Wishing for Someday Soon

“No, I’ll be fine,” I lied, not wanting to admit that I would rather have an ax to the head then listen to round two of Lucinda’s rants.

“Here, how about some Advil then?” she asked, extracting a small tin of pills from her shoulder bag.

“That would be great,” I said, smiling gratefully.

I washed the pills down with a bottle of water she handed me.

“Did you have a nice holiday?” she asked as we made our way to the classroom.

“Not bad, how about you?” I asked, trying to take my mind off the pain in my head.

“It was great. We went skiing in Tahoe,” she said, chattering away.

I listened to her, but in sort of a half-dazed state as we entered the room. Despite the pain in my head, my eyes instantly zoned in on my first sight of Max in more than a week.

He smiled at me, glancing at the necklace I wore around my neck. I watched his smile broaden as he approached me.

“You got your gifts?” he asked as I nervously twisted it around in my fingers.

“I did,” I said, losing myself in his eyes. “Thank you so much. It’s beautiful,” I said, grimacing from a sudden sharp pain that stabbed through my head, reminding me of its presence.

“You okay?” he asked, grabbing onto my elbow.

“Not really, my head is killing me,” I answered honestly.

“Do you want me to take you home?” he asked concerned.

“No, I really don’t want to go home,” I mumbled.

“Did something happen?” he asked, sweeping his eyes over me looking for an injury.

“No, not this time,” I said, touched by his concern. “It’s just other stuff.”

“Katelyn, Max, can you two find your seats?” Mr. Graves said, stepping up to the front of the classroom.

“Um, sir, Katelyn has a really bad headache. Do you think I can take her to the nurse’s clinic?”

“Katelyn, do you just want to go home?” Mr. Graves asked, making him the third person in less than five minutes to ask.

“No, really,” I said quietly as he approached us. “It’s just, the light in here is making it worse. If I could just lie down for a little while, it will go away. I get them all the time,” I added.

“Hmm, that sounds like migraines. Are you on medicine for them?”

“No, I just pop a few Advil and normally sleep them off,” I mumbled, squinting my eyes to help alleviate the pain some.

“Max, why don’t you escort Katelyn to the teachers’ lounge instead. That light remains off the majority of the day, unlike the clinic. Grab her one of my Cokes out of the refrigerator; caffeine usually helps my wife when she gets a migraine.”

Max propelled me from the room, keeping an arm firmly around my waist. I knew every eye probably followed us out of the room, but I couldn’t find the energy to care. The teachers’ lounge was only three rooms down from our class, but by the time we made it there, my stomach was threatening mutiny once again. Max helped me to the couch, and I gratefully sank back on the cushions.

“Here, lie down,” Max said, gently nudging me back against one of the throw pillows.

“Thanks,” I said, keeping my eyes closed.

A few moments later, I heard Max pulling the tab on a soda before handing it over to me. “Here you go, take a few drinks of this.”

The ice-cold liquid helped ease my unfortunate nausea. “I’m going to put it here in case you need it, okay?” Max asked before heading out the door.

I nodded before sinking into blissful, headache-free sleep.