Sofia

I wait until exactly 7:30am to check on Adrian. I think that is the time he usually wakes up so I hope it won't look odd that I'm going into his room.

I knock on his door before letting myself in. I quickly realize he wouldn't have heard me anyway because he's completely out of it, sprawled across the bed. I almost feel like I'm invading his privacy as I've never actually been inside his room before, and now I'm sitting down on his bed looking over him while he's asleep.

I touch his forehead and he's still burning up. He's much hotter than last night, which is very worrisome because he was already running high then. His entire face feels clammy and when I bring the covers down I notice he's sweating up a storm.

"Adrian, wake up."

I try to ignore the sight of his almost naked body and shake him, but he's not moving at all. "Adrian, can you hear me?"

His eyes flutter and he murmurs something unintelligible. I slap his cheeks to try to get some reaction out of him, but his eyelids only continue to flutter. His vision is entirely unfocused and that's when I realize we need to take him to the hospital.

"Nico!" I suddenly yell in panic.

I run down the hallway towards his room, wondering how the hell I'm going to explain this one. I don't even bother knocking on his door and barge inside, much like I've done in the past when I've woken up with nightmares scared out of my mind.

"Nico! Wake up!"

He's sleeping profoundly on his stomach, one of his arms hugging his pillow in a way that only guys find comfortable for some reason. I pull on his arm and try to drag him out of bed. I know he's gonna be pissed at me because he usually doesn't wake up until after 8am.

"What the hell, Sofia?" he mumbles trying to swat my arm away. "You know the drill. Just get in on the other side and keep your feet away from me."

"Nico, please! It's Adrian. We have to take him to the emergency room."

He suddenly bolts up looking at me with one eye open. "What happened?"

"He has a really high fever. Like dangerously high. He's practically unconscious," I try not to lose my voice.

"Shit. Give me a minute." It literally takes him 30 seconds though, as he pulls on some jeans and a t-shirt lying on his floor and slips on some shoes. Even though I just witnessed it, I'll never understand how boys can get ready so quickly.

Nico follows me to Adrian's bedroom and takes in his bad shape. "Yo, dipshit. Wake up!" he yells.

I look at him appalled. I know they call each other names as part of their friendly banter but that was a bit harsh. "Nico! Yelling at him is not gonna work. We need to get him to the car. Can you carry him?"

"Yeah, yeah. Can you dress him first? I don't think he would appreciate showing up to the ER in his boxers. It might give some of the nurses a whirl, but I don't think he has time for that."

"Okay, just cut the jokes and help me." I head to Adrian's closet to get some clothes. Unlike Nico, he doesn't have any lying around and I secretly scold him for being a tidy person as ironic as that sounds. After searching through his drawers, I come back with some gym shorts, a t-shirt, and some sneakers.

"Carter. Seriously, get up. We're taking you to the hospital," Nico tells him, grabbing his arms to pull him up. He manages to get him in a sitting position on the bed so I quickly put the t-shirt over his head and with some maneuvering manage to bring his arms through the sleeves. It's a bit more difficult to get the shorts on him, but once Nico stands him fully against him I manage to push them up over his hips.

"Hey, bud. We're gonna walk to the car now, alright?" Nico tells him, putting Adrian's arm around his neck to support his weight. Thankfully, Adrian looks like he's a bit more lucid now and starts walking with him, but still stumbling all over the place.

"Dude, how much did you drink? Lay off on the caipirinhas next time," Nico jokes.

I shake my head and grab Adrian's sneakers. Hopefully, I can put them on in the car. I go to the kitchen to grab the keys and open the back of the car once I reach the garage.

Nico practically dumps his body inside the car like dead weight and jumps in the driver's seat. I get in the back with Adrian and position him better. God, could he be a little bit more graceful? At least he got the job done. If he wasn't here, I don't know what I would've done. I probably would have had to call an ambulance.

He speeds out of the driveway while I attempt to put Adrian's sneakers on. "I'm just gonna go to La Paz, okay? It's the closest one," Nico informs me.

