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Ordinarily, I would be disgusted lying on the floor of a hotel bathroom, but when you have dribbled puke drying on your face and your body had been racked with hot and cold sweats, the floor was trivial by nature.
I ventured into the room once to get a water bottle. I knew dehydration was serious, and the cool liquid felt wonderful going down.
Coming back up? Not so much.
I couldn’t keep anything down, not even a capful of good old H2O.
And so I toggled between hugging the porcelain god and petting my towel. I was the picture of sophisticated grace.
At least when I clocked out (last night?), it was the last day of the Long Island circuit. There’d be a couple days I could use to hopefully rest and recover. I’d have to figure out a different plane ticket though, and maybe if I begged and pleaded, E could arrange it for me. In my state, I’d probably end up booking a red eye to Istanbul if I wasn’t careful.
I was lying on my side with my back toward the mirror. The glaring lights were assaulting me, making me feel like my head was going to split in two. Because turning my stomach inside out wasn’t enough, you know.
I groggily pulled one of the washcloths out of my towel mound and put it over my face to shield it from the fluorescents. It was easier than trying to scoot myself across the floor, lift my arm, and swat at the switch.
I began to doze. If I fell asleep, it meant a reprieve. A small amount of solace from the hell I’d been experiencing. But right as my mind was taking the leap into oblivion, there was a wretched commotion.
Confusion, chaos and a clashing of voices.
“Oh my god, Luce! Luce!?”
“Is she breathing?”
“Woah…that’s gnarly, dude.”
I was too drained to care about a shred of decency in front of them. E had seen me at my worst—several times—and Jake and Liam? Well, not much I could do now, right?
I felt a hand go to my forehead. The sink faucet turned on and then Jake told Liam to go downstairs and retrieve a set of new towels. He was protecting my dignity and even in my state, I recognized it and made a note to thank him later.
“Luce, can you hear me?” E removed my light-blocking cloth and placed a damp, cool one on my forehead.
“Sadly, yeah. Shhh,” I scolded. “Too loud.”
I cracked an eye open, mainly to see if she would listen to my request.
But what I saw was Jake. And a visible breath left his chest. “Jesus, Luce.” He brought his hand to my hairline and began to stroke small bits of my hair that had no doubt been plastered to me via my on and off sweat-fest. His touch was feather-light and the moment I felt his contact, a calming feeling came over me.
“Do you have the flu, or was it something you ate?” Small strokes from his thumb seemed to give me the ounce of energy I needed to speak.
“Bad food. Don’t want to talk about it. What time is it?” I had to change the subject; thinking about what I’d eaten would send me into another bout of vomiting, instantly.
“Eleven in the morning.” That was E.
Faint dots began to connect in my brain. “…But aren’t you going to miss your flights?”
“Don’t worry about that right now,” Jake assured me. “What’s more important is getting you back on your feet.”
I had craned my neck to talk to them, but the position was growing uncomfortable. With every effort, I tried to shift to my back, but I felt like I was a beached whale with no flippers.
“Hey, take it easy,” Jake whispered. “I got you.”
And then I was lying flat, staring straight up at his impossibly handsome face. He had been letting his beard grow in since our time on the road, and it was full-fledged now. I liked it very much.
E came into view. She was tapping away on her phone, multitasking like a soccer mom. “I’ll rearrange my flight and stay with you, Luce…there’s no need to alert Colin either; hopefully you’ll be better by San Antonio, and if not, then I’ll handle it. He’ll be totally fine if you have to take a day off, so just don’t worry, ok?” There was a knock on the door and she left, returning with Liam and the towels he procured.
“Shhh,” I repeated. I knew she meant well, but E was going all power-mode on me and for one, I didn’t care and two, it was just too much.
Jake stood, placing a hand on E’s elbow. “Can I talk to you and Liam?” motioning to the room.
