Page 52 of Only for Tonight
She sits down and takes a sip of water, spits it out, then starts to throw up again. I wring out the towel and then move to her, pushing her hair away from her neck before placing the rag on the back of it.
“I’m going to get you one for your mouth.” I rub her back and she retches again. I close my eyes, trying to calm down and not freak out, but it’s like it’s simmering on the surface. “What did you eat tonight?”
“Not much.” She spits into the toilet as I wet another rag and hand it to her. “I had some pizza and fries.” She wipes her mouth as she tries to breathe into her mouth and out again. “I’ve been nauseous all night,” she admits to me. “I thought I was going to throw up at the game, but I was fine after a couple minutes.”
“You think you can get upstairs?” I ask her and she closes her eyes and puts her back toward the wall.
“In a minute.” She picks up the bottle of water and drinks some of it, which then ends up right in the toilet.
“I’m going to carry you upstairs,” I tell her, wanting to get out of this small bathroom and get her upstairs to mine.
“I’m afraid to move,” she confesses softly and I bend to take her in my arms. “I can walk.” She tries to get me to put her down.
“I’ve got you.” I tuck her closer to me and she lays her head on my chest as I walk up the stairs to my bedroom.
“Do you want to take a shower?” I ask her, placing her on the bed and she nods her head.
“I do.” She gets up and then falls back on the bed. “Whoa.” She extends her hands to the sides and I rush forward to catch her if she falls forward.
“Ariella,” I say her name, panic filling my voice.
“I’m okay, my head just was spinning.”
“Let me carry you to the bathroom.” I pick her up and she lets me, so I know she’s really not feeling well. I put her on the couch in the middle of the bathroom.
“I always wondered why you had an ottoman in here.” She tries to make a joke but then she looks at me and barely makes it to the toilet this time, and she vomits again.
I turn the water on in the shower. “We should call someone,” I tell her when she flushes the toilet and shakes her head. I sit on the ottoman watching her, feeling ready to rip the hair out of my head.
“It’s normal,” she says to me, holding the wall as she gets up. “I need to shower.” I get up and walk over to her. “Quickly,” she says, pulling her clothes off of her, she steps into the shower.
I don’t even have time to get undressed to step in and help her because she’s out of the shower, grabbing a towel. She walks to the sink and grabs her toothbrush, the whole time all I can do is watch her. “You going to be okay?” I ask her as my leg moves up and down when she stops mid-brush of her teeth and hangs her head.
“Yeah, just another wave,” she answers and then vomits in the sink.
I look up to the ceiling, feeling the tightness in my body. “I need to get into bed.” She wipes her mouth. “Do you have a garbage can?” she asks me and I stand up, walking to the side of the toilet and grabbing the wastebasket. “Oh, that one is fancy. Do you have another one?”
“Ari,” I growl, ready to throw it through a wall.
“We’ll talk about it tomorrow.” She grabs one of my T-shirts from what I wore this morning and tosses it on the side of the bed, slipping it on before crawling in.
“We are going to talk about a lot of things tomorrow.” I sit at the side of the bed, rubbing her head and watching her eyes drift closed. “All the things.”
nineteen
Ariella
“We are going to talk about a lot of things tomorrow.” He sits at the side of my bed and moves the hair away from my face. “All the things.”
“I don’t know if I’m going to have the strength to discuss anything right now,” I mumble at him as my eyes start to drift closed, “so we may have to table it for a bit longer.”
My eyes close and I wait for my head to stop spinning before I drift off. I don’t know how long I’m asleep before my stomach feels like it’s lurching. “I’m going to be sick.” I scramble to get off of the bed and rush to the bathroom. The lights are off and I hold my hands out in front of me to not knock into anything. Thanking whoever it was who left the light on in the hallway to help guide me to the bathroom. I don’t bother closing the door before whatever is left in my stomach is now in the toilet bowl.
I hear the water turn on from behind me. “How much longer is this going to go on?” Jaxon says, his voice filled with worry and anger.
I close my eyes and place my head on my arm that is resting on the top of the toilet seat, feeling a cold rag on the back of my neck. “It’s been a few hours now.”
“I don’t know.” I turn when I feel him squatting beside me. “I want to say this is the last time because there is frankly nothing left inside of me.” He holds out his hand for me, helping me get on my feet. I walk over to the sink and grab the toothpaste and brush my teeth as quickly as I can. Sliding into bed with him beside me. “Thank you, Jaxon,” I say softly and his hand comes up to touch my face.
