How not to recover from a cold
(part 2 of A visit to the museum)
CW: really many mentions of snot and productive cough🤧🤒
They met again at university, and in the days following their first meeting, they talked and exchanged cell phone numbers. They discovered they had the same exam to take, and Olivia took the opportunity to invite him to study with her in the library.
Her cold wasn't getting any better, the freezing wind that had been blowing those days had increased her nasal congestion. She was surprised at how much snot her body could produce, and her chest was also a mess, leaving her with the worst crunchy cough ever. She felt tired and really sick, but she had a lot to study for the exam.
On the last day they'd studied together, he was almost healthy, but her symptoms were at their worst. After two hours, she'd already finished a pack of tissues, leaving the used ones on top of her books, her skin chapped from her nostrils to her lips. But the worst was her cough. So as not to disturb the others, she tried to hold it in, but with every breath, she sounded like she was purring with all the phlegm blocking her lungs.
He was very thoughtful and had brought her a hot tea from the vending machine. She brought it to her lips and tried to sniff through the thick congestion, making a soft, gurgling sound. "I cah't sbell adythihg, I'b blocked," she said, and she ran a tissue under her nose.
The next day, Thomas didn't see Olimpia in the library and wrote to her, discovering she had a fever. Like a gentleman, he immediately offered to visit her, bring her class notes and keep her company, and despite some initial reluctance, she finally accepted.
When he arrived at her house that afternoon, he found her asleep on the couch, snoring deeply. He shook her shoulder to wake her, and she opened her eyes, still clearly tired, and sat up.
"Ugh, Thobas... sorry for by look ahd the bess arouhd here..." Thomas took a closer look: oversized hoodie, eyebags, messy hair, a red nose where mucus had dripped while she slept, and her mouth open to breathe. Yes, she was very attractive. "Don't worry..."
They started talking about the upcoming exam, and as time passed, Thomas noticed that the thin trickle of mucus under her nose was growing thicker without her noticing, since she was breathing entirely through her mouth.he was mesmerized, and almost thought that that streak of yellowish snot looked good on hee beautiful face.
After a while she noticed, and touched her nostril with a finger. As soon as she realized the mess, she instinctively wiped her sleeve under her nose, leaving a thick, shiny streak. "Ow, gross... why didn't you tell be by dose was ruhding?" she said, sniffling loudly a couple of times. "Did you like seeihg be sdotty?" Thomas blushed noticeably. "Do you like by sdot, Thomas?". Thomas didn't know what to say, and looked at the floor. And she said, "I thihk I uhderstahd." "What...?" "If you wahted to see be at by absolute grossest, I wouldh't have wiped by dose..." Thomas's eyes widened. "Do you wadt to look ihside?" "Yes..."
She approached him, putting an arm around his shoulders, and raised her head in front of his face so that her red bulbous nose was right above his eyes. "What do you see?" "One nostril is empty, and in the other, at the bottom, there's a bulb of snot..." "This bordihg it was full to the brimh. Do you wadt to see it better? Press the ebpty ode."
He placed a finger over her left nostril, and she, with a concentrated expression, blew out the other, and with a moist, mushy sound, the snot plug moved forward, reaching the edge of her nostril, creamy and rounded. Seeing Thomas's face, Olivia burst into laughter, and along with it, she felt the phlegm crackling in her chest.
"You wadt to do sobethihg really gross?" "And you're asking me?"
Without even letting him finish his sentence, she held her breath, took his face in her hands and kissed him intensely, their noses rubbing against each other, the warm snot joining their noses and touching his lips, and they hugged each other sweetly.
In the midst of the kiss, the lack of air made her chest gurgle, more suffocating than expected, and before pulling away, she coughed wetly into his mouth. Then she pulled away, and for a second, a thread of snot hung between their noses, glistening in the window light. She wiped her nose and mouth with her sleeve pulled over her hand, and with the same sleeve she wiped her snot and saliva off of him.
And clearing her throat, she said, "Sorry, dow I've really filled you with by gerbs..."
He took her hand. "I'm dying to blow your nose, it still seems really clogged." "I doh't kdow if you'll be able to, it's so thick it's hard to bove it all." "I can try."
She picked up a tissue from the side and opened it, revealing the two large yellow stains from a particularly productive previous blow. "It's a shabe you wereh't there, that was a really good blow... cobe on, try it dow," and she handed him the half-used tissue. He placed it on her nose and they looked intensely into each other's eyes.
