Chapter 5

Avery woke Monday morning feeling more tired than he'd felt in a long time. He didn't know if it was the headache and chills that had plagued him all weekend, or if it was the fact that his father had hardly let him sleep. It seemed every time he finally fell asleep, his door was creaking open and his father was patting his back heavily. Avery gasped at the pain shooting through his spine

"Just want to make sure you aren't missing your mom too much," he'd whispered in his ear with a chuckle. Avery figured it was nearly two in the morning before his father finally stopped 'checking on him.'

So Avery had barely managed to stay awake during his morning classes. He didn't have science that day, so he didn't have to worry about Mr. Sikes' class and seeing Ma--, Mr. Andrews. He'd never been so glad for the block scheduling, so he didn't have to face the guy today.

When he came out of Mrs. Jones' English class though, he saw the handsome blond standing at his doorway just across the hall, greeting students as they came in for the next class. God, he looked so good--so tall, and golden, and ...

"Avery," Mrs. Jones called him back, and he wavered in the doorway. God, when had he gotten so dizzy?

"Y-yes, Mrs. Jones?" he paused and leaned against the wall as she approached him.

"I've read over your last essay--" she paused, staring at his glazed eyes. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Huh?" Avery suddenly could barely focus, and felt the hallway tilting suddenly.

He barely registered the surprised shouts of people around him before he fell blissfully into silence.

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"Avery! Avery! Are you okay?" a familiar voice beckoned him back from the darkness.

His eyes barely registered the beautiful face above him, and someone had a hand on his forehead.

"He's burning up," a voice floated over him. "We need to get him down to the clinic."

"I can help him," the familiar voice stated. "Mr. Sikes, can you take over the class for a few minutes?"

"Of course, Matt. You get the boy downstairs."

As he felt his body jostled into someone's arms, he floated back out wishing he could stay nestled in the warm comforting arms forever.

When he next came back to reality as he was released from the warmth, he noticed the white walls and cabinets around him. The clinic. He groaned at the headache that pounded him.

"He got dizzy in the hall and passed out," he heard Mr. Andrews saying to someone.

"Do you know his name?" a female voice asked.

The school nurse hovered in front of his vision, her hand pressing against his neck as she checked his pulse. Then he felt something press into his ear. When it beeped, she pulled it out.

"Avery Greene," the student teacher supplied.

"I'm fine," Avery groaned, trying to sit up. "I just have a headache and feel a little stuffy."

"You have a rather high fever. My guess is that you have a bad cold, maybe the flu."

Great, he was sick. Just what he needed on top of everything else.

"I'm calling your father to come pick you up," the nurse continued as she picked up the phone, and Avery shot up.

"No! I'm fine!" he snapped.

The nurse just rolled her eyes as the phone rang.

Avery closed his eyes, repressing his spark of fear for what his father would say about being disturbed at work.

"Answering machine," she said, and then returned to leaving a message before hanging up.

"He, uh, he's probably out showing a property," Avery stammered. "I can walk home..."

"There's no way I'm releasing you to walk home in this cold and in your condition," the nurse stated. "Is there someone else who can pick you up?"

Avery frowned and shook his head.

The nurse sighed, "Well, you can rest here 'til school is out, and we can keep calling your father..."

"No!" Avery snapped, then quickly schooled his voice. "No, you don't need to keep calling; he'll check messages later. And I'm sure if I just rest a bit, I'll be fine to walk later--"

"I'll drive him," he heard a deep voice interrupt behind him.

Avery whipped around so fast his head spun a bit.

The nurse raised her eyebrows at the student intern in the doorway.

"If his dad can't pick him up earlier, I can drop him off after school."

"You don't have to--" Avery began.

"Oh," the nurse brightened at the idea. "I think that might be a good idea, Avery. Someone has to take you home. I know Principal Peters would--" And Avery's eyes shot wide in horror at the thought of the principal showing up at his house. "But if Mr. Andrews is offering..."

"Fine," Avery mumbled, conceding it was better than an administrator showing up at his house.

"Good. Here, take a couple Tylenol for the fever now."

"Yes, ma'am," Avery obediently took the medication, grateful that he'd get a brief respite from the pain. He resigned himself to staying in the clinic the rest of the afternoon, figuring if nothing else he'd get some sleep.

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Later, the principal and the nurse ushered him into Mr. Andrew's car and he leaned back with a sigh. He briefly wondered why they hadn't driven off yet, when a cute curly haired blonde bounded up to the car.

"Erin, you'll have to get in the back," Mr. Andrews said.

The girl frowned but opened the back, flinging her book bag in, waiting for an explanation.

"Erin, this is Avery Greene. He's sick and needs a ride home. Avery, this is my sister Erin Andrews. She's a sophomore."