"Yeah, that's fine."

"Darling," Adrian suddenly whispers and I nearly jump in my seat.

He still has his eyes closed and doesn't look too good. "Hey, Adrian. We're almost there, okay? Just hang on a bit longer and you'll be pumped in meds in no time."

He nods and doesn't say anything else. I really hope he doesn't say anything else in case it's something Nico shouldn't hear.

When we arrive to the ER, they take one look at him and pass him through almost immediately much to my relief.

I sit with Nico in the waiting room, filling out Adrian's paperwork. I must have sighed or something because he suddenly wraps his arm around me. "Hey, he's gonna be alright. You did good, sis."

I feel my throat thicken and tell myself to calm down. "I know. I'm just being a girl."

"I'm gonna go get coffee. You want anything?"

"No, I'm okay, thanks." I can't imagine eating or drinking anything right now. My stomach is in a knot and I'm feeling quite nauseous.

When he comes back, he wordlessly hands me a bottle of water and sits back down, slowly sipping on his coffee.

He stares at me until I finally give in and drink the water so he gets off my case.

"Sofia, I'm sorry if I've been a shitty brother to you lately," he says.

"It's okay, Nico. We've both been going through our own stuff. I've been a shitty sister to you, too, so I'm sorry as well."

Nico sighs. "I thought you were having a nightmare earlier. It's been a while. Did they stop?" he asks me.

"I'm not sure. I had one when I first moved back, but none since then."

"Why didn't you come to my room?" he asks almost offended. It's funny because I always thought it annoyed the shit out of him when I did that.

I hesitate to tell him the real answer as he's probably not going to like it. "I uhm ... Adrian heard me. He stayed up with me and we watched a movie afterwards."

He frowns but looks curious at the same time. "Has he been treating you okay?"

I try to keep a poker face as I fidget with my fingers. "Yeah."

"If he ever steps out of line, you let me know, okay? I don't care if he's sick and dying, I'll put him in his place."

I shake my head at his over protectiveness. I think he's referring to Adrian supposedly not taking me home after the club, but after that comment I think he might know more about us than he's let on. I don't say anything else on the topic, hoping he won't either, and thankfully he doesn't.

We wait about an hour until a nurse comes to tell us that they've brought his fever back down but want to observe him a bit longer until they discharge him. I nod and thank her, already feeling better.

"Hey, sis. I'm actually gonna have to head out soon. I have a Mandarin test I can't miss. You think you can take him home? I can call one of the guys on the team if you need help," Nico tells me.

"No, that's fine. I think I can manage it now."

"Okay, you want me to leave you the car?"

I cringe thinking about driving with a sick passenger. Too much responsibility. "No, you take it. I'll just take a taxi home. It'll be easier."

"Okay. Call me if you need anything. Even if it's to say Adrian is being a whiny bitch."

"You know, I'll never understand your friendship. It's like a love hate thing or something," I tell him.

"Hey, it's a classic bromance. That's how it works, princess," he laughs, kissing me goodbye on the cheek.

"Bye, Nico," I laugh back. I guess I shouldn't be shocked by it any longer.

"I'll see you guys at home after practice. Oh man, Coach is gonna love this one."

I shake my head in disbelief, watching him until he disappears from the waiting room. I wait another half an hour until the same nurse from before shows up.

"Sofia? You can come with me now to see him."

I immediately follow her towards a back area, wondering how she knew my name. Did Adrian tell her?

"How is he doing?" I ask her.

"Much better. He's still running a bit of a fever, but nowhere near it was when he first came in. He was almost at 40 degrees celsius when we first clocked him, which is really high, but he's fully awake now. He's been asking for you a lot," she says chuckling.

"He has?" I ask surprised.

"Yeah, well you're his girlfriend, aren't you?"

"Um ... well. It's complicated," I tell her nervously.

"Aren't they all?" she laughs as she opens a door, signaling for me to go in. "The doctor will be back in a few minutes, okay?"

