Sixes & Sevens (Seven Hearts Book 1) (24 page)

“Thank you.” Jaycee whispered, her dry-erase board forgotten beside her.

“Save your voice. In a day or two, when you’re all better, then you can thank me,” Jonathan said.

“I’ll hold you to that,” she squeaked out.

As the day wound down, Jaycee started to feel the effects of the amoxicillin. Her throat was becoming less sore, and her fever was going down. The guys weren’t faring quite so well. Their symptoms were only just peaking. Jaycee decided to get up, and help Jonathan care for the others. She carried trays of food, and bought the guys their medicine. Even Alec behaved better under Jaycee’s constant care. It wasn’t until late Monday evening that something felt wrong to Jaycee. She was beginning to feel warm again, and her skin was itchy all over.

“Jonathan, I don’t feel so good,” Jaycee said, scratching her right arm.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I feel hot and my skin feels like I’ve been bitten by a million mosquitos,” she replied.

“Let me see,” Jonathan said, reaching for her arm. “Oh Jaycee, I’m sorry. These are hives. You must be allergic to the antibiotics. We’ll need to switch you to a new one, something not penicillin based,” he said.

“Okay. How long will it take for the itching to stop?” Scratching vigorously, Jaycee tried to focus on Jonathan.

“It will take much longer if you keep scratching,” Jonathan warned her.

Jaycee grimaced. “I’m trying to stop, but it’s so hard.”

Jonathan grabbed a handful of Band-Aids from his first-aid kit. “Here, I’ll cover your hives with Band-Aids. It’s much harder to spread when you can’t get to them to scratch.” He placed the tiny rectangles over her worst bumps. “There, that should do for now. Make sure to take them off tonight. Hives have a tendency to move anyway. Where they are today, might not be where they are tomorrow.”

“Will anything minimize the discomfort?” she asked.

“Well, you can take an antihistamine, but it will only make you more tired. If the hives don’t go away after several days, then I’ll prescribe you a steroid too,” Jonathan told her.

“Oh. Um I think I’ll be fine with the antihistamine,” mumbled Jaycee, looking off and downward, hiding her face.

“It’s not
that
type of steroid, and with a low dose you shouldn’t have any side effects,” Jonathan said, chuckling at Jaycee’s response.

“What about us?” Alec wrote on his dry-erase board. “I think I’m dying over here.”

“You’ll be fine. I know you don’t have any allergies to penicillin. If the pain gets too bad, then you can take some Tylenol,” Jonathan replied.

“Tylenol 2?” Alec wrote furiously, erasing his previous question with his sleeve, causing Jonathan and Mark to grimace. His eyes betrayed that he was teasing. Even sick, Alec couldn’t help himself, he had to try to pull someone’s leg.

“Just for that, I’ll give you children’s liquid,” Jonathan said, fighting a smile, as Alec grimaced dramatically. They did put better flavorings in liquid medications these days, but if you were used to pills, the liquid could be hard to stomach.

January 12, 2016

When Tuesday morning rolled around, some of the patients were starting to recover. While they wouldn’t be going back to school yet, they were able to start caring for themselves. The guys even decided to abandon the air mattresses, and go back to their bedrooms. They weren’t contagious anymore. Jonathan was thrilled to be rid of so many whiney patients. Lee had behaved the best out of all the guys, but Jaycee was still his favorite patient. Since Jaycee was still suffering the effects of her allergic reaction, Jonathan suggested Jaycee sleep with him tonight and Sean tomorrow. Sean was a bit disappointed with the schedule change, but he was also worried about Jaycee. Her hives didn’t seem life threatening, but allergic reactions could be very serious.

Breakfast was a livelier affair, than the previous morning, as Jonathan fixed them all eggs and toast. No greasy food until they were fully healed, but they were happy not to be eating more oatmeal. Lee had suggested Jaycee wear winter mittens around the house to help keep herself from scratching. Even during her sleep, she’d been caught spreading the hives. She felt silly, but it was much harder to scratch through the thick material. When Jonathan saw the mittens, he laughed and got her an ice pack.

“Put this on the hives. The cold will numb them and they won’t itch so much.” He smiled at her mitten wrapped hands and shook his head. “Who told you to wear gloves?”

“Lee suggested it. I can’t stop myself from scratching, it’s just second nature. I think I did it in my sleep too…,” Jaycee lifted the hem of her shirt to show where her ribs were covered in bumps.

