Rainbow connection

Headaches

"Joe can you come here one second?" Dianne asked late on Monday morning. She'd been in a meeting all morning with her agent at ten2 about an upcoming project and was buzzing from all the excitement. So much so, the dancer found herself in the position where she immediately had to tell someone, and as the country was still somewhat in lockdown, her boyfriend would have to do.

"Hey, you alright?" Joe asked, leaving his office promptly at the sound of his name, laptop in hand and his fake glasses in place which often helped his eyes focus on the screen.

"Oh my goodness Joe, you need to hear about this thing I was talking to James about today, basically I've had an offer to...."

Joe zoned out slightly, his girlfriend was swept away by her own excitement which seemed to light up every inch of her body. Joe observed how her legs were shaking slightly, right from her feet to her hips, she was playing with her hands frantically and her smile revealed her dimple more prominently than ever. The YouTuber noticed how her eyes danced, and her entire face moved as Dianne revealed her exciting news.

Oh yeah, he was supposed to be listening, and she wasn't talking anymore. In fact she was waiting, her smile faltering more with every passing second as she realised the lack of attraction her boyfriend was giving her.

"Joe...you know what, I don't know why I bother!" Dianne said accusingly, breaking through Joe's trance.

"Wait Dot, tell me again, I'm so sorry, I zoned out..." Joe quickly tried to recover, despite knowing it was a losing battle.

"Forget it, you obviously don't want to hear it."

"Dianne of course I do, I'm just really tired, I'm listening now"

"No the moments gone now, I'll see you later!"

And with that, Dianne was very swiftly out of the room and out of Joe's sight, leaving him alone on the living room. Joe was annoyed at himself, it was a simple task, listen to whatever was making his girlfriend so excited and hype her up, a task he'd done on numerous occasions previously. Besides causing a row with Dianne, Joe was now extremely interested as to what Dianne's meeting was about, only aggravating himself further as he wouldn't find out what it was until later on.

Sighing loudly, Joe let his body collapse onto the sofa, and he cracked his overly long neck each way. There'd been a slight twinge in his head all morning, he presumed he'd slept funny and his neck had slightly shifted, but Joe in his tired state, the pounding was becoming much more noticeable. Aware he'd have to give Dianne some time before he apologised again, Joe slowly opened his laptop and began to work from the comfort of his sofa.

Half an hour past and Joe hadn't really been productive. Emails were merging together and the pounding in his head was much more substantial. He suspected the glasses probably weren't actually protecting his eyes from his laptop, but he had to finish these emails.

After a few minutes it became apparent to the YouTuber that he wouldn't be able to finish his work. Blind spots were now appearing in the corners of his eyes, and his headache was making him feel sick to his stomach. He shut his eyes lightly, sighing with relief at the comfort the dark gave him, before groaning when he realised he'd have to open them at some point, he'd have to get back upstairs.

With as much energy as he could muster, Joe shook as he found his feet, and slowly trudged along to his staircase. Stairs would be a whole new challenge, particularly as the little movement he'd managed so far was already making him feel nauseous.

One step at a time, come on Joseph.

Joe couldn't quite remember how he got himself into his room, it had all blurred and suddenly he was lying face down on his bed, trying to shut all the light out of his brain forever.

Dianne however was more than surprised to see an almost lifeless figure limp into their room and  collapse onto her bed. It took her a few seconds to register that the mysterious man on her bed was in fact her boyfriend.

"Joseph, what's going on?" Dianne asked, the earlier disagreement forgotten the instance she saw the state Joe was in.

"Urghhh, it's too bright." Joe complained, his head pushed into his pillow.

"Hey, I'm really sorry Joey, I'm gonna turn you round so I can see you." Dianne cooed, her hands gently placed on his shoulders.

"It's too bright." Joe grimaced, as his girlfriend came into view on the half of his eyes where he still had vision. "I can't see half of you." He mumbled, trying to keep his eyes open.

"What do you mean? I'm all here." Dianne laughed, though she was concerned by the grey-green colour on Joe's face.

"No, my eyes only see half of you, it's like a blind spot." Joe tried to explain, taking deep breaths to control his unsettled stomach.

"Oh I see, does your head hurt Joey?" Dianne asked, instantly recognising Joe's symptoms.

"Yeah it's really bad." Joe whimpered, finally giving in and forcing his eyes shut.

"You've probably got a migraine little one, have you taken any painkillers?" Dianne allowed sJoe to put his head back into the pillow and gently massaged his neck.

Joe shook his head before groaning again, this time much more loudly.

"Try and keep you head as still as possible little one, otherwise you'll make it worse." Dianne cooed, "I'll be right back but let yourself fall asleep, okay?"

Joe let out a barely audible sigh which Dianne took to be an agreement so she left the poor boy on the bed, as still as a log.

"Alright mister," Dianne said quietly as she returned to the bedroom. "I've got a tepid flannel for you to rest your head on, here let me, that's it, well done!" Dianne coaxed, gently lying her boyfriends head on top of the cloth. "I've also got some paracetamol here, but it probably won't do a lot, how sick are you feeling?" Dianne remembered not being able to stomach even water when she suffered with migraines, and Joe couldn't take tablets at the best of times.

"I don't know," Joe mumbled, "quite sick I guess, I'm not going to throw up though."

"Okay good, I'll leave them on the side so you can take them if you want."

"Thanks." Joe whispered, feeling sleep engulf him finally, and he barely acknowledged his girlfriend leaving the room.

—

"Hey." Joe exclaimed as he meandered downstairs and found his girlfriend in the kitchen, baking another banana bread.

"Oh hello, you," Dianne laughed, "how are you feeling?"

"Yeh so much better, that was horrible whatever it was." Joe shuddered, glad to have his full eyesight back.

"Yeah you've got your colour back! It was probably a migraine, and yes they're horrible, you did the right thing going to sleep though."

Joe nodded, before walking over and hugging Dianne from behind, he softly placed a kiss on her neck. "I'm sorry about this morning as well."

"Don't be stupid Joe, I was so worried about you, you know?" Dianne exclaimed turning around so she could caress his cheek.

"Really?" Joe laughed, smiling down at the redhead who had now slotted herself under Joe's head.

"Yeah, I kept checking you were still breathing because your head was against that pillow pretty tightly, didn't want you suffocating." Dianne chuckled.

"Aww you're cute."

"Hehe I know." Dianne teased before pulling out of Joe's embrace. "Do you want any lunch now? I'll make you a sandwich?"