He's Got it Bad

I have some bad news.  I'm very quickly running out of pre-written posts, and the ones I do have need some work.  I'm going to be taking this week off.  Don't worry though, it's only a week!  I need some time to get back into my story so I can fix what I have and write a little more.  When I come back, I might go down to posting twice a week so I can get through this semester without having to take any more time off from blogging.  I appreciate every single one of you, and I feel crappy about having to take time off, but I just can't do it right now.  I'd write awful posts, and no one wants to read awful posts!  Thanks to everyone who is hanging in there with me :)  Enjoy this post, and I will see you guys again next Sunday!
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I felt much better after nearly a full night's sleep.  I'd had a nightmare about Jordan, but it was less intense than usual, and I fell back asleep much quicker and easier that I'd had in the past.  I was thankful at that moment that Brody (and I guess James too) had convinced me to start talking to someone about it, because it seemed like it was helping.  I was already having fewer nightmares, and now they seemed to be lessening in intensity too.  That shouldn't have surprised me, but it did.  Apparently, I'm a terrible advocate for my own profession. 

When I got out of the shower, I had a text from Brody.  It said, "Working from home for most of the day.  Come keep me company tonight?"  I was surprised.  He must really be not feeling well if he wasn't going in today.  I texted back that I'd come out after work and asked if he wanted me to pick something up for dinner or bring anything else.  

I didn't get a response until around lunchtime, when he texted me his dinner request and said he didn't need anything else.  I had a pretty good day at work, and my last client canceled so I even got to head out early.  I texted Brody that I was on my way and went to get food.  He texted me back to just come in when I got there.

I drove out to his house and let myself in.  I found him sprawled out on his couch in sweatpants and a sweatshirt, looking disheveled and rather miserable.  He looked up from his laptop when I walked in, and smiled halfheartedly.

"You look miserable," I said.  "Are you hungry?"  He said he was, so I went into the kitchen for plates and utensils and brought the food out to him.

"Thanks," he said.  "I don't even want to move off this couch.  I was going to try to go into the office this afternoon for a meeting but I got so dizzy just showering that I decided it was probably a bad plan."

I frowned.  "Do you have a fever?" I asked.

"No, just a really bad headache and I'm shaky, dizzy, and exhausted.  Just generally feeling crappy.  So it could be worse.  But I don't get sick often, so it seems horrible," he joked.

"Well I'm glad you stayed home to take care of yourself," I replied.  He sat up and put his laptop aside when I handed him a plate.  I noticed him grimace as he righted himself.

"Are you staying tonight?" he asked, after he had eaten a little bit.

"I have stuff to stay, but I think I should probably go so you can rest," I responded.

"No," he said stubbornly.  "I want you to stay."

"We'll see," I said.  He gave me a dirty look.  I quickly changed the subject.  "So, guess what? My coworker Josh is Neil's brother in law."

"Are you serious?" Brody asked.  When I nodded, he laughed.  He answered my questioning look with, "Neil tells me often about his brother in law that he can't stand.  I don't know how many he has, but he only talks about one."  I laughed too.  

"Apparently Neil speaks very highly of you," I said with a smile.  "He really likes you."  Brody's face flushed a little, the closest thing to blushing I've ever seen him do.  He was clearly pleased with the feedback.

"Oh, speaking of work," he said suddenly.  "I was talking to Todd today and looking into scheduling my trip to San Diego.  Did you want to come out for a few days?  We should figure out when, if you do."

"I'd love to," I replied.  We talked about that for awhile, and settled on a long weekend towards the end of the month.

"So I'll go about a week and a half before, to get things with Todd taken care of.  That way I can be done with business by the time you come out."  He grabbed his laptop and a few minutes later he reported that he'd just purchased plane tickets for both of us.

"I'll request the days off tomorrow," I said, grinning.  I was going down on a Wednesday night and we were flying back together on Sunday night.  It was my long weekend week, so I only needed to take Thursday and Monday off work. 

I yawned, and looked at my phone.  It was a little after 10.  I needed to leave here around 8:30 the next morning if I was staying.  Brody saw me looking at the phone and said, "You should just stay."  At this point, I agreed.

