Chapter 54: Attention Seeker

Talk about it. Talk to me.

___

"Pay attention to me."

"Really, stop Fabian. You're distracting me," Jaimie-mae said as she swatted away his hand.

He huffed and poked her side childishly. "Please."

Jaimie-mae shook her head in disbelief. Fabian had been wanting her attention all afternoon but she had been busy with looking for a summer job so that she could help pay for part of the apartment.

Both of them got accepted into the college nine hours away so they knew that they would for sure be living together. They were in love, why wouldn't they?

Jaimie-mae had lost her job at the Garden Corner because she had missed so many days due to her PTSD. She understood why they had to let her go and found a new waitress, although sometimes when her waiter friend Ryan would see her; he'd complain about how much they needed her back. She was an excellent worker and because she was so pretty they'd bring in more customers. Jaimie-mae didn't think it was true but apparently it was.

Fabian had been wanting her to pay attention to him for about four and a half hours now because he was 'bored and being deprived of her kisses'.

"Please Jaimie. You can look for a job later. I can cover the apartment."

"But i want to help," she said, not taking her eyes off of her laptop screen.

"Jaimieee," he whined. He tried to give her kisses but she just pushed his head away.

"Fae," she called out for her dog and clicked her tongue.

Fae came trotting into the room, much bigger than when she first got her four months ago. She cocked her head to the side as she looked up at Jaimie-mae.

"Fabian wants cuddles," she said as she pat the couch beside Fabian.

Fae hopped up and sat beside Fabian as if she understood what Jaimie-mae just said. He tried to have an attitude but he couldn't when his two girls were so cute.

"Oo, how about... nevermind," Jaimie-mae muttered as she scrolled down again.

"Jaimie please. We can go upstairs and do something. You can come back to that," he pleaded as he pet Fae's head.

She shook her head determinedly. If he acted any more adorable her determination would dwindle and she'd give into his pleading. She needed to get him away.

"Don't you have friends or something to keep you entertained?"

"Yes. But none of them are as cool as you. And to be honest, im feeling kinda..." he trailed off.

She looked at him for a second and then looked back at the screen. "Kinda?"

"Um... turned on."

Jaimie-mae gasped. "What?" She choked out. "Why?"

"Because my girlfriend is fine."

She looked at him blankly. "Im wearing a t-shirt and shorts and my hair is in messy french braids."

"Yeah, but you can pull off literally anything," he said with a smile. "And your shorts are rising up," he said huskily as he trailed his fingertips up her legs.

She shivered and tried to push his hand away. She wanted to hit herself for being so reactive to his gentle touch. She loved the way he touched her, the way he made her feel.

But she wanted to help and she would.

"Fabian i would love to do something with you, but let me finish what i started."

He pouted and inched closer to her. "Don't you remember what you said in the car before we went to the arcade?"

She knew exactly what he was talking about but she pushed it out of her mind and tried to pretend she didn't. "No."

He raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure about that?"

He slowly grabbed her hand from the touchpad of her laptop and brought it down onto his hard crotch. She gasped in surprise and averted her gaze to his rising and falling chest.

"Do you remember now?"

She took a shaky breath. "U-um... i d-don't know if-if i know-"

She was cut off when the sound of the door opening and Mason and his friends laughter was heard. She snapped her hand backwards and Fabian threw a couch pillow over his crotch.

Mason came running through barefooted with a towel around his shoulders, obviously just coming from swimming. "Hey bro. Hi Jaimie-mae!"

"Hey little man."

"Hey Mase."

Two of Masons friends appeared behind Mason and they waved. There was one little boy with brown hair and glasses and one little boy with blond hair and a bright smile.

When the blond little boy finally spotted Jaimie-mae on the couch, he began flexing his tiny eight year old muscles.

Jaimie-mae just grinned to amuse him while Fabian snickered silently into his hand.

"Hi," the blond kid said brightly.

"Hi," Jaimie-mae said with a beautiful smile.

Fabian admired how nice she was to everyone. He also admired her angelic smile.

"My names Karter," he said as he stepped forward.

"Nice to meet you Karter. Mines is Jaimie-mae," she said as she brushed a peice of hair behind her ear and gave him a gentle smile.

Fabian chuckled at Karter's awestruck expression. He couldn't blame him. His girlfriend was effortlessly beautiful.

"You're very pretty," Karter said confidently.

Jaimie-mae peaked over at Fabian for a second then looked back. "Thank you Karter."

"Come on. Lets go play in my room," Mason said excitedly.

The little boy with glasses began following him but he stopped when he realized Karter wasn't following them. "Come on Karter."

"No thanks," he said in a daze. "I think im good here."

Both Jaimie-mae and Fabian laughed quietly as Karter continued to stare dreamily at her.

"Hey buddy," Fabian said getting Karter's attention. "A little tip. It's not nice to stare."

