Oh, Is It Love?

It was two in the morning as Leila Costa sat in her kitchen table with a hot cup of green tea. Her body had decided that when she returned to Maryland it was time to get sick. She was pretty exhausted seeing as when she got to her house she immediately started sneezing and her nose was stuffed up. Great. Right after a vacation, was this a joke or something? Negative. It was no joke. She went straight to bed and got under the covers to try and sleep it off, but she couldn’t even fall asleep because she was so stuffed up. Her oxygen was lacking and she had to breathe through her mouth; that’s always the worst part of being sick. Not being able to breathe. So, she finally decided to get out of her bed and try and do something about this because not doing anything wasn’t really going to fix the problem, but there’s always time to sulk. Leila just decided to do it sooner than expected. Once she got up, she felt the itching in her throat…even better! Ten hours had passed and still no sleep. She didn’t even get to sleep in the plane ride much because everybody kept bumping shoulders with her and she was way too excited to see her nephew James.
“Eff my life.” She groaned as she took a sip of her scolding hot tea to try and fix something in her body. Softly hitting her head on the table she closed her trying to breathe and keep a calm atmosphere. Her cellphone rang as she heard it from her bedroom. Leila’s feet got her up and dragged her to her room before it would turn into a missed called.
“Hello?” She croaked onto the phone.
“Hello beautiful.” Nathan Adrian said.
“Huh?” Leila replied as she went back to the kitchen to get her tea and coming back into her room to get in bed.
“You don’t sound so well…are you okay?” He asked gingerly.
“No. I got sick right after I landed. Worst luck ever,” she sipped on her tea some more.
“Aw, you poor girl. Well. There’s not much fun over here without you, you know. Everybody misses you even though you only saw them for three days. Still.” Nathan chuckled.
“I miss them too, and of course you,” Leila replied smiling.
“The closing ceremony is tomorrow and I won’t have anybody to share it with. This makes me sad,” Nathan said.
“I’m sorry Nathan.” The blond frowned.
“It’s okay, you gotta do what you gotta do.”
“Why aren’t you with your buddies?” She asked as she tried to swallow but failed because it hurt so bad.
“I am with them…they’re playing video games.”
“Is it Madden?” Leila piped.
“Yes. They’re still amazed with how much butt you kicked at that game.”
“I have almost all of them. It’s so much fun!” She laughed.
“They think that you’re like ten times hotter now because you like to play video games. It is pretty hot though.” Nathan commented.
“Thanks. I don’t try. I’m just not…girly. I swear I should have been born a boy.” Leila laughed.
“I’m glad you’re not a boy…that would’ve made me a little gay. What? Oh-sure. Leila. Someone for you.” Nathan.
“Leila?” The voice asked.
“Yeah?”
“It’s Ryan Lochte,” Ryan said.
“Ryan! How are you?” Leila asked her friend.
“I’m okay. You sound terrible. Way to get sick after you get home.” The swimmer replied.
“I know right? Stupid atmosphere.” She could tell he was smirking on the other side of the phone.
“Oops. Someone else wants to talk to you. I think you might be even more popular than me and that’s saying something lady.” Ryan chuckled.
“You know it.”
“Hello?”
“Allison?” Leila asked as she coughed and groaned because it hurt so bad.
“Leila! I miss you buddy.” Allison said.
“I miss you guys too…”
“You sound so terrible, I hope you feel better!” Allison exclaimed.
“Me too…I can’t even fall asleep right now; it’s the worst.”
“You poor baby…Nathan wants to talk to you again. I’ll see you soon!”
“Bye,” Leila said.
“Hey. Feel better, and I’ll go visit you as soon as I can. I promise.” Leila could tell that he was smiling in his promise.
“Thanks Adrian.” Leila hung up and put her phone down as she went over to her bathroom to take some Nyquil or whatever she had in her bathroom.

Once in bed again she lay down, closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep remembering how much fun it was shopping with Nathan for their nephews’ presents.

