A Walk In The Park (female)

[Chanel_no5]

***Note***

I wanted to play a little with flower allergies, and @AnonyMouse suggested this scenario. Not sure if this is at all what you were thinking, but it is what my mind worked out.  

This is a oneshot. It will not be continued.

 

***

The park bench was a tiny island in a vast sea of lush, colourful, blooming flowers. A tiny and completely insufficient port in the impending allergic storm.

Yes, Beth knew she was being overly dramatic, but that didn’t change facts; she was surrounded by a myriad of blossoms and she was allergic to the majority of them. The combination of pollen and the strong, sickly-sweet fragrances was driving her sensitive nose insane. She swore she could actually feel when the pollen got into her nose; it was like inhaling small specks of fire, slowly spreading from the tip of her nose, into her nasal passages, flaring up inside her sinuses…

I am not going to sneeze. I am not going to be an allergic mess today. Not now.

She struggled against her own body and the allergic response it so desperately wanted to unleash. Normally she would have escaped this perfumed pollen-heavy hell, but she couldn’t just up and leave.

“Hey, Beth, you okay?”

She looked down at the woman resting her head on her lap. Daria was everything Beth wasn’t – impulsive, bubbly, talkative, touchy-feely – and normally Beth wouldn’t even have considered a second date, much less a third, but there was something about Daria that made her smile. Just like she did now, despite the irritation spreading throughout her entire head.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Do I talk too much?” Daria asked and sat up. “You’d tell me if I bore you, right?”

Beth smiled again.

“You’re not boring me.” She had to sniff lightly, but hoped Daria wouldn’t pay attention either to that or to how watery her eyes was starting to become. “Really. I like listening to you t-talking.” She pressed a knuckle against one of her nostrils for a moment, willing the sneeze lurking within to stay back.

That was close.

She couldn’t afford to let even a single sneeze out, because once she got started, her nose would simply not be satisfied until it had carried out a full-on allergy attack, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Beth was used to being in control of every aspect of her life, from her job to her home to her hobbies, but she had no say whatsoever when it came to her own body’s activities. It was pathetic.

“Really?” Daria asked. Beth nodded, feeling the itch fluttering inside her nose and not wanting to open her mouth and speak for fear of setting it off. Daria laid back down on the bench, once more resting her head on Beth’s lap. Beth pulled her fingers through Daria’s short, curly black hair and felt the other woman relax with a pleased sigh.

“Oh, that feels so good, keep doing it,” Daria begged, and Beth was happy to oblige. Daria started talking again, and as much as Beth enjoyed listening to her, she couldn’t stay focused.

A light breeze ruffled the flowers and shook loose more pollen from them, then carried these spawns of the devil in the air, the very fragrant air, and it seemed the breeze was purposely targeting her itchy, quivering nose. More pollen and more of the heavy, thick flower scent forced itself into her reddening nostrils and Beth had to hold her breath to avoid responding with a sneeze.

No, oh God, please stop itching. I’m not gonna sneeze, it’s not gonna happen.   

She brought her free hand up to her nose and rubbed it hard. For a moment, it seemed to do the trick, but the tickle returned even before she had time to lower her hand again.

Her breath began to hitch quietly.

No, no, no, no! She moaned inwardly, absolutely horrified over what was about to happen. I can’t sneeze, not here, not now, please, oh God please no…!

The burning, agonising need to sneeze only grew stronger the more she tried to fight it, and the only way to make the agony stop was to give in. Tears formed in the corners of her amber eyes and threatened to ruin her makeup, but that was the least of her problems.

“I’m sorry, I, I h-have to… uhhh… huuuyiSSHH!” She sneezed into the sleeve of her light jacket, turning as far away from Daria as she could. Her body convulsed as she tried to suppress the sneeze as much as possible, seemingly every muscle in her body clenched against the involuntary action. She was prepared for a second outburst – she never sneezed just once, nope, that would be too dignified – but it shied away right before the release. She sniffled and hesitantly lowered her arm again.

“Bless you,” Daria said.

“Thanks, I’m sorry about that,” Beth muttered. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment, but even so, that was nothing compared to the burning within her nose. The sneeze seemed to have aggravated her tormented nasal passages even further. She might still be able to fight it, but not for much longer. Not if she stayed where the flowers grew in such abundance, anyway.

“Come on, let’s get going,” she said and stood up. Daria looked a bit confused, but got up and followed her.

While she had her back to Daria, Beth took the opportunity to rub her nose as violently as she could, hoping that harsh treatment would scare it into submission, but alas, it did the opposite.

“HuAASSHHH!”

The sudden sneeze burst out of her uncovered and unrestrained, and a cloud of fine spray erupted from her mouth and nose. She clasped both hands over her mouth as if she could take it back.

That’s enough. No more sneezing. Just stop being allergic!

“Bless you again,” Daria said warmly and put an arm around Beth’s waist. “Summer colds are the worst, better look out. Do you need a nurse?”

“I don’t have a cold,” Beth snapped and immediately regretted her tone. “I’m fine,” she added in a softer voice.

“Good,” Daria said and stroke a coil of shiny dark chestnut hair out of Beth’s face. “Because I was kind of hoping we could go out for dinner tomorrow.”

Beth wanted to say yes, but she had a feeling that Daria wouldn’t be very interested in being around her after witnessing the allergic sneezing fit that was about one sniffle away from exploding from her. The itch in her nose was almost squirming, it was pure torture, and she couldn’t decide if holding back would be more painful than letting them out.

“We’ll see,” she managed to say, her voice sounding perhaps a little bit choked and strained, but nowhere near revealing the level of desperation that she was currently feeling.

