A Little Support (F) (Maybe M)

[AnnaBettany]

First Post! Please Be Nice! Love The Writing On Here!

A Little Support (Part 1)

Clara awoke to a general feeling of discomfort and mild soreness in her throat. She did not want to get out of bed. This would be common for many. Not for Clara. She tended to shake the sleepiness off as soon as she woke.

Any sleepiness, occasionally still lingering after she made it to the kitchen she shared with Allie and Jenny in their student apartment; a frothy cappuccino would sort out. She was a tall, fair girl, curvier than average and sturdily built but still slim, who generally exuded health, enthusiasm and energy. Her skin was always lightly tanned even in winter and noticeably clear and soft and her cheeks rosy. Her face was exceptionally fresh and pretty. Her dark blue eyes sparkled with intelligence and fun. Her lips were naturally. an attractive deep pink.

She, unlike a lot of people loved what she was majoring in (English Lit) and she was even thinking towards a Masters. She was saving up for one. She had good energy levels and had managed to maintain part time job in a busy book store, even in this year which was her final and most pressurised one.

She was often up first but today Jenny greeted her in the kitchen , an organised, decent, quieter girl who she had met in First Year, petite and very slim with freckles and very long dark-red hair who was training to be a teacher.

Hachooo!, Clara sneezed as she waited for her coffee.

'Are you okay?, asked Jenny.

'Just tired' said Clara groggily; 'and I guess it's that time of year' They had exams in less than two months, before Christmas break that would count towards half of their overall exam results and two important assignments due in this week, also heavily weighted in terms of marks.

'Was just hoping you weren't getting a cold as Allie seems to definitely have one. Her throat is killing her and she's exhausted. She's going to struggle in today but would stay in bed if it wasn't this time of year'

Jenny and Allie shared a room.

'Poor Allie, well I certainly hope I'm not,' said Clara. People... HACHOOO!.....sneeze for all kinds of reasons, don't they???

Jenny just smiled pleasantly but as Clara sipped her coffee and it didn't soothe her throat as much as she'd hoped, or even wake her up, a bell of fear, or was it warning rang in the back of her mind as she sat with Jenny in their bright but functional small student appartment kitchen.

*******************************************

Clara had no class until 1 pm today, but didn't hang around the apartment to see Allie's condition as she was faintly afraid it could become her own. She headed straight to the study hall, after coffee, showering and dressing and didn't bother with make-up or breakfast.

She sneezed a few times in the shower and even more on the ten minute walk in the Winter rain to study hall, hoping that it was to do with the hot water and then with the cold weather, which it could well be. She did notice her throat getting soarer, however, and neither the hot shower nor the cold rain seemed to dispel the grogginess. She sat as far away from anyone as possible in study hall so she could sneeze somewhat privately. When she felt weak and dizzy at 11 she put it down to hunger and got a Mars Bar for energy out of the vending machine. The canteen started serving at 12 but she wasn't hungry yet. She tried to cram her head full of Hamlet and The Mill On The Floss. She was getting a mild headache.

********************************************

'HATCHOOO'; Clara was embarrassed at sneezing in her first class which was her English seminar as she had a mild crush on her young tutor, Kevin, an often gruff-mannered but highly talented man who she thought she may have begun to win over this semester. He now gave her the occasional 'A' (he was the hardest marker in English Lit) and occasionally even laughed at the wittier of her contributions in class. He was a bit stocky and heavily bearded but with that charisma of someone who is not going to be nice to just anybody. A charisma Clara found irresistible. He had a killer smile and could have flashes of warmth in which his whole face would become engrossed in what you were saying and he'd look at you with total, deep, engagement like you'd brought him to life for the first time. That's what Clara strived for every time she had class with him.

They were discussing; 'Hamlet' today and Clara couldn't remember any of the clever things she'd planned to say about it. If she were to be honest, her throat had become even sorer and her ears felt blocked. Her sneezing too had become more frequent, hurting her temples and aggravating her headache.

Kevin would go around the class to make sure everyone made a contribution, though Clara would usually have had made one voluntarily by this point anyway.

Kevin was talking about Hamlet's paralysis in not killing his uncle to avenge his father.

'So, Clara, any thoughts?' he asked, straight-faced as usual.

Her head felt clogged and cottony and she swallowed and it hurt. Her voice came out hoarse and squeaky.

