I'm Gay, He's Straight -SERIES- [boyxboy]

*Kiss Me Like You Did* IGHS Sequel {03} Slash

When I woke up again the next morning my face felt tight and crusty and I realised I had a facial frosting of dried tears. My head was pounding and my eyes felt hot and sore; I groaned as I dragged myself into a sitting position and rubbed my face gingerly, avoiding the raw area around my eyes. After waiting a few moments for the thumping in my head to subside, I slid out of bed and traipsed towards the ensuite, flicking on the light and going to stand in front of the mirror.

 I looked even worse than I felt.

 My eyes were red and bloodshot, the whites practically obscured by the visible red capillaries. Under these hideous orbs were two large purple bags, standing out against my unnaturally pale and drained face.

 Sighing – I was used to this zombie-like doppelganger who greeted me every morning, as was Kelly, but Aunt Jessie would probably scream when she saw me – I bent over the porcelain bowl of the sink and splashed my face with cold water, patting my cheeks to try and bring some colour to them in an uncharacteristic effort at appearing, physically, normal. I looked only marginally better when I returned my gaze to the mirror, but it would have to do.

 Not bothering to change – I had fallen asleep in the clothes I'd been wearing yesterday – I wandered downstairs out of a sense of propriety. I didn't eat much anymore – I had lost an alarming amount of weight, but I simply didn't have an appetite and most foods made me nauseous – and I didn't want to take part in whatever Jessie and Kelly were doing, but I didn't want to be rude; I was still a guest here. I felt a tug of longing to be moved in and settled in my dorm room so I could stay in bed all day and get my lecture notes off the internet like everyone else.

 'Morning Jake,' Jessie said brightly when I appeared, rumpled and drawn, in the kitchen. 'What would you like for breakfast?'

 'Um,' I said, dropping into a chair beside Kel at the table. I was already exhausted from the day and I had just woken up. 'I'm okay. Thanks.'

 'Nonsense,' Jessie said abruptly. 'You need to have a breakfast; it's the most important meal of the day. And look at you, you're wasting away. Would you like cereal or a fry?'

 I glanced at Kelly's plate; she was working her way diligently through a Full Irish: bacon rashers, sausages, friend eggs, black and white pudding, toast, and fried tomato. Its smell was wafting past me but all I could pick out was the tangy smell of char, and I knew it would all taste like cardboard.

'I'm really not hungry,' I tried to convince her, knowing I'd be sick if I did try to eat anything and not wanting to insult her.

'Jake, we are not going anywhere until you eat some breakfast,' Jessie said firmly, and I felt like I was eight years old again being warned to finish my dinner or I wouldn't get a treat afterwards.

'He'll vomit if he tries to eat,' Kelly said quietly from beside me, and Aunt Jessie, who had been moving about preparing the food with her back to us, stopped moving suddenly but didn't turn around.

I looked down at the table, ashamed and exhausted.

'Okay,' Jessie said brightly after a moment, dismissing the incident. 'You kids go hurry and get ready then, and we'll start moving you over to campus. It will take a few hours, seeing as you've both got so much stuff.'

Taylor's POV

'Taylor?... Tay, baby, time to wake up.'

 I groaned and squeezed my eyes tight shut, then slowly opened them, the bright light hurting a little. I was aware of a sense of motion and I realised I'd fallen asleep in the car. I was curled up in the passenger seat, facing away from Ryan, and I knew I had a crusty covering of drool on the corner of my lip. I quickly wiped it away before sitting up properly and turning to face him.