What's My Age Again?

"Honey, I promise Dr. Pham is the best doctor here." My mom told me.

We were at the hospital she worked at because I had a doctor’s appointment. My regular doctor was booked until Thursday so we had to come to the internal medicine doctor here. She insisted that this doctor was just as good as my normal doctor. I, for some reason, was being difficult and uncooperative in the waiting room.

"If she was the best doctor, she wouldn't have us in the waiting room for six hours." I huffed.

"It's been five minutes, Jack." She said and I sighed. It felt like we've been here for an eternity. I was just ready to figure out what was wrong with me.

I pulled out my phone to entertain myself by playing Candy Crush. Then I heard footsteps coming up to us in the middle of my game and I saw Avery. He was wearing his white coat and holding some paper work.

"Hey you two." He greeted us.

"Hey!" My mom got up to hug him while I mumbled hi. I wasn't in the mood for long conversations.

"I remembered you saying you were bringing him by to see Pham this morning so I decided to stop by to say hi. Are you still feeling sick, Jack?" He asked me.

"Yeah I feel like I'm dying at this point." I said and he chuckled.

"Well hopefully Dr. Pham will help you feel better." He told me. "But I better get going. I need to get back to my patients on the sixth floor." He leaned down to kiss my mom on the cheek and ruffed my hair before walking off.

"Jack Barakat?" A nurse called from the door.

My mom and I stood up and walked over to her. She smiled politely and told us to follow her. We stopped in front of a scale and she asked me to step on. I stood still on the scale until she told me I could get off. Then she led us to a room and closed the door.

"I'm going to take you blood pressure and temperature really quick." She told me and I nodded. She placed the blood pressure cuff on my left arm and started the machine. Then she grabbed the thermometer and swiped it across my forehead. She typed all of the information into a computer and then removed all the equipment off of me.

"So what brings you in today?" She asked.

"Um I've been throwing up and I can't really keep any food down." I told her and she nodded as she typed it into the computer.

"Okay Dr. Pham will be right with you two in a few minutes." She told us and we thanked her.

I laid down on the bench and closed my eyes. It was eight am so I was still sleepy. I closed my eyes and fell asleep. I slept for about ten minutes, then there was knock on the door and a lady in a white coat came in. I sat up and wiped my eyes to listen to her.

"Hi Joyce!" She greeted my mom and then turned to me. "Oh you look so much like her." She told me and I smiled.

"Thank you." I told her.

"Mhmm. So I see here on your chart that you've been throwing up and can't keep your food down?" She asked to clarify.

"Yeah, like I throw up once or twice a day and I started to feel sick every time I eat certain foods." I told her.

"He's also been a little irritable." My mom threw in and I rolled my eyes, making Dr. Pham laugh.

"Let's see." She looked at her computer screen reading something. "Okay Jack I'm going to ask you a few questions and I want you to answer them as best as you can, okay?"

"Okay." I agreed.

"So when was the first time you threw up? Do you remember?" She asked.

I thought back to the day I woke up at Avery's house. "Yeah it was New Year’s Day." I answered and she typed.

"Okay and are you sexually active?" She asked. That question was so awkward with my mother in the room. I avoided looking at my mom just in case I looked guilty.

"No." I answered quickly. It was almost like a reflex. She typed more into the computer in front of her.

"How often do you eat a day?" She moved on and I took a deep breath.

"I used to eat a lot, but now I can barely eat once a day." I said.

"Do you ever force yourself to throw up?" She asked and I frowned. What kind of question was that?

"Uh no." I said.

"Okay. Do you think you’ve come into contact with under cooked food?" She asked.

"Okay?" I said not understanding why she was telling me this.

"I'm just want to make sure your weight loss, the throwing up, and you barely eating aren't results from an eating disorder, Hun."

"I'm not bulimic." I said, finally catching what she was going for.

"Are you sure?" She asked. I knew it was her job to make sure her patients weren't doing anything self-harming, but this was annoying.

"Yes I'm sure I'm not forcing myself to do it." I said and she nodded.

"Okay do you think you’ve come into contact with undercooked food?" She asked.

“Um I’m not sure. I eat fast food more than I should so it could have been that.” I answered.

“Hmm maybe it’s food poisoning.” She thought out loud.

"Yeah I was thinking that too or maybe a stomach infection." My mom added.

"In that case I'm going to prescribe you some light antibiotics. I don't want to give you anything too strong that might make you feel more nauseous." She said.

"Thank you." I mumbled and she nodded.

"I'll have a nurse bring it to you in a few minutes. Do you two have any questions for me?" She asked.

I shook my head and my mom answered for us. "No. Thank you Dr. Pham."

"No problem." She got up and left the room.

We waited a few minutes for the nurse to bring my prescription and then we went to the front desk to get an excuse letter for me to take to school. This was the third day I missed and I was probably going to miss tomorrow if I still didn't feel good.

My mom drove us to Walgreens to drop my prescription off and then took us home. I went straight to the couch and laid down like I'd been doing every other day. My mom grabbed a blanket and threw it over me. Then she reached down and kissed me on the forehead. I cuddled into the couch pillows and closed my eyes.

My mom woke me an hour later. "Sweetie wake up, it's time to take your medicine." She told me. I sat up and let my eyes focus on what she was trying to hand me. I grabbed the glass of water and the pill from her hand. Then I swallowed some water and threw the pill in my mouth. I handed her the glass back. I looked over and saw Kellin's mom sitting on the couch on the other side of our living room.

