20th Anniversary Celebration #16
Sep. 24th, 2017 05:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarotgalSome stories I start never see the light of day. This is one I found in my unfinished stories folder that was last accessed on 11/2/1998. I checked my realm, but I don’t think I ever posted it, even in pieces. Please don’t ask where this story was supposed to be going (your guess is as good as mine right now), but it’s packed full of collegiate drama and both male and female characters sneezing. Its name for the past 19 years has been STORY3.TXT
Sharron reached over to the small tissue box she'd brought, covered her nose and
mouth, and sneezed lightly into one with a feminine-sounding, "Ahchii!"
"This seat taken?" she heard. She looked up to see Anthony standing in front of her
with a soft smile on his face. It was about time. They were supposed to have met at 10 and it
was already 11:30.
"Well..." she wanted to make it hard on him and teach him a lesson. "I was saving it
for my partner. We were supposed to be researching for our Shakespeare paper.
But he's already an hour and a half late and I'd hate for him to show up now
without apologising and be accepted by a vaccant spot at the table, so go right
ahead."
Tony, of course, did not sit. "I'm sorry..." he said straight out, feeling badly. "I
sleapt through my alarm and just woke up a few minutes ago. I haven't even eaten breakfast.
I'm really sorry, Shar."
She pushed the chair across from her out with her feet and pointed to it. "Better make
this the last time. I've been doing the dirty work here alone waiting for you. Check this...
thi... " she quickly snatched up another tissue. "achIIii!" She recovered in a second. "Check
this out." She passed him a few books in which she'd paper clipped pages of importance.
"Oh, I see," he murmered, leafing through the first one. "This paragraph here on..."
he paused suddenly, only to continue a moment after, his voice sounding a bit different,
though she couldn't place it. "Macbeth. There's a lot about the character moti...
motivations."
Sharron looked up to see him rubbing his nose. He looked up as well but when their
eyes met, Tony quickly sniffed and placed his hand in his lap as if he'd been doing nothing at
all.
Sharron, a little curious, was about to ask when another urge to sneeze ran through
her. She glanced venimously at the potted flowers on the library windowsil on her right and
the open windows all around her that were opened to the fresh, spring outdoors. Plucking a
few more tissues, she burried her nose to give a soft, light, "ahCHiii!" followed immediately
by a quick double, "AhCHii! ahhCHI!"
Tony noticed, wondering if he should ask or not. Finally, he decided to. "You all
right, Sharron?"
Sharron nodded with a pleasant smile. "Oh yes, I'm fine. Why?"
"Well, you've been..." he paused again, then continued as quickly after as he could,
"sneezing the whole time I've been here. You aren't... coming... down with a cold... are
you?" The pauses were becoming more frequent and more lengthy, not to mention more
mysterious.
She shook her head. "No, it's only my allergies. You know I have a terrible case of
the sneezes this time of the year."
He nodded, remembering her last spring and summer before classes ended when she'd
have to ditch parties or leave the scenes early because she couldn't keep from sneezing.
"Oh."
He sounded disapointed enough to make Sharron's curiousity rise above standards of
politeness. "Why do you ask?" Sometimes he was such a difficult person to figure out. It
seemed almost strange that she had known him since the first day at college nearly 3 years
before. "You're disapointed?"
"Oh, no!" he exclaimed. "Only well... I haven't been feeling too well lately and I was
a little worried about getting you sick. I figured I didn't have to worry so much if you were
already sick."
She looked up from the current reference book to study his face. "You're not feeling
well?"
Shaking his head, "My roommate, Brad, came down with a bad cold a couple days
ago. I think I must have caught it from him."
The more she looked at him, the more he had to admit to seeing his flushed cheeks
but otherwise pale face, and his weak brown eyes. "You're welcome to my tissues if you
need them, Tony." She laughed, "Of course, you're not sneezing now." She loved letting
him know she understood without actually telling him.
He nodded. "Which is not for lack of trying."
Innocently, "Hmm?"
"Nothing."
"You mean, you're not sneezing on purpose?" She'd heard his sneezes several times
before and knew they were strong enough for her to wonder how he could possibly hold them
back and have her not notice. "You know, that can hurt you, to hold them in, I mean."
He put his head back in the book he was reading.
"Tony?"
"It's embarrassing!" he whispered strongly back, rubbing his nose a little, his face
falling to one of helpless misery. He felt terrible but complaining about it was the last thing
he wanted to do.
"It's okay," she whispered back, sniffing. "I don't mind or anything. Heck, I'm
sneezing, too. You know you don't have to be embarrassed in front of me about anything.
He nodded reluctantly. "Ok."
