FicWad

HURRICANE

CHAPTER TWELVE

In the middle of the night, Skyla woke up and ran to the bathroom. She barely got there in time to throw up into the toilet. Shannon overheard her retching and went to check on her.

“You okay?” he asked.

“No, but hopefully I will be soon.” Skyla heaved again, this time gagging and coughing. Shannon sat down beside her and pulled her hair back into a ponytail, rubbing her back as she vomited up what little dinner she was able to eat and keep down.

“Shannon, I got it from here. You can go now,” Jared told him as he walked into the bathroom, yawning. He plopped down beside Skyla and rubbed her back. “Do you want me to stay?”

“You can. I don't care.” She leaned against him and fell asleep for a few hours.

When she woke back up, Jared asked her if she thought she could hold down a few saltines and some water.

“Yeah, possibly, I don't know. Can I have a slice of an orange, please?” she begged him.

Jared went to the kitchen and peeled her an orange, then sliced it. He put them into a bowl and grabbed a few saltines, two bottles of water, and ran back to Skyla.

“Here. I brought the whole orange but it's sliced up like you asked,” he told her.

“Thanks,” she told him. She got the smallest orange slice and sucked on it, but within five minutes she began throwing up. Jared sighed.

“If you can't hold down an orange slice, you probably can't hold down a saltine cracker!” he cried. Skyla looked at him funny.

“What?”

“Sorry.” Jared sat with his back against the wall and rubbed her on the back. “Do you want to try the saltine crackers?” he asked her.

“The only thing it would hurt is my self-confidence.” Skyla grabbed a couple of crackers and put one in her mouth. Jared watched her anxiously as she chewed and swallowed, then ate another. “Nothing.”

“So far.” He handed her another one and a glass of water. She ate a third cracker and drank a bit of water. “We can put crackers and water on your 'able to eat' list. What do you want to try next?”

“How about-” she started to say. She then doubled over and began throwing up. “Never mind. I can't hold anything down.” Her emotions got the better of her and she began crying.

Jared wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. “Remember what the doctor said? This might be one of those 'changes' you're going to be going through.”

Skyla leaned back against the wall and wiped her eyes. “But I want to be able to eat something!”

Jared pulled her in close. “I know. Listen, come with me.”

Instead of waiting for an answer, he scooped her up and carried her to his room and laid her down on his bed. She watched him as he grabbed a few extra towels and blankets and made a space for Skyla to throw up on. “Here you go. Now if you have to throw up, just lean over and let it out.”

She smiled and hugged him. “Thanks, Jared.” She climbed in awkwardly and laid on her side facing the towels. Jared crawled in behind her and put his arm around her.

“I'll see you in the morning, okay? Meanwhile, try and get some sleep.” Jared turned off the light.

When she woke up the next morning, she could barely move. Jared helped her up and carried her to the bathroom.

“I'll be back to help you, okay?” he told her as he left to get her a bottle of water and a few packs of crackers. He brought them to her and she looked at him from her position on the floor, where she was throwing up every few minutes.

“Can you help me up? I need to change clothes for the day,” she told him. He helped her up off the floor and over to her room. “Thanks.”

He headed back to his room and curled up on his bed and went back to sleep. He listened as Skyla shuffled her feet through the hall, going back and forth to the bathroom. She suddenly popped her head into his room and asked him about her prescriptions from the doctor.

“They're still in my jacket. I'll have Emma take them to the pharmacy later. Don't worry about it,” he told her.

“Yeah, but-” Skyla began anxiously.

“Don't. Worry. About. It.” He pushed her out of his room and shut the door anxiously. A few minutes later he had Emma come up to his room and get the prescriptions so that they could be filled and Skyla would hush. “She's freaking out about it. Please hurry. And tell them it's for a pregnant woman.”

After Emma left, Jared took a break and sat in his chair with his legs dangling over the arm. He fell asleep for about ten minutes and awoke abruptly to a wet willie in his ear.

“Shannon! That's so gross!” Jared told him. He pushed Shannon off of him and his brother sat down on his bed across from him and started talking to him.

“You know Skyla's gone crazy, right?” Shannon asked him. Jared rolled his eyes.

“She's not crazy, it's just the baby,” Jared told him. “Mood swings.”

Shannon grabbed Jared's water bottle and took a small swig. When he finished, Jared took it away from him and took a drink of his own. “Never drink after me. Please.”

“Whatever.” Shannon walked out of his room and almost walked into Skyla. “Hey. How you feeling today?” he asked her.

“Okay, it's just... I feel the extreme urge to pee,” she told him. Shannon's laughing response gave her a smile and he reached over and hugged her. Skyla hugged him back.

“Emma has gone to get your prescriptions,” he whispered in her ear. “How about we go out to eat?”

“Okay!” Skyla went to change into some clean clothes and a pair of flip-flops. When she passed by Jared's open door, he pulled her inside.

“Where are you going?” he asked her.

“Shannon's just taking me to get something to eat. Is that a bad thing?” she told him.

Jared sighed. “No. Go ahead.” He watched her as she ran out of the house and got into Shannon's Jeep to go grab a bite to eat. He got a text from Shannon inviting him along.

“Wanna come?”

“Not really.”

“I'll bring you back something to eat.”

Jared collapsed back on his bed and piddled with his BlackBerry. He sighed and decided to read a book. A few pages in, he fell asleep, not waking until he heard Skyla and Shannon pull back into the driveway.