Backdated Log: Sniffling, Sneezing, Coughing, Aching So You Can Rest Better Medicine
Who: Millie, Rowan
When: Friday, December 3, 2018
Where: Rowan’s Apartment
What: Kleenex delivery
“Bless you.” Millie smiled sympathetically at Rowan as she answered the door obviously run down from the cold. She held up the grocery bag. “I brought supplies.”
“Hi.” Rowan sniffled in greeting and looked at the bag Millie was holding up. “Thank you. Come in, come in. And don’t even think about making fun of my congestion.”
Millie bit the inside of her cheek to avoid laughing out loud at the slurred congested words, but could not stop the wink. “Wouldn’t dream of it, will save that for later.”
She made her way inside and into the living room. "We've got Kleenex, tea, honey, and some soup and crackers just in case. Are you feeling any better?”
Rowan subdued a sneeze and watched as Millie emptied the contents of the bag on the coffee table. “Have I told you lately that I love you?” She smiled gratefully and flopped back on the couch, securing her blanket around her shoulders. “A little. Head and throat still hurt, but at least my fever’s down. You and Michael are seriously lifesavers.”
“You haven’t told me that today, no.” Millie teased her friend, tucking the blanket around her legs making sure she was completely covered. “Good on the fever being down too. Would you like some tea?”
Rowan nodded, pulling her knees up towards her chest and resting her chin on them. “Thank you. I’ve just been living off the soup Michael made.”
“You got it. It’s a good thing you aren’t in need of something more complicated than heated water.” Millie teased as she stood and made her way to the kitchen with the tea and honey. Row’s kitchen was set up in a very logical way making it easy to find the things she needed, and she had the tea made in little or no time.
“Here you go.” She passed the hot mug to her and sat down on the couch next to the ailing woman. “How long have you been feeling bad?”
Row accepted the mug and blew at it to cool its contents down. “Since Tuesday. The worst part is I can’t taste,” she croaked, shaking her head at the injustice.
“Silly woman. You should have called earlier. I hate when I’m sick. Nothing tastes good and everything hurts.” She tucked the blanket back around her friend to keep her warm. “Did you say Michael dropped by with soup?”
Rowan finished her tentative sip before nodding. “I didn’t think it’d be that bad, but it just got progressively worse as the week went on.” She explained how Mike came over and made her soup in the middle of the night, despite her protests that it was late. It still made her smile a little that he’d do that for her.
“That was really very sweet of him. Did he hang with you for a while? Sometimes despite being all whiney when I am not feeling well, I like having company.” Millie picked up the box of tissues offering them to Row as she she sneezed again.
Row nodded and thanked her for the tissues. “I swear I’ve used a mountain of these already.” She sat back again. “Yeah, it was. He stayed until his morning shift.”
“That’s really good that he was able to stay and take care of you a little.” Millie smiled gently and patted Row’s leg. “Julia is with her dad this weekend. I can hang out for a while if you want.”
“Yeah. He’s been really great to have around,” Rowan agreed again, practically murmuring into her soup. She tried not to dwell on just how true that statement was as she smiled back at Millie. “Well, you did bring me soup and Kleenex. Can’t exactly kick you out now, can I?” she teased.
“Sure you can, but then I would be sad.” Millie fake pouted a little for effect before grinning back. “I was so tired the other night, I forgot to ask, how was your Thanksgiving weekend?”
“Oh, shush. You had a lot going on.” Row set the mug on her coffee table before waving her off. “It was pretty good. Hectic, but good. If you think I have an appetite, imagine cooking for all my relatives.” She smiled fondly and shook her head, leaning back against the sofa. “Oh, did I tell you about my nephew Colin? I went to his school play and I think you’ll be interested to know who his crush is. It’s the cutest thing.”
Millie scoffed. “The whole family has a similar appetite? Watch out world.” She took a sip of her tea, placing the mug carefully back on the side table before pulling her legs up under her. “Colin has a crush? 8-year-old crushes are so cute. Who pray tell is he crushing on?”
“Your niece, actually. But technically I’ve been sworn to secrecy, so you didn’t hear it from me.”
“He has a crush on Abby? Aww. That’s even cuter. My lips are sealed.” Millie twisted her fingers over her lips pretending to lock them and smirked. “Abby spent the night right before Thanksgiving so Quinn could do the holiday cooking. You know how useless I am in the kitchen so I was banned. Anyway, she gave us an encore of the school show. It was so good. I cannot believe how well she plays the guitar. I forgot that your nephew is in her class. And you went to the performance?”
“Yeah, my cousin Greg couldn’t make it, so I went in his place. I would’ve gone anyway, though. I ended up running into Mike and Abby afterwards. I swear she must be a prodigy or something. Or so says Colin.” Rowan smiled. “Man, I miss crushes at that age. Things were so much simpler then.” Rowan leaned back against the cushions, not really knowing where that was coming from.
“A lot of things were simpler then. Relationships were easier, and the problems we thought were earth shattering, a drop in the bucket compared to what we deal with now.” Millie chuckled lightly. “You have to get to feeling better soon. We have a Christmas shopping road trip to go on and soon.”