They went back to reading and Sharron sneezed twice, full, small sneezes, "Hachii!
ahCHii!" She reached for a tissue only to be met at the box by his hand which reached for
one at the same moment. The look on his face told her he was ready. He bent forward a bit
and closed his eyes in preparation. "HaahhSHEOO!" he sneezed hard, strong, bending
foreward for a breif second and straightening up after.
"Bless you!" Mary exclaimed, pushing the tissue box across the table to him.
He lifted a fist to his face, his first finger pressing up against his nostrils to smother a
second as best he could, "AhhSHHMmm!" He paused, sniffed, then uttered a delicate,
"Uhh.." as he sat back in his chair, bringing tissues up to his nose to blow it. "Excuse me."
"Boy, when you sneeze, you really sneeze don't you, Tony?"
He nodded, his cheecks going red.
She stood and went to him, sitting down in he chair beside him and putting her hand
on his forehead. "Tony! You're burning up!"
He shook his head, making her hand retract. "I took some asprin right before I
came," he informed her, shivering slightly but trying to cover it up by fully straightening up
in his seat.
"You're sick and getting sicker. You need to go to bed."
He shook his head. "What? And leave you here to do all the work? I I don't
think so! Plus we have class in half an hour."
She had a kind heart for self sacrifice, but also knew he'd do her no good sitting there
and sneezing rather than doing work. "Anthony, I really think you should just forget about
the project today and go back to bed."
"I'll be.... HahhHSHHHOO! I'll be... AHHHSHHHO!
Fine-Ah-CHOOOO!" he sneezed each, desperately trying to hold them back so he could
speak but the sensations in his nose were growing worse with every passing moment.
"Sure you will," Sharron replied sarcastically, standng up behind him to rub his
shoulders. She found his muscles to be tense and aching. "Come on, I'll walk you back to
your dorm room."
He began to protest again, then nodded, feeling another strong sneeze approaching.
"HAHHSHHUOSHH!" She closed his book and handed him a tissue.
"How long have you been feeling like this, anyway?"
"Just since... sin... HahhhCHHUUOOO! this morn- hahhhSHEOOO!
morning."
She knew this was going to become a really bad cold. "OK, come on," she helped
him to his feet and let him lean on her slightly as they walked out.
Once outside, Sharron had to work to control her alergies. She began sniffing as the
pollen in the air whirled around in her small but sensitive nostrils at every breath. "ahCHH!"
she sneezed, holding her hand up to her face.
One of Sharron's friends, Jennifer, came up to them then. "Gosh, you two are a
sight!" she giggled to see them walking unsteadily, sneezing and sniffling.
Sharron asked her for some help and Jennifer obliged, getting on Tony's other side
and having him place his arms over both their shoulders for double support. It was a tough
walk back, but thankfully a short one. Sniffling, Sharron dug his hard out of his poket and
slid it through for him as he leaned against Jennifer and the wall. She sneezed again, as they
went in. Once in, Jennifer told them she needed to get to a class in two minutes and Sharron
thanked her for her help.
Sharon helped him inside, getting him to sit down on the bed.
"There you are. I have a friend who lives upstairs and I'm sure she has a thermometer
she'll let me borrow. I'll be right back. You get changed for ned and get under the covers,
all right?"
He shook his head. "Don't bother. It's only a little cold. I don't want you treating me
like a little baby; I'm 21, Sharron."
She smiled. "If there's one thing I've learned from being pre med it's that patients
always want to be babied when they're not feeling well."
Tony shot her a displeased look. "So, you mean all I am is one of your patients?"
She smiled shyly. "No, Anthony. You mean much more than that to me. I'm not here
as a nurse. I'm here as your friend. I care about you."
He looked at her a moment. He then nodded. "Okay, Shar."
She returned a few minutes later to find him shirtless and stretched out in his bed with
a blanket over him up to his waist. She sat down on the bed beside him, shaking the
thermometer. "Here you go. Open up." He did, lifting his tongue so she could slide it under
easily. Then he pointed to the tissue box on the desk beside his bed. She took it, intending to
hand it to him, when she realized it was empty. "Oh... I'll go get you another then," she told
him, glancing at her watch. Two minutes later and two boxes of tissues wealthier, she was
once again beside him.
Her own nose was tickling a little, and she sneezed, "iachish!" opening the box to get
one for herself just as he echoed.
"HAHHSHOOSH!"
She laughed, removing the thermometer to read it as he sniffed and rubbed his nose.
"One hundred point three," she told him. "That's pretty high."
"HARRRR-SHEOOO!" Sharron heard a man sneeze, but it wasn't Tony. A second
later, a guy came walking through the door, his nose buried and blowing into a large
handkerchief. As the door closed behind him, he doubled over to give a powerful second,
"HHHAARR-SHHHEOO!"
