Love Me

Chapter Twenty-six

Alyssa

I groaned as I stretched my body, shaking that tired feeling you get when you're just waking up. I watched as Nathan shrugged his coat jacket on, not noticing that I was awake. It's been three days that I've been sick and I've slept in Nathan's room ever since.

His room had a more masculine vibe than mine with grey, black and white as the main colors. His bed was just as comfortable as mine but smelt just like him. I often found myself burying my face in a pillow to get a whiff. That's not creepy, right?

“Morning.” I greeted, calling his attention to me.

He smiled in return. “Morning, Love. Feeling better?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

He touched my forehead with his palm just to check my temperature but it make something in my stomach turn. I thought Nathan was caring before now he's he was close to being smothering.

“I have to go to work today.” He informed me. “Can you handle staying with Oliver today?”

I shrugged. “I guess.”

“You two should stay in bed, I want you to have enough rest. Especially Oliver.”

“Sure”

Oliver came down with a little cold yesterday but he's not so bad. Plus, I know with him in my sights all day, Christopher wouldn't have the chance to hurt him, at least I think so.

Nathan left not long after and I went out for breakfast with Oliver. Mrs Johnson had breakfast ready for us and Oliver was already sitting at the kitchen island.

Come to think of it we have never eaten on the actual dinning table.

“Morning, Olly.” I greeted, kissing his forehead.

He never really had a high temperature but he was weak and not quite himself. He coughed and sneezed a lot and his voice had become very nasally.

“Hi, Ally.” He sniffed. “I feel like my head is going to explode and implode at the same time.”

I had to hold my laugh in. “I know, you look it.”

He glared at me with narrowed eyes. He wanted to look scary but honestly he was just too adorable. “That wasn't funny. I feel like I'm dying!”

“It's just a cold, Olly. You aren't go to die.”

“How are you so sure?” He challenged.

“The doctor said so. You'll be okay.”

“If they learn anything from dictionaries, we can't trust them. In fact, I don't trust anything in books. We don't know if aliens wrote them. Books are evil!” He declared dramatically with a cough at the end.

I couldn't hold my laugh at that time. “Books are not evil. Can I tell you something?”

“That's kind of how conversations work, Ally.”

I swear, since he got sick he's become even more sassy. “When I was younger, I wanted to be a writer.”

He scrunched up his nose. “Why? That sounds very boring.”

I giggled. “I loved reading and writing was so interesting. I wanted to write things that people would be interested in and pick up to read casually.”

“Any good book will eventually become a movie so just go write a script.” He stuffed a piece of bacon into his mouth.

“You won't understand, Olly.” I smiled sadly at my own plate of bacon.

There are sometimes I think that if my parents hadn't died I would be so different. I would be much more confident and maybe I would have become a famous writer by now. I wouldn't have gone through what I did only to be stuck in a marriage with a man who doesn't love me, not that it's so bad but I just think I could have done more with my life.

“Well,” Oliver broke the growing silence. “if you ever write a book, I'll be the first to read it.”

“Thanks, Olly.” I gave him a thankful smile. “Now finish up your breakfast so you can take your medicine.”

He groaned loudly, making sure I know how much he didn't want to take them. “I don't trust that medicine. It came from doctors and doctors read books and where are books from? Aliens! No alien will take over my body!” He pumped his fist up and jumped from his seat, darting away.

There was no need for me to chase after him, as long as there was one piece of bacon left on his plate he'd be back.

He ran back yelling. “No bacon left behind!” Then he grabbed the last piece and shoved it in his mouth and as soon as he came, he was gone again.

It seems I would have to chase after him after all. I finished up my food and thanked Mrs Johnson. I set out to find Oliver afterwards but it didn't take long before I found him hiding behind one of the couches in the living room.

I crept closer to him quietly so he wouldn't hear me. “Gotcha!” I grabbed him so fast that he didn't even understand what happened till I pinned him to the couch very gently.

“No fair!” He complained, trying to wiggle away.

