Can't Be Afraid Anymore

Chapter Ten

Day four of being sick and with all the coughing I feel like I should have abs or something. 

"Now will you take medicine?" Matt asks as I sit up slowly.

"Yes, but only cough medicine, no weird pills or things that have lots of chemicals," I say regretting that I sat up. I had a major headache.

"Deal, I'll be back," Matt says and walks out the door. He forgot his keys. Dummy, I thought to myself. "I need my keys." He says coming back in. I just laugh. We have become close friends over the past few days. I still have his sweatshirt, but it's in my wash. Ring, ring.
"Hi."
"Is this Anna?"
"Yes."
"Ok, will you be able to work tonight?"
"No, I'm still sick, but I think Thursday I can come in," I say hoping I wasn't going to be sick. I really needed to get some work hours in. 
"So not today, and tomorrow?"
"Yes," I say trying not to cough.
"Ok, bye."
"Bye." Cough, cough, cough. By the time I'm done coughing I'm wheezing. I grab my inhaler and after a few minutes, I'm back to breathing normally. It's around 7:00, I can't ever sleep in. I turn on the tv and see what's on. Doodlebops, sure. After about 30 minutes Matts back. 

"I think this is natural or something like that." He says reading the bottle.

"Here, let me see," I say reaching for the bottle. He hands it over. After finding the bold letters that say All Natural I give it back to him.

"Not the right kind, they had like 40 different bottles and they all had this that and-"

"It's fine," I say laughing a little.

"Seriously?" I nod my head. "Yes, score." He says like a little kid that just won something.

"Your such a child, you know that right?" I say amused.

"Hey, there were a lot of bottles there and there was this old person and-''

"Excuses, excuses," I say waving my hand. He sticks his tongue out and I do it right back.

"And you call me the child." He says shaking his head. I just stick my tongue out again. He smiles. "So are you going to take this?" He says waving around the bottle.

"Ya, here," I say extending my hand. After I drink it, I nearly throw up. "Oh, that stuff tastes nasty," I say shaking my head in disgust. Matt just laughs at my reaction. "Yuck. " I say and take a drink of water, but it doesn't make the taste go away. "Can you get me a cup of Kool-Aid or juice, anything that has flavor?" I say drinking the rest of the water.

He sits down and says "Nope." I shoot him a glare. "Your deadly glare is not going to work this time." I raise my eyebrows and get ready to stand up. "Never mind I'll get it." He says standing up.

"No, I'll get it," I say pushing at him to sit, but he doesn't move, curse him being stronger.

"That's not going to work." He says laughing a little.

"Ya, I got that," I say after I stop coughing. He's grinning at me. "What?" I ask a little nervous.

"Nothing." He says, still grinning.

"What," I ask and put my hands on my hips. I feel better than I have any of the other days. The only thing that doesn't seem to want to go away is the cough, but I can handle a stupid little cough.

"Nothing." He says and walks to the kitchen.

"There's something. What is it?" I ask annoyed that he won't tell me.

He puts the cup down and says, "Just wondering what your reaction would be if I did something."

"What might that be?" I ask a little nervous, he can push boundaries especially mine.

"This." He says and picks me up bridal style.

"Put me down," I say trying not to fall but get out of his arms.

"Nope. It's payback for calling me a child." He says and walks out the door of the house.

"Put me down," I say again not understanding what he's doing.

"Ok." When I look down we are above the apartments pool.

"Don't, don't put me down," I say and cling to him. He moves closer to the edge. "Don't you dare," I say trying to grip him tighter so if he throws me he comes with.

"I dare." And with that, he throws me in. I sink to the bottom and push off. It's 6'0 deep and I'm 5'3''. I start to swim towards the end of the pool to get to a ledge.

"I'm going to kill you," I say when he can hear me.

"No, you won't." He says grinning. After I get out I go to him. He just smiles. I push him and he falls right in. He's 5'11 so it's not as hard for him to get back to the top.

"Who's laughing now?" I say, but when I turn to walk away I slip and fall back in. Why, why things like this have to happen to me? Matt laughs and pulls me towards him.

"Karma." He says smiling.

"For what you pushed me iin." I say rubbing my arms. Though the pool is inside, it's still not that warm.

"A little cold?" He asks swimming away.

"Jerk." I say and start to swim out.

"What? Did you just call me a Jerk?" He questions and turns to me. I nodded my head confidently. "That's it." He says and grabs me.

"What are you going to do?" I say trying to get out of his grasp.

"I'll put you in the deep end." He says like he's won. I laugh as he pulls me. 

"I can swim," I say and stop struggling.

"Not if I block you." He says as he lightly pushes me further into the deep end.

"Then I will tread water," I say confidently as we continue to go in deeper.

"You'll get tired." He says and puts me in the middle of the deep end. I start to tread water. After a few minutes, I start to get tired and he smiles. "Getting tired?" He says in a teasing voice.

"No, not at all," I say sarcastically and start swimming to the edge, but he blocks me. I just smirk.

"What's that look for?" He says nervously. I swim at him and push him under. He struggles to get above the water because I'm on his shoulders. When he pops out of the water I fall back. "Not funny." He says coughing a little with a small smile and shake of his head.

"Neither is putting me in the deep end," I say with a smile of my own and get out of the water. He shrugs. "Don't know about you, but I'm cold, so I'm going in," I say and walk up the stairs. I'm dripping wet and each step leaves more and more water, so when I get into the kitchen floor I fall on my butt.

Matt just laughs a little and says "Clumsy much." I try to get up but because I'm still dripping wet it doesn't work. "Need some help?" He says and comes over to help me up. He losses his balance at first, but regains it in a few seconds.

"Thanks," I say and take off my sweatshirt. That's the heaviest thing. 

"Nice tank." He says and grabs his bag to go to the bathroom and change. I look down. Crap, it's a white tank top that's really tight on me. Smooth one Anna, I say to my self. After I change I sit on the couch and put my hair in a bun so my wet hair isn't on my back.

"Hey, Anna where's my blue shirt?" He asks and walks out of the bathroom with no shirt on. He has sweatpants on, but no shirt.

"D-don't know, did you throw it in the purple basket?" I ask forcing myself to look up at his face.

"No in the pile next to it, why?"

"I think I threw it in my laundry because it was close to my pile. It's in the washer probably." I say not remembering if I put it in my wash.

"Oh, ok, I guess I'm wearing a dirty shirt then." He says and goes into my room. "This one not to bad." I hear and then he walks upto me. I punch him."Owww. What was that for?"

"Throwing me in a pool at 9 am." He just nods a little and turns the TV on. We both get comfortable and try to find something we want to watch.