𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐆 ➪ 𝑾𝑰𝑳𝑳𝑵𝑬, 𝑴𝑬𝑴𝑬𝑼𝑳𝑶𝑼𝑺, & 𝑰𝑴𝑨𝑳𝑳𝑬𝑿𝑿 | ✔︎

1.4

Thursday

I wake up and groan, my head feels like someone is drilling a hole into it and my stomach feels like emptying out all it's contents. I slowly get up from my bed and stumble a bit, using the wall for support as my head spins.

I grip onto the door handle of my room and push the door open. I hear Alex and George talking out in the hallway.

"Morning Char." Alex greets. I hold my head and don't reply. My vision just gets worse and then I feel weak.

My legs give out and I fall down onto the floor. "Charlie!" I hear Alex and George shout. The front door opens as well and I hear the distant voices of Alex, George and Will shouting for me.

I stare at their hazy faces and slowly close my eyes

George's POV

I put Charlie in her bed and sigh. "Mate, we cannot miss this exam..if we fail or miss it, our lives are over." Alex groans, Will nodding behind him. "we'd stay here if we could, we really would," Will says, "but we can't.."

"It's alright. I can take care of her." I nod, and the two boys look down, guilt clearly on their mind. I smile at them reassuringly and they nod, "We'll see you later." they sigh and leave the apartment.

I turn my focus onto Charlie. She's sweating profusely and panting, her face pained and slightly red and her forehead burning to the touch yet she's shivering as if she's cold. A fever? I look around the apartment for a thermometer, literally trashing my room and the living room. Once I find one, I rush back to Charlie.

I check her temperature. 39 degrees celsius. That's high..is it too high? I tuck Charlie in her bed and get my phone, looking up fever temperatures and everything. While doing so, I get a bowl of water and a hand towel.

I learn that her fever is high but not dangerous. Good. I place the bowl down and soak it in the water, then squeezing the water out, making the hand towel damp. I place it onto her forehead to try cool her off.

Charlie coughs and I squeeze her hand, hoping she knows I'm there with her. I see her expression relax a bit and she shifts slightly. I see her eyes open a bit and scan the room. Her eyes meet mine,
"George..I-I feel cold.." she shudders.

I frown at the sight of her. "Don't worry," I hush her, trying to get her to rest, " are you hungry?"

"No.." she answers and closes her eyes, going back into her slumber. I sigh and look at her worriedly.

How has she gotten sick?

When did she get?

Has she been hiding it from us for the past few days?

No, George, you're being stupid.

I sigh once more and decide to cook for Charlie for when she wakes up. What do you usually give someone who is sick? Soup??

Jesus, I've never taken care of anyone. I purse my lips and try to think back to my childhood. Trying to think of the times when I had gotten ill. To be honest, I had a strong immune system as a child. Still do to this day. I sigh and think of the only solution. I dial a number and wait for her to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Yeah, uh mum. It's me George." I say, walking to the kitchen and leaving Charlie's door open a little bit so I could hear what was happening, just in case.

"George! Oh how've you been?" she asks, which causes me to smile. "I've been good, what about you?" I reply

"Oh, I'm grand. What're you calling for?"

"Erm, well. I've got a friend who's sick-"

"Is it Alex? Poor boy's so frail and skinny.." she sighs

"Uh, no. It isn't.." I start, only to have her jump in again,

"Oh, don't tell me it's Will. James?" she asks worriedly, which causes me to chuckle.

"Actually, it's a girl. The one in Alex's video." I smile. The other side of the line goes quiet.
"Mum?"

"Are you stealing Alex's girlfriend?" she accuses. I blush and feel a bit of jealousy. Girlfriend?

"First, she's not Alex's girlfriend she's our flatmate. Second, she's in bed sick-"

"Are you jealous??"

"No! Of course not! I just- she's sick and I need advice on how to take care of her." I reply quite quickly. I hear her laugh on the other end.

"Right, well. Don't let her starve first of all. Make some soup for her."

"Mum, I'm not quite sure how to-"

"Oh christ, George. I'll tell you what to do!"

*****

I finish the soup and put some in a bowl. I smile, feeling proud of myself. I carefully put it on a tray and put a glass of water on it as well. I bring it to Charlie's room and set the tray down on her desk.

She had books and notebooks everywhere, papers messily strewed across her desk and crumpled papers laying on the floor. Was she stressed this whole time?? And I did nothing to comfort her..? I place the tray on her desk and clean the books and papers.

I go and gently shake Charlie, "Hey, Charlie..wake up." I whisper. Charlie's eyes open and I help her sit up, taking off the towel and wiping the sweat off of her. I see her shivering and I brush some hair out of her eyes.
"I've brought you some food."

She smiles wearily at me and I place the tray in front of her. She looks at me and quietly whispers a 'thank you' before having a sip (yes this had originally autocorrected to 'fit'. I fixed it. Thank you). I hand her the glass of water and she downs it all. I chuckle and sigh.

I let her eat and once she's done I put the tray back on her desk. "George, I'm really sweaty.. my shirt is sticking to me.." Charlie frowns.
I blush, "Okay, I'll get you a new shirt." I say and look through her wardrobe. I get a loose shirt and she holds her hands up.

"Help me." she pouts. I feel my cheeks turn red, "R-Right, whatever you say.." I breathe out. I remove her shirt that was soaking on sweat. I try my best to keep my eyes on her, but that strong urge to look down at her chest kinda got to me.

I glance down for a mere second and I look away. Holy. Shit.

I quickly put the shirt on her and she fell back asleep quickly. I cover my face and blush furiously.

"Fuck.." I whisper, listening my heart pound in my ears.

*****

♔ School is being a bitch. Updates from me might be a bit slow qwq ♔

º Thank you for reading! I'll see you in the next one <3 º

- Val