Zoë's Rug

[StaraiRoalanstjay]

Ok then...

So I decided to take a tiny little break away from writing the next part of The Holiday to write some allergy fiction. The result of that is this short one-shot about a girl suffering from dust allergies, as told by her girlfriends room-mate Haden. Enjoy!

___________________

My room-mate Zoë bought an old rug from the vintage market in town.
It's an ugly looking mess of a thing, but she adores it. She hung it up on the wall of the room as a tapestry (and insisted I moved my posters and art prints to the opposite side to make room for it). She said that it gives a 'vintage edge' to the room, whatever that means. I personally think that it should've been thrown out years ago, but I suppose I can't really complain. She hates the way I painted my wardrobe (Black with bright green stars) but she puts up with it because it isn't hers, so I should do the same. The rug is really dusty and dank as well, so I said she should at least clean it. She said that it was far too old to be washed with modern techniques, so she would try and take it to a specialist when she had the time, but for now it was going to have to stay as it was. 
She went out to meet her girlfriend soon after, leaving me to hoover up the dust that had fallen on the floor when we put it up. Then I got back to writing my essay and forgot all about it.
That night, Zoë returned with her girlfriend Jade not far behind. As soon as Jade sat down on one of the chairs, she sneezed. "HihTISSHH!!" She pressed a hooked finger under her nose and bobbed her head forward. "Oh, bless me," she said, smiling. Then her smile vanished as her tiny nose began to twitch. She half-closed her eyes and hovered her hand in front of her face. "Hih... hih..." She tilted her head back, so I could see her nostrils flared out into wide circles. "Hih... HihTISSHHH!!!" Again, she pressed her finger under her nose. 
"Bless you, babe," said Zoë. "Do you want a tissue?"
"*sniff* Yes please," she rubbed her nose with her finger. Zoë passed her the box of tissues we keep on the table. Jade took one and delicately wiped her nose, sniffling as she did so. Then, she looked to the wall. "Oh, is that the rug?"
"Yeah!" Zoë hopped up and went to stand near it. I rolled my eyes and tutted, making her laugh. "Haden doesn't like it. He thinks it's 'ugly'," she said, giving the rug a small tweak. As she did so, more dust puffed off of it into the air. I sighed as I was probably the one who was going to have to clean it up.
"Hih... hih..." I turned to see Jade holding her tissue halfway up to her nose. "HihTISSHHH!!! TISSHHH!!" She caught her sneezes in the tissue, squeezing her eyes shut. "Oh... *sniff* I'm sorry, I... hih... I think it's... hih..." She turned to the side, keeping the tissue held to her nose. "HihTISSHHH!!! Oh..." She sniffed and wiped her nose. "I think it's the dust, Zoë..." 
"Oh!" Zoë gasped and blushed. "I'm so sorry, Jade!" she gave her the rest of the tissue box. 
Jade took a fresh tissue and dabbed her twitching nose. "*sniff* It's ok babe, you... hih... you didn't... hih..." She trailed off and held the tissue just under her flared nostrils. "HihTISSHH!! ...you didn't know I had allergies," she finished. She lowered her tissue as she sniffed, her nose crinkling momentarily.
"Perhaps we should try and use the vacuum on the rug?" I suggested. "We can't have you being a sneezy mess all night."
"Yeah, the hoover might work," Zoë nodded. 
We made Jade sit right in the corner of the room, as far away from the dusty rug as possible, while we hoovered the rug. I couldn't hear over the noise of the vacuum, but I could see Jade sneezing almost every 30 seconds. Her nose trembled under her finger and her chest rose and fall with each hitch of her breath. I had never seen someone so allergic before. 
She sneezed yet again just as I switched off the hoover. "HihTISSSHHH!!" She managed to catch it in a new tissue that she'd just taken from the box. She gave her nose a quiet blow and sniffled. 
"I'm sorry about this, guys," she said as she rubbed her nose with her finger. I noticed it was becoming a little pink from all the attention she was giving it. 
"It's no problem," said Zoë. She turned to me and said: "We should empty the hoover outside so it doesn't affect her more."
I nodded and picked up the vacuum. "We should change our clothes too."
I took the hoover and a refuse bag outside to the courtyard, near the bins. I emptied the contents of the hoover-bag into the refuse bag and threw it into the dumpster.
When I got back up to the room, I saw Jade sitting on Zoë's bed. She was holding a crumpled tissue to her nose, on the verge of sneezing again. "Hih... hih-hih...HihTISSHHH!!!" She bent forward at the release. 
"Bless you," I said. 
"Thanks, Haden," she sighed, keeping the tissue to her nose, as if she was trying to shield it from the dust. I went to the wardrobe and grabbed myself a change of clothes.

________________

 

Edited October 27, 2016 by StaraiRoalanstjay
Spelling and grammar

[SexyGodlikeHair]

This was really good!! Different perspective too, which was cool

[M214186]

Ahhh endless allergic sneezing.....?

[StaraiRoalanstjay]

7 hours ago, SexyGodlikeHair said:

This was really good!! Different perspective too, which was cool

Ah, thank you very much! 

Yeah, I wanted a bystander's telling of the story who felt indifferent about her sneezing (wasn't enjoying it, wasn't repulsed or annoyed by it, but wanted to do something to help) because I'm so used to writing about fetishists witnessing someone sneezing or really kind, caretaker-y people looking after the sneezer, so I wanted a little bit of a change up. I'm glad you liked the direction!

[StaraiRoalanstjay]

6 hours ago, M214186 said:

Ahhh endless allergic sneezing.....?

I know, it's great  

[NoV]

You have a really pleasurable way of writing allergic sneezing fits  Also, I really have a thing for old, dusty objects making people sneeze uncontrollably 

[StaraiRoalanstjay]

1 hour ago, NoV said:

You have a really pleasurable way of writing allergic sneezing fits  Also, I really have a thing for old, dusty objects making people sneeze uncontrollably 

Aw, thanks! I do as well, or people going into really old, dusty shops and having to get out of there quick because they're sneezing so much...

[doglover111]

I would love to see this continued 

[StaraiRoalanstjay]

Just now, doglover111 said:

I would love to see this continued 

Hate to say it, but this is definitely a one-shot...  I'm working on a story called 'The Holiday' at the moment, featuring my OC's Chris Jenner and James Waite, and all of my creative effort is going into that. This was a little refresher/break story!