just_1_word | 23.10. Symptom
23.10. Symptom
[Follows THIS and THIS]
Despite Sam and Jason’s late night conversation the previous day, Taylor wasn’t better in the morning. Or to be more accurate, she was sick again. No one else was up as she knelt with her head over the toilet in the early hours of the next day. The sun was hardly even up yet and because she hadn’t eaten since the last throwing up bout on the Panthers field the night before, her stomach just ached uncomfortably as her body continued try to and be sick, soon reducing her to weak coughs and miserable dry retching.
To make matters worse, the small and only bathroom of the apartment was between the only two bedrooms, so she had the added battle of trying to be quiet so she didn’t wake anyone. She was exhausted, even after sleeping without waking all night. She shifted to sit with her back against the wall, drawing her knees up to rest her head down on them and tucking her arm around her roiling stomach. She wanted to be back in bed with Jason, feeling his strong arms tucked warmly and protectively around her again. She was still feeling too nauseous, though. If she went back, she would undoubtedly just need to get up again within minutes, likely just disturbing him and waking him subsequently leading to worrying him. And she still didn’t know what he had wanted to show her last night. He had to be disappointed about that.
She pushed her fingers through her damp curly hair with a long exhaled breath. All she had on was one of Jason’s old Panthers t-shirts and her underwear on underneath. The shirt was sweaty now, too, and she tugged at the front of it to try and cool down. She felt like utter crap and probably would spend the day curled up in Jason’s bed feeling sorry for herself. Only, at that point, she didn’t have a clue Jason planned to join her. All she knew was that she had an uncomfortable feeling deep in her gut that had nothing to do with the churning nausea in her stomach. She had to move quickly to crouch over the toilet again as the dry retching returned. She was wishing by now that she did just have something in there to get out. It seemed to feel worse when nothing came up.
Maybe it was just food poisoning? That would make sense, right? But how would that explain that one, Jason was fine when they had eaten the same meal, and two, that the nausea had actually been slowly creeping up on her over the last few days? It started with just some general aversion to her food and gradually got worse, peaking right when Jason seemed to have something important he wanted to talk to her about. And then there was the dizziness. It wasn’t that bad, but every now and again, she felt a little lightheaded and woozy. It was easy to put it down to tiredness or worry, especially with Jason pulling his disappearing act. But now? What now?
It was the tiredness that was claiming her, though. For about the last week, no matter how much sleep she got, she always felt the same. Perhaps it was depression over being away from work or delayed reaction to her attack, but she wasn’t stupid. Actually, she had always been considered quite intelligent, getting extremely good greats and advancing smoothly through the Police Academy. That last thing Taylor MacKenzie conceded to was stupidity.
And it was this resolve that had her slowly dragging herself up off the bathroom floor. She flushed the toilet, gripping hold of the sink with her other hand until the wooziness passed a little. She caught sight of her appearance in the mirror and sighed. She looked exactly how she felt and she was grateful it wasn’t even very light in there just yet. She shuffled her way out into the living area of the apartment, still holding her stomach as if it would next try to escape through her belly button. The place was still quiet and peaceful as the other occupants slept on obliviously. At least, she assumed they had. For all she knew, they’d heard her and were just giving her privacy. She appreciated it, even if she was feeling miserable enough to want Jason by her side. She would never wake him for that sole reason, though. He needed to sleep and his morning routine had to be specifically worked through so he was fine for the rest of the day.
In the kitchen, she poured herself a glass of water and sipped it slowly. She would’ve braved the Pepto Bismol if she thought it would do any good, but she knew it wouldn’t. Deep down in her non-stupid gut, she knew. Setting the glass down on the kitchen counter, she took the notepad and pen from beside the phone and scrawled a note on it…
Need to talk to you ASAP… sans QB and Riggs.
- Mac xxx
She looked around and then after a moment contemplation, tucked the note into one of Sam’s slippers. It was still cool enough in the mornings for her friend to use them. She just didn’t want to worry Jason anymore than he probably was. Not yet. She needed girl talk first and foremost. She needed it badly.
