Chapter Thirty
Lara pulled herself out of a deep sleep to answer the phone. "Hello?"
"Lara! It's me! Guess what...I proposed and Kevin accepted! Isn't that
wonderful?"
"That's great, Lees...listen...I'll call you later." Lara tried to calm the
pounding in her head. She noticed that it was about six hours after Nick
had left. She didn't even remember coming in to bed.
"Are you drunk?"
"No, I'm not drunk!" Lara snapped. "Just sleeping...tired...cold..."
"Well, I planning on getting good and wasted! Me and Kev are gonna go to
bed with a nice bottle of bubbly. Talk to you later!" Lisa cheerfully hung
up.
Lara made herself get up and go to the bathroom. The room spun and she had
to hold onto furniture to make it across the room. She moaned as she looked
in the mirror. That made the room spin more. She went to the bathroom and
then actually crawled back into the bedroom. She pulled out her warmest
flannel pajamas and then crawled under all the covers, even though it was
seventy degrees in her bedroom. She shivered herself to sleep.
The phone rang and rang. "Dammit, I just went to sleep!" Lara croaked when
she answered it.
"Lara? It's two in the afternoon...are you still in bed?" Lisa asked.
"Yes...tired...cold..." Lara wiped the sweat from the back of her neck,
throwing back the covers. Her teeth chattered and she yanked the covers
back up. "Go away...call later."
"Lara, what's going on? Are you okay?"
"No...go away." Lara hung up then took the phone off the hook.
"Something's weird, Kev. She sounds sick," Lisa said, staring at the phone
in her hand. "She hung up on me."
"Well, sometimes I want to hang up on you, too," he teased. She smacked his
bare leg and snuggled back down next to him.
"Something's not right, Kevin, I..."
"Honey, relax. She might have a cold or something, and you waking her up
all the time isn't helping." He pulled her against his chest. "Come here.
I'll distract you."
"Sorry...did I get you out of bed?" Howie asked when Kevin opened Lisa's
door three hours later. He couldn't help but smile at Kevin's disheveled
appearance. His hair was tousled, his tshirt was on backwards, and he had
on a pair of old boxer shorts.
"Um...kinda...we got engaged again last night."
"That's great, man!" Howie gave Kevin a hug. "I'll come back later."
"No, stay. Lisa won't mind." Kevin let Howie in, wondering about the
sadness in his friend's dark eyes. "What's up?"
"It's Lara," Howie said as Lisa came bouncing down the stairs, wearing
another tshirt of Kevin's.
"What? Have you been able to get through?"
"Get through?"
"Her line's been busy since early this morning. I called and she said she
was sick and hung up on me. She sounded like shit...all feverish and
stuffed up."
"Sick? Oh, no...I let her out in the rain...it's all my fault." Howie
jumped up. "Gotta go." Lisa and Kevin stared as he ran back out the door.
Lara felt the covers pulled off of her and she reached down for them.
"Cold...s-s-s-so cold..." her teeth chattered. Strong hands gently fought
her until she ran out of steam and laid back. "Go away...sick...cold..."
"You need to change clothes, sweetie...you're sweating right through these
pjs," a male voice said.
"Can't...tired..."
She heard drawers opening and closing. "Here...put this on...can you do
that?" She opened her eyes enough to see a long nightgown being held in
front of her. It was long sleeved but not the heavy flannel of her pajamas.
"Maybe..." she slowly sat up and began to try to unbutton her pajama top.
"Let me help you." Fingers started to undo the buttons but she slapped them
away.
"Don't touch me, Nick. Don't fucking touch me ever again." The hands moved
away and the person turned around as she unbuttoned the shirt and pushed
down the pants. She pulled the nightgown over her head, and immediately
felt cooler. Lara fell back onto the bed. "Thirsty..." she whispered.
"Lay back down and get under the covers. I'll get you some water." She
slowly did as she was told, and it wasn't soon before a glass of cool water
was being tipped to her lips. "Drink slowly, baby. Don't choke."
Lara took a few sips and then lay back, trying to focus her eyes on the
person in front of her. All she could see was a pair of hands arranging the
blankets, and then gently stroking her hair. "I hate you, Nick," she said,
starting to cry. "I hate you so much. I hate you for leaving me. I hate
you for being such a prick. I hate you for chasing Howie away!"
"Lara...Lara...relax. You're very sick," the voice said soothingly.
"I hate you. I don't want you. Howie...want Howie...he went away..." Lara
trailed away into sleep.
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By: Lara
© 2000
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Chapter TwentyEight
Chapter ThirtyOne