[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Casey walked into Nick’s room. She watched him from the doorway as he slept. He didn’t look too comfortable. He was tangled in the sheets and looked to be cold. She walked to his bed. As she got closer to Nick’s bed, she noticed that she was right;
he was shaking from being cold.

With a little bit of a fight, she managed to untangle Nick’s blankets and pull them up to his chin to help him warm up. She felt his forehead and pulled her hand back in shock when she realized that he was burning up. She went into his bathroom and looked for five minutes until she found a thermometer stashed behind multiple things in his medicine cabinet.

She went back out to him. She shook him awake so she could take his temperature. The thermometer beeped and she pulled it back to look at it. His temperature was 102.5.

She returned the thermometer to the bathroom. She then left Nick’s bedroom. She returned moments later with a bowl full of ice water and a washcloth.

Within the few minutes that she was gone, he managed to fall back to sleep. She sat beside him on his bed, resting the bowl of ice water on the bedside table. She dunked the cloth in the cold water and rang out the excess water. She used the cold, wet, washcloth to sponge Nick’s face, wiping away sweat and hopefully helping his fever break.

She pulled the washcloth away from Nick’s face to re-soak it. She turned back to Nick and jumped. Nick’s eyes were open, but she wasn’t sure if he was starring at her, past her or through her.

“Hey Nick. How are you feeling?”

“Katie?”

“No Nick I’m not Katie. I’m Casey.”

“You’re so beautiful Katie.” Casey started ignoring Nick. “Katie, the baby is crying.” Casey looked at Nick but continued to sponge his face and neck. “Katie, aren’t you going to get the baby?” Casey briefly stopped what she was doing and looked at Nick, then continued. “I’ll get the baby.” Nick moved to sit up.

“No Nick. Lie back down. There is no baby.”

“No, Katie, I have to get the baby. The baby is crying.”

“Nick please, lie down.” Casey gently pushed him back to a lying down position.

Nick struggled, but in his state, Casey was stronger. Nick stared up at the ceiling, acting like he’s cradling a baby. “Ssshhh. It’s ok, little one. Daddy’s here.” Starts singing a lullaby to the baby.

“Nick, there’s no baby.”

“Katie, be quiet, you’re going to wake the baby.”

Casey was getting nervous. She dropped the cloth in the water. She entered the bathroom and grabbed the thermometer again. She took it back to Nick and took his temperature; 103.1. No wonder Nick was so delirious, his fever wasn’t breaking , but instead going up.

Casey left the room and searched around the house. Then she went upstairs. She knocked on Brent’s door. “It’s open.”

“Brent, I’m worried.”

“What’s up?”

“I was just in Nick’s room, trying to break his fever. When I first took his temperature, he had a 102.5 fever. I tried to break it, but then he was acting delirious, so I checked his temperature and his fever went up to 103.1.”

“Can you go back to his room, and keep trying to break his fever. I’ll take Abby to get bags of ice. When we get back, we’ll fill the bath tub and hope that breaks his fever.”

Casey nods and goes back to Nick’s room. Nick was really scaring her. He kept mumbling Katie’s name. She swallowed her fear and went back to sponging his face and neck.

About a half hour later, Brent returned with Abby and the bags of ice. They took all the bags up to Nick’s bathroom. “Casey, Abby, fill the tub. I’ll deal with Nick.” Brent pulled Nick to his feet and supported him all the way to Nick’s closet. He quickly stripped Nick of his sweat soiled clothes and changed him into a bathing suit. He then helped Nick back to bed and waited for the girls to say that the tub was ready.

Once the tub was filled, Brent dragged Nick to the tub and placed him in. Brent stayed by the tub with the washcloth Casey had. The girls left the bathroom. He nervously sponged Nick’s face and neck while Nick rested his head against the wall.

Casey entered the bathroom. “I’ll stay with him if you want.”

Brent nodded and left the room.

Casey stayed by his side for another 20 minutes. When she saw Nick start to shiver, she went to get Brent.

Brent helped Nick out of the tub and helped him get changed and back to bed. He pulled the blankets around Nick’s chin. Nick fell asleep shortly after. They both left the room.

About an hour later, it was Abby’s turn to check on Nick. Abby wasn’t used to seeing her idol in such a state; it took her a few minutes to approach Nick’s bed. She walked right past his bed and into the bathroom to get the thermometer. She held her breath as she approached the bed. She tried to wake Nick up so that she could take his temperature. He was giving her a problem, so she opened his mouth and stuck the thermometer under his tongue. The thermometer beeped and Abby hesitantly looked at it.

She gasped and screamed. Brent came rushing into the room. “What? What is it? What’s wrong?” Abby frantically waved him closer.

She handed him the thermometer. Brent looked at the temperature reading of 104.6. “Holy shit. We need to get him to the hospital.”

Several hours later, Brent, Casey and Abby were sitting in a hospital waiting room, waiting on news of Nick. The doctor came out to talk to them. Brent jumped up. “How is he?”

“We have him on antibiotics. His fever is starting to break.” Brent released the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “We want to keep him here for a few days for observation.

4 days later, Nick was released. He was now relaxing on his couch. He wasn’t 100 percent better, but he was really close to being completely better. He could function normally again, but he opted to not do much because he was still weak.

Casey walked into the room, and sat on the couch opposite Nick, since Nick was stretched out on the one he was on.

Nick gave Casey a once over. “Casey, are you alright, you look kinda pale?”

Casey smiled. “I’m fine Nick. How are you?”

“Much better.”

“Good, you scared us.”

