Setbacks

[coffeepot]

So, one of the subplots of my Nanowrimo novel involves a bet between two of my characters as to which of them can invent the best original recipe by the end of the month. Not much was happening in this subplot, and I decided it was because neither of the characters involved in the bet had much by way of obstacles to recipe-invention. So I decided to throw some obstacles into their paths. Which obstacles, I hear you ask? Why, a horrible cold, of course! If you can't taste a thing because your nose is blocked, it becomes much harder to know if your cooking's any good or not. Anyway, I thought I might as well share. I'll probably be writing other cold scenes soon - if you like, I can post them here too.

Quick intro to the characters:

Erin - long, dark, straight hair, blue eyes, fairly short and slender, good sense of style. Studying English at university while living (to her annoyance) in a house full of science students. Fiercely loyal to her friends, but finds it difficult to admit when she's wrong about something. Her competitive side led her to make a bet with Ryan as to whose method for creating recipes was better - her "artistic" one, or his "make a computer do it for you" one. Bisexual.

Jess - on the curvy side, to put it politely. Masses of red, curly hair, normally tied back. Generally wears black, because her general location is backstage at the theatre. Probably the most organised person you'll ever meet, but easily thrown off-balance by other people's chaos. Lives in Erin's house and studies engineering. Lesbian; she and Erin have definite chemistry.

Amy and Ella - other housemates of Erin and Jess... that's probably all you need to know about them.

Ryan - not mentioned in this part, but you'll probably meet him later. Massive nerd and proud of it. His main motivation for agreeing to Erin's bet is that it gives him an excuse to spend more time around her - he's hoping they'll end up together.

***

Erin woke up with a dry throat and a pounding headache. Casting her mind back over the events of last night, she tried to remember how much drinking had been involved. She’d gone to the fireworks, where she was fairly sure alcohol wasn’t sold. After Amy had left to look for Ella, she’d watched the display with Jess. Just the two of them, which had been surprisingly fun. Like that afternoon they’d spent in the theatre, except this time she couldn’t explain her enjoyment of the event with the magic of backstage. As for the magic of fireworks – Jess had seemed to appreciate them a lot more than Erin had. Brightly coloured sky-explosions never did much for Erin, but Jess’s enthusiasm had been a little bit infectious. Besides which, being around Jess in general was just… fun.

Jess seemed to enjoy Erin’s company too, and after the fireworks the two of them had wound up in Erin’s room drinking mulled wine together (“because winter is the perfect excuse to do these things”, Erin had said). She looked over at her dresser, where she kept her alcohol collection. She and Jess had only managed to empty one wine bottle, and that hadn’t even been full at the start of the night. Erin definitely hadn’t drunk enough to merit a hangover, so why did she feel like utter crap this morning?

Erin’s nose itched. She reached up a hand to rub it, but this seemed to make the itch worse. Suddenly, she sneezed: “Heh-itsiu!” The sneeze was surprisingly wet, covering her hand in mist. She got up to grab some tissues, but before she could reach the box, she felt herself being overtaken by another sneeze. This time, she tried to stifle to avoid making any more mess: “Heh-ngk! Heh-NGK!” She reached the tissue box, and sneezed a final sneeze into the welcoming softness of a tissue: “Heh-SCHMPFF!” She scrunched the tissue up and scrubbed the end of her nose fiercely with it, then grabbed another tissue from the box and blew her nose. Something distinctly unpleasant came squelching out into the tissue.

Erin threw the used tissues away and sniffled. Her nose was already threatening further rebellion. “Shit,” she said to nobody in particular. “I’ve caught a cold.”

[TheCakeIsAlive]

Oooh, lovely. Thank you for sharing. I suppose injured hands would have worked too but this is much more fun.

[HappyDays]

very cute:) planning on continuing?

[coffeepot]

“Hehschhuu!” Erin sneezed for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Groaning, she wiped her itchy nose. As she lowered the tissue, a second sneeze snuck up on her. “Heh-ASCHOO!” She sneezed uncovered, splattering her keyboard with snot. “Lovely,” she muttered to herself sarcastically, cleaning up the mess with a couple more tissues. She grabbed yet another tissue from the box and gave her nose a loud, messy blow. It was already starting to get sore from all the blowing, and she noticed she was close to running out of tissues. This had its upside – it meant she could switch to balsam tissues, which would be much kinder on her sore nose. On the downside, she would have to go and buy balsam tissues first, which meant going out in the cold air. She really didn’t want to do that, but given the state of her nose, she clearly had no choice. She decided to bundle up before braving the elements. She put on two jumpers and a big, warm winter coat, wrapped a scarf around her neck and pulled a woolly hat down over her ears. Even inside, this ensemble did surprisingly little to make her feel warm. She grabbed the remaining tissues from the box, stuffed them into the pocket of her coat, and walked out of the door.

