Page 39 of Something Like Forever
“He’s fine,” Tim said.“Worry about yourself. The doctor says you have a stomach bug. Canyou drink more water?”
Ben tried, hoping it wouldstay down this time. All he wanted was to burrow beneath the coversto escape the light, which only made his head throb more. He wasalready too hot, so he settled for putting a pillow over his head.Then he drifted in and out of sleep, feeling delirious, but themonotone hum of the airplane cabin helped soothe him. He couldn’tremember where he was flying, or why, but at least he had a row ofseats to himself so he could stretch out. He felt the thin airlineblanket being pulled up to his neck to cover him better, a handresting gently on his shoulder before moving away. Then theseatbelt sign turned off with a chiming noise, causing his eyes toshoot open.
Ben was in bed. The roomwas dark, the house silent. Tim lay next to him, his back to Ben,too deeply asleep to stir, even when Ben sat up and braced himselffor another sprint to the bathroom. He felt okay. As in, hismuscles were still sore, he felt like he had swallowed razorblades,and he was pretty sure he could fry an egg on his forehead, but atleast he didn’t feel like puking.
He stood unsteadily andwent to the bathroom sink, needing to quench his thirst. Then hereturned and looked at Tim, who must have been taking care of himsince yesterday. Or the day before? Ben didn’t know anymore, but hewas certain his husband deserved his sleep, so he quietly made hisway downstairs. He drank from the kitchen sink, sipping handfuls ofwater from his palm. Then he sat at the table with his head down,waiting for any sign that the water was on its way back up. Whenthis didn’t happen, he rose again, taking a glass from the cabinetand filling it from the tap.
Ben forced himself todrink slowly. He wandered from the kitchen to the living room insearch of his phone, because the more his head cleared, the morerecent events came back to haunt him. Jason’s hurt expression. Thetrembling hand as he pointed to the door. Ben supposed he deservedthat. Now he intended to make it right. If only this stupid bug orwhatever hadn’t hit him when it had. Jason probably thought hedidn’t care and had misinterpreted his silence. And now he wasgone. Wasn’t he?
He spotted his phone onthe coffee table and snatched it up. He had text messages from hismother and Allison, but nothing from Jason. His emails didn’treveal anything either. He finally noticed the time. Four in themorning. He thought about sending Jason a text, hour be damned, butworried about waking him, or distracting him from William if theyreally were together. He could wait a little longer until morning.Ben sat there, sipping water and fighting against nodding off. Howcould he possibly need more sleep? Seriously!
Eventually his stomachfelt moody again and the rest of his body started to shiver. Onlyan hour had gone by. Maybe sitting around in his underwear wasn’t agood idea. Ben decided to wait in bed under the blankets. He slowlymade his way upstairs, careful not to wake Tim. He leaned the phoneupright against the lamp on the bedside table, so he could see thescreen. Then he stretched out, determined to keep his eyes on it,but they wouldn’t cooperate. He fell asleep again, and this time itwas blissfully black. No disjointed memories of the argument oranything else. When he woke again it was morning, a pale blue skyoutside the window, which had been cracked to let in fresh air. Orto blow away his stink. The bed next to him was empty, the lockscreen of his phone devoid of notifications, so he forced himselfup. He used the toilet as it was intended and then took a shower,sitting in the tub and letting the water wash over him when hislegs felt too weak to stand.
Once he was dressed andhis teeth were brushed, he went downstairs. Tim was in the kitchen,cleaning up at the sink. When he turned around and saw Ben standingthere, his expression was torn between relief andconcern.
“How do youfeel?”
“Like roadkill,” Benmanaged, throat still raw. “And a little hungry.”
“No problem!” Tim said,springing into action. He raided the cabinets, taking out itemsthat Ben didn’t recognize, meaning he must have gone shopping.“We’ve got applesauce, rice, toast. If you’re thirsty we haveGatorade or I can make you a ginger tea. Or some veggiebroth!”
“Someone’s been playinginternet doctor,” Ben said, mustering a smile as he sat at thebreakfast bar. “Actually, wasn’t there a real doctor here? Or did Idream it? Doctors don’t do house calls anymore, dothey?”
“Marcello’s does,” Timsaid, nodding to the items on the counter. “What’ll itbe?”
“Applesauce,” Ben said.“And a ginger tea. With honey. Please.”
“Coming rightup!”
He rubbed his eyes,willing himself to wake up, and wondered if Tim would make him areal tea with caffeine instead. Then he remembered his need tocontact Jason and started to rise.
“Where are you going?” Timasked, spinning around like a prison guard.
“To get my phone. I needto text Jason. Or call.”
“I heard from him,” Timsaid, setting down a bowl of applesauce.
“Is he okay?”
“Yeah. Sit and try to getsome of this in you.”
Ben sat but ignored the food. “How’s hedoing? What did he say?”
Tim leaned forward, palmsflat on the counter. “He canceled his flight.”
“What?” Ben’s stomachsank, which was better than what it had been doing lately, but thiswas still terrible news. Their argument had been horrible. Theleast that could have come from it was Jason actually trying.Instead it had all been for nothing. “I give up. I won’t mentionWilliam ever again, or try to tell either of them how to have arelationship. I’ll just stay out of it and hope for the best,because all I seem capable of is making it worse.”
Tim stared at him like he was speaking intongues. “Jason made it to Astoria. He flew out yesterday.”
“But you said he—” Benfelt both hopeful and fearful. “He canceled his flightback.”
“Yeah,” Tim said, voicehoarse. He turned around to use the sink, although to Ben, itlooked as though he was running the water for nopurpose.
“You okay?” heasked.
Tim nodded and shut off the water. When hespun around, his eyes were watery and his expression strained, buthe forced a smile. “This is what we wanted, right?”
“I guess so,” Ben said.“When is he coming home again? Did he say?”