'He just can't kill his 'Achoooo' uncle because he Hachooo, Choo, Choo overthinks everything and can't act!' she croaked and then coughed to clear her throat, the cough surprisingly deep. She blushed.

'And you can hardly make a point because you're over-sneezing' laughed Kevin, his eyes twinkling with amusement for a split second and a hint of empathy for a quarter of a second for which Clara was truly relieved and thankful.

'We'll let you away with that much under the circumstances'

A few people laughed good naturedly, including Clara herself and then she started coughing again. Deeper and sorer this time. Hurting her chest and making her throat worse.

Her friend, her best guy friend in fact was waiting for her outside class as usual.

'You okay?, he asked.

Clara shook her head,

'I woke up with 'Achoo' a HATCHOO..Ugh...Chu, CHOOO' cold and it's getting worse every hour I'm just scared I'll be too sick to get the Hamlet assignment in for Kevin or the one on 'The Mill on The ACHOO Floss' which is for Kevin too'.

They were both due on Friday.

Gene smiled sympathetically. He knew that the fact that these two assignments were for Kevin probably upset Clara more in her current state than the fact that they were fairly highly weighted in terms of final marks.

Gene was slightly broadly built, below average height, dark handsome and kind-eyed. Like Clara. He worked hard and excelled in English and also psychology. He and Clara had become so close that people who weren't in their particular circle of friends had to ask others; 'Were they going out or weren't they' but they were just really good friends. Clara had a boyfriend back at home.

'You're strong, Clara. You're really healthy. You'll probably be over this in days and they aren't due until Friday.'

'I can hardly remember any of the lines in Hamlet, let alone write on it at the moment', said Clara sniffling.....'Why does this f***ing college have to have everything important due at once.' Her tone was getting venomous; 'They are ACHOOO they HUH are so HUHAHUH....HUHSCHOOOOOO! disorganised'

Gene grinned. Half amused, half concerned.

'I'd say Clara, it's because you're such a ball of energy,usually, that being sick scares you more than most people. A lot of us are used to being under the weather for one reason or another - I mean, Clara, you don't even get hangovers when we've been on the lash'

Clara smiled at this. It was a proud truth. And then sneezed three times and groaned hoarsely.

'Listen, Clara, how about we skip the next lecture, it's only 'Literary Theory' which we can write about in our sleep at this stage and go to the canteen and relax and have lunch and something warm to drink. The break will do your cold good and we could even knock around some ideas about those topics seeing as we both have to write on them.'

'For Kevin', he added mischievously.

Clara sneezed and smiled.

'Gene, I love you', she said.

And they were such good friends that he knew she meant it platonically..........

[jezebel215]

i am enjoying this a lot! i'm wondering if there could be romance between Clara and her friend or Clara and her teacher and either situation sounds lovely.

[AnnaBettany]

Thanks! Great to get encouragement in your first post! I really appreciate it! It made my day!!! No sneezing in the next part, but need it in order to move the story along as you'll see!!!!

[AnnaBettany]

A Little Support (Part 2)

Conor Hannigan had had something on his mind. For months. He felt like a coward. He was procrastinating about the kind of thing girls usually procrastinated about. Not lads. He wanted to break up with his girlfriend, Clara but it was never the right time.

He was training to be an electrician in their hometown and had had a practical exam in September. He knew if and when he upset Clara he'd be too upset himself to do his best. Then he'd had a driving test. Then she'd had an important assignment due in. In fact she had an important assignment due in what seemed like every bloody week this year, not to mention important meetings with the literary society and getting through to the next round and the next round in debating. He couldn't even keep up with it.

He didn't know why she kept on with so many extra-curricular literary activities when it was her final year and she was doing so many hours in that book shop.......

[AnnaBettany]

A Little Support (Part 2 Contd.)

He knew he couldn't put it off any longer because then it would be nearly time for her important exams that counted towards half her final exam mark, then it would be Christmas.

He was normally a decisive man, practical, uncomplicated. He prided himself on all this. But this was different because he and Clara had been going out since they were twelve. They were childhood sweethearts effectively.......or had been. Things had changed too much though, Clara's life had changed too much for this to work anymore. Unfortunately, he had the terrible feeling she didn't realise this. And even worse, he still half-loved her. Yet, he desperately wanted to end it now.