It was one of those blue-skied winter days where the world seems crisp and clear, but also several degrees colder than it would under a blanket of clouds. Normally, Erin loved this sort of weather – it appealed to the poet in her. Today, however, poetry was the last thing on her mind as she stepped out of the house. The cold air and bright sunlight hit her at the same time, and she stopped in her tracks on the doorstep, her nose suddenly burning. “HSCHH!” Her head bobbed forward with the force of her sneeze, sending spray all down her front. “HSSCHH! HSSCHH!” In desperation, she buried her nose in her scarf. “HSSCHHMPF! SCHMPF! HSSCHHHUNGK!” The last sneeze bent her almost double, as her nose expelled a large quantity of slimy snot. That scarf would definitely need a wash as soon as she got back from the shops.

Sniffling back the remaining products of her sneezing fit, she nuzzled her chin into a clean section of scarf – eyes down to avoid any further reaction to the sunlight – and began to head down the road.

“Hi, Erin! Are you okay?”

She looked up to see Ryan standing on the opposite side of the street, holding a large Tupperware box and looking concerned.

“I’m fine, Ryan” she replied, hoping he wouldn’t notice the slight edge of congestion that had crept into her voice.

“You don’t sound fine,” he pointed out. “You were sneezing your head off a second ago.”

She sniffed deeply. “It’s nothing.”

Ryan looked sceptical, but didn’t push it any further. “Where are you off to?” he asked.

“Just to the shops,” she replied. “I want to stock up on a few things.”

“Will you be long? I have some more recipe samples awaiting your verdict.” He indicated the box in his hands.

“I think Chloe’s in,” Erin replied. “Go and feed them to her. If you have any left when I get back, I’ll try them too.”

“Okay. Did you still want to try out your latest concoctions on me?”

“Maybe. I need to go to the shops first, though.”

“I can wait for you,” Ryan replied earnestly.

Erin stifled a small cough. “I’m sure you can,” she said, and quickly walked away.

[coffeepot]

Part 3 - I really enjoyed writing this bit, but warning, it gets messy.

By the time she got home from the shops, Erin was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe through her nose. As she fumbled around, trying to find her room keys, she felt another sneeze approaching. “Huh… huh… huh… HUSCHOO! Dabbit! HASCHOO!” She caught two messy sneezes in her scarf. The sneezes had at least loosened up her congestion a little bit – enough to leave snot trails down her face, which her nose seemed determined to contribute to by suddenly running profusely. She reached into her coat pocket for a tissue, but it was empty.

She sat down on the floor, threw open her bag, and grabbed one of the several boxes of balsam tissues she’d just bought. “Why do they wrap theb id this dabb plastic packagigg?” she moaned to herself, as she tried to tear it off. She was getting increasingly desperate to stem the flow of snot, but the plastic would not yield.

Figuring it desperately needed a wash anyway, so a little more mess wouldn’t hurt, she brought the end of her scarf up to her face and wiped her snotty nose on it. Unfortunately the scratchy wool of the scarf irritated her nose further, and she sneezed violently all over herself. “HESHOO!” She tore at the packet of tissues frantically, but to no avail. “HEISHOO! HURSCHOO! HEH-HEH-HESSSSCHHHMPF!” To her surprise, she felt something smooth and soft being firmly pressed to her nose for the last sneeze. She looked up and saw Jess standing over her. Jess’s right hand was firmly clamped over Erin’s nose, and held a tissue into which Erin had just sneezed.

“Bless you,” Jess said. “Do you need another tissue?”

Erin nodded. “Please. I have sobe here, but I cad’t get theb oped.”

Jess handed a small pocket pack of tissues to Erin. “Here you go,” she said. Erin gratefully grabbed two of the tissues and gave her nose a long, productive blow. Meanwhile, Jess sat down next to Erin, took a penknife from her pocket and slit open the plastic packaging on Erin’s box of tissues. Erin stared at her in amazement. “Do you just carry round everything that could ever conceivably be useful?” she asked.

“Pretty much,” Jess said. “It’s good to be prepared.”

“But there’s prepared, and then there’s… you,” Erin replied. “Everything but the kitchen sink.”

“Oh, I’ve got the kitchen sink, too,” Jess replied casually.

“What?”

“This week’s comedy show needed a working sink as part of the set, so I ripped one of ours out and took it to the theatre. We didn’t need to have two sinks in the kitchen anyway. The one that’s left works just fine. Besides, I’ll put it back when the play’s over.”

Erin laughed, which caused her to cough. When she’d recovered, she said, “That’s another thing. You have everything that could be useful to anyone.”

“I acquire things that are useful to people,” Jess corrected. “I don’t make a habit of carrying kitchen sinks around with me, but I get them if I know they’re needed.”