"Gesundheit," Tony snuffled, sitting up in bed to look a bit less helpless.
His roommate, Brad, nodded, stuffing the cloth in his back pocket. "Thanks." He
surveyed the scene. "Looks like you're not feeling too well, yourself, huh Tone?" Brad sat
down on his own bed, changed his shirt, and collected a few books.
"Yeah. I think I caught your cold," he admitted, trying hard to hold back the sneezes
by scrunching up his face. He so much hated sneezing in front of people. "Huh.. hahhh..."
he couldn't help it for it's strength was too much for him. He managed to stifle it, though.
"HaChmm!"
"Bless you," Sharron said. wondering if this, too, was embarrassing for him. He was
stifling them, after all.
"Hey, don't worry, Tone. I'll be gone in a minute. Got some studying to do with
Clara Robinson, if you know what I mean."
Tony looked guiltily over at Sharron, thinking of all the work they two had to do.
Sharron shook her head, trying to tell him that the project didn't matter to her in comparrison
to his health.
Brad left a minute later and Sharron sat down in the desk chair, typing away at the
computer. Tony grabbed a few kleenexes and blew his nose. "I'm so sorry about
the report," he told her. "Of all times to get sick... I'm really sorry."
She reached over and patted his leg. "It's quite all right, Tony. It's not your fault at
all. We can get a little done on the internet and get back to the library later when you're
feeling better."
A slow smile spread across his face and he opened his mouth to answer only a loud
sneeze beat him to it. "HAHSHOO!" A handful of tissues smothered the rest. "Hah-SHMM!
HAAHCHOPH! HAHHSHOOSH! HehhhHASHOOSHHMM!"
"Bless you!" Sharron exclaimed at the large result. She was beginning to wonder how
sick he really was and if, prehaps, he were able to even help her a little on the report in his
condition. "Tony... be honest with me. Do you want me to go?"
He finished blowing his nose. "No. It's ok. I don't... I don't mind sneezing in front
of you any more."
She patted his leg. "If you want me to leave at any time, just tell me, all right? I
don't want to make you uncomfortable. Or if you wanna get some sleep or anything... I can
go."
"No, don't!" he reacted quickly, biting his lip after, ashamed he's been so fast to
admit he wanted her comfort. "I mean, I'll be fine. Please stay."
She nodded, typing a bit more on the keyboard. "I will."
"AH-HAHCHOO!" he sneezed, lying down again to bring the covers all the way up
to his neck.
"Boy, you're sneezing quite a lot, aren't you?"
He nodded at ehr observation. "Yeah. My nose keeps tickling so so much.
You're hah... HAHHSHOO! you're sounding better, though."
"Yeah, I am. My allergies are tricky. They come and go so easily I never really know
when an attack is gonna hit."
"Sharron?"
"Yes, Tony?"
He sighed. "Never mind."
"What?"
"Never mind."
The printer started and she turned back to him to give him her undivided attention.
"No, really, Tony. What?"
"I was just wondering... if you could... maybe... give me a back rub?"
She smiled, loving to see the shy side in a guy who was usually composed and overly
confident. "Of course. I'd love to." He sat up and she got behind him, sitting indian-style on
the bed. She worked her hands over his shoulders, feeling him loosen at her touch, hearning
him sigh. "Feel's good?" she asked, moving down his back, rubbing with force.
"Feel... f-fuh.. HUHHCHOO!" he sneezed, bending forward, sneezing freely, his
muscles tensing again only to relax as he sat back up and she continued. "Feels great.
Thanks, Shar."
She smiled. "What are friends for?" She finished the back rub to find him half asleep.
She helped guide his head to his pillow and pulled the sheet and blankets up and over him.
She carefully sat back down in the chair to see his eyes closing, to find his breathing slow,
his body going limp.
Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door and Tony woke, looking around
confused for a moment, then distressed the next as the knocking came again.
Sharron stood. "I'll answer it." She went to the door, opening it half-way, slipping
out, and closing it behind her. "Yes?"
"Yeah, um, is Tony in?"
She nodded. It was Tony's younger brother. She stuck her head back in to ask Tony,
"It's Andrew. Do you want me to let him in?"
He croaked back, "Sure." He sounded worse every time he spoke.
Andy walked in with a smile, only to have it fade as he saw his brother.
"Hey, Andy, what's.. HAH-HAAHHCHOO! what's up?"
Concerned, "Tone? You okay, bro?"
Tony nodded. "I'b all right. Just caught a bad cold."
