Shayla asked.
Bex rolled onto her side, facing the door. “You can come in.”
Shayla popped into the room. “Yikes. You look awful.”
Bex gave a wan smile. “I feel like shit. Must be the flu.”
“Have you spoken to Bracken? Does he have it too?”
“Called him earlier. He was fine.”
“I’ll go make you some toast and see if we have any lemon-lime soda.”
“That would be great. Thank you.” Bex dragged herself out of bed and into the bathroom. She looked like shit but she didn’t feel nearly as bad as earlier. She wasn’t sweating and she didn’t seem to have a fever, so she splashed water on her face and headed downstairs.
Shayla was in the kitchen stirring something in a mug. “Hey. You came down. I didn’t find any white soda, but I made you some herbal tea with honey.”
“That sounds perfect.” Bex slid onto a chair at the table and accepted the dry toast and hot tea. She took a few small bites and then a sip of tea. It went down. Was it going to stay?
“You look tired more than anything. Did you not sleep well?” Shayla asked.
“I slept like a rock actually. Weird.” Bex ate a few more bites and went back to the tea. “I feel better. Maybe it’s just some short flu.”
“Could be.” Shayla sat across from her. “You’ve been stressed. It’s possible your immune system got tired of fighting.”
“You’d think after two weeks of vacation, I’d be relaxed and ready to roll.” Bex shrugged and finished off the toast. “Let’s hope this stays down. Seems okay so far.”
“Maybe lie low the rest of the day. Movies, books, sleep.”
Bex nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” She heaved herself to the couch, curled up on one end, and found an old movie to watch. A few hours later, she was able to eat some chicken noodle soup and crackers without much trouble.
When Bracken texted, she called him. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself. How are you feeling?”
“Better. It’s like I’m tired. I only threw up this morning. Since then I’ve managed to keep everything I ate down. I don’t understand how I got sick and you didn’t. That’s just weird.”
“It is strange. We did everything together. Maybe it was something you ate last night with your friends?”
“No one else is sick though.”
“Good point. Well, as long as you’re starting to feel better. Do you want me to come get you?”
“No. I think I’ll climb back into bed and sleep another night. No reason to risk you getting sick too. Hopefully tomorrow it will be gone.”
“Okay, but I miss you, so tomorrow I’m coming over there if you’re not well.”
Bex smiled. She missed him too actually. She’d meant to take some time to think about where things were going with Bracken, but after spending the day without him, she wanted to wrap her arms around him and snuggle into his chest. She almost relented and told him to come get her. It was a bad idea though. No sense getting him sick too. By tomorrow, she would go back to his place no matter what.
When Bex woke up the next morning, she rolled onto her back and took several breaths before realizing, nope, today was not better. After fighting the nausea for as long as she could, she rushed to the bathroom and dry-heaved into the toilet.
Fuck.
She felt weaker than yesterday, and she dropped down onto the tile for a few minutes, leaning her forehead against the toilet seat. It took a while for the nausea to pass and then she pulled herself off the floor, brushed her teeth, and turned on the shower. She hadn’t even bathed yesterday. Maybe if she showered, she’d feel more human.
Twenty minutes later, she was back in her room in a clean tank top and shorts, dropping onto the bed as if she’d gone for a long run instead of showering. She grabbed her phone and called Bracken.
“Hey, baby. I was thinking about you. Feel better today?”
“No.” She sighed. “The same. Maybe worse.”
“That stinks. Do you have a fever?”
“I don’t think so. I’m just tired and I can’t hold anything down.”
There was a pause and then he spoke again. “Okay, I’m coming over. I’ll be there in half an hour.”
“You sure? I really hate the idea of you catching whatever I have.”
“Rebekah, stop worrying about me. I’ll be fine. Lie down. I’ll see you soon.”
“Okay.” She didn’t have the strength to argue with him. Besides, she missed him like crazy now. Was it just because she was sick and