“That should totally be on a bumper sticker.” Rowan laughed and curled onto her side, shifting so her head was against Millie’s lap. “Seriously though. I miss the days when my biggest issues were my hair, my sarcasm, and boys who pushed me in the dirt to show their affection.” She watched the television screen load as Millie put on a movie. “And I’ll be fine in a couple days. No worries. You’re totally going to want me on your team when it’s holiday shopping time. I know how to throw down when it comes to grabbing that last sale item.”
“Ugg. Am I ready for J to come home talking about a boy or how catty so and so was to her on the playground?” Millie adjusted her body position for Rowan, and began to absently stroke her hair. “Throw down, huh? Bring it on! Do you have a preference between Columbus and Dayton? I am more familiar with Columbus, but we could run into my ex-husband, his girlfriend, and Julia there too.”
“Jeez. I know I’m way too young to be saying this, but they really do grow up fast. Last year my nephew was collecting bugs, now he has crushes? What is this?” Rowan laughed before frowning at the mention of unwanted run-ins. “Hmm. Well I’ve only been to Columbus like once. You think we could handle navigating our way through Dayton?” She turned her head and glanced up at her friend.
“Sure we could. Isn’t that what GPS is for?” Millie chuckled. Dayton would be a good choice for food and shopping. “I’m looking forward to this shopping so much. I’m so far behind. At this rate, I’ll be shopping on Christmas Eve.”
“I’m right there with you. I’ve barely had time to buy more than one gift. And that doesn’t really do much in a family the size of a small army.”
“Do you guys draw names or just buy things for everyone? “” Millie continued to stroke Rowan’s hair as she lost herself in thought. “You know, I’ve not spent Christmas with Quinn in years. I mean we used to fake it at my mother’s, but it was out of duty. This year feels so different.”
“This is actually my first Christmas in Lima. I heard they tried to do the whole draw from a hat thing but that didn’t turn out pretty...This year we’re trying to assign a family to each family.” She shrugged. “Is it a good kind of different?”
“I think it is a good different. I mean she and I have built a relationship from the time I moved back and it’s good. She leans on me a little and that’s not something she does easily. I guess sometimes I just struggle with what my place is here. Quinn’s used to doing everything on her own and while I don’t want to impose on her, I want to be there to help.” Millie sighed her shoulders slumping a little. “Wow, I don’t know where that came from, and I’m supposed to be taking care of your sickly self.” She winked playfully trying to lighten the mood.
Rowan may not have a sister, but having moved here after her close-knit family had already been here for years, she could relate in a way. “Oh, shut up. You know I don’t mind you talking about that stuff. You put up with me and my natural tendency to ramble.” She laughed lightly. “It’s not easy figuring out your place in everything. It’s just nobody likes to admit that. At least you and your sister have each other. That’s always a good thing.” She smiled up at Millie.
Millie smacked Row’s shoulder lightly but couldn’t contain her giggle. “Shut up, huh? Nice. Even stuffed up, you manage to give me a hard time. I love it.” The credits began to roll on whatever show they hadn’t really watched anyway. She picked up the remote and pressed guide. “Hey, before I forget, how many finals do you have? We will need to work our shopping trip around that.”
“Hey, don’t hit the ill!” Rowan laughed, which turned into a cough, momentarily shifting away from Millie. “Okay. Laughter equals pain,” she wheezed. “I have like three. The rest are essays. I should be done in a couple weeks.”
“Come back. Come back. I promise not to hit you anymore tonight. Well unless you ask nicely that is.” Millie teased. “Maybe the 18th for the shopping trip, unless that is too late. Julia will be at my ex’es that weekend as well.”
Millie shifted a little lower into the back of the couch careful not to jostle Rowan too much. “What should we watch now? Any preference?”
“That’s what they all say.” Rowan mock glared but smirked and shifted back to her original position. “18th should be fine. It’s better than the night before, right?”
She eyed Millie’s uWatch queue. “Hmm. Got any romantic comedies? I feel like taking a break from my usual selection of gore.”
“What about ‘The Santa Clause’ or ‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’? Not very romantic, but far from gore.”
“Do you have The Santa Clause 2 or 3? Anything with Elizabeth Mitchell is an automatic yes. Well, except that one movie where she played a pedophile...”
“Santa Claus 2 for the win! Elizabeth Mitchell is fantastic and this one is really cute with the whole mrs. clause. Julia and I might have watched all three of these movies a few times.” Millie pushed the few buttons in the menu set and pressed pause. “Do you need anything before we start it?”
Row looked up at her friend with a mock stern look. “Nope. All I ask for is a hitting-free zone. Are we clear?”
“Gahhh” Millie scoffed. “Fine. No hitting. But this treaty just applies for tonight. Are we clear?” Millie mocked playfully.
A cheesy grin appeared on Rowan’s face. “Crystal. You just wait until I’m back to full health. Bring it, Fabray.”
“When you are back to even health, consider it brought, O’Malley.” Millie smirked at her friend with wink before pressing the play button.
Rowan laugh-coughed again before curling back onto her side. “God, we’re dorks.”