I thank her and make my way inside. Adrian is lying down on a medical bed and I can instantly tell he looks a lot better. For starters he's conscious now, but still appears drowsy. He's also still dressed in his regular clothes so I take that as a good sign that they didn't need to change him.

His chocolate brown eyes light up as soon as he sees me. "Hi, darling."

My heart does a little flutter in my chest at those words that I've come to love, and even though he is sick he still looks so damn attractive. It causes me to practically jump on him and wrap my arms around his waist and bury my head in his chest.

He chuckles and wraps his arms around me, pulling me even closer. "I can certainly get used to this type of greeting," he tells me.

I smile and lift up my head to look at him. "How are you feeling?"

"Great," he responds immediately, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

He scoots over on the bed and settles me down next to him. I brush his hair back and feel his forehead. He's still warm and clammy, but definitely not burning up like he was this morning.

"Really? The nurse told me you still have a bit of a fever."

"Yeah, but you're here now," he smiles.

I smile back at him. He can be so sweet! "God, you really scared me this morning. You know that?"

"I'm sorry. I wasn't planning on passing out like that. But don't worry, now I'll make it up to you even more," he winks at me. "Where's Nico? I know I'm not gonna hear the end of it with him."

"He had to go back to school. Some Mandarin test."

"Shit, do you need to go too?" he asks concerned, as if suddenly remembering it's a school day.

"No, it's fine. It's Friday. I'll catch up during the weekend."

"Are you sure? I don't want you to miss classes because of me."

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I feel like I could use a break anyway."

There's a knock on the door and I see a female doctor walk in as I turn around and sit up on the bed. She appears to be in her late forties and has a warm smile. I immediately like her.

"You must be Sofia. How are you doing, hon?"

"Good, thank you," I respond a bit perplexed. He told her about me too?

"I told you she was beautiful. I wasn't making it up, Doc," Adrian says.

"I can see that," she chuckles. She takes a look at Adrian's chart and moves in closer to inspect him. I'm about to stand up to give her more space, but she tells me I don't have to move.

"Let's check your temperature one last time and hopefully we can send you home." She puts an apparatus next to his ear and it makes a clicking sound. "Okay, you're just over 37 degrees now so you should be returning to normal levels pretty soon. The injection we gave you should last another six hours in your system, so you shouldn't take any other medication today. I'll give you a prescription just in case for the next few days, but I highly doubt you'll need it at this point. Any questions?"

"Can I go back to playing soccer on Monday?" Adrian asks.

"If you're feeling better by then, yes. Just don't exert yourself. You most likely got sick because you pushed your body too much after being in the rain. So rest during the weekend and give it some time to recuperate properly, okay?"

"Okay, thanks Doc."

"Sure, anything else?"

"Actually, yeah. One last thing." Adrian looks at me hesitantly for a second and then looks towards the doctor. "Any chance you could take a look at Sofia real quick? She hasn't been feeling well either."

"Adrian," I immediately protest. "We came here for you. I can check on that later." Wow, that was the last thing I imagined he would ask her.

"What's wrong, hon? Did you get a fever as well?" the doctor asks me looking concerned.

"No, it's unrelated. It's more of a nausea thing I've been getting. But I can check that some other time."

"Well, we might as all check on you now. Do you want to come sit over at the table so I can take a look?"

"Um ... okay," I tell her still unsure about this. I turn towards Adrian and he gives me a smile and squeezes my hand reassuringly as I leave the bed.

The doctor goes on to do a routine check up on me, inspecting my mouth and feeling my neck while I explain to her that I've lost my appetite and have trouble eating sometimes. She asks me more about the nausea and I tell her that I usually get in the morning.

"Are you pregnant?" she asks me.

"No," I laugh. God, why does everyone immediately think that? I see the whole morning sickness connection, but this is completely different. "Adrian thought so too, but no."

"See? It wasn't so crazy to think that," Adrian chuckles from his bed.

