For Us

Sean was already there waiting, and as soon as he saw us, he opened up the passenger’s seat and took me from Stella.

“I can walk,” I weakly mumbled, but Sean swept me off my feet anyways.

He gently sat me in the passenger’s seat and leaned over to buckle me in, barely even looking back at Stella as he talked to her. “Can you make it to work on time?”

“No,” she sighed. “I can’t be late again. Fuck!”

Sean immediately unhooked me and pulled me bridal style into his arm, tossing his keys at her. “Stell, I know you’re not comfortable with this, but go. Get to work. Take the Escalade. I’ll take your car back to my place.”

Her eyes widened. “Sean, I don’t know. I—”

“If I get even the tiniest scratch on it, I’ll replace the entire fucking car,” he promised. “You need to get to work. I’m not kidding.”

I started pushing against Sean. “Let me walk, please? I’m fine.”

“Not a chance.”

Stella mumbled something incoherent under her breath and picked the keys up off the ground. “Fine, Sean, but I’m serious. Be careful, and El, whatever you do, don’t throw up in it? I’m begging you. Roll the window down or something.”

“She’ll be fine,” Sean assured her, and he set me down on my feet so he could open up the backseat. I didn’t know what he was doing, but there was a backpack full of stuff he pulled out and a small garbage can. “She’ll have this, so don’t worry. Just go.”

I didn’t think she was gonna leave. Like, she started to climb into the Escalade but then jumped right back out, insisting she couldn’t let anyone else drive her baby.

Sean was quite stubborn, and then I had to throw up in the garbage can. It was absolutely disgusting, but this time, the taste was the worst part. It was bad enough that it burned the entire way up from my stomach, but the taste this time was worse than the burn.

“Kill me,” I moaned, and I covered my mouth with my hands. “Fuck, this is disgusting.”

Sean handed me a twenty ounce bottle of Mountain Dew, and I swear, if I hadn’t just thrown my organs up into the bucket, I probably would’ve kissed him. Fuck the fact that I was supposed to pretend to be mad at him. The Mountain Dew was incredible, and it washed the taste away.

Sean had a fucking lid for the trash can, and it sealed the smell inside.

He was a fucking miracle worker.

Damn.

Stella left, but only because Sean threatened to pour the bucket on her car next time he was anywhere near it if she didn’t. She was pissed, but she was also running late. Sean won that battle rather quickly.

I was impressed.

Even though I was able to walk on my own, it was a struggle, so I didn’t protest at all when Sean wrapped one arm around my waist and held onto me. He held most of my weight, so it was much easier to stumble towards Stella’s car.

And, you know, I didn’t mind walking around New York City almost glued to Sean’s side. Like the couple I had always wanted to be.

We made it back to Sean’s place before I had to throw up again. Instead of bringing the garbage can inside, he threw it in the dumpster behind his building and helped me into the elevator. You had to have a passcode into the elevator, so only people who lived there could actually get on.

My entire body was covered in a thin layer of sweat by the time we got up to his condo, and I was about to throw up again. Almost immediately, I slipped out of my sweater—admittedly, I was in just a bra at this point, but I was fucking hot—and ran back to the bathroom.

Sean casually walked in after me, as if it was no big deal that I was throwing up in a disgusting way. Throwing up is one thing, but it sounded nasty and violent. Like all of my insides were trying to come out, but they were stuck for some reason.

Sean put my hair in a loose ponytail, out of reach of the puke, and started wetting a rag while I finished up.

He knelt down behind me and placed the rag on my shoulder. The initial cold from it made me jump, but it immediately soothed my burning skin. He rubbed the rag down my arms, across my chest, over my stomach, and down my back.

Here I was, half naked just like the other night, but instead of being horny and, you know, a guy, Sean was cooling me off. Getting the sweat off of me.

Very tenderly, almost like he wasn’t sure if he should or not, he kissed my shoulder. “I’m gonna take you to bed now, sweetheart.”

I felt my lips tug up towards a smirk, but I didn’t smirk. I was too weak to smirk but instead leaned back against him, let my eyes close so the light could escape me.

Light hurt. Light sucked. It made my head ache.

“You know, if I didn’t feel so shitty, I’d take that another way.”

Sean, though worried, laughed a soft and low laugh, and he nestled his face into the curve of my neck. “Mmm. Just wait. You’ll feel better soon.”