Andy frowned suspiciously at his brother. "Maybe I should call Mom-"
Tony sat up. "No you won't! It's just a few sneezes. I'll be fine, Andy. If
you call Mom you know I'll kill Hahh-CHOOSH! kill you."
Andy looked at Sharron.
She nodded. "He's got a bit of a fever and some sneezes and aches but otherwise,
yeah, he'll be just fine."
Tony sneezed again. Sniffling, "See?" glaring at his brother. "I'll be fide."
Andy ruffled his older brother's hair and gave him a grin. "Well, if you're not, I'm
reserving the right to call Mom and have her send you up some of her homemade soup,
okay?"
This time Tony grinning. It's a deal. Thaks, Ad... Hahh... HAHCHOO!
Andy." He sneezed again, and once again, reaching for the tissues as Andy left and shut the
door behind him.
Sharron sat back down on his bed. "You've got a very sweet little brother there,
Tony."
He nodded. "Yeah, tell me about it. You know, he has a crush on you."
She seemed surprised. "Oh?"
"Yeah, but I told him you were mine."
Her heart skipped a beat. Noticing the sweat on his brow, she put the back of her
hand against his forehead. "Your fever's up. I think you're becoming delerious."
"I know." He nodded, closing his eyes, and passed out.
She tried the door first and, finding it unlocked, walked in. At once her eyes fell upon
Anthony, sitting up in bed with a book on his lap, a box of tissues at his side, and dozens of
used, balled-up tissues scattered about on the bed and floor. He was holding one then, folded
and crumpled, up against his bright red nostrils to keep them from dripping. He was bent
over the book, squinting and trying to concentrate but sniffing every few seconds and looking
as generally miserable as anyone could possibly look.
She cleared her throat and he looked up at once, seeing her and cringing with
embarrassment. "Oh God!" he groaned with as much voice as he had left, sniffing strongly
and quickly gathering the tissues so he didn't appear to be so untidy.
"Poor Tony," she cooded lightly, in not more than a whisper. "Your cold's getting
worse, I gather?" She sat down on his bed and put the back of her hand to his forehead to
find it burning.
He nodded woefully, closing his eyes so he wouldn't have to see her through his
embarrassment. "Yeah."
"Maybe you should go to the infirmary?"
He shook his head. "No... I don't want to..." He was not about to tell her how much
he hated doctors and all they stood for, but he wanted to make it clear that he wasn't going
to go, all the same. He opened his eyes and looked at her with great longing. He hated to
admit it, but he felt terrible and he needed her. "Can't you take care of me?"
She melted at his words and his soft, fever-dazed eyes. "Of course I can." Sharron
took the book from his lap and set it on the desk, sure to keep it open to where he had it.
Then she cleared the rest of the tissues off his bed for him and got him a glass of orange
juice from the fridge in the common room at the end of the hallway. Coming back, she
nearly ran into the guy who lived in the room across from him. The man had a thin cigarette
in his hand and was puffing out a breath of smoke just as she passed.
Immediately her nose began to tickle furiously. Sharron tried hard to hold her breath,
but it was too much for her. She ducked into Tony's room quickly as she pinched her nose
tightly. As soon as she was inside, the smell was gone, but her nose, tickling nonetheless,
needed to be rid of the sensation. She held her nose closed but could not prevent the sneezes
from coming. Stifled, they filled her nose but came out only in miniature, supressed form,
"Achi! Tch! Tich! ch! HaCH!" soon her nose was tickling more from stifling the sneezes than
from the smoke irritation, so she just let them out. "AhCHO! HaCHiii! Ahchhi! ahh...
ahhhCHIIIii!" She gasped for breath and found him holding a tissue out for her. She took it,
dabbing her watering eyes first, then holding it up in front of a face which signaled that the
sneezey feeling was still in her nose... it just wasn't stong enough to make her sneeze.
Tony realized it, sniffing but watching her. He decided to talk her through it. "Hey,
Shar... you gonna sneeze?"
She nodded, eyes closed, mouth open, face fallen in helpless longing.
He chuckled. "Who said you could? I'm *sniff* I'm the one with the cold, remember?"
She couldn't help but smile and let out a laugh which, for it's quick breath in and out,
was all she needed. "AhhCHII! AHHCHHHO! Ahchhii! ahhCHii! HaCHHhh! AhhCHOOO!"
She opened her eyes, the feeling past. "Whew," she finished, blowing her nose carefully and
sitting back down on the edge of his bed. "Sorry, Tony," she laughed. "Didn't know I
needed a permit. That darn cigarette smoke, you know?"
He tried laughing with her, but found his throat hurt a bit too much for it. She handed
him the glass of orange juice and he thanked her, falling back against proppd up pillows,
rubbing his head, sipping slowly with thanks. He finished the drink.