“Come on, Olly, the medicine can't be that bad. I still have to take mine so how about we take them together?” I bargained, letting him sit on his own.

He tapped his chin thoughtfully then nodded. “But you do not feed me, I'm no baby.”

I nodded with understanding. “Sure.” Oliver doesn't like to be babied or fussed over. He has his own opinions and can do things for himself and he wants to make sure everyone knows it.

I got the last pill of whatever medicine Dr Richardson prescribed for me and Oliver's syrup. I really don't know why he didn't like it. It was especially made to taste like strawberries so kids would have no problem taking it whereas my pill smells like someone threw up on a sweaty jock's sock.

Disgusting.

“On three.” I said, holding the yellow pill to my mouth and Oliver had a spoonful of his medicine. “One.”

“Two.”

“Three.” We shoved what we were holding into our mouths quickly. I gagged as I tasted the bitter pill and so did Oliver.

“Blegh.” He sounded, contouring his face in disgust.

“What are you gagging for? You're the one with strawberry flavored meds.” I practically. whined.

“I hate strawberry!” Well, that explains it. “I need something to get the taste out of my mouth.”

I followed behind him as he walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. There was a white box with a dozen cupcakes in it.

“Where did these come from?” I asked. They weren't there before, then again I didn't leave Nathan's room since yesterday.

“Oh, um...” Oliver's cheeks suddenly reddened and he became shy. “I helped Gran make them for you. I remember you like chocolate so we made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and I put the little cherries on top.”

I swear my heart was melting. “That was so sweet of you, Olly. Thank you.”

“I just want to do something nice. But my dad said we can't have any til we're better, so,” He got a juice box and closed the fridge.

We went back to the living room. “So what do you wanna do now?”

“Raya and the last dragon!!” He cheered, hopping onto the couch.

I resisted the urge to groan. He's been obsessed with that movie since we watched it three days ago. “Come on, you've watched that movie thirty times already.”

“Wrong! I've watched it fourteen times.” He corrected. “Not even twenty times yet.”

I facepalmed. “Oh boy. Can we at least get clean first? I need a shower and you need a bath.”

“No!” He groaned for the millionth time this morning. “I hate baths, it's like swimming in your own filth.”

“But swimming in a pool is okay?”

“Yes, that's completely different. I'm just going to shower. Hey, let's do something, first person to finish their shower and get dressed chooses the movie.” He smirked, making him look more like Nathan than he already did.

“Deal.” With that, we sprinted in different directions.

There was a door in the kitchen that led to a set of stairs that went to the same hallway all our rooms were located. While he went through the kitchen because he thought it was faster, I went through the main staircase.

I was done with my shower and dressed in a sweater and sweatpants in just twenty-five minutes and I was already out by the time Oliver was. He pulled a nasty look on seeing me sitting on the couch.

“You cheated!” He accused.

“No, I didn't! How could I?”

“Well, women take ages to get ready but you didn't. You must've done something.”

I laughed. “No, I didn't, you were just really slow.” He stuck his tongue out at me. “Oh and your shirt is backwards.” I knew because I wasn't seeing SpongeBob's face in front.

He huffed. “I'll be right back. Don't start the movie without me.”

While he went to put his shirt on properly, I made some popcorn for us. He was back shortly after and the popcorn was already in a bowl and I had juice boxes and a blanket out for us. We were cuddled up under the blanket watching Raya and the Last Dragon like Oliver wanted, when my phone made a noise indicating I had a new message.

I should have my money by next Friday, not a day later, you know what'll happen if I don't. -Christopher.

I hadn't forgotten I just tried not to think about it but I still remembered. I didn't know how I was going to get the money. I couldn't go to Nathan, he would ask a lot of questions and I'd end up telling him everything.

I just have to find another way to get it. I'm not sure how but I know I'm not letting Oliver get hurt.

Oliver and I were on that couch for hours watching movies. We didn't even realize that it was nearly 5pm meaning Nathan would be home soon. We were into the movies so much that we had forgotten to take lunch.

