I got up from the sofa in search of a thermometer, worried her temperature was way too high. Ten minutes of searching, I came up with nothing. A faint buzzing led me to her room, and I found her phone with Beau’s name flashing on it. The call ended and it rang again immediately.
“Hello,” I answered.
The line was quiet. “Where is Iris?”
“Hey, Beau, it's Nash. I’m at her apartment,” I said, sitting on her bed.
“What the hell are you doing there?” he snapped. “She’s sick, leave her the hell alone. She doesn’t need you bothering her when she feels bad.”
“I’m not?—”
“Leave her alone or so help me god, I will find a way to make you disappear,” he growled.
I smiled at his threat loving his feistiness.
“Theo asked me to drop off some meds,” I said quickly. “She’s not doing well. I’m trying to find a thermometer, but I can’t find one. She feels really hot, and she doesn’t want to take meds.”
“Nash—”
“I’m not that much of an asshole, Beau,” I said, trying to keep the anger out of my tone. “I brought things for her to feel better, but I didn’t bring a thermometer.”
He sighed loudly. “I can go pick one up, does she need anything else? Maybe Tylenol? Ibuprofen?”
“I don’t know. Let me see if she has some, she fell asleep on me, and I don’t know if I should wake her up to take her other meds or?—”
“Let her sleep,” he interrupted me. “Do I need to bring food?”
“Theo sent food for her and her flu medication. I brought some easy food options, Gatorade and electrolytes,” I said, looking in her bathroom cabinets finding some Tylenol. “Oh, and I bought some cough medicine and tissues. She has some Tylenol.”
“Is the bottle full?” he asked, as it sounded like a door was shutting.
“It’s half full,” I said, checking.
“Ok, I’ll get the thermometer and I’ll be right over,” he said.
Relief hit me. “Thank you.”
“I’m sorry I thought badly?—”
“I haven’t given you a reason not to,” I said.
“Ok, we'll see you soon,” he sighed.
“Ok,” I said, before he hung up.
I walked into the living room, feeling a little better than I had when I had first arrived. At thirty years old, I had never really taken care of anyone else except myself. It was a weird feeling to want to help, but not know how to. I propped Iris up on the sofa, but kept her covered. She looked even more flushed, and I grabbed a small hand towel, wetting it with cool water and laying it on her forehead, remembering Brooks doing something similar to me when I was sick. My stomach soured when I realized I didn’t have any memories of my father or mother doing anything like this for me.
14
beau
I expectedNash to leave when I arrived at Iris’ house, but he genuinely looked worried for her. He had every right to be when we realized her temperature was a hundred and three point two. He said we should take her to Atlas, but a quick call to the doc and he said he had seen her earlier. She needed to take her medicine and some Tylenol for her temperature, drink lots of liquids and if her temp went any higher, then she needed to go to the hospital.
“Hey, honey. I need you to drink this, and take your medicine.”
“I just want to sleep,” Iris grumbled.
“I know, but you need this,” I said, attempting to prop her up, when Nash stepped in and propped her up against his chest.