"Hi Ms. Boswick." I told her.

"Hi Jack, are you feeling any better?" She asked.

"Yeah I don't feel as sick as I did this morning or yesterday after noon." I said and she nodded.

"What did Dr. Pham say it was?" She asked my mom.

"Food poisoning or some kind of stomach infection. At first she thought he had an eating disorder, but I think the fact that Jack admitted he was throwing up and not able to keep food down, instead of hiding it, made her think otherwise." My mom told her.

"Yeah I thought it was a stomach infection when you told me the symptoms he had." She nodded.

"Yeah it was pretty obvious. I'm still worried about him though. I wish I could take off and stay here with him tonight."

"I can cover your patients for you." Ms. Boswick volunteered.

"No Lisa, I don't want you to have to take care of my patients and yours."

"Whatever you would do the same for me." She chuckled. "Just stay home and worry about your son tonight."

"Okay. Thank you." My mom told her.

"Yeah thank you." I said too. It was going to be nice having my mom stay with me tonight to watch me.

"It's no problem, but I should get home so I can rest before Kellin gets home. We're supposed to go to the mall later on." She said.

"Okay. Call me before you go to work." My mom told her.

"Okay, I'll see you two later." She got up and my mom followed behind her to lock the door.

"Are you hungry?" My mom asked me.

"Yes, but only for something light. I feel kind of bloated." I told her and she nodded.

She went into the kitchen and came back with a bowl of cereal. It was like she read my mind. I took the Cheerios from her and slowly began eating. I was still afraid to eat anything fast so I wouldn't make myself sick.

"May's going to come over in a few. She was so worried when I told her I had to take you to the hospital doctor today." She said and sat next to me.

"Okay." I said with a full mouth.

By the time I finished my first bowl, May was coming in. She sat her things down and came to sit next to me.

"Are you okay? Why didn't you tell me you've been feeling so sick?" She questioned and I sighed. I felt so annoyed, her and my mom always made a big deal out of nothing.

"I'm fine, May." I said in an annoyed tone and she frowned.

"Obviously you're not if you've been throwing up every day for the past week."

"Well I feel better now so obviously I am fine." I snapped.

"Jack, she's just worried about you. There's no need to take that tone with her." My mom said and I huffed.

"I can't help it when you two are annoying me to death." I stood up and went to my room. I could hear May whispering about me as I climbed the stairs, but I ignored her.

I laid down in my bed and wrapped myself in my blanket. I don't know why I flipped out on them, but it was like I couldn't help it. My eyes started to water as I thought about how hurt May looked when I snapped at her.

"What the fuck is wrong with me." I whispered to myself as I wiped my eyes. I felt like I was going crazy.

I picked up my phone to text Alex. Talking to him always made me feel better.

From Jack:
Hey I finally found out what’s wrong with me.

From Alex:
Really? What is it?

From Jack:
I have food poisoning or a stomach infection :( the doctor gave me antibiotics though so I should be better in a few days.

From Alex:
My poor baby! I hope you get better so we can spend more time together without you running to throw up every five seconds haha

From Jack:
Lol shut up. Can we go on a date when I get better?

From Alex:
Of course! I'll take you anywhere you want to go.

From Jack:
I can't wait! I need to get out my house. I feel like I'm starting to go crazy here.

From Alex:
I’ve been going crazy I don’t want to waste another minute here :)

From Jack:
Yes??

From Alex:
...it's the lyrics from our song Weightless...I was trying to be funny

From Jack:
Lmao well try harder

From Alex:
Hahaha whatever. I bet if it was a Panic at the Disco lyric you would have gotten it.

From Jack:
-_- leave me alone. I knew Panic before I knew you.

From Alex:
Well you're not dating the lead singer of Panic you're dating the lead singer of ATL.

From Jack:
I will try to memorize more lyrics from your songs this week, is that better?

From Alex:
Yes and I'm going to quiz you over it so be prepared.

From Jack:
Ooo what do I get if I win??

From Alex:
A pat on the back.

From Jack:
Noooo I want ice cream!

From Alex:
Okay if you guess all of the lyrics right I'll take you to go get ice cream. I'm free this Friday night.

From Jack:
Me too! I'll see you then!

From Alex:
Alright, bye <3

I put my phone on my nightstand and got comfortable in my bed again. I knew talking to Alex would help me calm down. I was already starting to feel like myself again. That meant I needed to go down and apologize to May and my mom.

I got up from my bed and went to go pee. I checked myself in the mirror when I finished to make sure it didn't look like I was just crying. Then I went downstairs to talk to them. They were both still sitting on the couch when I came down. They stopped talking when they saw me trying to talk to them.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you two. I didn't mean any of it, I actually like that you two care so much about me." I apologized.

"It's okay. Mom told me that you've been irritable lately so I didn't take it to heart." May smiled. I sat back in the middle of her and my mom.

"So how do you really feel?" May asked.

"Kind of bloated and lightheaded." I said honestly and she nodded. She pulled my head to lay down on her shoulder as she rubbed my stomach. I relaxed into her and closed my eyes.

Notes

I wish I could put emoji's in this story.
Sorry if it seems like the story is moving slowly, it's building up anticipation lol. There are only about ten or so chapters left!