“I'm hungry.” I voiced.

“You thinking what I'm thinking?” Oliver asked with a cheeky grin.

“I make us something.”

“Cupcakes!”

We spoke at the same time, clearly not thinking the same.

“Cupcakes first, then you make us something.” The boy reasoned and I agreed.

We went to the kitchen and got the box out of the fridge. “Your dad is okay with this, right?”

“Uh, yes.” For some reason, I wasn't convinced by his answer.

“Olly, your dad is okay with you eating these, right?”

“Kind of.”

I put my hands on my hip and raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure about that?”

Before he replied, he took a huge bite out of a cupcake. “Well, no use worrying about it now.”

I blew out a breath and got one for myself. I moaned at the taste of the chocolate. It was so good, Sophia really knows her stuff and so does Oliver. I finished it up much faster and neater that Oliver did, he had frosting everywhere on his face even on his forehead.

I had started wiping his face down when I heard the door front open and Nathan yell. “Alyssa, Oliver, I'm back!”

Oh shit.

I think Oliver and I were thinking the same thing with the way our eyes widened at once. We were supposed to be in bed, not eating chocolate cover cupcakes. We ducked under the counter so he wouldn't see up.

“We need to get back upstairs.” I told him.

“I know. I'm supposed to be in bed. Let's go.” We tiptoed to open the door to the staircase and quickly stepped in.

We were lucky to have gotten in just as Nathan entered the kitchen. We carefully but quickly climbed to the hallway. We entered Nathan's room and dove into the bed. We quickly pulled the covers over ourselves and stilled so it would look like we were asleep.

Of course we couldn't help but giggle at our antics. We are so sneaky.

Nathan was still calling our names as he came up and then door opened and we were quiet again, breathing steadily with our eyes closed. His heavy footsteps sounded as he approached the bed. I could feel the heat radiating form him as he hovered over us.

I peeked with one eye to see him kiss a ‘sleeping’ Oliver's cheek and closed it when he came to kiss mine. My heart warmed at the gesture but I also felt conflicted. This was the same man who said he didn't know if what we had means anything to him but here he was kissing my cheek in my sleep.

He was sending mixed signals and I hated it. If he had feelings for me he should say so.

I felt his hand on my arm, shaking me slightly. “Love, wake up.”

“Hey.” I made my voice lower like I was really asleep.

“Hi. How was your day?”

So fun. “It was okay, we stay in bed all day just like e were supposed to, you?”

“Stressful.” He sat by my feet. “Hope Oliver wasn't too much trouble.”

“No, he was an angel.”

Nathan chuckled. “Seems that Oliver's an angel for everyone except me.”

“I'm always an angel.” Oliver interjected, his voice groggy.

Nathan simply rolled his eyes at his son. “What's that on your face, Oliver?” He swiped the chocolate off with his finger.

Oliver touched where his dad did, feeling the chocolate I didn't get. “Poop.” Was his answer.

“Don't think so.” Nathan stuck the finger in his mouth.

“What if that was poop, Dad?”

“I doubt you'd get poop on your cheek. It's chocolate.”

Oliver let out a fake gasp. “My ear brings chocolate out of it.”

I played along. “Oh my gosh, how amazing.”

Nathan just stared at us with disbelief and we knew we were caught. “Alright, we ate some cupcakes.” I confessed. “But just one each.”

To our surprise, Nathan started laughing. “I know, I saw you two in the kitchen when I came back and the box is still in he counter and the popcorn bowl and juice box cartons are still in the living room.”

Oh, guess we weren't so sneaky.

“But it's okay, I tasted one and it was delicious. You did good Oliver.” He ruffled the boy's hair much to his dismay.

“So we're not in trouble?”

Don't remind him Oliver. I thought.

“No.” Phew. “I doubt you two have gotten any rest today so I'll go have a shower then we'll all nap before dinner.”

I agree to that.

Fifteen minutes later, Nathan was done with his shower and we were all cuddled up and fast asleep.