Still Around and Still Writing is available for purchase! Its 448 pages are packed full of sneezes from some of my favorite stories to excerpts from unfinished pieces to drabbles to my own personal thoughts about each piece.
Want to win a free, signed copy from tarotgal? If you’re at least 18 years old, feel free to enter the drawing. The drawing closes on September 24, 2017 at 20:00 Eastern.
Thanks for celebrating the 20th Anniversary of TOS with me!
Sharron reached over to the small tissue box she'd brought, covered her nose and
mouth, and sneezed lightly into one with a feminine-sounding, "Ahchii!"
"This seat taken?" she heard. She looked up to see Anthony standing in front of her
with a soft smile on his face. It was about time. They were supposed to have met at 10 and it
was already 11:30.
"Well..." she wanted to make it hard on him and teach him a lesson. "I was saving it
for my partner. We were
But he's already an hour
without apologising and be accepted by a vaccant spot at the table, so
ahead."
Tony, of course, did not sit. "I'm sorry..." he said straight out, feeling badly. "I
sleapt through my alarm and just woke up a few minutes ago. I haven't even eaten breakfast.
I'm really sorry, Shar."
She pushed the chair across from her out with her feet and pointed to it. "Better make
this the last time. I've been doing the dirty work here alone waiting for you. Check this...
thi... " she quickly snatched up another tissue. "achIIii!" She recovered in a second. "Check
this out." She passed him a few books in which she'd paper clipped pages of importance.
"Oh, I see," he murmered, leafing through the first one. "This paragraph here on..."
he paused suddenly, only to continue a moment after, his voice sounding a bit different,
though she couldn't place it. "Macbeth. There's a lot about the character moti...
motivations."
Sharron looked up to see him rubbing his nose. He looked up as well but when their
eyes met, Tony quickly sniffed and placed his hand in his lap as if he'd been doing nothing at
all.
Sharron, a little curious, was about to ask when another urge to sneeze ran through
her. She glanced venimously at the potted flowers on the library windowsil on her right and
the open windows all around her that were opened to the fresh, spring outdoors. Plucking a
few more tissues, she burried her nose to give a soft, light, "ahCHiii!" followed immediately
by a quick double, "AhCHii! ahhCHI!"
Tony noticed, wondering if he should ask or not. Finally, he decided to. "You all
right, Sharron?"
Sharron nodded with a pleasant smile. "Oh yes, I'm fine. Why?"
"Well, you've been..." he paused again, then continued as quickly after as he could,
"sneezing the whole time I've been here. You aren't... coming... down with a cold... are
you?" The pauses were becoming more frequent and more lengthy, not to mention more
mysterious.
She shook her head. "No, it's only my allergies. You know I have a terrible case of
the sneezes this time of the year."
He nodded, remembering her last spring and summer before classes ended when she'd
have to ditch parties or leave the scenes early because she couldn't keep from sneezing.
"Oh."
He sounded disapointed enough to make Sharron's curiousity rise above standards of
politeness. "Why do you ask?" Sometimes he was such a difficult person to figure out. It
seemed almost strange that she had known him since the first day at college nearly 3 years
before. "You're
"Oh, no!" he exclaimed. "Only well... I haven't been feeling too well lately and I was
a little worried about getting you sick. I figured I didn't have to worry so much if you were
already sick."
She looked up from the current reference book to study his face. "You're not feeling
well?"
Shaking his head, "My roommate, Brad, came down with a bad cold a couple days
ago. I think I must have caught it from him."
The more she looked at him, the more he had to admit to seeing his flushed cheeks
but otherwise pale face, and his weak brown eyes. "You're welcome to my tissues if you
need them, Tony." She laughed, "Of course, you're not sneezing now." She loved letting
him know she understood without actually telling him.
He nodded. "Which is not for lack of trying."
Innocently, "Hmm?"
"Nothing."
"You mean, you're not sneezing on purpose?" She'd heard his sneezes several times
before and knew they were strong enough for her to wonder how he could possibly hold them
back and have her not notice. "You know, that can hurt you, to hold them in, I mean."
He put his head back in the book he was reading.
"Tony?"
"It's embarrassing!" he whispered strongly back, rubbing his nose a little, his face
falling to one of helpless misery. He felt terrible but complaining about it was the last thing
he wanted to do.
"It's okay," she whispered back, sniffing. "I don't mind or anything. Heck, I'm
sneezing, too. You know you don't have to be embarrassed in front of me about anything.
He nodded reluctantly. "Ok."