“But you seem to have this knowing-what-people-need-superpower,” Erin stated.

“Do I?” Jess asked.

“Yes – hehishoo!” Erin blew her nose softly on one of Jess’s tissues. “That, for example,” she said. “How did you know that your housemate was in the hall needing tissues?”

“Not by superpowers, I promise,” Jess replied. “I could just hear you sneezing from my room, so I came to check if you were okay.”

“But your room’s on the second floor.”

“They were loud sneezes.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“What for?”

“Being all sneezy and disgusting.”

“I don’t mind. Are you sick?”

“A little. Haschoo! It’s just a cold, though. I – I – ISSHEW! EHISHHEW! I’b dot really sick.”

“Sounds like a bad cold,” Jess replied. She took a tissue out of the box and handed it to Erin.

“Thadks,” said Erin, taking the tissue. She blew her nose harshly. “I do feel kidd of gross,” she admitted.

“Based on how you sound, I’m not surprised,” Jess observed. She put an arm around Erin. “I’m sorry you’re feeling gross.”

“Dot your fault,” Erin said. She plucked another tissue from the box and attempted to clear her nose again – to no success.

“Can I get you anything?” Jess asked.

“Do, I’b fide. Hssschhngk! Well, dot fide, but close edough.” She snuggled into Jess’s side. “I’b cobfortable here.”

“I’m glad,” Jess replied earnestly.

They sat in companionable silence for a couple of minutes, before Jess spoke again. “Ryan was looking for you, by the way,” she said.

Erin groaned. “He’s dot still here, is he?”

“I think he’s still in the kitchen. He had some more recipes for that competition of yours; I think he wanted you to taste them.”

“I dod’t thigk I cad taste buch right dow,” Erin replied. “Hehschhngk! Ugh. This cold is dot goigg to help be wid that stupid bet.”

“You don’t have to go and try out Ryan’s recipes if you don’t want to.”

“I’d rather just stay right here,” Erin replied. “It’s dicer. Isshhngk! But I g-guess y-y-you – ESSSHHHNGK! Heh… hehh… HEHSSHHHNGK! Guess you wadda get back to your roob,” she finished.

“Not at all,” Jess replied, tightening her arms around the sick girl. “I’ll stay right here for as long as you want me to.”

[count tiszula]

This is terrific, and the coup de theatre of Jess and her hankie appearing is masterly.

More mess. less apology.........

[coffeepot]

Sigrith: Ooh, I didn't even think of injured hands! I did make Ryan (the guy whose method boils down to "get a computer to do it for you") have his laptop stolen, so he has non-sneezy obstacles to overcome... but Erin's scenes are much more fun to write

Lexy: Thanks! I've hopefully got several more parts to come...

count: Ooh yes, Jess's appearance with the tissue was definitely my favourite bit to write. And if you want more mess and less apology, I shall happily oblige...

Part 4

Erin sat up in bed, a tissue pressed to her dripping nose. She felt like crap. And yet there was a surprising silver lining to the whole situation – Jess. She had to admit that she quite enjoyed having the other girl take care of her. At least, part of Erin enjoyed it. Another part really, really didn’t want Jess to see her in her current disgusting state. This was the part of Erin secretly wanted to do filthy, filthy things to Jess, although not right now, because right now Erin felt like a ball of pain and snot. The issue was that Jess was unlikely ever to be attracted to someone that she’d seen be a ball of pain and snot. Still, too late now – the damage was already done, so given the choice between having Jess take care of her and suffering through her cold alone, Erin would gladly pick Jess.

There was a knock on Erin’s door. “Who is it?” Erin called out in a hoarse voice.

“It’s me,” Jess replied. “I’m carrying two cups of tea; don’t have a spare hand to turn the door handle. Can you let me in?”

“Just a bidute,” Erin replied. “Htsch!” She sneezed, then emptied the contents of her nostrils into the tissue, wincing a little at the further stress on her already-sore nose. Scrunching up the now-sodden tissue, she threw it at the waste paper bin. It missed, and joined a collection of crumpled tissues littering the floor.

She got up, keeping her duvet wrapped tightly around her, and opened the door. “Hetschuh!” She just managed to direct a sneeze into her shoulder, rather than sneezing all over Jess (which, again, would definitely have been unsexy). Her nose was already filling up again. She sniffled as she took the tea from Jess’s hands.

“Let’s get you back to bed,” Jess said. “Come on.” She gently steered Erin over to the bed and sat her down. “That’s the wrong tea you’ve got there.” She switched mugs with Erin. “I made yours with lots of extra honey.”

“Thags.” Erin took the mug and hugged it to herself, shivering slightly.

“You’re cold?” Jess asked.

Erin sniffled again and nodded.