He blinked nervously. "Oh right. Sorry."

He guestered for him to come closer and he inched forward.

Fabian leaned forward. "She's beautiful isn't she?" He whispered.

Karter looked over at Jaimie-mae and nodded.

"Yeah, i think so too," Fabian said in a hushed tone.

Jaimie-mae giggled and shook her head before going back to looking for a job.

When she realized Karter hadn't yet gone upstairs, she looked up at him. "Are you not going upstairs?"

He shook his head.

"If i give you something, will you go upstairs?"

He smiled. "Maybe."

"Okay." She guestered for him to come forward.

He immediately stepped towards her and she planted a quick kiss on his cheek.

His face flamed up with red and his hand flew up to touch where her lips had just been. "Wow."

He immediately ran out of the living room and up the stairs, leaving Jaimie-mae in a fit of laughter.

Fabian stared at her blankly. "Are you kidding me! You give him a kiss, but not me!" He crossed his arms childishly and she laughed.

She leaned over and kissed each of his cheeks, then his forehead and then his lips. "There you go. Now let me do my thing. I'll do whatever with you later."

Fabian wasn't completely satisfied but he took what he could get. "Fine. I'm gonna go out then."

"Alright, have fun!"

***

Jaimie-mae was sitting up in Fabian's bed, worried out of her mind at 1:37 am. He wasn't yet home and he hadn't answered back to any of her texts.

She kept wondering if he was really upset at her for not paying attention to him. But that was childish and he wasn't like that.

At 1:52 AM, she got a call from an unknown number.

"Hello?"

"Hey J-Jaimie."

She sat up straight. "Fabian? Is that you?"

"Y-yeah. I messed up," he said. He sounded cold even though it was only a comfortable summer breeze.

"What? What happened?" She asked worridely.

"I got totally wasted even though i knew i shouldn't have drank any alcohol. I didn't even drink that much but i think someone tried to spike it with something."

"Oh my gosh," she gasped. "Are you okay?"

"Um, not really. I feel sick and cold."

She suddenly felt sad at how vunerable he sounded. "Okay. You'll be ok Faby. Where are you?"

"Im at a house party. I can send you the l-location if you want. I just want you to come get me... please."

"Yeah of course. You're safe now right?"

"Yeah. I locked myself in a room," he said through a chuckle.

She heard him cough a little.

"Okay. I'll be there soon."

She quickly slipped into her shoes and quietly ran down the steps, grabbing her keys from the kitchen table before running out to her car.

As she started the car, she remembered her phone which she left in Fabian's room so she quickly sprinted back inside, grabbed her phone, a bottle of water, some tissues, pain tablets and some mints. She shoved everything into a small backpack and then ran back out to her car.

When the location popped up on her phone, she practically sped there.

As soon as she got to the house, she jumped out and scanned the yard. It was littered with red solo cups and napkins. Only two people were out on the grass, cuddling each other.

She immediately made her way inside and she held the collar of her shirt over her nose to keep out the stench.

Spotting some stairs, she quickly made her way upstairs and checked for locked doors. When she found one single, locked door, she gently knocked.

"Fabian," she whisper yelled.

A groan came from behind the door, before the sound of dragging feet was heard. Not to long later, the door clicked open and Fabian peaked his head out. His brown eyes were red and his face was puffy. His long eyelashes were also slightly wet and it took Jaimie-mae a while to process that he had been... crying.

He squinted at her and then tackled her into a hug. "Jaimie," he said breathlessly. "My literal saviour."

"Fabian, are you okay?"

He groaned. "No, i feel like crap."

"Okay. Lets get you home."

He stumbled forward and she caught him and helped him down the steps before safely getting hin to her car.

He groaned as he sat down. "Thanks."

As Jaimie-mae drove away from the house, she looked over at him. "Please don't puke in the car."

He leaned back in his seat and just nodded. She passed him a water bottle which he gratefully took and chugged down.

He groaned miserably again which made Jaimie-mae look at him in worry.

"What's wrong?"

"Someone thought it would be funny to put drugs in my drink and i feel like absolute crap now."

She gasped. "Did you throw them up?"

"Yeah," he mumbled. "I really don't feel good."

"We're almost there."

Six minutes later she was pulling up into Fabian's driveway and hopping out to help him inside.

Fabian stumbled into the house and she had to shush him every few seconds.

Once she got him up the stairs, she led him to his room and gently helped him onto his bed. He immediately sprawled out his limbs to get comfortable.

Jaimie-mae's eyes widened when he suddenly started stripping out of his clothes and throwing them away from him randomly.

When he was about to take off his boxers, Jaimie-mae screeched quietly. "What are you doing?!"

"I feel hot," he whined.

She put her hand on his forehead and freaked out when she noticed he was burning up.