For a girl of her intelligence, with so much going for her, she seemed oblivious to the state of a relationship that had reached standstill. Perhaps it was her streak of fierce loyalty that made it that way. Or maybe she was just overworked and too busy dissecting the lives of literary characters to have clarity of insight about her own.....

He had to pick up the phone though. In spite of his thumping heart and inability to eat all day. Now or never.

[AnnaBettany]

Clara felt better after lunch with Gene. The hot chocolate he bought soothed her throat a little and though she only had the appetite for half her lunch, the nutrients had strengthened her a little. She also received a text from Allie during lunch saying that after a morning in bed (she'd never made it in in the end) she thought her cold was already improving. This heartened Clara a little. Allie was right that early rest could stave off some colds or greatly improve the symptoms.

She knew she would have to ring in sick to the bookshop today though she felt terrible about it. She'd had to miss hours in September, due to a death in her family and two in Conor's. She'd been flooded in down home and missed one of her weekends last weekend. (She worked there every second weekend this year, as well as four evenings during the week)

'You have to rest now though and attack it when it's still in it's very early stages', said Gene as they made their way outside. The sky was a nasty, petrol-like shade of purple, mixed with dark grey and the raw wind that seemed to be searching for Clara's bones kept blowing the rain straight into herself and Gene in gusts. Clara's navy rain jacket was a good help against the rain and wind but not the cold.

'I dnow' said Clara. 'I'm sensible enough.'

'Gonna cough', she warned suddenly as she made her way, with Gene escorting her, back to her apartment. She threw herself against a wall as she felt an overpowering pre-cough itching, breathless discomfort, her boots landing firmly in a puddle as she did so.

She coughed deeply from her chest and then it aggravated her throat and she started coughing from both at once. To put it mildly, coughing was torture.

'You're definitely getting a very bad cough aswell' said Gene a little worriedly.

'Thanks for ...ehhhhchoooo, huh ugh Choo...stating the obvious' sniffed Clara miserably.

She felt hot and cross suddenly and glared at him. Her back, chest, neck and glands were starting to hurt from the day's sneezing and that last horrible cough.

'Just be more accepting Clara and you'll get over this thing way quicker.'

'Stop telling me wha HAAAATCHOOO EHCHOOO HACHOOO EH EH ...to ...EH UGH EEHSCHOOOO think and feel. You're so bossy sometimes.'

Clara sounded as annoyed as she did exhausted.

'I'm just trying to help,' said Gene, a little defensively. 'I didn't even have to walk you home in the rain or buy you hot chocolate or even expose myself to your germs for this long.'

Clara opened her mouth to apologize but coughed instead which lead to her sneezing three more times before she could finally attempt speech.

'Don't...HACHOOO...ehchoooooo uh uh uh uh uhschoooooooo....catch this from me whatever you do and stop uhschoooooooo acting as if you're my boyfriend. No wonder people get confused.'

She blew her nose miserably.

'I've used all my Uh Uh Chooo tissues.', she said as she wiped her nose with an almost saturated one. The flush in her face usually rosy no longer looked healthy and there was a dullness in her dark blue eyes.

'I'll nip down to the shop to get you some I was going to go to the chemist for cough syrup for you anyway. You really need to watch that cough.'

'You're not ehhh uh ehhh my HACHOOOOO boyfriend. UH UH HUH UGH AH CHOOOOOOOO' The last one really shook her and she started coughing again.'

'I'm ringing Conor when I get in, he's the one supposed to be giving me TLC' she croaked. Jenny can go and get me cough syrup if I need it and I can always use huuuhuuuu ah ugh HUH HUH SCHHHHOOOOOO toilet paper if I need it'

'If,' smiled Conor. 'I hate to say it but you're a bitch when your sick.'

'Sdory,' sniffed Clara. It was true. She was.

Clara was getting her key in the lock, but Jenny who must have heard Clara sneezing outside opened the door for them.

'Hi Clara, hi Gene,' Clara could see the calm girl taking her in sympathetically.

'Allie told me you texted saying you were definitely sick. I didn't think you seemed well this morning but I didn't like to say.'

'In case she tells you any different' said Gene, his brown eyes glinting a little. 'She has been sneezing and blowing her nose all day, has a sore throat, a headache and a horrible cough which has just got worse in the last hour or two and is exhausted and stressed.'