“You might be running a fever.” Jess set down her tea and placed a hand against Erin’s forehead. At this precise moment, Erin was seized with an uncontrollable urge to sneeze again.

“Hhnggshuu!” Her head snapped forward, forcing Jess’s hand down with it. Erin sniffled deeply and opened her eyes. She was dismayed to see a trail of spray on Jess’s forearm. “Jess, I’b sorry, I… Nnggshuu!”

“Bless you,” Jess replied, carefully wiping her arm down with one of Erin’s tissues. “It’s okay. Not your fault.”

“I spilt tea od byself,” Erin observed.

“Is it burning?” Jess asked.

“Do, I didd’t spill edough for that.” Erin grabbed a tissue and gave her nose a loud, honking blow. “But I deed this tea idside be. Warb be up.” She took a second tissue and blew her nose again, harder. “Do I have a fever?” she asked.

“Yeah, you do. Feels like a bad one. Do you have a thermometer?”

“Do,” Erin replied. “Sorry.”

“That’s okay. But I’d like to get hold of one, check your temperature properly. It feels pretty high.”

“I’b fide.”

Jess sighed. “You’re clearly not,” she said, “or I wouldn’t be here looking after you.”

“Hey Jess?”

“Yeah.”

“Thagks for beigg here. Add for lookigg after be. Eved though I’b all cold-ridded add gross.”

“You’re welcome,” Jess replied.

Erin buried her face in her mug of tea. The steam instantly irritated her nose, and she hastily set the mug aside before burying her nose in the duvet – no time to get a tissue – and exploding. “HNNGSHUU! HGGGSHHHUU! HUSCHOO! HUSSSHHHOOO! HUSSSHOOOO! Huh... huh… heh… HUSSSCHHOOO!” She emerged, sniffling wetly, to see that Jess holding the box of tissues out to her. She grabbed one and blew, messily, soaking the tissue and her hand. She took another and continued blowing, until she had filled four tissues with yellowish snot. The steam seemed to have loosened her congestion, and when she was finally done, she realised she could breathe almost normally again.

“That was quite a sneezing fit,” Jess commented. “Bless you again.”

“You know, if you bless me every time I sneeze, you’re going to spend a lot of time saying ‘bless you’”, Erin pointed out.

“True. In that case, assume my blessings.”

“I will do.”

“I saw Chloe in the kitchen,” Jess commented.

“Oh?”

“She was talking about Ryan. Apparently he has a thing for you.”

“I know,” Erin replied with a look of distaste. “I’ve been trying to gently dissuade him, but he doesn’t seem to be getting the message.”

“You’re not interested in him, then?”

“No. We slept together once, and once was definitely enough.”

Jess’s eyes widened. “You had sex with him?”

Erin almost thought Jess sounded a little jealous. No, surely that was just wishful thinking from the part of her that found Jess crazy-attractive. “Yeah, but it was bad sex,” she replied. “And now I’ve got him following me around like a lovesick puppy. Tell you what, you should get him to stop pursuing me. Seduce him yourself.”

“After your ringing endorsement of his sexual prowess? No thanks.”

[sneasons greetings]

Haha, continue!

[coffeepot]

Part 5

“I deed your todgue,” Erin declared.

“What?” Jess asked, taken aback.

“Oh. Ub. That soudded dirtier thad I beadt it to.” Erin sniffled thickly, then continued. “I bead, I deed your sedse of taste. Huh-hhngx! I dod’t wadt to get behidd id this recipe cobpetitiod. Hhngxt! But I’b just so stuffed up right dow; I cad’t taste a thigg. HEHNGXT! HNGXT! Oww… sdeezigg hurts.” She grabbed a tissue and blew her nose harshly. “That’s adother thigg,” she added, “it hurts to swallow solid food, too. But I cad’t keep developigg by recipes if I cad’t taste theb. I wod’t be able to tell if the stuff I’b chadgigg bakes theb better or worse. So I deed a taste tester.”

“You don’t need anything of the sort,” Jess replied. “What you need is rest, and to get better.”

“B-but… HSHHNXT!”

“Exactly,” Jess said. “You can worry about the competition once you’ve remembered how to go five minutes without sneezing.”

Erin reached for the tissue box again, but it was empty. She wiped her nose on the back of her hand. It left a glistening trail of snot.

“And you’re definitely not cooking with hands like that,” Jess added. She got up and fetched a fresh box of tissues for Erin.

“But the cobetitiod’s id less thad a week,” Erin said. “I dod’t have tibe to wait udtil I’b better. I deed to be cookigg dow.”

“No, you need to be resting now. The competition being soon makes that more important, not less – you need to make sure you’re well enough to cook decently on the day of the competition, and the best way to do that is to look after yourself. You ought to take some medicine, too.”

