Page 12 of Just a Footnote

“No,” Aiden lies and continues walking.

Liam crawls along beside him in the car. “Let me give you a ride back to your dorm.”

“I’m good.”

“Archer will kill me if he finds out I drove by you while you weresickand didn’t force you to accept a ride.”

“Then don’t tell him.”

“Get in the goddamn car, Aiden Clark.”

Aiden freezes. The bag of cold supplies almost tumbles out of his hand as his grip slackens. Maybe he can accept the ride since they’re heading in the same direction. It’s not like it’s out of Liam’s way to drop him off. He shrugs before climbing into the car. A cough shudders through him, forcing him to hunch over a little, and Liam grimaces as he starts back on the road.

“If you get sick it’s your own fault. I’m purposely staying away from Archer in the dorms. I don’t need the entire hockey team hating me if the plague makes its way through everyone.”

“It’s okay. I take a million vitamins and get my flu shot every year. I won’t catch it.”

Aiden narrows his eyes. “You get the flu shot? Are you actually eighty years old?”

“Aren’t you pre-med? You don’t get your flu shot?” Liam asks incredulously.

“I do…but no one else my age does.”

“People that don’t want to miss a week of games because they’re on bedrest with the flu get their flu shot.”

Well that does make sense. They sit in silence the rest of the ride which Aiden is kind of grateful for because his throat really fucking hurts. He climbs out of the car without a word to head into the dorm. When he pushes through the door he doesn’t expect Liam to be right behind him. They collide, Liam cups Aiden’s elbows with his big hands so that they don’t tumble to the ground.

“Urgh,” Aiden groans, pushing Liam away.

The cold medicine tastes chemically as he swallows it down. He rubs at his forehead, begging the medicine to kick in quickly so he can write some of his paper before starting to study for his other lab.

“You look like shit.”

“Why are you still here?” Aiden complains as he fishes an energy drink out of the fridge.

“Are you going to drink that right after taking cold medicine?”

“Yes.”

“Can you do them at the same time? That seems hazardous to your health.”

Just for that, Aiden cracks open the energy drink and takes a long sip of it. He tastes absolutely nothing. Liam narrows his eyes while looking down at Aiden in some form of abjectdisgust. Aiden attempts to smirk up at him but a cough forces it into a grimace.

“Aiden?” Archer comes strolling out of his bedroom with a concerned scowl. “You said you had a slight cold… you didn’t say you had the plague.”

Aiden holds up a hand out for Archer to not come closer. “Don’t come closer. I’m going to take all my shit and go study in my room. Where I cannot infect you. This idiot already made his decision.”

He flees into his bedroom. If he takes a small nap now, then he could write his paper in the evening before going to sleep. That could definitely work. He grabs the box of tissues from his cold supplies bag before burrowing under his blankets. He falls asleep before even setting his alarm.

His room is dark when he wakes up, alerting him to the fact he stayed asleep way longer than he planned. Every muscle in his body aches despite the medicine he took earlier. He lets out a groan and tosses an arm over his eyes.

The bed shifting sends him sitting straight up in the bed.

“It’s just me,” Liam reassures him softly, concern etching his features.

“What the fuck are you doing in my bed?”

“Archer didn’t want to catch it, and I felt bad leaving you alone, so I’ve just been hanging out here.”

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