'God, you sound worse than Allie,' said Jenny. Clara had been coughing chestily as Gene spoke and was now wearily wiping her dark pink nose with a saturated tissue'

'Conor wants to talk to you tonight, though, he was trying to get you on my phone. He said he rang you half an hour ago but your battery must have died'

Clara smiled a little. 'That'll....CuuuuSCHOOOO...cheer me up a little'

'Allie is still in bed but she says it's doing her the world of good, her throat isn't as sore as earlier and she's still sneezing all right but hasn't developed a cough'

'That's what I get for HATCHOOO not even realising I was uh uh schoo more than djust a little unwell earlier,' said Clara grumpily.

'Not admitting, I'd say is more likely' said Gene.

'Bye Gene. Tangs for everydig ad...' She blew her nose on the saturated tissue and, her eyes glinted with a hint of her trademark sparkle. 'Sdory, I was such a bitch od the way home. Sdee you tomorrow'

Jenny and Gene both laughed. Clara didn't risk it in case it started her up coughing again.

'I'll be back with the cough syrup and tissues' said Gene.

'I told you, you eh uh eh huh uh uh SHOOOOO shouldn't,' said Clara and was about to say more but started coughing and forgot it.

'See you in a bit, girls,' said Gene as he threw his red hood back up and opened the front door again.

'He's such a gentleman' said Jenny, beaming, after he'd left.

'He is,' said Clara, sighing, and sneezed.

[jezebel215]

i hope Clara comes to her senses and sees what's right in front of her!

[AnnaBettany]

She doesn't know that she's soon to be a 'free agent' yet......but we'll have to see!!! Thanks for feedback!

[AnnaBettany]

'Shit my purse not in my bag....had the feeling I was missing something', said Clara sniffling and groggy. She needed to blow her nose again.

'You're missing your health at the moment, let me go and look for it or text Gene to look for it on his way back from his 'cough syrup expedition', offered Jenny helpfully. Don't go out in the rain again'

'No,' said Clara, sneezing as she blew her nose. Stuffy and runny at once. Great.

'Hichchoo, uh, kishoo, ehtschh, ehtschh, ehtschoo'

The stuffier her nose was getting the tighter the sound of her sneezes was becoming.

'I'll get it myself I'm not an invalid and I'm sure I left it in the ehtschh canteen. Besides, I don't want Gene getting too far on this, (she broke off with a few chesty coughs) 'surrogate boyfriend trip' Ehtschh Ehtschh, Kshuu'

'I'll talk to Conor anyway as soon as I find my purse and get into dry clothes. Yes, dry clothes, Jenny, you know I'm not an idiot. I have a cold, I cancelled my bookshop ehtschh, etschoo, I need to rest up, rest is important and I'll be better in no time and I'll get some TLC off my real boyfriend as soon as I'm lying in front of the T.V'

Clara blew her nose again and God, it really hurt her head, especially her temples.

'Poor Gene', said Jenny, disapprovingly as she watched Clara hitch her hood up again as she departed into the rain, sniffling.....

[AnnaBettany]

It was really bucketing now. Inexplicably Clara felt tears prick the back of her eyes as she made her way back across to the main college building. She felt guilty. Why did Gene acting like a boyfriend at times offend her? There were different kinds of friendship and there's just happened to be a very close one. She'd probably do the same for him. She was just sick and emotional. She had to focus on getting better. It was stupid going out in this rain again - what was she trying to prove? She shivered violently and realised her teeth had started chattering as she tried to blow her nose on a tissue, getting very little out as she got more and more stuffed up. The water had begun to enter her boots. She'd relent and text Gene and ask him to get her vegetables to juice in the juicer Conor had got her last time she had a cold as soon as she got her phone back. Those juices had really helped decongest her, though it certainly hadn't been a cold as bad as this, she thought as she entered the college at the canteen entrance, letting out three painful stopped up sneezes that hurt her back, shoulders, head and throat. Xxxxt, nxxxt, NXTTTTTTTTTTTTTT! She swallowed painfully, blowing her nose to no avail. She drew a few sympathetic glances as she scanned the college tables for her phone and let out another one of those chesty, throaty coughs she'd been trying to keep at bay since the last one had hurt so much. Bring on the cough syrup, Gene, she thought..........