Juanma woke up because Alvaro was coughing. He got up and brought him a bottle of water that was still on the dresser.
"Have a drink here".
Alvaro accepted the bottle gratefully and took a sip. "Thank you," he croaked. He tried to clear his throat, but it didn't work.
Juanma touched his forehead, "You're literally burning."
Alvaro closed his eyes again. "I just need to get some sleep," he whispered.
"Wait a minute," said Juanma. He still had Mia's pills in his pocket and there were 3 left, so he took one out and gave it to Alvaro. "Here take this one, they always help me". He handed the bottle to Alvaro again. Alvaro looked at him but accepted both.
"You are always fit again the next day."
"Most of the time," said Juanma.
He took the bottle back from Alvaro. "Wake me up if you need something," he said softly.
Juanma quickly fell asleep again. It seemed like only a short a moment before the alarm went off. He got up and looked at Alvaro. He was still sleeping. Juanma decided to let him sleep a few more minutes.
When he was done, he woke Alvaro. He wasn't quite as warm as he had been at night. "Hey, I'm going down for breakfast, I'll bring you something up."
"I'll come with you," said Alvaro softly. He sat up with the words and said "Please give me my sweatpants." When he was finished he got up a little unsure of himself. "Hey take it easy," said Juanma and took his arm.
"I'll bring you something up, take a break today, then you'll be fit again tomorrow," he said then.
"You always do everything anyway if you are ill"
"It doesn't matter now," said Juanma.
"I'll come with you," said Alvaro. Together they made their way to breakfast. Alvaro had taken another pill and Juanma decided to go to the pharmacy during the break and get new ones.
He tried to get into the same group as Alvaro at the draw. Unfortunately that didn't work.
"Take care of yourself," he said when the two parted.
When they met again for lunch, Alvaro was quite pale. He wrote a little with Mia, but then told her that he wanted to close his eyes for a moment as the training was quite tiring.
Juanma was successful in the pharmacy and brought Alvaro new pills with him. He took another one before afternoon training.
In the afternoon, the two of them had a training session with Fede. Jorge took it easy, but Alvaro was completely knocked out after dinner. When Juanma came out of the shower, he was asleep.
He took the PC into Roberto's room and called the girls. Of course, Mia immediately asked about Alvar and Juanma said he fell asleep. They talked for a while, then Juanma and Roberto said goodbye for the night.
As soon as he was in his room, he had a message from Mia. She wanted to know if everything was okay with Alvaro. Alvaro had asked him not to say anything to Mia, so he just wrote: "Alvaro is a little bit battered and therefore a little knocked out from training. He's still asleep"
He was about to go to sleep too when Alvaroo coughed and woke up, "Hey buddy, how are you feeling?" asked Juanma.
"It works like this, can you give me some more water, my bottle here is empty."
Juanma took a new bottle and gave it to Alvaro. "Take another one here," he said, and held out a pill to Alvaro. He took it and then lay down again.
"If that isn't better tomorrow, we have to tell Jorge, you can't train like that." said Juanma.
"Tomorrow it will be better," said Alvaro, but was almost asleep again. Juanma had a bad feeling. He put the pills on Alvaro's bed and lay down.
Mia lay awake for a while. Somehow she had a strange feeling that Alvaro had slept so early. He had been tired by noon. She decided to ask him the next day. She wrote him good night and then put the cell phone aside.
Juanma saw Alvaro's cell phone flash to indicate the incoming message. He got up again and briefly looked at it. He felt guilty about not telling Mia the truth, but he didn't want her to worry either. And Alvaro didn't want that either. He just hoped that Alvaro would be better the next morning.
Indeed, his wishes appeared to have been granted. Alvaro was still a little pale, but got up with the alarm clock. "Are you feeling better, Captain?"
"Yes, I slept like a baby," said Alvaro and his voice was firmer again. "Thanks for getting me some more pills."
"No problem, take another until it's gone," said Juanma. They made their way to breakfast. Juanma observed that Alvaro had more appetite again and was reassured.
Alvaro had seen Mia's message from the previous evening and answered it directly. He had written to her that he had a cold and was therefore tired from training, but that she shouldn't worry.
Unfortunately he and Juanma were in different groups again. "Take it slowly," said Juanma as he parted. "It's Riccardo, the word slow doesn't exist in his vocabulary," said Alvaro, grinning slightly.