“Oh, so that’s what you’re doing,” I murmured. As his lips pressed against the base of my neck, I lost all coherent thought.

Sean shook his head, though still burrowed next to mine, and continued placing soft kisses up and down my neck. Gentle, loving kisses that sent a shockwave of emotions rippling through me. “Whether we have sex in the future or not, I just want you to be happy and healthy.”

“Well, you’re halfway there,” I said.

I hadn’t really thought about saying it, but that usually worked out for the better. Sometimes, thinking leads to overthinking, and things that need to be said aren’t. That had happened numerous times with things I needed to say to Sean, but not this time.

I could feel his smile widen to a new degree. “You’re happy?”

“I’m with you, aren’t I? That’s just a given.”

Sean didn’t really know what to say, but his smile didn’t fade. His arms wrapped around my naked stomach, pulling me closer to him, as his face buried deeper into me.

“You’re not very good at this mad thing, are you?” he asked.

I pressed my lips together and let my head fall over onto his. “Not really. Never really have been.”

I expected him to just stay this way until I moved, but he didn’t. He stood up and pulled me bridal style into his arms again, but this time, his eyes focused in mine.

He put me down on his bed carefully, and he immediately started untying my shoes. “Tomorrow, I’ll go by Stella’s and get you some of your clothes, but for tonight, you can just wear anything of mine.”

I began chewing on my bottom lip as he slid me out of my shoes and stood from the bed. “It’s kinda hot, so, um, can I have just a t-shirt?”

“Of course,” Sean whispered, and he leaned over to place a tender kiss on my forehead. “I’ll grab one and let you get changed. You need any help? If not, I’m gonna go make some soup for you.”

I shook my head. “I can do it . . . thanks.”

Sean nodded and pushed himself off the bed effortlessly, taking my shoes with him as he walked out of his bedroom and down the hallway.

I didn’t move for a minute, just stared after him. Even when I heard rustling in the kitchen, Sean getting me some soup, I just kinda stared. And smiled.

I couldn’t remember a time where a guy had made me feel this way, like I was more than just a piece of meat. Maybe that’s why everything was so different with Sean. Because to each other, we weren’t just sex toys. Everything wasn’t just about getting laid as often as we could.

With the two of us, it was about so much more, and I didn’t worry about the future anymore. Along the way, Sean and I would fight. Man would we fight. Honestly, I could imagine some couple counselors telling us that we just didn’t need to be together.

But my parents were told the same thing when they went. The man said, “Look, I don’t usually recommend this, but I think you guys just need to divorce.”

They didn’t listen, though. They never went back to him and decided to work out their own problems, and sure enough, they were happier than any couple I had ever seen.

It was how I imagined things would go when I found my husband. We would fight a lot, but at the end of the day, we would love each other more than anything else in the world.

I barely remembered that I needed to change before Sean got back in with the soup. I slithered out of my bra, into his shirt, and out of my pants just in time for him to come in with a steaming bowl of soup on one of those little wooden lap tables they make so you can eat in bed.

Along with the soup, he had a glass of Mountain Dew in a plastic cup with a lid and straw—a tumble cup that isn’t supposed to spill, even though it does. The little circle around the straw helps keep you from losing it, though.

I took a sip of the Mountain Dew immediately and looked down at what Sean had brought me. Everything was perfect, just how I would’ve made it myself.

Chicken noodle soup with the chicken picked out, a couple pieces of bread to dip in the soup afterwards, and a stack of three of my all-time favorite movies to choose from.

“How do you remember all of this?” I asked. “Most of it was said in passing, but you remember every little detail . . . how?”

Sean very carefully climbed onto the bed beside me, kicking his shoes off along the way, before answering. “You remember even the little things about the most important person in your life, El. And that’s what you were . . . still are.”

In that moment, I felt infinite. I felt like I was just living in a fairytale or a wonderful dream I would wake up from.

It was one of those moments that if I woke up and realized that it wasn’t real, I would probably stay in bed for the day. I wouldn’t wanna face reality because my dream reality was better.

But I was too uncomfortable for this to be a dream. I felt too sick.

And, you know, such a wonderful moment was broken up by the fact that I had to run back into the bathroom to throw up whatever it was that made me so sick.

Fuck. It had to have been the chicken.