Pounding. My head was pounding. My stomach was churning and my throat felt dry and raw. "Oh no." I moaned, my voice cracking. There was no way this was happening. I couldn't be sick. This was awful. I scooted my way out of bed and to the kitchen, finding cold medicine and taking two of the blue pills, downing them with water. After I felt their presence in my system, I found a cough drop and popped it into my mouth, moving to get tea and a mug, preparing something for my throat.
"What are you doing up? It's only 6:30." I heard Aiden's voice behind me and I turned to face him. He was wearing a Taking Back Sunday shirt and black gym shorts that I'm pretty sure were mine.
"I'm sick." I told him and he began to laugh.
"Sucks. Thats what you get for not waiting for me last night." He said, a lazy smirk on his face. He moved me out of the way and finished up my tea, putting honey in and stirring it. "Hope you didn't get any of them sick, too. That would really suck."
I smacked myself in the forehead. "Oh god, I have to warn them." I scuttled to my bedroom and took my phone off the charger, opening up my messages and formulating a message to Luke. He replied almost immediately.
"I knew you were going to text us. Cal has been up for awhile with coughing fits. This one is on us though. Ash was sick earlier this week. :("
I groaned. We had to reschedule, if that was even possible. I looked at Aiden. "Can you call Ryan and ask about rescheduling?" I asked him, my brows scrunched together.
He didn't look up from his phone before he put it to his ear. "Hey Ryan. Yeah, it's Aiden. No everything is alright. Except Ashton got Calum and Fletcher sick. No, like can't talk because throat hurts and coughing fits sick." Their conversation continued and he hung up a short while later. "Alright. He said he would take care of it. I'm going to call the school now and tell them that you won't be coming in today. Sound good?" He asked me, setting down my hot tea in front of me.
"Yes, thanks mother goose." I replied and he smiled. I sipped on my tea as Aiden made his coffee. He plugged his phone into our sound system, the soundtrack to Moulin Rouge playing quietly.
"Get some sleep, kid." He suggested before pushing a blanket onto me. "Heaven knows you'll need it." I grabbed a pillow, throwing it onto his side and adjusting myself so that I was laying down.
"Night, dweeb." I croaked out and he patted my head, his hand brushing the hair away from my forehead.
"Goodnight, Fletcher,"
Woah, this was not discussed. At all." Aiden's voice rang out from the front door. I popped my head up from the pillow and looked out. Matt was standing at the door with the band behind him.
"Ryan said to stick the sicks together and the other two didn't want to leave them." He answered, sighing at the innocent looking man-children behind him.
"Other two? Who else is sick?" I asked, my voice hoarse.
Michael raised his hand. "I puked."
I pulled my fingers through my hair and tried to smooth out my pajamas. I cleared my throat and got up, making my way over to them. "So you guys are staying here?"
"No, you're sick!" Aiden butted in, but I moved in front of him. "Fletcher, listen to me."
"Aiden, chill. It's okay. Thanks for bringing them over, Matt. We'll make sure they're taken care of." I said and they shuffled inside.
"You'll." Aiden corrected. "You need to listen to me. I told you no."
"And I said yes. I pay bills, too, you know. You don't run this place."
The four boys were obviously feeling awkward. They stood in the entry way as Aiden and I bickered. "I should call the school. Tell them you're truant."
"Oh, shut up. You know I'm sick."
"Sure, you're so sick you just had to have four more boys over." He said, walking into the kitchen. "Let me guess. We'll have to feed them?" He asked, opening the refrigerator. "God knows we have the money for that."
"We can order pizza, or something. Honestly. The only resources we'll use are your couches." Luke spoke up, obviously trying to rid us of the tension.
Aiden narrowed his eyes. "Yeah. Sure." He looked over at the oven clock. It was 10:30. He ran his fingers through the front of his hair. "I'm leaving." He said, grabbing his coat from the back of a chair. Without another word he was gone. I groaned. "Sorry, guys. I don't know why he's being so rude. He isn't usually like this." We moved to sit on the two couches.