They went back to reading and Sharron sneezed twice, full, small sneezes, "Hachii!
ahCHii!" She reached for a tissue only to be met at the box by his hand which reached for
one at the same moment. The look on his face told her he was ready. He bent forward a bit
and closed his eyes in preparation. "HaahhSHEOO!" he sneezed hard, strong, bending
foreward for a breif second and straightening up after.
"Bless you!" Mary exclaimed, pushing the tissue box across the table to him.
He lifted a fist to his face, his first finger pressing up against his nostrils to smother a
second as best he could, "AhhSHHMmm!" He paused, sniffed, then uttered a delicate,
"Uhh.." as he sat back in his chair, bringing tissues up to his nose to blow it. "Excuse me."
"Boy, when you sneeze, you really sneeze
He nodded, his cheecks going red.
She stood and went to him, sitting down in he chair beside him and putting her hand
on his forehead. "Tony! You're burning up!"
He shook his head, making her hand retract. "I took some asprin right before I
came," he informed her, shivering slightly but trying to cover it up by fully straightening up
in his seat.
"You're sick and getting sicker. You need to go to bed."
He shook his head. "What? And leave you here to do all the work? I
think so! Plus we have class in half an hour."
She had a kind heart for self sacrifice, but also knew he'd do her no good sitting there
and sneezing rather than doing work. "Anthony, I really think you should just forget about
the project today and go back to bed."
"I'll be.... HahhHSHHHOO!
Fine-Ah-CHOOOO!" he sneezed each, desperately trying to hold them back so he could
speak but the sensations in his nose were growing worse with every passing moment.
"Sure you will," Sharron replied sarcastically, standng up behind him to rub his
shoulders. She found his muscles to be tense and aching. "Come on, I'll walk you back to
your dorm room."
He began to protest again, then nodded, feeling another strong sneeze approaching.
"HAHHSHHUOSHH!" She closed his book and handed him a tissue.
"How long have you been feeling like this, anyway?"
"Just since... sin... HahhhCHHUUOOO! this morn- hahhhSHEOOO!
morning."
She knew this was going to become a really bad cold. "OK, come on," she helped
him to his feet and let him lean on her slightly as they walked out.
Once outside, Sharron had to work to control her alergies. She began sniffing as the
pollen in the air whirled around in her small but sensitive nostrils at every breath. "ahCHH!"
she sneezed, holding her hand up to her face.
One of Sharron's friends, Jennifer, came up to them then. "Gosh, you two are a
sight!" she giggled to see them walking unsteadily, sneezing and sniffling.
Sharron asked her for some help and Jennifer obliged, getting on Tony's other side
and having him place his arms over both their shoulders for double support. It was a tough
walk back, but thankfully a short one. Sniffling, Sharron dug his hard out of his poket and
slid it through for him as he leaned against Jennifer and the wall. She sneezed again, as they
went in. Once in, Jennifer told them she needed to get to a class in two minutes and Sharron
thanked her for her help.
Sharon helped him inside, getting him to sit down on the bed.
"There you are. I have a friend who lives upstairs and I'm sure she has a thermometer
she'll let me borrow. I'll be right back. You get changed for ned and get under the covers,
all right?"
He shook his head. "Don't bother. It's only a little cold. I don't want you treating me
like a little baby; I'm 21, Sharron."
She smiled. "If there's one thing I've learned from being pre med it's that patients
always want to be babied when they're not feeling well."
Tony shot her a displeased look. "So, you mean all I am is one of your patients?"
She smiled shyly. "No, Anthony. You mean much more than that to me. I'm not here
as a nurse. I'm here as your friend. I care about you."
He looked at her a moment. He then nodded. "Okay, Shar."
She returned a few minutes later to find him shirtless and stretched out in his bed with
a blanket over him up to his waist. She sat down on the bed beside him, shaking the
thermometer. "Here you go. Open up." He did, lifting his tongue so she could slide it under
easily. Then he pointed to the tissue box on the desk beside his bed. She took it, intending to
hand it to him, when she realized it was empty. "Oh... I'll go get you another then," she told
him, glancing at her watch. Two minutes later and two boxes of tissues wealthier, she was
once again beside him.
Her own nose was tickling a little, and she sneezed, "iachish!" opening the box to get
one for herself just as he echoed.
"HAHHSHOOSH!"
She laughed, removing the thermometer to read it as he sniffed and rubbed his nose.
"One hundred point three," she told him. "That's pretty high."
"HARRRR-SHEOOO!" Sharron heard a man sneeze, but it wasn't Tony. A second
later, a guy came walking through the door, his nose buried and blowing into a large
handkerchief. As the door closed behind him, he doubled over to give a powerful second,
"HHHAARR-SHHHEOO!"