“I dod’t like takigg bedicide for sobethigg as small as a cold. Feels uddecessary. Hschnx!”

“Please, Erin. At least get some rest.”

“But I wadt to… hah… hah… HASSSHHHNGT! HSSHNGT! HASSSHHHNGXT!” Erin grabbed another tissue and blew her nose messily. “Hsht!” She stifled a final sneeze into the mess-filled tissue. Sniffling, she scrunched the tissue up and dabbed it delicately against the moist edges of her red, chapped nostrils. “Look, what about a cobprobise?” she asked.

“You shouldn’t be asking me to compromise on your health when you’re too sick to even say the word ‘compromise’.”

“Well, you shouldd’t split idfiditives. We all do thiggs we shouldd’t.” Erin wiped her nose again. “I just deed ode bore day of cookigg. Thed I’ll rest. Right before I got this cold, I cabe up with sobe chagges that I wadted to bake to the baid course. It wod’t take logg to try theb out. Add the starter add dessert are fide as is. Hshngx! Just let be cook the old baid course, add the bodified ode, add tell be which tastes better. Please?”

Jess sighed. “Only if you agree to take some medicine. And let me check your temperature properly.”

“Hsssshhhhhnxt!”

“I’m going to assume that means, ‘yes, Jess, I agree’.”

“HESSSSHHHHNT! HSSSSHHHHHNGT! Fide,” Erin finally conceded. “As sood as I’ve cooked the two recipes, I’ll go to bed with a load of bedicide add a therbobeter.”

“Do you promise?”

“I probise.”

[coffeepot]

Part 6

“Okay. I’ve got medicine and a thermometer, which you will have to submit to shortly. Have you got all your ingredients?”

“I have. Hsshhhng!” Erin caught a sneeze in her hands, and went to wash them.

“Not that sink,” Jess said, “other sink. That sink’s the one I ripped out and took to the theatre.”

“You’re stradge.”

“Says the girl obsessing about a cooking contest even though she’s sick,” replied Jess in a fond, yet slightly exasperated, tone.

“I’b dot... huh… hssshnx!” Erin sneezed into her sleeve. “I’b dot sick; it’s just a cold.”

Jess looked unconvinced. “Take the medicine,” she ordered.

Erin took the medicine from Jess’s hands. “Hodestly; I’b fide,” she protested. “I dod’t really deed this bedicide. I’b just takigg it because you bade be probise.”

“Don’t be silly,” Jess replied. “You have a bad cold; you need cold medicine.”

Erin poured a glass of water, put two pills in her mouth, and drank. “HUSSSHHHHUUUU!” Before she could swallow, she sneezed violently, propelling the water and pills across the kitchen. “HUSSSHHHHUUU! HURSSSHOOO!” The force of her sneezes bent her double. “HUSSSSHUUU! HSSSSSHHHHHU! HSSSSHHHHNXT! HSSSHHHNGT! SSSHHHHHNGT!” She straightened up, panting, with snot running down her face. “I deed a tissue…” she said weakly. She took two paces towards the tissue box on the kitchen windowsill before she was once more overcome by sneezing. She stopped in her tracks, hands steepled over her nose. “HSSSHHHHNGT! HSSSSHHHHNGT! HHHNXT! HNXT! HGXT! HEH… HUH… H’GXT!” She wobbled on her feet, the colour drained from her face. “I dod’t feel so good,” she said in a small voice. She put out a hand – dripping with snot – to steady herself against the back of a chair, missed, and collapsed onto the floor.

Jess was at her side in an instant. “Erin? Are you okay? Are you hurt?” she asked worriedly.

Erin coughed. “Everythigg hurts,” she replied, “but do, I dod’t thigk the fall did ady dabage.”

“Okay. We’re getting you to bed right now. Can you stand?”

“I thigk so.”

Jess helped her friend up. “Lean on me,” she said. She put an arm round Erin’s waist, Erin put her arm over Jess’s shoulder.

“I’b goigg to idfect you,” Erin moaned.

“Don’t worry about that right now. Let’s just get you to bed. Come on.” She helped Erin to her room and into bed, tucked the duvet around her tightly, then went to retrieve the medicine from the kitchen.

When she got back, Erin was coughing again. Jess rubbed her back until the fit subsided, then handed her the medicine and a fresh glass of water. This time, Erin managed to swallow it.

“Thags,” Erin said.

“Now I need you to open up and let me put this thermometer in your mouth.”

“Just a sec… hssssshhhnxt! Hsshhhngt!” Erin grabbed a tissue and blew her nose wetly. “Okay, I’b ready.”

Jess placed the thermometer in Erin’s mouth. Erin sniffled, but didn’t sneeze again. The thermometer beeped and Jess withdrew it. “102.3,” she read. “Higher than I’d like, but the medicine ought to help bring it down a bit.”

