Because I Want To - Grace R. Duncan Page 0,19

patting his back, Matt moved away. A few moments later, Matt came back with an opened bottle of water and handed it to him. Adam focused on rinsing his mouth out, then sipping at the water in an effort to calm his stomach. After wiping his face with a wet paper towel Matt fetched for him, he felt like he could finally speak. “What the actual fuck was that?”

Matt shrugged a little helplessly. “Don’t know. Something bad for breakfast?”

Adam frowned. “I just had a couple of eggs and some toast. They didn’t smell bad, and I’m pretty sure they would have smelled rotten if they were.”

“Huh. Maybe just a stomach bug.”

Adam wrinkled his nose. “If that’s the case, there’s a chance you’ll get it.”

Matt waved that away. “You might normally have a cast-iron stomach, but I very rarely get sick.”

“Yeah, you suck.”

“Yup,” Matt said, grinning. “Quite well, if your moans are anything to go by.”

Adam flipped him off. “Fuck.” He got to his feet—annoyingly, with Matt’s help—then swayed a little. “Ugh. Light-headed and minor headache.”

“We should probably get you home.”

“I can go by myself,” Adam protested, though he had to admit it was weak even to his own ears. He’d always hated being alone when he was sick, though the truth of that pissed him off.

“Shut up,” Matt replied as they left the bathroom.

Adam didn’t argue.

After explanations to their friends, they collected their bags and headed to the bus stop. More than just not wanting to be alone, Adam realized he was still too light-headed and headachy to get home without help. It’d be pure misery on his own. Matt shoved his sunglasses at Adam, then more or less held him up as they waited.

When they boarded, Adam thought he was going to be sick all over again. The exhaust fumes just about did him in. He covered his nose, but it wasn’t enough, so he buried his face in Matt’s sweatshirt sleeve.

The normally short ride seemed to take forever, but finally they were able to get off at their stop. Matt kept Adam’s face against his shirt until the bus was away and the exhaust had dissipated somewhat, then finally let him go.

“Well, that sucked. Stomach viruses are the worst.”

“Let’s just get you home,” Matt said in answer.

Luckily, only a few minutes later, Adam was kicking his shoes off and falling into bed. He buried his face in the pillow, hiding from the light, and didn’t pay much attention to Matt as he did. As such, he was surprised—though he guessed he shouldn’t have been—when Matt touched his shoulder. He looked up to see a bottle of water in Matt’s hand.

“Think you can take pain killer?”

Adam queried his stomach. “Probably will stay down. I hope so. Need to at least get rid of the headache.” He took the pills from Matt and chased them with the water, then lay back down, covering his eyes with his arm. The pressure hurt, but for the moment, the light hurt worse. “Fuck this,” he grumbled.

Matt patted his shoulder and walked away again. Adam tried to let himself drift, hoping his raw stomach would behave for a while. A moment later, though, Matt returned, this time with a wet washcloth. “This’ll help better than your arm.”

Adam took it gratefully with a sigh. “Yeah, much better. Thanks. And, uh, thanks for bringing me home and seeing through my bullshit.” It was easier to say when he couldn’t see Matt’s expression.

“I’ve been seeing through it since you could spout it. I just don’t always call you on it. Want me to email the prof for you too?”

“Please?” Adam murmured.

“’K. Rest.” With a brush to Adam’s hair, footsteps retreated. Matt apparently sat at Adam’s computer and started typing, and Adam did his best to just ignore everything and hope his stomach would calm down.

Chapter 10

Two days later, it still wasn’t better. He had ups and downs, but even though it eased for a little while, he got it right back late in the evening, then early the next morning. He was starting to get pissed off. It was bad enough he missed classes because of his heats, he didn’t need to miss them for other sickness.

He’d made Matt go to classes that day and the one before. It’d taken some convincing, but he’d reminded Matt that they both needed the lecture notes, so both of them missing wasn’t going to help. Reluctantly, Matt had gone, but he had come back right after. Adam hadn’t had the