"Hold on, you probably have a fever or something," she said before running into his bathroom and wetting a cloth. When she came back out, Fabian had his arm thrown over his eyes and a hand clutching his toned abdomen.

She gently wiped down his slightly sweaty face and then down his chest. She was blushing the whole time but she couldn't help but be in awe at how strong he felt.

"Im cold now," he mumbled.

She nodded. "Okay, get up real fast."

He groaned. "I don't feel like it."

She huffed and rolled him over, holding him to the side with one hand and flipping the covers back with the other. She dropped the hand holding him up and he rolled back over so she could tuck him in.

She was wondering why he needed her attention so badly. Sure, she had been a little distant for a few days but he didn't seem like someone who needed a huge amount of attention.

She brought a bottle of water to his lips. "Here. Drink some."

He leaned up and took a few sips before dropping his head back down onto the pillows. He immediately groaned from the impact on his head and began sweating again.

Jaimie-mae hurridly pulled the covers back off. "Maybe we should take you to the hospital."

"No. No more hospitals," he said quietly.

"You were drugged Fabian. What if you didn't get them all out of your system?"

He peaked through one eye and shrugged. The sweat was dripping down him fast now.

Jaimie-mae tugged him off the bed and dragged him into the bathroom. He whined in protest and clutched his stomach.

"Stick your fingers down your throat. I need to make sure you're okay. Or else we go to the hospital and i am sick of hospitals," she spat.

He did as she said and shoved his fingers down his throat. He coughed and gasped for breath but nothing came out.

"I can't do it," he cried as his head hovered over the toilet.

Jaimie-mae kneeled down beside him and rubbed his back soothingly. "Come on. Do it for me. Try again."

He stuck his finger down his throat but never gagged.

"Fabian," she said seriously.

He tried again but he wasn't trying hard enough.

"Alright, how about this. If you get everything out of your system, i'll spend two days with just you. With no one else around at my house. And i'll even... help you out, if you know what i mean."

That seemed to be enough encouragement for him because he was gagging and throwing up everything in a matter of seconds. Jaimie-mae pat his back until he was just dry heaving over the toilet.

"Good," she said with a small smile.

She passed him some water and he took a huge gulp and rinsed his mouth before spitting it into the toilet. He took another gulp but this time drank it.

Next thing she knew, he was crying into her chest quietly.

Her heart broke for him. Seeing him in so much distress wasn't normal. She shouldn't have been seeing her boyfriend struggling. He was a beautiful angel to her.

"What were you doing drinking anyway?" She asked quietly.

He shrugged. "Its an old habit."

"Why'd you start again?"

"I don't know. I guess i was bored," he said nonchalantly as he buried his face into her neck, shivering slightly.

"It must have been more than that. Did i do something?" She asked as she rubbed his back gently.

"No," he said with a quiet sigh.

"You can talk to me you know. We're supposed to be equal. You take care of me, let me do the same."

He nodded weakly. "I guess... i know it shouldn't hold on to it..." he trailed off.

She brushed his damp hair out of his face and kissed his forehead in encouragement. "Hold onto what?"

"I guess sometimes, i worry about you... a lot. And, i know i shouldn't take on the things that you cry about, but i can't help it. I hate seeing you cry or depressed. I love your smile and when i don't see it... it makes me upset, i guess."

She suddenly felt really bad. He was going back to his old habits because of her problems. It was unfair to make him worry so much. But she also knew that he loved her and if she left him, he'd be worse off. She couldn't do that to him. She'd just have to get better.

"I'm sorry that i make you stressed. But next time you should tell me that you're worried. I'll get better... for you. I promise."

"You have to get better for yourself as well," he mumbled weakly.

"Okay. I will. Don't stress about me. I'll be fine." She paused and thought about the fact that he had been out drinking. "Is that why you were drinking? So that you could forget about the stress."

"N- well kinda. But i've found new ways to cope i guess."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"You."

"Me? Aren't i the reason for your stress though?"

"Yeah, but that's only when you aren't at your best. When you're happy, you make me feel good."

She smiled. "Thats good. How about," she paused and slipped her hand between them and trailed it down his chest. "When you're over your fever, i can... make you feel good."

He looked at her confused and jumped when he felt her gently grasp his crotch.

"What the," he said in disbelief. "I've corrupted my little Jaimie-baby."

She giggled. "Alright, lets get you to bed."

She tugged him off the floor and helped him into bed. She slid in beside him and ran her hand down his chest. His eyes began drooping as he relaxed into her touch.

"Have i ever told you that you're really comfortable to lay on?" Fabian asked as he snuggled into her chest.

"I don't know, maybe," she said with small laugh.

"Can you maybe... not tell my parents about this please."

"I don't know, maybe."

He groaned and gently smacked her thigh. "Good night my love," he said drowsily.

Her heart fluttered crazily in her chest. "Goodnight. I love you," she whispered.

This was love