“I hope so,” Erin replied, shivering. She curled up under the duvet. “Jess, I’b sick,” she admitted.

“I know,” Jess replied, stroking the hair off Erin’s forehead. “It’s okay. I’m here.”

“I’b glad you’re here. Hsshhxt! Cad you stay?”

“If you want me to. Would you like to watch a movie or something?”

“That soudds dice.”

“Do you have any films?”

“Chick flicks. Od by bookshelf. Are you okay with chick flicks?”

“Chick flicks are fine. Any preference?”

“It's up to you.”

Jess got up and put a DVD on, then went and sat on the edge of the bed. “Cad you come here?” Erin asked. “I’b cold.”

Jess moved under the duvet and put her arms around Erin. Erin snuggled into her. They watched the film like this for about half an hour before Jess noticed the sound of snoring. Erin had fallen asleep, curled up with her head in Jess’s lap.

Jess smiled at the sleeping girl. She carefully extricated herself from the bed, and placed a pillow under Erin’s head, making sure not to wake her. She paused, then bent down and gently planted a kiss on Erin’s warm forehead. Then, very quietly, she left the room.

[TheCakeIsAlive]

Awww... really very cute.

[coffeepot]

So NaNoWriMo is over, but that's not going to stop me writing sneezefic! (Actually, at the end of the month I'd written more than I'd managed to post here, so this is still NaNoWriMo stuff). Thus I give you Part 7

On Friday morning, Jess made two large cups of tea, one with vast amounts of honey, then went and knocked on Erin’s door. This was exactly what she’d done every morning for the past four days, with the small exception that today Jess’s tea had a little bit of honey in it too. Her throat had felt a little scratchy the previous night, and today it was undeniably sore. Jess had no other symptoms, though, and was determined to hide her sore-throatedness from Erin. She’d swallowed a couple of cold pills before making the tea, just in case.

Erin opened the door with a crumpled tissue in her hand, her nose still bright red and chapped. “Hey,” Jess said, passing Erin her tea, “how are you feeling this morning?”

“A little better,” Erin replied hoarsely. “Less pain than yesterday. Hessshhuuu!” She raised the tissue to her nose and blew wetly. “My nose is still runny as hell, but I can breathe through it, which is a nice change.”

Jess placed a hand on Erin’s forehead. “You feel cooler, too,” she observed. “Let’s check your temperature.” She fetched the thermometer and put it in Erin’s mouth.

As Erin stood there with the thermometer in her mouth, her nose began to drip. She sniffled strongly, but still wet drops fell onto the thermometer. The moment Jess removed it, Erin dived for the tissue box and gave her nose another wet blow.

“100.1,” Jess said. “Not bad at all.”

“Careful with that thermometer,” Erin warned, emerging from the depths of her tissue. “It’s got my snot all over it.”

“I’ll be fine,” Jess assured her. “And you seem to be on the mend, which is good.”

“Just in time for the competition this evening,” Erin said. “Hssshhiew!”

“Well, for a given value of ‘on the mend’”, Jess corrected.

“I am feeling better,” Erin said. “Honestly. I’m j-just… just… husssshoo!” She sniffled wetly. “I’m just still really snotty and sneezy, that’s all.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re feeling somewhat better,” Jess said. “Even if you’re snotty and snee- heezy…”

“Sneeheezy?”

Jess was beginning to feel a tickle in her own nose. This was not good. “I need more milk for my tea,” she lied, and rapidly left the room, tea in hand. Halfway down the stairs to the kitchen, she stopped with her free hand over her nose. “Ishew!” The sneeze sprayed her hand. She sniffled and descended the rest of the stairs. The tissue box on the kitchen windowsill was empty – Erin’s doing – so she was forced to blow her nose on a piece of kitchen roll. It was rough and irritated her nose a little – she felt another sneeze coming – her breath began to hitch…

“Ih… Ih… Ih… Ihhih… Ih…” The sneeze was stuck; it wouldn’t come out. Maybe if she irritated her nose further? Jess roughly scrunched up the piece of kitchen roll and dragged it under her nostrils. “Ihhh… Ihhhhh… Ihh… Ih?” Still nothing. The need to sneeze was torturing her nose. Crossing to the kitchen window, she squinted up into the sun outside. “IHSHIEW! IHHISHEW!” She sneezed a rapid-fire double, loosely catching the droplets in the kitchen roll. She sniffled wetly. She needed to blow her nose again, but using the kitchen roll meant risking further sneeziness. Her eyes fell on the tea towel hanging by the sink. It looked soft; almost like a giant handkerchief… she grabbed it and blew. When she was done, she cautiously inspected the contents of the tea towel. It was surprising just how much wetness her nose had managed to produce. She threw the tea towel in the washing machine, rinsed her hands, poured a little more milk into her tea, and went back up to Erin.