When she looked around, she realised that instead of escaping the flowers, she had unknowingly walked into a part of the park that was even more flourishing with the pollen-spewing, perfumed spots of colour. They were everywhere! The smell was so strong it would give anyone a headache, no doubt, but poor Beth felt it more like a punch straight to her already anguished nose.

Daria had left her side for a moment. Beth barely noticed, but if she noticed at all, she supposed that the other woman was just checking her phone or something.

Oh my God, I have to get out of here!

Looking around she realised that it didn’t matter which way she’d choose; it wasn’t a sea of flowers, it was an ocean. In every direction were these sweet-smelling allergy traps, just waiting to ensnare her in a vicious allergy fit. Her nose felt as if she had snorted sneezing powder. Oh, the allergy attack was imminent, but she forced it back with all her willpower, knowing this was the last time she’d be able to hold it back. She needed to get away from this. Now.

She turned around to tell Daria the first lie she could think about to get away, but before she could speak, she found herself staring straight at her doom.

The other woman held out a quickly assembled bouquet of flowers. Pink, purple, yellow, white, various shapes, but they all had one thing in common; they were dripping with pollen.

“If I ask you out with flowers, then?” Daria said, smiling hopefully. The smile died on her lips when Beth took a step back rather than accepting the flowers.

“What?”

This was the moment where Beth’s self-control first tilted and then collapsed altogether, as her miserably allergic nose finally had enough with this torture. Her nostrils, already a shade of crimson, twitched and flared as she gasped in enough air to let out the long-awaited sneezing fit. The urge to sneeze was so overwhelming it felt like she had needles prickling her sinuses.

“Hih-yiSSCHuu! HuuyISSSHHH! ISSCHEW! HuhyiIISSHHah!”

She sniffled and tried to cover her mouth and nose with her arm, but she wasn’t sure if she succeeded, and honestly, at this point she didn’t even care anymore. Tears streamed down her face and smeared her makeup, watery mess trickled out of her nose faster than she could wipe or sniffle it away, and she still had to sneeze.

“AESSHH! AEESSCHHH! AEISSSHHHooo!”

She bent over, sneezing so hard she felt lightheaded, and yet there were even more sneezes forcing their way out.

“AyIISSHHH! HIH-yiSSHHUU! ISSSHHUH! Uh… huh… huhaEEESSHHH!”

Daria would never look at her again after this disgusting outburst, but that was a worry for later, right now the only thing Beth needed to do was to get these sneezes out so she could breathe like a human being again, rather than in quick, shallow gasps.

“S-so sorry… heiiISSSSH! EISSSHHH! AIISSHHHoo! I’m a-ah… ahhhll… ugh… allergic… huhEAASSCHHH!”

“Yeah, I figured. Wow,” Daria said and put an arm around her waist again, this time to steady her. She had tossed the bouquet away and had her entire focus on her extremely sneezy date. “Why didn’t you say anything before we went into the park?”

“I… aiSSSHH! I thought… huhh…. aeeeSSSHHuu!”

Daria giggled a little.

“You know what, never mind. Just save your breath, you need it. Right now, we’re just going to get you out of here and then stuff you with Benadryl.”

“I’m so sorry, I… aIIISSHHH! I’m so disgusting… EERRSSHHHew!”

“Oh God, don’t worry about that,” Daria said and handed her a couple of crumpled but fresh tissues that she fished out of her pocket. “Doesn’t bother me at all, I’m more concerned about you.”

Hearing this reassurance spoken with no hesitation, while feeling Daria’s supportive arm around her, Beth relaxed a little. Maybe there were still hopes for a fourth date after all. Almost as if she read her mind, Daria said;

“At least I learned today that I shouldn’t bring you flowers for our next date.”

 

 

[Klingon]

excellently written!

[Winged]

You are the queen of hayfever   I'm also a huge fan of "oh shit I can't sneeze once because then I won't be able to stop sneezing" scenarios, and this one was super great. Loved it!

[Chanel_no5]

17 hours ago, Kurn'la said:

excellently written!

Thank you!

14 hours ago, Winged said:

You are the queen of hayfever   I'm also a huge fan of "oh shit I can't sneeze once because then I won't be able to stop sneezing" scenarios, and this one was super great. Loved it!

Aww, thank you!  Oh yeah, that is such a delicious scenario, isn't it?  

[NoV]

On 12/3/2016 at 7:49 PM, Chanel_no5 said:

This was the moment where Beth’s self-control first tilted and then collapsed altogether, as her miserably allergic nose finally had enough with this torture. Her nostrils, already a shade of crimson, twitched and flared as she gasped in enough air to let out the long-awaited sneezing fit. The urge to sneeze was so overwhelming it felt like she had needles prickling her sinuses.

For paragraphs such as this you will always be master of the female allergic fics - especially as it leads to a sneezing fit to die for  

[starpollen]

[Sneezingnonstop]

This is absolute hayfever gold, amazing work!!!

[Chanel_no5]

On ‎2016‎-‎12‎-‎04 at 11:07 PM, NoV said:

For paragraphs such as this you will always be master of the female allergic fics - especially as it leads to a sneezing fit to die for  

It's all in the buildup... almost all, anyway.  

 

On ‎2016‎-‎12‎-‎05 at 2:50 AM, starpollen said:

 

 

On ‎2016‎-‎12‎-‎06 at 5:41 AM, Sneezingnonstop said:

This is absolute hayfever gold, amazing work!!!

Thank you, I'm really glad you enjoyed it!  

[Shay]

Great little story. You're always so good at describing allergic torture and I just love fics where there's a huge buildup before and intense prolonged fit.