Page 238 of Finding Us

“You know what?” I ask Garret.

“What?”

“Sometimes I forget what a great friend you are.” I smile at him. “You have really good advice. I should talk to you more often.”

He smiles back. “Yeah, you should.”

“Hey.” I pull on him to sit closer. “Thanks for taking care of me through this whole flu disaster.”

“It wasn’t that bad.”

“Are you kidding? I don’t remember everything that happened yesterday, but I’m sure it was disgusting. You didn’t see too much, did you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You didn’t see me get sick, right?”

“Of course I saw it. I was in the bathroom with you.”

“Ugh.” I bury my face in my hands. “You weren’t supposed to see that. Now you’ll never have sex with me again.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“You’ll have that image in your head and you’ll never want to do it with me again.”

He laughs. “Where do you come up with this shit? I’m not sitting around thinking about you throwing up. I’ve already forgotten about it.”

“Really? Then I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“And as for sex, we’re doing it as soon as you’re better. It’s been way too long.”

“I know. This dry spell of ours has gotta end.”

“I think it’s time for you to transition to the couch. You want to go watch some TV? I could put a movie in.”

“I would love that. I’ve missed watching movies with you. I’ve missed doing a lot of stuff with you. This Garret-free month has really sucked.”

He helps me off the bed. “It ends now. We’re spending more time together whether you want to or not.”

“I want to.” I kiss his cheek. “I really want to.”

* * *

On Tuesday Garretgoes back to class but he only has one class. The others were canceled due to so many people being sick. I stayed home Tuesday and again today because I’m still feeling weak.

As bad as it was to have the flu, I’m almost glad it happened. It forced me to stop working so hard and to figure out why I was doing it in the first place. Getting sick was like hitting rock bottom. I knew things had to change. And I knew I had to talk to Garret about it. Now that I have, I feel like everything’s starting to come into focus. Being a doctor was never right for me. I just couldn’t see that before because I was too busy thinking about what Ishoulddo instead of what Iwantedto do. And if I hadn’t gotten sick, I’d probably still be on that path.

I’ve now missed three days of classes and although I’m a little stressed about it, it’s not even close to how stressed I would’ve felt before I got sick.

I decided to drop organic chemistry and the lab that goes with it, so technically that’s two classes. I filled out the paperwork this morning and Garret dropped it off for me. It was such a great feeling just filling out the form. If I wasn’t so tired I’d be doing a happy dance around the living room right now.

My remaining classes are chem 2, advanced calculus, and my psych elective. It’s a much more manageable schedule. In fact, I’m actually looking forward to class now instead of dreading it. I don’t like calculus but my chem class is okay and I really like my psych class.

Around 2, I decide to go to the coffee shop. After being cooped up in the house for days, I needed to get out for an hour or so. Plus, Sara went back to work today and I want to see her.

“Feel any better?” she asks as I sit on a stool along one of the long tables.

“I’m still tired.”

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