It was the Thursday before she left for Baltimore that they had decided to go shopping and Leila had invited Rebecca as well but she was busy doing interviews and hanging out with her boyfriend; which was completely understandable since Leila and Rebecca didn’t really need to be together twenty-four seven. They knew that they were always there for each other when they need be and they also knew how to give each other their space so it wasn’t a cluster everywhere. Nathan had picked up Leila at her hotel and they made their way around the city again trying to find a store that sold souvenirs or toys so they could get them for the boys. Leila and Nathan started chatting about random things and something that Leila really enjoyed about Nathan was that he was a lot like her, easy going, simple, not complicated, and liked to laugh a lot. He was a guy version of her…and she didn’t mind it at all.
“You laugh a lot,” Leila pointed out as they kept walking.
“Is that a problem?” Nathan inquired as he raised one eyebrow.
“Not at all. I’m the same way if you haven’t noticed.” Leila laughed.
“Oh. I’ve noticed.” Nathan said.
Leila could only laugh as her cheeks were colored in with crimson when she got an idea, “wow. We’re so dumb. Why don’t we just get them an Olympic slash England souvenir? That’s a bonus package right there.”
“You are so right! Let’s go to the Olympic Village and see if they have any over there, if not we’ll just go to some event tonight and get them something there. We are dumb.” Nathan burst out laughing as Leila and he decided to go back from the way they came from.
The weather was nice today at least, it wasn’t sunny, but it wasn’t super gray either so that made Leila happy. She noticed that Nathan was wearing a simple navy blue t-shirt along with some jeans and some sneakers. His sense of style was like hers as well, how weird. She was just wearing a white v neck t-shirt and some jeans along with her chuck taylors. They were probably her favorite shoes and she never took them off. Leila’s hair was in a braid yet again, she was a big fan of braids and it always kept her hair nice and out of her face so she wouldn’t have to worry about what it looked like as time passed by. Specially here in London since it was always humid with the rain waiting to come down any minute, not really knowing when that would happen. Nathan and Leila finally reached the Village and made their way inside to see if anything caught their eye as they made their way down the aisles and aisles of memoirs for people to take home. Leila knew that Jamie would like something sport related, even swimming related. The kid was taking swimming lessons at the moment seeing as her mother wanted him to know how to swim just in case. It was a very important skill that one should have.
“What does your nephew like?” Nathan asked as he scanned the aisle.
“Sports. He would have come here but he got stuck taking swimming lessons. Mom wanted him to learn how to swim.” She smiled.
“Does your mom and dad take care of him?” He asked.
“Yeah, my brother died in a plane crash when he was coming to move to Baltimore. He had gone to Brazil to break up with that retarded girlfriend of his once and for all. She didn’t even want to keep Jamie. I don’t know how a parent could do that…” Leila explained as she picked up a bobble head.
“That’s always tough, sorry about your brother. He must have been a hell of a brother in order to sacrifice so much for a kid.”
“He was. It’s okay. Things happen. His name was Thiago and he died four years ago, my parents started taking care of Jamie ever since. They don’t really mind, they love that guy.” She laughed.
“Well, he has a great aunt.” Nathan winked which caused Leila to laugh again.
“Thanks. I’m sure you’re a great uncle too. You spoil your nephew a lot…Rebecca showed me your twitter and can I say the picture where you’re holding him is super adorable.” She showed off her pearly whites in a sweet smile as she looked at him.
Nathan smiled back at her and went over to her leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Nathan?” Someone asked.
Both Leila and Nathan turned around to see who it was; Michael’s arm candy. What was her name? Morgan? Megan? Misty?
“Oh, hey Megan!” Nathan said.
“Hey. How are you doing?” Megan said as she walked over to the pair.
“I’m pretty well, just shopping for a few people.” Nathan smiled.
“Who’s your friend?” She asks as she looked at Leila.
“This is Leila. She was at the retirement party with us.”
“Oh, I didn’t even see you. I was too engrossed in what Michael and his family were talking about.” Megan said with a little tone.