"Oh, hey," the girl greeted pleasantly. "It's nice to meet you. So what, are you a sophomore too? I haven't seen you around."

"Senior," Avery mumbled, rolling his head toward her. He got that a lot, people often mistook him for a lot younger.

"No way," she said before she even thought. Erin looked over the boy in the front seat again. He couldn't be much bigger than she was. "How old are you?"

"Almost eighteen," he answered, not really in the mood to talk.

"Wow, you don't look--"

"Erin," her brother interrupted. "Leave him alone right now. He's not feeling well."

"Oh, right," she blushed slightly. "Sorry."

"Do you have some aspirin and cold meds at home?" Avery heard the smooth deep voice ask as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"Uh, I don't know," Avery lied. He knew his father locked away the medication to keep Avery from taking pain relievers.

"Hmm, okay, well, let me run in the drug store, and then we'll get you home," he stated, and Avery didn't have the energy to argue.

By the time they pulled into Avery's driveway, the teen was almost asleep again. The tall, blond grabbed the drug store bag and kept a grip on the slender teen's arm as he led him to the door. Avery managed to dig his key from his back pocket, and Erin helped unlock the door.

Matt let the boy collapse on the couch as he made his way to the kitchen. "I bought some chicken soup too just in case you didn't have any. I think you should eat something with the meds now, so don't fall asleep while I heat this up."

Erin sat on the other end of the couch. She started chatting away about who knew what--Avery was pretty sure she didn't care if he was listening or not. She seemed to enjoy talking and so he let her words flow over him, offering the occasional nod or grunt in response. Avery was sure he dozed because it seemed like only seconds before he was being nudged, and he was being handed a mug full of chicken noodle soup and some crackers. He thought he managed to mumble his thanks as he sipped the soup.

"Once you're done, I'll help you up the stairs so you can get settled," Matt offered.

Avery had hoped that they would leave quickly before his father came home. No telling what his father would do if he came home and found them there. But a quick glance at the clock told him he was probably safe for another hour at least, so he let himself enjoy the warmth of the soup and the company of the two siblings watching him carefully.

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Matt carefully watched as Avery sipped the soup and ate a few crackers. He chatted with his sister about her day at school, while they let the other teen eat. He looked so tired that Matt wished he could just cuddle him and wrap him up and let him sleep for days.

He blinked, where the hell had that come from? What was he thinking? He couldn't have this kid that way. He groaned as he realized that was exactly where his mind had started going. There was something about this dark haired slip of a boy that tugged at his heart, and he wanted so badly to just wrap him up and protect him from whatever gave the boy that haunted look in his eye.

When Avery finished, Matt helped the boy up and followed him up the stairs, carrying the bag of cold meds. Erin waited in the living room.

Avery paused when he noticed that Matt intended to follow him. "I'm good now. Thanks. You don't have to stay."

Matt smiled down at the slight form. "I'll feel better if I know you didn't collapse on the stairs."

Avery's lean shoulders shrugged and headed to his room. Matt glanced around as Avery sat on the bed and kicked off his shoes, keeping to the doorway at a polite distance. The room was surprisingly neat and clean for a teenage boy's room, but it also seemed to be rather bare of any personal effects. For a kid that everyone said was in a "Goth" phase, he certainly didn't seem to express it here.

Matt moved to the bathroom across the hall and placed the bag of meds by the sink. "I'll leave the cold meds here. You should take a dose of the Dayquil now and then the Nyquil before bed."

Matt saw the head of fine ebony hair nod hazily. The kid was fading fast. "Why don't you get changed into something more comfortable and get in bed?"

Matt watched as Avery grabbed a t-shirt and flannel pj pants from a drawer then moved into the bathroom and closed the door. When Avery emerged, Matt noticed that the pajama pants seemed to hang on his narrow hips and pool around his feet. The t-shirt looked like it was going to fall off his shoulders, and Matt remembered how light the boy had felt in his arms. Strangely, he'd left the leather braces on his wrists. Matt figured the kid just wore them all the time and didn't even think about taking them off.

"Did you take the med?" Matt asked as he watched the lithe figure shuffle across the room.

Avery barely nodded as he crashed onto the bed, and Matt chuckled. He walked over to the bathroom, noticing that the meds were already put away somewhere, and filled a cup of water and placed it on the nightstand. He froze at the sight of a tube of lubricant sitting there. He was so startled at the thought of Avery as being sexually active that he almost dropped the cup. He'd not seen Avery with anyone so it had never occurred to him. Of course, he was still a teenage boy so...

Matt stepped over to him and pulled the thick green comforter up over the already dozing teen. He brushed back the silky strands from the peaceful face, pausing briefly to check his temperature.

"Take it easy, Avery," he whispered.