Michael shrugged. "Maybe he doesn't like us."
"He's never had a problem with you guys before. He actually liked helping out with your interview."
"Well, maybe he likes you. And he's jealous that you'll like one of us." Ashton said, the other three nodding in agreement.
"That wouldn't make sense because he already knows I like all of you. For Christ sake, you guys saw your own poster on my bedroom wall."
"That was before you actually knew us." Calum said. "Now you have every reason to fall in love with all of us."
"That's true." Michael pointed at Calum, his eyes on me. "I would fall in love with me if I were you."
I rolled my eyes. "Shut up, Michael."
"I personally would fall in love with Ashton. I think he would make the best boyfriend." Luke said patting his friends foot. Ashton pushed his hand off of him. "Love me, Ashton." He pushed himself against the curly haired boy, hugging his torso.
"Get off of me! You smell weird!" Ashton giggled. I stood then, and headed to my bedroom, grabbing blankets for the lot of us.
"Luke, leave Ashton alone. It's time for a nap." I told them, throwing a blanket at them and Michael. "Here you go." I handed another to Calum, and then settled down on the other side of the couch we claimed, wrapping the blanket around me.
"Even if she falls in love, Aiden still doesn't like us. And he probably won't now." Michael said, filling the silence.
"Plus, we didn't want to come here and nap. We wanted to hang out." Ashton spoke up.
"Yeah. Let's play truth or dare."
"That's a stupid game, Luke. Let's play hide and seek."
"Calum, you're sick! You need to stay put." The four boys went back and forth, creating commentary for me behind my eyelids.
"I think Fletcher is asleep." Calum whispered and I kept quiet. They whispered amongst themselves before shuffling around. I squinted my eyes, opening them ever so slightly. Two more blanket were placed on me and a pillow put under my head as I did so.
"What are you guys doing?" I questioned them.
Michael answered. "We want you to sleep well for our interview and so we can hang out." he smiled at me. "So go to sleep." He leaned over and kissed my forehead, Luke, Ashton and Calum doing the same. I brushed away their lip germs and looked at them.
"Thanks, guys." I said sincerely. "I appreciate it. You guys do whatever. Just don't break something." I told them and they made affirmative grunts.
The next time I woke up, the entire apartment smelled like nachos. I leaned up from the couch and looked around. Michael was passed out next to me. Calum was asleep on the couch in bye other side of the room, his mouth hanging open. Ashton and Luke were barely visible behind the kitchen island, busy making what I assumed was nachos. I stood up, smoothing myself out and walking over to the two boys.
"Morning." Luke smiled at me, stirring the large pot of cheese. "We went out and bought cheese and chips so we don't use your food."
"Awh, you guys didn't have to do that." I said, pulling him into a hug. "Aiden is just a huge butthole."
He hugged me back. "Yeah, but we wanted to. Plus, you didn't have tortilla chips or nacho cheese." He pulled away from the hug, stirring the cheese again. "It should be done soon. I don't know when you usually eat. I hope 1:30 isn't too late for you."
"It's fine. Thank you guys for doing this."
"Don't worry about it. Thanks for housing us for the day. Oh and sorry for getting you sick." Ashton added, sending me a smile.
"Yeah, thanks asshole." A grumpy looking Michael stumbled into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes. His red hair was sticking out in every direction, some falling to his forehead. "Is lunch ready yet? My stomach is sad."
Ashton pulled out a paper plate from a bag to the side, grabbing a handful of chips and pouring the cheese on top. "There you go, Mikey." Michael grabbed his food and Ashton started preparing four more plates, handing them to Luke and I and keeping one for himself and Calum.
We walked back into the living room, waking up Calum and began eating. "You guys did a good job." I told Ashton and Luke.
"Thanks. It wasn't much, though." Luke said.
The door opened then and Aiden walked in. His hair was wind blown and his cheeks red. "Hi." He breathed out noisily. He looked around the room, his eyes landing on me. "Fletch, can I talk to you? Alone?"