The tone reminded Leila of Professor Umbridge from Harry Potter. How annoying. If that was what Michael had to listen to everyday, Leila felt pretty b
ad for the dude.
“That’s okay, we weren’t properly introduced anyway,” Leila tried to muster up a smile.
“So Nathan, what are you shopping for? I could totally help you.” Megan gushed at the six foot seven swimmer.
He looked at Leila as if he wanted to burst out laughing while saying, “that’s okay Megan, I got all the help I need.” He grabbed Leila’s hand.
Megan’s eyes traveled down to their intertwined hands; it was as if she couldn’t believe that this was happening. Awkward much? “Well if you ever need any other help let me know, I’ll be happy to help.”
“Shouldn’t you be with Michael?” Nathan piped up curiously.
“He’s doing some interviews and things. I’m kind of alone for the day so I thought I’d get my parents something from here.”
“How nice of you to do that, are you ready to go dear?” Nathan asked Leila as there was a twinkle in his eyes.
“Sure darling. I think we should get Jamie a poster and then maybe you could sign it? Is that too much to ask for?” Leila asked as she smiled sweetly at him; a little too sweet for Megan’s taste.
“That’s a great idea!” Nathan said, “see you later Megan, I hope you find what you’re looking for.” He smiled at her and dragged Leila away from Michael’s arm candy.
“Well that wasn’t awkward at all...” Nathan said as they went to a different aisle away from the one that they had just been in.
“What is her deal with you? She was going gaga all over you. Pretty much raping you with her eyes. I don’t blame her though.” Leila laughed.
“I felt violated too!” Nathan said.
They went over to the posters to see if they could find one of Nathan. They scanned and scanned and finally found one, but it was of the entire USA swimming team. Leila looked at Nathan as he paid for the poster, “you didn’t have to do that! I have money.” She said.
“Exactly. I didn’t have to. I wanted to.” Nathan smiled triumphantly, “and I’m so awesome that I’ll get everybody to sign the poster so Jamie can be a proud owner of an all team poster.”
“You’re lame.” Leila frowned.
“How am I lame?” Nathan furrowed his eyebrows.
“Because you’re not letting me do anything.” She pursed her lips.
“You don’t have to! That’s the beauty of it, and he will love it.”
“Will you let me buy you nephew’s present then?” She asked with her hand on her hips.
“You look super demanding with that pose so I’m going to play it safe and say yes.” Nathan said while putting his hands up in defeat.
“Thank you!” Leila smiled.
“I think he would like a stuffed animal with the Olympic logo on it. He’s pretty young.” Nathan said.
“Sounds like a plan.”

Now here she was, Saturday morning sick as a dog (‘cause dogs are always sick) and feeling like complete shit. Leila had barely slept last night due to her continuous cough and lack of oxygen. Her throat was killing her and she hadn’t even seen her nephew yet. Getting her phone from her nightstand and dialing her mother’s number she waited, “hello?” The other line said.
“Mãe, estou farto! Venha aqui e me fazer sentir melhor?” Leila whined to her mother.
“Yes dear, I will go over. I won’t bring Jamie though because I don’t want him to get sick…or else he’ll get all the other kids sick at the swimming lessons.”
“Fine. Just come and pamper your sick daughter because you love her! Bring some soup or something.” Leila giggled and coughed at the same time.
“Okay, okay. I will be there soon.” Her mother replied.
She hung up and went to the bathroom to splash some water on her face to get some of the redness off of it. Leila thought she probably had a fever hence feeling so hot most of the night, so she did the next best thing she could do of course. Call her mom; moms always know how to make their sick offspring feel better, the ones that care anyway.