"I can sleep in the guest room if you want, so you can sleep better," I suggested.

"I'll sleep better if you sleep with me," he replied stubbornly.

"Fine," I conceded.  "But if you don't sleep, it's your own fault." 

"I'll sleep," he insisted.  He stood and made a face, wobbling slightly on his feet.  "I hate being dizzy," he complained.

15 minutes later we were in his bed, and he pulled me to him, my back pressed against his chest.  "I'm glad you're here," he said softly, yawning.  

"Me too," I agreed.  "Now go to sleep."

"I love when you're bossy," he mumbled.

I woke up early to an empty space in the bed next to me.  I rolled out of bed and wandered downstairs.   Brody's living room and kitchen were dark still, so I walked back to his office.  He was there, hair tousled, sitting in front of his laptop with a cup of coffee.

He turned when I knocked lightly on the door frame.  "Good morning," I said.  I squinted at the small clock on his desk.  It read 5:42am.

"You should be sleeping," he said gently.

I cocked an eyebrow.  "So should you," I pointed out.

He grimaced and shook his head.  "I did sleep," he promised.  "But I woke up about an hour ago and I was stressing out over how much work I've missed.  I figured I'd get up and work for a couple hours and then go back to bed for a little bit."  My face didn't change.  "I feel a lot better this morning anyway," he insisted.  "I've just got a little bit left that I want to finish, and then I'll go back to bed.  An hour, I promise."

"Okay," I relented.  I walked into the room and kissed him on the cheek.  "I'm going back to bed, then."

"Thanks for making sure I'm taking care of myself," he said, smiling wryly.  I stuck my tongue out at him like the mature adult that I am, and left his office so he could get some stuff done and come back to bed.

I drifted back into a light sleep, and I woke when the door opened.  I looked at the clock and saw it was a little before 7. Good.  I didn't want to be bossy, but I wanted him to take care of himself.

He slid into bed and scooted close to me.  I settled against him as he threw an arm over me.  "Get some stuff done?" I asked softly.

I felt him nod against the back of my head.  "Yeah, enough so that I feel like I can sleep for a few more hours.  Being sick sucks when you have your own business."

"Being sick sucks in general," I agreed, squeezing his arm gently.  We fell back asleep, and I woke up just before my alarm went off at 7:45.  I didn't want to wake Brody up, so I carefully slid out from under his arm and got out of bed.  He didn't move, just continued to sleep peacefully.  I grabbed my work clothes and makeup and took it to the bathroom attached to his guest bedroom, not wanting to wake him up by using the one attached to his room.

I pulled my hair into a bun and quickly showered and got dressed.  I took my hair down and brushed through it, frowned at it in the mirror, and put it back in a bun.  After a quick application of makeup and brushing my teeth, I went downstairs to find something for breakfast.  I grabbed a granola bar and an apple and left Brody a note to give me a call if he wanted me to bring him something to eat later.

Work went fast and I headed home afterwards, hoping to spend some time with Lauren.  I heard the shower running when I got inside and I grabbed a snack and flopped onto the couch.  I had missed a call from Brody during my last client and I pulled my phone out to call him back. 

He greeted me and then asked if I had plans for the night.  I told him I hadn't thought about it yet.  "Well," he replied, "Alex called and said that he wanted to go out tonight.  Lauren's going, but I don't know about anyone else.  Do you want to go?"

"You must be feeling better," I commented.  "That sounds fine to me."

"I am," he said.  "Almost back to normal.  I'm at the office right now, I can come  meet you at your house when I'm done here.  It'll probably be a couple hours though."

"Sounds good," I agreed.

I heard the shower turn off as I said goodbye to Brody.  10 minutes later, Lauren was walking down the stairs.  "Hi," she greeted me with a smile.  She grabbed a can of soda from the fridge and joined me on the couch.  "We're going out tonight, are you coming?" she asked once she was settled.  I told her I was, and we discussed where we wanted to go.  After we figured that out, we went upstairs to get ready.

I let Lauren pick out my clothes because I wasn't super excited about anything in my closet right now.  She put together an outfit that worked for me, then she did my hair, and I did her makeup.  We hadn't gotten ready together in a long time, and it was fun.  We blasted music and danced around between our rooms, and I felt like we were in high school again.  At least until Brody interrupted our dance party by ringing the doorbell.

