Scrimmage Gone South (Crimson Romance) by Alicia Hunter Pace Page A

this. I wanted to take you somewhere nice.” I told him I
was
somewhere nice and he looked at me all sweet and misty looking. It made my stomach turn over.
    “You should lie down,” I told him and he took my hand and pulled me right onto the bed beside him, like it was nothing — which I guess was the case for him. I, however, was not in the habit of crawling in bed with a guy, even if there was nowhere else to sit in the room.
    I had not thought about any of this, never imagined I’d end up in his room. What was I thinking? But before real panic set in, he reached for his phone and asked me what I liked on my pizza. Then we watched football and ate pizza, with him telling me what everyone was doing right and wrong on the field. By then, I was pretty confident he was not going to try to have sex, and it was nice lying with his arm around me and kissing ever so often.
    Somewhere near the end of the third quarter of the Mississippi State/Kentucky game, he fell asleep. He wasn’t quite as hot but he kept coughing and he sounded so congested that I hurt for him.
    I covered him up, slipped quietly out of the room, and drove to the drug store where I bought a vaporizer, a box of tissues that are supposed to feel good to your nose, some orange juice, ginger ale, a thermometer, a bag of little Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and a pack of toothbrushes. (My mother always makes me throw my toothbrush away after I am sick. I don’t know if that’s necessary, but it can’t hurt.) Then I picked up some takeout Chinese and went back to Bryant Hall. I was a little nervous going in. I didn’t really even know if I was allowed to be there. I put the food in the kitchen, which I would have not done if his suitemates had been there.
    When I went back into Nathan’s room he was sitting on the side of the bed, looking sleepy and grumpy like two dwarves rolled into one football player.
    “I thought you left,” he said and crossed his arms over his chest.
    “I did but now I’m back.”
    “You went shopping.” He looked at the bags I was carrying like they were enemies.
    “For sick equipment.” I unpacked the vaporizer and started to set it up.
    “What’s that?”
    I thought it was funny that he didn’t know what a vaporizer was. Hadn’t he ever had a cold before? I explained that it would help him breathe better but he didn’t look like he believed me.
    Then I opened up the orange juice and ginger ale and poured some, half and half, over the ice I’d found in the kitchen.
    “Gross,” he said.
    “Just try a little sip.” He did and then he drank the rest of it down without stopping and asked for some more. I didn’t tell him I told you so. I replaced the roll of toilet paper on his bedside table with the tissues. Then I took his temperature, gave him some aspirin, and the bag of candy.
    By then, he decided he was happy again. “You’re quite the little nurse, aren’t you?” He leaned against the pillows and held his arms out to me.
    It was so easy to go into them and lay my head on his chest. I needed to go soon and before I left, I had to tell him and there wouldn’t be any more of this. We talked, ate peanut butter cups, watched more football, and finally ate Chinese food. I tried to teach him to eat with chopsticks but, in the end, he tricked me into feeding him. Not that I minded. He admitted the vaporizer was helping and he asked how I knew about taking care of a sick person. I told him that I just thought about all the things my mother did for me when I was sick and did it for him. He wanted to know if there was anything I’d left out, that he wanted the full treatment. I told him she used to stroke my back. He said that he wouldn’t mind that and flipped over on his stomach. I was on my side and our faces were close together. When I started to rub his back, he said, “Under my t-shirt, please.”
    I loved that, touching his skin with him smiling at me, though his eyes were closed. Nathan sure felt different