As Leila looked at herself in the mirror she noticed that her eyes were a bit bloodshot and her hair was a complete mess. It was sticking out everywhere even if it was in a messy bun and the fact that her cheeks were red did not help the matter. Was it possible to look pale and red at the same time? Going back to her room she got her phone, took a picture of herself with puppy dog eyes and sent it to Nathan so he could see how terribly sick she was. Leila felt like crying because she felt so bad. Colds are the worst ever. Coughing a little bit more she went to get a sweatshirt even though it was pretty warm outside, but she didn’t care. She was sick. She was allowed to mope around. Good thing she didn’t start school for a few weeks along with her hip hop club. Leila had asked the summer off because of the Olympics and because she had exceeded in her work at school. Getting a master’s was no easy task, but it had to be done.
There was a ring at the door and Leila lazily went over to answer it.
“Mommy.” Leila’s words poured out of her lips.
“Dear, you should be in bed. You look like hell.”
“Thanks mom.” Leila smiled at her mother as she led her into her small house.
Her mom walked inside following her as Leila went into her bedroom and lay down and watched her mother come to her aid. Her mother, Rosa, who had the same color of hair as Leila, but her eyes were brown, came and sat next to her, felt her forehead and felt both of her cheeks. The cool hand her mother put on her made her feel ten times better than if she had put ice on them.
“Sweetie, you’re burning up and you don’t even have medicine. Thank goodness for your mom that thinks of everything. I got you the Nyquil, you ran out, that’s why you weren’t able to pass out, and some Dayquil along with some cough drops and of course the soup that you wanted.” She patted her daughter.
Leila smiled, “thanks mommy.”
Rosa gave some soup to Leila as Leila enjoyed the mother-daughter moment between them and she snuggled deeper into her covers. Before she knew it, Leila had fallen asleep and her mother stared at her daughter; she couldn’t help but smile at the fact that her product had been such a wonderful one. Even though her son had died, her daughter was alive and healthy thank the Lord. She really loved Leila as much as the next mother did; she would die for her of course, but she just loved having her as a daughter and being able to be her not just her mother, but her friend.
“Hmmm, I’m going to give you some soup and then the Thera-flu so you might actually get some decent sleep because you look like a ghost that’s burning hot, if that makes any sense.” Rosa chuckled.
“Obrigado mãe, eu te amo.”
Rosa kissed her daughter on her forehead and said, “ditto.”
Before Leila knew it, her mother had whipped up a delicious and Leila’s favorite, French Onion soup which she devoured completely. It was so good that she asked for seconds and seconds she got. Her mother smiled in satisfaction since she knew that Leila didn’t have time to cook because she was sick and when you’re sick you didn’t want to do anything but lay in bed and not greet the world.
“Now, comes the worst part. You can do it.”
“Ugh. Gross. Do you happen to know what day and time it is?” Leila asked just to be sure.
“It’s Sunday afternoon, around four thirty?”
“Oh wow! I actually slept a few hours; I thought it was Sunday morning.”
Her mother gave her the steamy cup filled with the grossest medicine ever known to man, but she had to, there was a reason she still drank it; because it worked. Leila pinched her nose and chugged the damn thing as fast as she could so she could brush her teeth and get a mouthful of mouthwash.
“Yuck!” Leila gasped as she got up from the bed and went over to brush her teeth, but feeling successful at the fact that she was able to hold it in.
When she went back to bed, her mom was sitting down on the bed looking at the photograph on the nightstand. It was of the four of them, her dad, her mom, Thiago and her.
“I miss him too mom.” Was all she said as she lay back down.
“He was such a good son, a good brother, a good father.”
“He was.”
“I wish I could have told him that I loved him more than anything in the world. Speaking of world; how was your trip? You just got back and called saying you were sick and came here and haven’t talked to any of us until today.” Rosa smiled.
“Well you see…” Leila trailed off and then giggled as she began to tell her mother everything that happened, excluding Michael.
Nobody really needed to know about him…right?
“I demand to meet this Nathan Adrian swimmer; he sounds like a dreamboat!” Her mother giggled.
“He really is mom.” Leila got her phone and showed her a picture of Nathan and her at the airport before her departure.
“He is so cute! What a nice young man taking you to the airport and calming you down before you got on the plane. I’m surprised that you were able to make it through considering that you just hate flying.”