[SneezyLaura]

This is a lovely fic!

I can't wait for Jess to catch that cold - hopelfully Erin is going to take good care of her.

[coffeepot]

Part 8 got a little bit ridiculous... But stay tuned for part 9, which will feature more sanity, more sneezes, and more of Jess catching cold!

“The rules of the competition are simple,” Chloe announced to the assembled judges, reading from a piece of paper. “Ryan and Erin will each prepare a 3-course meal, using only recipes of their own devising. Their food will be served to the judges, each of whom will pick their favourite dish from each course. For every dish made, the chef will receive a certain number of points, equal to the number of judges who picked that dish as their favourite. At the end of the evening, the chef with the greater number of points is declared the winner, and must be paid fifty pounds by the loser."

“Hopefully the aforementioned loser will be Erin, because I'm kind of broke right now,” Ryan muttered. He looked around the kitchen. “Where is Erin, anyway? She should be here by now.”

“I’ll go and get her,” Jess said quickly, jumping up from her seat.

“In the interests of fair judging, the judges will remain unaware as to who cooked each dish until after they have given their verdict,” Chloe continued. “Therefore the judges shall now retire to the ‘dining room’ – which is actually my bedroom with a table in it. Sorry, we couldn’t do anything posher. Anyway – we, the judges, shall now retire to the ‘dining room’, and the dishes shall be brought up to us there. Ah, there you are,” Chloe finished, as Erin entered the kitchen.

“Sorry I’m late,” Erin said. “Hessshhhuu!” She sniffled wetly and immediately headed for the box of tissues on the windowsill – which was, of course, empty.

“Hssssshhhhoo! Does anyone ha- ha- ha… Hassshhooooo! Does anyone have a tissue?”

Ryan handed Erin a piece of kitchen roll. She held it up to her nose and stifled two more sneezes – “Shngt! Huh-shngt!” – before blowing loudly and wetly. Everyone in the kitchen could hear the snot squelching out of Erin’s nose.

Erin finally lowered the kitchen roll, revealing her nose. It was bright red, chapped all the way down to her upper lip, and shiny around the nostrils where excess snot still clung. Chloe winced. “Bless me,” Erin said.

“I’m not eating anything she’s breathed on,” Chloe declared.

“Yeah, I’d rather she didn’t cook for us,” said Ryan’s friend Aidan. “That is one hell of a cold, and I don’t want to catch it.”

“I agree,” Ella added quietly. “Maybe we should postpone the competition?”

“To when, though?” Ryan asked. “Maybe we should just say that Erin’s current state prevents her competing, therefore I win by default.”

“Oh come on, that’s not fair!” Jess protested.

“Ryan has a point, though,” Chloe said, “it is going to be difficult to reschedule. We’re coming up to the end of term, everyone’s super-busy without having a cookery competition on top of all that.”

Erin sniffled. “I have a suggestion,” she said.

“What is it?” Chloe asked.

“Ryan initially wanted this to be a competition about inventing recipes, not a competition about cooking skill. I could give him the instructions for my recipes, and he could cook them. If he doesn’t mind, that is.”

Ryan looked dubious. “If I have to cook both sets of dishes, it’ll take ages.”

“It’s still better than the alternatives,” Erin said. She turned to the judges. “What do you guys think?”

“Providing Ryan agrees not to sabotage your recipes, it should work fine,” Jess said.

“I’ll keep an eye on him in here,” Erin said. “Make sure no sabotage occurs. Hhhsssshhuuu!” She sniffled again and wiped her nose with another piece of kitchen roll.

Chloe grimaced. “If you’re in here, you’ll still be breathing over the food.”

“We could get her one of those surgical masks for her to wear,” Jess suggested. “I can easily acquire one. In fact, if she wore a surgical mask, she could cook her stuff without being an infection risk.”

“Fine,” Chloe said, “go and fetch us a surgical mask.”

“I will do.” Jess stood up. She pushed her chair back under the table, scraping it across the floor as loudly as she could to cover the sound of her own sniffling.

[coffeepot]

Part 9

Jess managed to hide her burgeoning cold for most of the dinner, only needing to excuse herself once during the first two courses in order to discreetly blow her nose in the bathroom. By the time pudding arrived, she had mostly stopped worrying about her symptoms being noticed and begun to focus on enjoying herself.

Jess smiled at Erin as the dark-haired girl set a bowl of chocolate mousse down in front of her. “How’s it going?” Jess asked.

“Pretty well,” Erin replied. “Guess what happened while I was down in the kitchen with Ryan?”

“He asked you out?”

“How did you know?”

“I suspected it might happen. So, did you say yes?” Jess teased.

“No!”

“Just as well. He wasn’t good enough for you.”

