"Thanks, Brian," Kayla was saying as he drove up in front of his house.

He smiled at her. "No problem. Here's the key," he said, handing it to her. "Now, you get some rest and feel better and tell Nick to do the same."

She smiled weakly. "Okay. See you later."

"I'll try to call at lunch. Bye."

"Bye."

Kayla got out of the car and walked up the front path to the house. She was wearing a small t-shirt and pajama pants over flip flops, and her hair was pulled back into a messy bun on the back of her head. She hadn't been up to putting on any makeup, but she had washed her face a few times, so she still looked nice. Over one shoulder was her backpack, which contained some warmer clothes as well as a few other things she might need that day.

Kayla got inside the house and heard Brian's car driving away as she locked the front door behind her. Dropping her backpack and the key she had been given next to the coat rack, she stumbled sleepily into the den, trying not to trip over herself.

As she had expected, Nick was lying on the couch and watching some cartoon. Kayla rapped on the door frame as she walked into the room, making him turn towards her. His eyebrows shot up when he saw her there.

"What are you doing here?" he wondered. His voice was just as scratchy as hers was.

"Brian didn't tell you?"

He shook his head.

"Well, I'm sick too, so I'm spending the day here instead of cooped up in my hotel room," she explained.

"Oh," Nick said. "Do you have the same thing I have?"

Kayla shrugged, heading for the armchair. "I guess."

Nick smirked. "You probably gave it to me."

Kayla rolled her eyes and flicked him off.

He started to laugh but ended up coughing. That got her going too, and soon both of them were coughing. Once that happened, neither of them could stop laughing or coughing. Nick got so into it that his face turned red and he fell off the couch, landing on the floor.

"Ow," he muttered.

Kayla just laughed/coughed harder.

"You think that's funny?"

She nodded, holding her stomach.

"Do you want to be tickled?" he threatened. Then he grinned. "You know what, I don't even think I could make it over there."

Kayla finally started to recover. "Well, this is going to be quite an interesting day," she predicted.

Nick chuckled. "Yeah."

"So what are you watching?" she wondered, nodding towards the TV.

Nick shrugged. "I don't know, but it sucks."

"Well, there has to be something good on. Give me the remote," she said, gesturing towards it.

Nick grinned. "No way."

"Nicky! Give it to me!" she whined.

"Well, you're certainly not getting it as long as you call me Nicky," he retorted.

Kayla rolled her eyes again.

"Oh, fine," he said, tossing it over to her.

She smirked and caught it. "Sweetness."

Nick grinned as she started to channel surf. "Why don't you see if there's a scary movie on?" he suggested.

Kayla glared at him. "Up yours." After a minute or two, she finally stopped on a rerun of I Love Lucy. "There we go."

"You like this show?" Nick said.

"Yeah, do you?"

He nodded vigorously. "None of the guys like it so I can never watch it."

Kayla smiled. "Well then, you're in luck, because I happen to love it."

Nick grinned. "What would I do without you, Kayla Prescott?"

She laughed. "I don't know. I think you just might be lost."

"No...no, no! Don't do that! No!" Kayla was ordering later that day as she and Nick played a racing game against each other on his Nintendo. "Aah! No!" she cried as Nick's car passed her on the screen and won the game. She dropped the controller and folded her arms across her chest. "No fair."

"I swear, Kayla, I've played video games with a lot of people, but you're the most vocal one. Ever," he said.

She made a face at him. "Thanks ever so much, Nicky."

"When are you going to stop with the Nicky thing?"

"When it stops bugging you."

"Great."

"Are you hungry? I'm starving!"

"Yeah, yeah, me too!" he said. "Let's order something and have it delivered."

"Okay, what do you want? And do not say pizza, I'm really not in the mood for that," she added.

"Um...Chinese food?" he suggested.

Kayla considered this for a moment and then nodded. "Okay, sure."

"Cool. What do you usually eat?"

"Sweet and sour chicken or lo mein," she said.

"Awesome, me too," he said before realizing something. "Damn."

"What?"

"One of us has to go get the phone book," he said.

"Don't look at me!"

"Hey, it's your turn to get up. I went and got the video games," he reminded her.

"Nicky," she groaned.

"Don't try that on me, it won't work. There's one in the kitchen right next to the phone," he instructed her.

"Okay, which one do you want, white or yellow?" she muttered, getting to her feet.

"White, I already know the perfect place."

Kayla left the room and returned in a minute with two glasses of water and the white pages. She put one of the glasses down on the coffee table in front of them, kept the other in her hand, and gave the phone book to Nick, who took it. After a moment, he found the number he was looking for and grabbed the phone from the coffee table.

Nick quickly placed an order for sweet and sour chicken and chicken lo mein, dictated Brian's address, and told the man on the other end to give it to the security guard who would answer the door. Then he hung up and turned to Kayla. "It'll be about thirty minutes. So what do we do now?"

"No more video games," Kayla said. "I'm sick of getting my butt kicked."

He laughed. "If you want I can let you win once or twice."

She laughed too. "That's really okay."

"Then what can we do?"

Kayla shrugged. "We could just talk."

"My throat hurts."

"That's what the water's for," she said, nodding towards his glass.

Nick smiled and picked it up. "Okay. Sounds good to me."


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