“The plane could totally crash and burn at any given moment.” Rosa’s daughter scowled.
“Well it didn’t so. Yeah. Just try to sleep, I’ll be here until you fall asleep and then when you wake up, send me a message to let me know that you feel better or not so I can tell you how to take care of yourself…”
“I know how to take care of myself. It’s just way more fun when someone else does.” Leila smiled sheepishly.
Her mother gave her that look; you know the one. Do what I tell you or else. So Leila closed her eyes and tried to think of something pleasant to drift off to sleep too and it wasn’t that hard because she immediately thought of Rebecca Soni and the fellow swimmers that she had met while being in London. She hoped that she could feel a lot better whenever she woke up because she really wanted to see her nephew. Leila Costa was finally able to get into a deep slumber after a few minutes of her mother kissing her hot cheek…
Maybe she was delirious because she had slept so long, maybe she still had a fever, but she heard her phone ring and grunted as she struggled to find it on her nightstand to answer it.
“You rang?” Leila grunted into the phone not very happy about the fact that she was woken up.
“Leila?” The deep voice replied.
“Who is this?” She said. Leila let out a yawn.
“Michael…”
“Phelps?” Her hand took her phone away from her ear and she stared at the screen not really believing it.
“That same one.” He said cautiously.
“Can I help you?” The blond asked him not even bothering to question how he got her number.
“I heard you were ill. How are you feeling?”
“Much better thank you, I actually slept some…aren’t you supposed to be on a plane?”
“I arrived five hours ago, jet lagged…it’s like three in the morning.” He stated.
“Oh I see. So, you decided to check up on me out of boredom?” She smiled to herself.
“Maybe. I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
“Me too, my throat still hurts like a bitch, but I’m hanging in there. Colds are the worst ever.” Leila said.
“I know. Especially when you have to get up and go training, but you really don’t want to because you feel like crap.” Michael chuckled.
This was weird Leila thought. Talking to him was actually easier than she thought; she blushed.
“Yes! So glad it’s summer right now. Where’s your arm candy?” The Brazilian bit her lip, she shouldn’t have asked, now he’s going to think she’s butting in.
“She flew back to California, now who should be minding her own business?” Michael playfully asked.
“I know. I’m sorry I asked.”
“Are you interested?” He asked in a more serious tone.
“That’s the question I keep asking myself when your name flashes across the screen or I see your face plastered everywhere…” Leila confessed.
“So. What do you think?”
“I think. That you should find out.” She giggled.
“I don’t know about that…sometimes I think Megan is with me because she wants the world to know who she is, even though we kept our relationship secret for a good six months.”
“She’s sketchy, I don’t know what to tell you. I’ve only met her twice.”
It was strange how they could so casually talk about this like it wasn’t a problem, “I don’t know, sometimes she’s really nice and actually wants to be with me and other times she’s just clinging there.”
“Arm candy,” Leila said in a sing song voice.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I just wanted to see how you were and stuff so I guess I’ll let you go back to sleep.” Michael said.
“Thank you for calling; I really appreciate it. Who gave you my number?”
“Lochte. He said, ‘just in case,’” He laughed.
This caused Leila to giggle, “I hope you can fall asleep Phelps. You kind of need it.”
“Yeah. I kind of do.”
“Oh, that means that we’re living in the same city now. Interesting.”
“Extremely.” Michael responded.
“Alright, I’m going to hang up now.”
“Sweet dreams Leila.” Michael whispered into the phone.
This caused Leila to get shivers down her spine, “goodnight.”

Leila fell asleep only after seeing that Nathan had responded to her message with a photo of himself giving her that smile that she loved so much along with a hand-heart with a caption saying : feel better.
She wished it was someone elses face.

Translations- Mãe, estou farto! Venha aqui e me fazer sentir melhor?- Mom, I'm so sick! Will you come here and make me feel better?
Obrigado mãe, eu te amo- Thank you mom, I love you.