“Oh, sweetie. Let’s get you that steroid. I know you don’t want to, but you’ll heal so much faster,” Jonathan said.

“Okay…,” Jaycee said sadly.

Considering the group had all either given sick notice or—in Jonathan’s case—requested time off, everyone needed to be entertained today. Something to get their minds off their woes. Marc had the perfect solution. Racing to his room, he pulled a large photo box out from under his bed and took it downstairs to the living room.

“Jaycee, I had meant to show you these earlier, but things have been so crazy, there wasn’t a good time.” Marc opened the box, pulling out the first photo he could see and handed it to Jaycee.

“This is…wow! My family!” Tears pooled in Jaycee’s eyes. They were happy tears. She never thought she’d see a picture of her mother again. It had been so many years that she was afraid she wouldn’t recognize her anymore. Jaycee sat in the middle of the couch cradling the box of photos. The guys filled in around her trying to catch a glimpse of young Jaycee. Marc had showed them all a photo or two of her that he’d kept, but he left the rest for Jaycee. It had seemed too invasive to share all her memories. Especially when she’d been denied them for so long.

“I d-don’t know how t-to t-thank you.” Jaycee’s voice was garbled as she tried to push back sobs.

“Your happiness is enough, sweetie. That’s all I’ve ever wanted,” Marc said softly.

“You were so cute!” Sean said taking one of the photos of Jaycee after she’d lost a tooth. They began passing around the photos Jaycee had already gone through.

“My eyes were too big for my face,” Jaycee said, laughing.

“No, you were perfect,” Garrett said with conviction, causing Jaycee’s cheeks to turn pink.

“I still wish I could have seen all of you as children too. I bet you were all so adorable!” Jaycee wiped tears from her eyes as she stared at a family photo from before her mother had passed.

“Well, actually, you can.” Lee went upstairs by himself. He dug around in a closet for several minutes before returning with his arms full of photo albums.

“What are these??” Jaycee asked.

“When each of the guys moved in here, I requested some photos from their families. I wanted everyone to truly feel like this was their home, and memories are a big part of that. We all had photos of each other from our school days, but most of these are photos of us before we all met. There’s an album at the bottom of photos we took of each other.” Lee dropped the albums onto the coffee table in front of the sofa. The guys started pulling albums off, paging through, and pointing out specific photos to each other. Jaycee carefully set her photo box on the floor, having returned all the photos to their proper place.

Leaning on Garrett, Jaycee saw a photo of him riding a hobby horse when he was a toddler. His face was clearly recognizable. The guys hadn’t changed that much in the face. Jaycee enjoyed seeing pictures of Lee in formal Korean clothing with his family. Alec had pictures of himself playing sports in the street with the neighborhood kids. Sean had caught the largest bass Jaycee had ever seen, on one of the few trips they’d taken with his adopted parents. Sean’s book even had photos from before he was adopted. Unlike Jaycee, no one had denied him his roots. His father was a hero, and his mother a kind woman. Their exits from his life had been excusable. Jaycee didn’t resent him for the difference. She was happy he’d been allowed to look back, and smile at the wonderful people that were his parents.

After they’d passed around the photo albums several times, Lee picked them all up, and stored them away again. Alec suggested they watch a movie, but Jaycee was about done with sitting around watching movies. She’d rather read, but she also wanted to be social with the guys. Sean suggested hooking up a gaming system, and having a tournament. Since no one protested, Sean gathered up his gaming system and games, setting them up on the big screen. Lee set up a bracket with the challengers, and they decided to play
Mario Kart
.

Lee went up against Alec in the first round, with Lee coming out the winner. Sean and Garrett duked it out next with Sean winning by a landslide. Jonathan and Marc played each other, and Jonathan beat Marc thoroughly. Since they were an uneven number, it was decided Jaycee would play the biggest loser, since she wasn’t experienced with video games. Whoever won, would have another shot at the running. Marc wound up losing with the greatest place difference, so he went up against Jaycee. By this point, the crew had taken to cheating good naturedly. Distractions were created, often using Jaycee. They’d call her over to walk in front of part of the screen, or have her sit right in front of the other player on the floor. She was too distracting for them, but when it was her turn to play, she’d started to get the hang of it herself. Using her elbow, she gently nudged Marc’s arm when he went around the big curves, causing him to fly off the track.