Jason Street [itwontstopme], Tim Riggins [texas33forever] & Sam Jameson [supermarketsam] referenced with permission
Word Count | 893
[Follows THIS and THIS]
Despite Sam and Jason’s late night conversation the previous day, Taylor wasn’t better in the morning. Or to be more accurate, she was sick again. No one else was up as she knelt with her head over the toilet in the early hours of the next day. The sun was hardly even up yet and because she hadn’t eaten since the last throwing up bout on the Panthers field the night before, her stomach just ached uncomfortably as her body continued try to and be sick, soon reducing her to weak coughs and miserable dry retching.
To make matters worse, the small and only bathroom of the apartment was between the only two bedrooms, so she had the added battle of trying to be quiet so she didn’t wake anyone. She was exhausted, even after sleeping without waking all night. She shifted to sit with her back against the wall, drawing her knees up to rest her head down on them and tucking her arm around her roiling stomach. She wanted to be back in bed with Jason, feeling his strong arms tucked warmly and protectively around her again. She was still feeling too nauseous, though. If she went back, she would undoubtedly just need to get up again within minutes, likely just disturbing him and waking him subsequently leading to worrying him. And she still didn’t know what he had wanted to show her last night. He had to be disappointed about that.
She pushed her fingers through her damp curly hair with a long exhaled breath. All she had on was one of Jason’s old Panthers t-shirts and her underwear on underneath. The shirt was sweaty now, too, and she tugged at the front of it to try and cool down. She felt like utter crap and probably would spend the day curled up in Jason’s bed feeling sorry for herself. Only, at that point, she didn’t have a clue Jason planned to join her. All she knew was that she had an uncomfortable feeling deep in her gut that had nothing to do with the churning nausea in her stomach. She had to move quickly to crouch over the toilet again as the dry retching returned. She was wishing by now that she did just have something in there to get out. It seemed to feel worse when nothing came up.
Maybe it was just food poisoning? That would make sense, right? But how would that explain that one, Jason was fine when they had eaten the same meal, and two, that the nausea had actually been slowly creeping up on her over the last few days? It started with just some general aversion to her food and gradually got worse, peaking right when Jason seemed to have something important he wanted to talk to her about. And then there was the dizziness. It wasn’t that bad, but every now and again, she felt a little lightheaded and woozy. It was easy to put it down to tiredness or worry, especially with Jason pulling his disappearing act. But now? What now?
It was the tiredness that was claiming her, though. For about the last week, no matter how much sleep she got, she always felt the same. Perhaps it was depression over being away from work or delayed reaction to her attack, but she wasn’t stupid. Actually, she had always been considered quite intelligent, getting extremely good greats and advancing smoothly through the Police Academy. That last thing Taylor MacKenzie conceded to was stupidity.
And it was this resolve that had her slowly dragging herself up off the bathroom floor. She flushed the toilet, gripping hold of the sink with her other hand until the wooziness passed a little. She caught sight of her appearance in the mirror and sighed. She looked exactly how she felt and she was grateful it wasn’t even very light in there just yet. She shuffled her way out into the living area of the apartment, still holding her stomach as if it would next try to escape through her belly button. The place was still quiet and peaceful as the other occupants slept on obliviously. At least, she assumed they had. For all she knew, they’d heard her and were just giving her privacy. She appreciated it, even if she was feeling miserable enough to want Jason by her side. She would never wake him for that sole reason, though. He needed to sleep and his morning routine had to be specifically worked through so he was fine for the rest of the day.
In the kitchen, she poured herself a glass of water and sipped it slowly. She would’ve braved the Pepto Bismol if she thought it would do any good, but she knew it wouldn’t. Deep down in her non-stupid gut, she knew. Setting the glass down on the kitchen counter, she took the notepad and pen from beside the phone and scrawled a note on it…
Need to talk to you ASAP… sans QB and Riggs.
- Mac xxx
She looked around and then after a moment contemplation, tucked the note into one of Sam’s slippers. It was still cool enough in the mornings for her friend to use them. She just didn’t want to worry Jason anymore than he probably was. Not yet. She needed girl talk first and foremost. She needed it badly.
Jason Street [itwontstopme], Tim Riggins [texas33forever] & Sam Jameson [supermarketsam] referenced with permission
Word Count | 893