"Should we just leave him out there until we're finished?" I asked, making a face at Lauren.

She laughed.  "We could.  I'm not sure he'd find us as entertaining as we find us!"

"Definitely not.  We'll just leave him."  We both exploded into a fit of laughter as the front door opened.  "Damn it, he ruined it!"

"Ruined what?" Brody asked, coming up the stairs.  He surveyed our explosion of clothes, makeup, and hair styling tools and quickly said, "I'll...wait downstairs."  Lauren and I looked at each other and burst into laughter again as he returned to the living room to wait us out.

A few minutes later we'd collected ourselves and cleaned up our mess, and Lauren went into the bathroom to finish her hair.  I walked downstairs to where Brody was sitting on the couch watching TV.  "Hi," I greeted him, grinning.

He stood up and pulled me into a hug before kissing me.  "Hi.  You look good.  I feel under dressed compared to you guys."  Lauren and I had had fun putting together outfits and doing our hair and makeup, and were probably far overdressed for what we were doing, but sometimes you just have to dress up a little.

"You look hot," I protested, smoothing my hands over the shoulders of his striped button down shirt.  "You know I love this shirt."

"I know you do," he agreed with a smile.  "That's why I wore it." 

"Can you guys go make out somewhere else?" Lauren yelled from upstairs, starting down the stairs.  "Oh, you're not making out.  Good.  I just wanted to make sure I had my bases covered."  I rolled my eyes.

We took a cab to the bar where we were meeting Alex.  He wasn't there yet, but we found a table and got settled.  Alex arrived about 10 minutes later.  "Is Kinsley coming?" I asked Lauren.

"She said she might stop out later, but I don't think she will.  She's with Damien," Lauren answered.

We sat and talked and drank for awhile.  After we had been there about an hour, I heard someone say my name.  I looked around and saw Josh.  I groaned inwardly.  He walked over to our table and said hi.  I introduced him to Alex and Lauren, and noticed that he was slurring his words a little as he greeted them.  He was pretty drunk, and I had no desire to entertain him, so when he pulled up a chair, I had to bite my tongue to keep from being rude.

While we were sitting and listening to Josh tell some random story that I wasn't really paying attention to, Brody got a phone call.  He frowned at his phone, then said, "I'll be right back," and stood.

When he was gone, Josh moved into his seat next to me.  "A work phone call on a Saturday night?" he asked, leaning a little too close to me.  "And while he's out with his beautiful girlfriend?  That's not right."

I leaned away.  "Josh, don't," I snapped with irritation.  I shot a look at Alex and Lauren, and recognizing the silent plea, Alex engaged Josh in conversation, distracting him.  "Thank you," I mouthed at him.

It felt like forever until Brody came back, though it was probably only about 10 minutes.  He paused when he saw the new seating arrangement.  "Can I have my seat back?" he asked Josh mildly, interrupting his conversation with Alex.

"Oh sure," Josh said, though he didn't move.  "I was just making sure someone was keeping Olivia entertained.  Can't leave an empty seat next to a beautiful woman."  Brody stared down at him, his face unreadable.  "Okay, okay, I'm moving," Josh said drunkenly.  He got up and moved back to the chair he had pulled up to the table by Alex and Brody sat down.

Brody slid his arm around my shoulders and kissed me on the cheek, then said softly into my ear, "Still think he doesn't want you?" I looked at him and he was smirking at me.

I rolled my eyes.  "I guess you're right every once in awhile."  He laughed and stroked my shoulder with his thumb, keeping his arm firmly around me.

After a few minutes, Josh finally wandered away.  "He's going to feel like an idiot on Monday," Alex commented.

I groaned.  "He's so annoying.  I hadn't even talked to him before Wednesday and I already want him to just disappear."

"I don't think that's going to happen," Lauren said.  "He's got it bad."

My face turned bright red and they all laughed at me.  I eventually joined them but was thankful when Alex changed the subject.  We stayed for about another hour and then Alex and Lauren left for Alex's house while Brody and I went back to mine.