,"

I know who it is, but I play dumb.

"Ummmm," I pretend to think for a long while.

"Come on..."

"Ooh, ooh I know! It's Justin Bieber!"

The line is silent for a long while; long enough to think he may have hung up on me.

"Hello?" I say again.

Jason chuckles on the other line and I'm relieved.

"No, sorry, it's just Jason."

"Ooh man..." I act disappointed and he laughs.

"So what's up? Why weren't you at school today?" he asks.

"Doesn't it sound obvious?" I sniff. "I'm ill."

"Oh no," he says. I can hear lots of people talking in the background, it sounds like he's in a restaurant.

"One sec," he says. I can hear ruffling noises like he's got his phone pressed against him.

"OK, I'm back," he says less than a minute later, it's a bit quieter now, but I can hear the sound of cars driving passed and even a police car siren faintly sounding in the distance.

"Where are you?" I ask.

"Europe," he says.

"Could you be a bit more specific?"

"I'm outside a restaurant, sitting on a step." he says.

"Cool. Hey, how did you get my n-" I start coughing frantically and it's quite embarrassing. I stop coughing and finish my sentence. "number."

"Jessy gave it to me..." he says sheepishly. That means he asked, because Jessy wouldn't just give it to him like that.

"Lizzy, you have a terrible cough," he states.

"Thanks for noticing,"

"Aww, is there anything I can do?" he asks.

I ponder for a moment, and then an evil thought comes to mind.

"You could sing Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty to me."

Jason laughs and even the sound of it makes me feel a little better.

"You're not serious," he says.

"I am."

"But that's Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory's song." he jokes.

I didn't think he knew what song I was talking about, but he obviously does. I'm impressed.

"So?"

"Copyright," he states.

"Go on, I dare you to walk back into the restaurant and sing it to me."

"Oh Jesus you're not joking are you..."

"Do it!" I say, laughing, but I end up having a coughing fit again.

Once I stop coughing, I notice the line is silent again and then I can hear him walking back into the restaurant full of people talking loudly.

And then, Jason starts singing, and everyone's quiet.

"Soft kitty, 

Warm kitty,

Little ball of fur,

Happy kitty,

Sleepy kitty,

Purr, purr, puuuuurrrrr."

The room Jason is in is quiet for a moment, then I hear a group of people clap and cheer, and Jason starts laughing.

I laugh too, surprised he actually sung it.

"Oh my God you did it!"

He laughs. "Yes!"

"You have a lovely voice,"

"Thanks," he says, laughing nervously. "How do you feel now?"

"Much bettter, thanks,"

"I'm glad. Look, I gotta go, dessert's just arrived. Do you think you'll be OK tomorrow? Are you free?"

My heart skips a beat and I take in a sharp breath. I don't think he notices.

"Um, I think so,"

"Well, if you are, I was wondering if you wanted to come round mine for lunch or something tomorrow? Believe it or not my dad cooks up some beast pancakes." he says.

I laugh giddily and say, "That sounds great,"

"Cool. Well, get well soon, Elizabeth."

Normally I hate it when people call me by my real name, but he says it so softly it makes me want to ask him to say it again.

"Thank you," I say, smiling.

"Goodnight,"

"Night, Jason,"

"Sleep tight," he whispers, and the line is dead.