"Gesundheit," Tony snuffled, sitting up in bed to look a bit less helpless.
His roommate, Brad, nodded, stuffing the cloth in his back pocket. "Thanks." He
surveyed the scene. "Looks like you're not feeling too well, yourself, huh Tone?" Brad sat
down on his own bed, changed his shirt, and collected a few books.
"Yeah. I think I caught your cold," he admitted, trying hard to hold back the sneezes
by scrunching up his face. He so much hated sneezing in front of people. "Huh.. hahhh..."
he couldn't help it for it's strength was too much for him. He managed to stifle it, though.
"HaChmm!"
"Bless you," Sharron said. wondering if this, too, was embarrassing for him. He was
stifling them, after all.
"Hey, don't worry, Tone. I'll be gone in a minute. Got some studying to do with
Clara Robinson, if you know what I mean."
Tony looked guiltily over at Sharron, thinking of all the work they two had to do.
Sharron shook her head, trying to tell him that the project didn't matter to her in comparrison
to his health.
Brad left a minute later and Sharron sat down in the desk chair, typing away at the
computer. Tony grabbed a few kleenexes and blew his nose. "I'm so
She reached over and patted his leg. "It's quite all right, Tony. It's not your fault at
all. We can get a little done on the internet and get back to the library later when you're
feeling better."
A slow smile spread across his face and he opened his mouth to answer only a loud
sneeze beat him to it. "HAHSHOO!" A handful of tissues smothered the rest. "Hah-SHMM!
HAAHCHOPH! HAHHSHOOSH! HehhhHASHOOSHHMM!"
"Bless you!" Sharron exclaimed at the large result. She was beginning to wonder how
sick he really was and if, prehaps, he were able to even help her a little on the report in his
condition. "Tony... be honest with me. Do you want me to go?"
He finished blowing his nose. "No. It's ok. I don't... I don't mind sneezing in front
of you any more."
She patted his leg. "If you want me to leave at any time, just tell me, all right? I
don't want to make you uncomfortable. Or if you wanna get some sleep or anything... I can
go."
"No, don't!" he reacted quickly, biting his lip after, ashamed he's been so fast to
admit he wanted her comfort. "I mean, I'll be fine. Please stay."
She nodded, typing a bit more on the keyboard. "I will."
"AH-HAHCHOO!" he sneezed, lying down again to bring the covers all the way up
to his neck.
"Boy, you're sneezing quite a lot, aren't you?"
He nodded at ehr observation. "Yeah. My nose keeps tickling so
You're hah... HAHHSHOO!
"Yeah, I am. My allergies are tricky. They come and go so easily I never really know
when an attack is gonna hit."
"Sharron?"
"Yes, Tony?"
He sighed. "Never mind."
"What?"
"Never mind."
The printer started and she turned back to him to give him her undivided attention.
"No, really, Tony. What?"
"I was just wondering... if you could... maybe... give me a back rub?"
She smiled, loving to see the shy side in a guy who was usually composed and overly
confident. "Of course. I'd love to." He sat up and she got behind him, sitting indian-style on
the bed. She worked her hands over his shoulders, feeling him loosen at her touch, hearning
him sigh. "Feel's good?" she asked, moving down his back, rubbing with force.
"Feel... f-fuh.. HUHHCHOO!" he sneezed, bending forward, sneezing freely, his
muscles tensing again only to relax as he sat back up and she continued. "Feels great.
Thanks, Shar."
She smiled. "What are friends for?" She finished the back rub to find him half asleep.
She helped guide his head to his pillow and pulled the sheet and blankets up and over him.
She carefully sat back down in the chair to see his eyes closing, to find his breathing slow,
his body going limp.
Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door and Tony woke, looking around
confused for a moment, then distressed the next as the knocking came again.
Sharron stood. "I'll answer it." She went to the door, opening it half-way, slipping
out, and closing it behind her. "Yes?"
"Yeah, um, is Tony in?"
She nodded. It was Tony's younger brother. She stuck her head back in to ask Tony,
"It's Andrew. Do you want me to let him in?"
He croaked back, "Sure." He sounded worse every time he spoke.
Andy walked in with a smile, only to have it fade as he saw his brother.
"Hey, Andy, what's.. HAH-HAAHHCHOO! what's
Concerned, "Tone? You okay, bro?"
Tony nodded. "I'b
Andy frowned suspiciously at his brother. "Maybe I should call Mom-"
Tony sat up. "No you won't!
you call Mom you know I'll kill Hahh-CHOOSH!
Andy looked at Sharron.
She nodded. "He's got a bit of a fever and some sneezes and aches but otherwise,
yeah, he'll be just fine."
