KEEP DRIVING - H.S

Chapter 43

May 5 2022, Edmonton

ALLIAH FELT SICK. And not the kind of sick where it's metaphorical. The kind of sick where your stomach feels like a laundry machine with the way its turning, and you can practically feel the vomit in your throat, and your head feels like it's made of air.

Alliah was ready to throw up.

All because of some stupid paparazzi that caught Harry and her out on a date.

They'd worked so hard to make sure no one would see them, and they got caught anyways.

They were supposed to keep this thing private for the time being, but it seemed the universe disagreed.

And apparently, twitter hated to see them together.

"It's okay," Harry reassured her, rubbing slow circles onto her back. He'd been holding her hair back for the last ten minutes, waiting for Alliah to feel confident she wouldn't throw up again. "How do you feel?"

"Really bad. Don't know if it's my anxiety or if it's some kind of a bug."

Harry sighed, not exasperated but concerned. He pressed the back of his hand against her forehead. "Shit, you're hot."

"Thanks."

"I mean, you have a fever."

"From being so damn sizzling hot?"

"Alliah."

"Harry."

After a long staring contest, Alliah relented, "What am I supposed to do?"

"Take some ibuprofen, drink water and we'll hope for the best," Harry said. Alliah nodded, standing up shakily, waiting a moment or two before feeling confident enough to open the medicine cabinet. "Let me go and get the car keys, we should get you a COVID test, yeah?"

Alliah froze, hand in the middle of opening the box of pills. "Fuck. Harry, I have a show today. I can't be sick!"

Alliah cursed under her breath, panic rising inside of her. What if she was sick? What then?

She couldn't cancel the show a few hours before, what about all of the fans?

Some people flew overseas to go and see her, and she didn't have the time to reschedule a show.

Fuck, what would Jenna say? They'd been having enough of a conflict already, how bad would things get if it turned out Alliah was sick?

"Ali, calm down," Harry said, noticing the way the wheels were turning in her head. "We'll get you tested and then figure things out. We'll go to one of those drive-thru ones and meanwhile, you call Jenna, yeah?"

Alliah took a deep breath, nodding. "Yeah. Yeah. We can do this."

Harry stepped forward, grabbing her hands in his. He captured her gaze, his perfect green eyes, overwhelming her with his beauty.

There was one little curl falling in front of his face, escaping the sparkly pink clip holding his hair back.

"Love, it's okay. One step at a time, okay? Grab your phone and wallet. Get in the car. And the next step."