“You may be cute, but I’ll still not lose to you.” Marc challenged her after she’d sent his cart reeling a second time. Jaycee giggled, pushing her cart faster. Jaycee had been lining the track behind her with bananas, and when Marc started to catch up, Jaycee managed to acquire some turtle shells, thanks to their audience’s help. Chucking them at Marc, Jaycee laughed maniacally. “Stop helping her!” Marc yelled at the guys, laughing.

Alec had been calling out whenever he saw something on the track Jaycee could use. Sean sat beside Jaycee coaching her on how to drive without crashing. In the end, Jaycee wound up winning by just a hair. “Yes!” She cheered as the scoreboard filled the screen.

“Dirty play, sweetie, and you guys…” Marc threw pillows at his brothers. “A bunch of traitors, huh?”

“Well, it’s not entirely a fair fight to begin with. Jaycee’s only played once before. You’ve played countless hours with us, even if you are the worst player,” Sean pointed out with glee.

“It will probably be the only one I win, Marc,” Jaycee said, chuckling.

“I think I should get a consolation prize,” he stated boldly.

“What would you want?” Jaycee asked, surprised.

“How about a photo of us, for my background on my cell phone?” The other guys’ eyes lit up as the idea hit home. They needed to start taking photos of their time with her. They could even start their own family album. Marc pulled his iPhone out, unlocking the screen with his forefinger. “Smile for me, sweetheart.” Marc snapped a solo photo of Jaycee before flipping the screen around. He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close. Instead of looking at the camera, Marc kissed Jaycee on the cheek at the last second. A flurry of flashes filled the room as Jaycee was told to look this way and that.

Marc disappeared upstairs after he’d gotten several photos of Jaycee and the guys. When he returned downstairs, he was carrying a large photography bag filled with a DSLR and lenses. He carried a tripod in the other hand.

“What’s all that, Marc?” Jaycee asked, turning from the match between Lee and Sean.

“I thought we could get a nice photo of all of us to hang here in the living room.” Marc answered sweetly.

“Oh Marc, that’s such a wonderful idea!” Jaycee gushed.

Marc set up his tripod and camera, while the guys finished up their game. Sean was victorious, which wasn’t a huge surprise since it was his game. The next match would be Jaycee versus Jonathan. She knew she couldn’t beat Jonathan without cheating, but she wasn’t sure she could do that to the man who was nursing her back to health. Besides, she was going to share his bed tonight. She wanted to stay on his good side. Marc decided to wait until the tournament was done before taking the picture. Jonathan and Jaycee set up the game, and off they went. Jaycee refused any of the underhanded methods the guys suggested, but she did throw quite a few bananas. It was a defense she felt comfortable with. Even so, Jonathan wound up miles head of her taking the lead. It was a shutout. Then it was Sean versus Jonathan, brother against brother. The final battle had everyone leaning forward, excited to see who would be the champion. While Jonathan was the smarter of the two, Sean was the more experienced one. Knowing computers more thoroughly than his brother, and having spent countless hours attempting to beat the game in every way possible. Sean won! Jonathan came in a close second, but the results were clear. Sean was the best gamer in the house. Jaycee gave him a kiss on the cheek as a prize.

The day was wearing down, and Marc suggested everyone clean up the living room before they took their photo. It didn’t take long with everyone helping. Soon the photos were stored safely, and all traces of the guys and Jaycee sleeping there had been erased. Marc arranged everyone on the couch leaving a space in the middle for himself. “Right of the photographer” was what he told them with a laugh. Turning on the timer, Marc lined up the shot. He checked the focus and lighting, and hit the shutter button. Giving himself ten seconds to get arranged, Marc walked to his seat, and settled in with plenty of time. The camera blinked several times in succession before it took three photos back to back. Marc hadn’t wanted to take any chances on someone blinking.

Walking back around the camera, Marc scrutinized the shots. Sure enough Sean had blinked in two of the photos. The third, however, was perfect. Everyone was smiling, their eyes open wide. When they were all feeling more up to snuff, Marc planned on taking his memory card to a photo department, and getting a large canvas print ordered. While the guys had photos around the house of two or more of them together, they’d never taken a family photo. With Jaycee making the family feel whole, it was time to display it proudly on their walls. This house was now truly a home, even if sometimes they felt a little sixes and sevens. This group of six guys had found their seventh and she was lovely.