“Sorry.” Casey stood up to walk to Nick. In the process fainted. “Casey?” Nick got up and made his way to Casey. When he reached her, the first thing he noticed was her flushed skin. He picked her up and carried her to the guest room. He left and returned moments later with the thermometer. He waited patiently for the beep. Once he heard it, he looked at the thermometer. “Yeah, Casey, you’re fine. You have a 101.2 fever.” He left the room only to return moments later and try to break her fever.

Finally, Nick got tired of being in her room. He wanted to rest, but he didn’t want to leave her alone. He picked her up and carried her to his room. He laid her on his bed, then climbed in on the other side and fell asleep.

Much later that day, Casey woke up. She realized that she was in Nick’s room, but there was no sign of Nick. Fifteen minutes later, Nick entered the room, carrying a tray of food. He placed it on the bedside table. He took her temperature again. He smiled. Then placed the food on her lap.

“Why are you doing this Nick?”

“Because you’re sick. You need to be pampered.”

Casey smiled. “Thanks Nick. But you really didn’t have to.”

“Yes I did. I might have been delirious, but I know that you spent more time at my bedside than the other two. So, now that you’re sick, I’m going to be by your bedside.”

“But you’re still sick yourself.”

“I might not be completely better, but I wouldn’t consider myself still sick. Now eat up.”

He’s really sweet. Good looking too. Casey thought. What am I thinking? I can’t be forming a crush on Nick. Looks at Nick and definitely felt the familiar stirrings of a newfound crush. Oh no. I have a crush on Nick. That won’t do at all. We are from two completely different worlds.

Within two days, both Casey and Nick were back on their feet. Everyone, except Brent was eating breakfast.

It was a friendly breakfast, with everyone ragging on each other and all around having a good time. Then Brent walked into the kitchen, dressed in a suit and carrying a suit case. Abby’s jaw dropped and her eyes stayed glued on Brent.

“Brent, man, what’s going on?”

“I’m sorry Nick, but I have to go back to New York for a few days. I have to take care of some business endeavors.”

“That sucks. Doesn’t your job believe in vacations?”

“I know, but I’ll be back in a few days.” Brent walked to the table, and quickly hugged Nick and then the girls, holding Abby just a little longer. He then walked back to Nick and ruffled his already messy hair. “If you need to talk, just call me. I’ll make time to talk to you. He hugged Nick once more, and then left.

When Brent was gone, Abby said. “What kind of business endeavors would he have to take care of?”

Nick smiled in pride. “He’s a really big business tycoon. He designs buildings.”

Abby looked dreamy. “Wow.” Nick smiled.

The rest of that day dragged on slowly and boring. The day after seemed doomed to follow the same trend. Nick, Abby, and Casey were sitting in the living room playing Monopoly when the doorbell rang.

Nick looked to his door in confusion. He then looked at the girls. The bell rang again. “Who is at my door? I’m not expecting visitors.”

When the bell rang for the third time, he finally got off the floor to get the door. He opened the door and froze in his spot.

“NICKY.” The next thing Nick knew was that his four new visitors had charged him and ended up tackling him. They were all talking to Nick a mile a minute, while struggled to get out of the grasp of his four siblings.

When Abby realized who was at the door, she gasped. Casey looked at her in confusion. “We should go and leave them some privacy.”

“What? Who are those people?”

“Nick’s brother and sisters.”

Casey didn’t get a chance to answer Abby because they heard Nick say. “Will you four KINDLY get off of me?”

One by one they piled off of him so that Nick could stand up. Nick led his siblings to the living room and took his spot back where he was for the game. He turned to his siblings. “Guys, this is Abby and Casey. Abby won a contest to spend some time with me and Casey is her best friend. Casey, Abby, this is BJ, Leslie, Angel and Aaron, my sibs.”

Shortly after, all five girls left the living room, giving the two brothers a chance to catch up.

Once the girls were gone, Aaron moved away from Nick and glared at him. Nick shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “What?”

“What?” Aaron mocked Nick.

“Why are you acting like this?”

“Oh gee Nick, I wonder why? You know why.”

“If I knew why, would I be sitting here asking you why?”

“How could you?”

“How could I what?”

“God Nick. Are you stupid or something today?”

“What’s your problem Aaron?”

“Did you think that we wouldn’t find out?”

“Find out about what? You aren’t making sense.”

“You tried to commit suicide.”

“What? I did not. That was just a misunderstanding.”

“Where’s the misunderstanding? You swallowed too many pills, but your stomach was pumped before you died.”

“That’s not true. I didn’t try to kill myself.”

“Whatever Nick, I’m not going to listen to this.” Aaron stormed out of the room.

Nick left the room too. He headed for his bedroom. He sat at his desk and took out his sketch book.

He always managed to put himself into a trance when he’s drawing. It was because of that trance that he didn’t hear the knock on his door.

He jumped when the door opened and three heads looked in. “Nick.”

He smiled when he saw his three sisters. “Come in.” He got up and went to sit on his bed. His sisters followed his lead and were soon surrounding him on his bed.

The next few hours were spent catching up. The girls talked about anything and everything that Nick had missed.

His siblings only stayed for two days. He really enjoyed the time he spent with his sisters. Although his brother was a different story. The argument from the first day caused a tension so thick between Nick and Aaron that it could be cut with a knife.

When his siblings were getting ready to say goodbye, Aaron just went outside without saying anything to Nick. Nick took a deep breath before turning to his sisters. Each sister hugged him tightly before they left.

That night Nick went out to a bar. He needed a drink. And after the week he just had, who could blame him. He felt he deserved a drink. And then another, and another, and another. He didn’t leave the bar until he was so drunk that he couldn’t even walk straight.

Somehow, he made it back to his house. He ended up in the bathroom throwing up before he passed out on his bed.

That night started a destructive pattern for him.