"Zip it, Adrian," I tell him trying to sound stern but it doesn't come off that way. He pretends to zip his mouth closed and lock it, tossing the key away.

"When was your last period?" the doctor asks me, ignoring our sidebar conversation.

"About a week ago," I blush.

"Okay, well we can still run a pregnancy test just to be sure."

"That's not necessary. I'm not ... sexually active," I inform her. I think that's the medical term. Okay, this just got embarrassing. This would be much easier without Adrian in the room hearing about my period and virginity all over again.

"Sorry, I assumed you two were," she says.

I shake my head and I keep my eyes glued to her. I'm so mortified now I don't dare look Adrian's way even though I can feel him staring at me. Thankfully the doctor starts talking again so I don't have to dwell on it much longer.

"Well, I still would like to run some blood tests if that's okay. There are a few things we can check for like anemia and your thyroid just to rule anything like that out. But my recommendation would be to go to a gastroenterologist as it sounds like this is related to your digestive system and you'll need a specialist for that. I can refer you to Dr. Kim, he's really good and one of the best GE's in the area. You'll just need to set up an appointment directly with him."

"Okay, that sounds great. Thank you."

"In the meantime I'll give you a prescription for Nexium. It's an acid reflux medication and should help reduce the nausea. It's once a day and you can take it right before you go to sleep so it'll be more effective in the mornings. Okay?"

I nod at her, trying to take all this information in. It's a lot of stuff!

"Have you eaten yet today?" she asks me.

"Um, no. I kind of had a situation in the morning with tough guy over here and didn't get to it," I say a bit sheepishly.

"That's okay. I'll have the nurse take your blood today before you leave. Just make sure you eat afterwards and drink plenty of liquids, alright? That goes for you too, Adrian," she says looking in his direction for the first time since she's been checking on me.

"Yes, ma'am," he responds. I risk a glance over at him and he has a big smile on his face.

"All right. I'll leave the prescriptions and Dr. Kim's information for you up front. If anything comes up, you can call my office. I'll send the nurse back in, so don't leave just yet, okay?"

"Thank you so much. I really appreciate it," I tell her.

"It's my job, hon. Take care."

As she walks out of the room, Adrian gets up from his bed and comes to sit next to me on the inspection table, pulling me into a hug.

"You okay, darling? Sorry if I sprung that on you, I just want you to feel better," he says kissing the top of my head.

This boy is really incredible. He's the one who's actually sick and not only does he get the doctor to look at me as well, but is asking me how I'm doing when he was the one who was unconscious this morning.

"Yes, thank you for doing that. It was the last thing on my mind with you being sick and all. How did that even happen?" I say into his neck.

"That's easy. The same way you worry about me, I worry about you. Seems like we make a good team, don't you think?"

"Yeah," I whisper. I don't think I can even speak properly anymore because he's making me way too emotional.

"Sofia, can I ask you something?"

I nod, although I'm a bit afraid of what it could be based on my earlier conversation with the doctor.

"Will you go out with me?"

My eyes widen in surprise. Definitely not the topic I was thinking of.

"I know it's probably not the best time to ask you. Like, I probably don't look very attractive right now," he jokes. "But I've meaning to ask you for a while and I really would like to take you on that date you still owe me," he grins.

Is he crazy? I'm even more attracted to him now. "I would love to, Adrian."

He smiles his heart-stopping smile as he grabs my cheek and pulls me in for a soft kiss on the lips. It's warm and tender and suddenly I can't wait to go home with him and spend the rest of the day cuddled up to him like this.

Someone clears their throat and I turn around to see the same nurse from earlier looking at us with a smirk on her face. She gives me a sly look as if to say she's not buying the it's complicated response I gave her before.

She sets up the kit to draw my blood and thankfully she lets Adrian stay next to me while she does it. I've never been a fan of needles, but I practically don't feel it as Adrian tucks me tightly into his chest and whispers sweet things in my ear.

I sigh contently, so grateful that I get to have him in my life.