Into An Idiot

6. Signed Out

Sophia
//
I step off the bus and walk up the drive. That's when I notice a person is on the porch.
"Michael?" I walk up to him.
"Hi." He looks up at me.
"Hi... What are you doing here? How'd you get here?"
"I got sick in school and my parents aren't home, so I walked here."
"Here, get up." I pull him to his feet.
"And um, could you wash my shirt?"
"Of course I can wash your shirt, I just don't want to touch it, that's disgusting. You could've thrown up somewhere other than your shirt."
"Sorry." Michael groans.
I unlock the door and open it, letting him take off his shirt and put it in the washing machine.
"Here, this is Ashton's." I hand him a sweatshirt and he puts it on.
"You can lay down on the couch if you want, I'll get you a drink."
"Okay." Michael says, crawling onto the couch.
I go to the kitchen and get him a cup of water, hand it to him, and head to my room to get blankets and a pillow.
I tuck him in on the couch and hand him the remote.
"You can watch TV if you want." I suggest.
He shakes his head.
"No, my head hurts."
"Okay, do you want anything else?"
"No. Thanks Soph." Michael cuddles under the blankets, closing his eyes.
His teeth are chattering, so I sit down on the ground and feel his forehead with one hand and pull the blankets up with another. He opens his eyes and smiles at me.
"Do you want me to warm up something for you to eat?" I ask softly.
He shakes his head. "No, I'm not hungry."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm okay."
"You haven't had anything to eat."
"I don't want anything."
"Alright, just let me know if you want anything."
"Okay." He closes his eyes.
The phone rings, and he opens one eye and groans.
I run to answer it. "Michael, it's your mum. She's at work, wondering if you got home alright."
"I'm fine." He mutters.
"He's here, he's sleeping. He can stay overnight if he wants. Okay, I'll tell him. Bye."
I hang up.
"Michael, you're allowed to stay until eight, then you're being picked up."
"Okay." He grunts.
I feel his forehead again. "You're warm." I say. I take out the thermometer and take his temperature, and as I'm waiting, Ashton comes home.
"What is this? If you're playing doctor, don't examine anywhere his pants cover." Ashton says, glaring at me.
I laugh. "No, Ashton, he's not feeling well," the thermometer beeps, "see, he's got a fever."
Michael groans and does a facepalm, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his palm.
"Tell Ashton to shut up." He says groggily. Ash and I laugh. Michael throws his blankets off. "It's hot."
"No, it isn't." I pull them back up.
"I want to get up." Michael mumbles, his eyes still closed.
"Are you even awake?" I giggle, wrapping my arm around Michael's shoulder.
"Hmmm." He mutters into my shoulder.
"What does that mean?" I laugh airily.
"Dunno..." Michael shivers. I pull the blankets back up.
Ashton smiles from his spot across the room.
"You two are so cute." He laughs.
Michael opens his eyes, sits up, and looks over at Ashton.
"Shut up." He snaps, throwing a pillow. "I'm trying to sleep."
"Fine, I'll go." Ashton says.
When ashton leaves, Michael wraps his arms around me.
"Hold me." He says.
"What?" I ask, kind of taken aback by his strange phrasing.
"Hug me." He corrects himself. Giggling, I sit down on the couch next to him and let him lean on my shoulder. I feel the heat radiating off of him.
"Can I tell you something?" He asks.
"Anything." I tell him.
"Okay... I think that-"
His sentence is broken off as a pair of headlights shines in, and his mother gets out of the car.
Michael says goodbye and goes home.
I spend the rest of the night wondering what he was going to say.