There was an awkward pause, which Erin broke by sneezing. “Hngxt!”

“Bless you.”

“Thanks,” Erin replied. She sniffled, sounding slightly congested. “I don’t want to get snot all over the inside of this mask, but it’s getting harder to stifle my sneezes. I’ll be glad when I can take it off.”

“You’re done cooking; why don’t you take it off now?”

“In the room where Chloe’s eating her dinner? She’d never let me.”

“You don’t have to stay.”

“I want to hear the judges’ results,” Erin replied. “So far I have six points and Ryan has four, but I’m not ahead by enough to be sure of a win. It all depends on this round.”

“Well, I’d better dig in then,” Jess replied. She spooned up a large amount of chocolate mousse, and placed it in her mouth.

Instantly, her eyes began to water and her nose to run. The mousse, it turned out, was no mere innocent chocolate mousse. It was chocolate and chilli, and the chilli part was incredibly strong.

Nose streaming, Jess groped desperately for her napkin, the tears in her eyes making it difficult to see. Erin pressed the napkin into Jess’s hand. Gratefully, Jess raised it to her face and blew harshly. Her breath began to hitch. “Ih… Ih… Ihhh….” She tried desperately to hold back her sneeze. Her nose was still running profusely; she scrubbed at it fiercely with the napkin. This did nothing to soak up the tide of snot, but did irritate her nose enough to push her over the edge. “Ihhsssshhhooo!” Ihhsssshhhhuuuu! Isssshhhhhuu!” Her sneezes were incredibly wet. “Ihhssssshhhhu! Ihssshhhhhuu!” The napkin was completely soaked by now, falling apart in Jess’s hands. She sniffled desperately, feeling more sneezes ready to explode out of her at any second.

“Are you okay?” Erin asked.

“N-no… I’m g-g-gonna… sn-snee… eee… EEHISSSHHHH!” Jess turned to the side as she sneezed, avoiding spraying the table of food, but sneezing all over Chloe instead. She didn’t have time to apologise, as she was overtaken by more sneezes. She bent forwards, burying her nose in her sleeve. “Ishhhh! Issshhh! ISSSHHHEW!” She straightened up, sniffling heavily, her sleeve and face covered in clear snot.

“Let’s get you out of here,” Erin said. She steered Jess down the stairs to Erin’s room, sat Jess down on the bed and threw the box of tissues at her. “Clean yourself up,” she ordered.

Jess didn’t need any encouragement. It took five tissues before she was fully de-snotted, and as soon as she had finished, she sneezed again. “Ihtshiew!”

“Bless you,” Erin said. “You caught my cold, didn’t you?”

“It’s allergies,” Jess lied.

“Allergies to what?”

“Chilli powder?” Jess tried.

Erin gave Jess a look that blatantly said ‘I don’t believe you’.

“Look, I’m fi…iii… ishiew!” Jess wiped her nose impatiently. “I’m fine,” she insisted. “You should go back and find out the results.”

“I need you for that. You’re one of the judges.”

“Okay then. Let’s go.”

They walked back up to Chloe’s room. There was a lot of noise from inside, which died down the moment Jess entered. She looked around. Everybody was peering at her with a worried look – everybody except Chloe, who looked faintly disgusted.

“Are you okay?” Lis asked.

“I’m fine,” Jess replied. “Allergy attack. Sorry.”

“You sneezed on me,” Chloe said.

“Sorry,” Jess repeated.

“I think we should hear the judges’ decisions and then call it a night,” Ryan suggested.

“Well, I’m going to vote for whatever the alternative to that chilli mousse was,” Jess said.

“The homemade ice cream,” said Aidan. “Yeah, I’m casting my vote for that as well.”

“Me too,” said Chloe. “Especially after Jess’s reaction to the mousse.”

Ella and Lis nodded their agreement.

“Then it’s unanimous,” Chloe declared, “Five points to the maker of the ice cream. Please reveal yourself.” Ryan stepped forward. “Congratulations,” Chloe told him, “you win with nine points to Erin’s six.”

Ryan grinned. “I really thought you were going to beat me,” he told Erin. “But you messed it up on that last course. Why’d you make the chilli flavour so strong?”

“I – hgxt! HNGXT! I didd’t thigk I did,” Erin replied. “I tested a bit durigg the cookigg, add the flavour seebed fide.” She sniffled thickly. “I guess by sedse of taste is still a little off.”

“Defeated by a cold,” Jess commented. “Isshiew!”

Erin gave Jess a penetrating look.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Jess replied with a scowl. “I’m – iggghhiew! I’b fide.”

[SneezyLaura]

Awwww, poor Jess and poor Erin. At least they got each other.

(Now I hopw Chloe is going to catch this cold as well... *g*)

Great chapter and I'm looking forward to more!