Tony sneezed again. Sniffling, "See?" glaring at his brother. "I'll be fide."
Andy ruffled his older brother's hair and gave him a grin. "Well, if you're not, I'm
reserving the right to call Mom and have her send you up some of her homemade soup,
okay?"
This time Tony grinning. It's a deal. Thaks, Ad... Hahh... HAHCHOO!
Andy." He sneezed again, and once again, reaching for the tissues as Andy left and shut the
door behind him.
Sharron sat back down on his bed. "You've got a very sweet little brother there,
Tony."
He nodded. "Yeah, tell me about it. You know, he has a crush on you."
She seemed surprised. "Oh?"
"Yeah, but I told him you were mine."
Her heart skipped a beat. Noticing the sweat on his brow, she put the back of her
hand against his forehead. "Your fever's up. I think you're becoming delerious."
"I know." He nodded, closing his eyes, and passed out.
She tried the door first and, finding it unlocked, walked in. At once her eyes fell upon
Anthony, sitting up in bed with a book on his lap, a box of tissues at his side, and dozens of
used, balled-up tissues scattered about on the bed and floor. He was holding one then, folded
and crumpled, up against his bright red nostrils to keep them from dripping. He was bent
over the book, squinting and trying to concentrate but sniffing every few seconds and looking
as generally miserable as anyone could possibly look.
She cleared her throat and he looked up at once, seeing her and cringing with
embarrassment. "Oh God!" he groaned with as much voice as he had left, sniffing strongly
and quickly gathering the tissues so he didn't appear to be so untidy.
"Poor Tony," she cooded lightly, in not more than a whisper. "Your cold's getting
worse, I gather?" She sat down on his bed and put the back of her hand to his forehead to
find it burning.
He nodded woefully, closing his eyes so he wouldn't have to see her through his
embarrassment. "Yeah."
"Maybe you should go to the infirmary?"
He shook his head. "No... I don't want to..." He was not about to tell her how much
he hated doctors and all they stood for, but he wanted to make it clear that he wasn't going
to go, all the same. He opened his eyes and looked at her with great longing. He hated to
admit it, but he felt terrible and he needed her. "Can't you take care of me?"
She melted at his words and his soft, fever-dazed eyes. "Of course I can." Sharron
took the book from his lap and set it on the desk, sure to keep it open to where he had it.
Then she cleared the rest of the tissues off his bed for him and got him a glass of orange
juice from the fridge in the common room at the end of the hallway. Coming back, she
nearly ran into the guy who lived in the room across from him. The man had a thin cigarette
in his hand and was puffing out a breath of smoke just as she passed.
Immediately her nose began to tickle furiously. Sharron tried hard to hold her breath,
but it was too much for her. She ducked into Tony's room quickly as she pinched her nose
tightly. As soon as she was inside, the smell was gone, but her nose, tickling nonetheless,
needed to be rid of the sensation. She held her nose closed but could not prevent the sneezes
from coming. Stifled, they filled her nose but came out only in miniature, supressed form,
"Achi! Tch! Tich! ch! HaCH!" soon her nose was tickling more from stifling the sneezes than
from the smoke irritation, so she just let them out. "AhCHO! HaCHiii! Ahchhi! ahh...
ahhhCHIIIii!" She gasped for breath and found him holding a tissue out for her. She took it,
dabbing her watering eyes first, then holding it up in front of a face which signaled that the
sneezey feeling was still in her nose... it just wasn't stong enough to make her sneeze.
Tony realized it, sniffing but watching her. He decided to talk her through it. "Hey,
Shar... you gonna sneeze?"
She nodded, eyes closed, mouth open, face fallen in helpless longing.
He chuckled. "Who said you could? I'm *sniff* I'm the one with the cold, remember?"
She couldn't help but smile and let out a laugh which, for it's quick breath in and out,
was all she needed. "AhhCHII! AHHCHHHO! Ahchhii! ahhCHii! HaCHHhh! AhhCHOOO!"
She opened her eyes, the feeling past. "Whew," she finished, blowing her nose carefully and
sitting back down on the edge of his bed. "Sorry, Tony," she laughed. "Didn't know I
needed a permit. That darn cigarette smoke, you know?"
He tried laughing with her, but found his throat hurt a bit too much for it. She handed
him the glass of orange juice and he thanked her, falling back against proppd up pillows,
rubbing his head, sipping slowly with thanks. He finished the drink.
Still Around and Still Writing is available for purchase! Its 448 pages are packed full of sneezes from some of my favorite stories to excerpts from unfinished pieces to drabbles to my own personal thoughts about each piece.
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Thanks for celebrating the 20th Anniversary of TOS with me!
