Lock and Barrel waited for Shock in the living room of their tree house for almost an hour before they decided that something was up. Shock was the one who planned the prank they were going to pull; it was so unlike her to not show up for it. If anything,
she would be waiting for
them.
"Should we go see what's taking her so long?" Barrel asked, looking over at Lock from the chair he had been lounging in for almost an hour.
Lock thought about it. If they went into Shock's room unannounced, she would get really pissed and probably throw something at them. But they also might see her chest, and that alone made anything else she could do to them worth it.
"I guess we should," He said, trying to sound noble to hide his dirty intentions. But just as Lock stood up from the couch, Shock came wobbling in from down the hall. The two boys looked at her, but it was Lock who spoke. "What's up with you? I thought you were excited about spraying itching powder on the mayor's clothes today."
"I--" she sneezed. "--I am! Just give me..." She put her hand on her head as she pushed herself away from the wall she was leaning on. "...Give me a minute..." and just as she tried to walk without leaning on something, she fell foreword. Luckily, the two boys were at her side in time to catch her before she hit her head on the floor.
"Geeze, she's sick." Lock said as he helped Barrel stand her up. "We can't pull the prank today."
"The hell we can't," Shock insisted, pushing herself away from them. "I'm fi-fi-fi-" she sneezed before stumbling around again like an allergic drunk. Lock caught her before she fell that time, holding her against his arm.
"Face it Shock, we're just going to have to wait a little longer." Barrel said as he came to Lock's side to help lift up Shock. He leaned foreword so he could look directly at Lock. "We should probably get her back to bed, I mean, she could probably stay in here but I can't imagine the couch would be comfortable."
"Yeah, you’re probably right. Come on Shockie, let's get you back into your room fore you yack all over the floor."
"I'm not that kind of sick," she muttered under her breath, but the boys didn't pay any attention to her. They just carried her back to her room and helped her back into her bed. That had been the first time Lock got a good look at her, and by god, she looked
terrible. She was flushed, and she looked like she was having a hard time just keeping her eyes open. She coughed a little bit as Barrel helped Lock get her under the blankets.
"I guess we're stuck inside today," Barrel said, although he didn't sound upset about it. In fact, he didn't sound like he cared one way or the other. "I'll go see if we have a thermometer or something."
Lock looked at Barrel skeptically, but didn't say anything about it. Barrel left, and Lock snatched Shock's hat off her head and put it on her vanity table. He never really knew what to think about being in Shock's room. On the one hand, it was really kind of girly, but on the other hand, she sometimes left her bras on the floor and that was always a treat. But this time he couldn't look, he was too busy watching her pull the blanket over her head and try to deny her sickness.
"I'm not sick," she insisted, "Just a little dizzy is all."
He rolled his eyes. "Don't be so stubborn. We can wait a few more days, it's not like the Mayor won't be there when you get better."
He heard her cough, but she didn't say anything about it. "You suck Lock. Let me go..."
With a smile on his face, he patted the spot on the blanket that was the outline of her shoulder. "Maybe, but that's not going to change my mind, or Barrel's." He sat on the side of her bed and took a minute to watch her try to pretend she was alright when she really wasn't. She'd always been a stubborn girl, and that was something he maybe liked about her. Aside from her being the hottest girl in town and only a short walk away from his room...
Suddenly, it became clear to him what he was thinking. No! He didn't like Shock like that, she was his friend. That's
all. She was practically one of the guys! He could never, never, never like her like that!
But when Barrel came back in and Lock had to help Shock sit up long enough for Barrel to put the thermometer in her mouth, he couldn't help but notice how small she actually was. She was barely his arm's length, and she was bonier than he remembered. Despite the heat the fever was giving her skin, she was actually pretty soft too.
No! He can't be thinking like that. It would make living with her too hard, especially when he knew that everything would change if he let himself like her and they started going together. It wouldn't be the same, and he liked the way things were. Despite how badly he wanted to put his arm around her just for the sake of doing it, and not just to keep her from falling over from being sick. How badly he wanted to kiss her tiny mouth....
What was he thinking? These were dangerous thoughts, especially when he knew he would have to pretend not to be thinking them at all in order to stay just her friend.
Barrel took the thermometer out of her mouth and read what it said. "Well, not a dangerously high fever, but still a fever. I guess all you need is to get some more sleep, we'll come back in with something to eat later."
"Don't bother," She groaned, lying back down on her bed. "I can get it myself." But when Barrel opened his mouth to protest, Lock shook his head, signaling to him to humor her.
"Sounds good to me," Barrel said, getting Lock's message loud and clear. "Just be sure to get some sleep, okay? We don't want you going off and dying on us. Who will talk our way out of the trouble we get in?"
Their only response was a tired groan, which was enough to tell them to leave her alone. With one more pat on the arm from Lock, Shock listened to the footsteps of the boys as they left her room and gave her time to sleep. As stubborn as she wanted to be about it, her body wouldn't let her do anything else besides get some much needed and much desired sleep. Before she knew it she was out like a light.
The next thing she knew, Lock and Barrel were back in her room with a big bowl of steaming hot soup for her on a tray. It hurt to sit up, but Lock helped her do it while Barrel got the tray situated on her lap. Even sick, she couldn't ignore the fiery tingle that shot up her back every time she felt his hand brush against the outer fabric of her dress. There wasn't even any skin-on-skin contact and she was nervous.
But she wished there was.
The soup tasted great. Barrel must've made it; he had somehow been able to become the better cook of the trio and was made honorary chef-of-the-day whenever they decided to eat anything other than candy. So it was no surprise that his soup was great.
Shock hated being babied like that, and it went on for the rest of the day. But every time Barrel wanted to take her temperature, Lock would help her sit up and she liked having him so near to her. His hand on her back...
No way. No. No. No! She couldn't be thinking this way. It was wrong in every sense of the word. That was the kind of thing that broke up life-long friends and destroyed something she held near and dear. She'd rather have Lock as a friend and limit herself to these dangerous thoughts than not have him at all because she couldn't keep those thoughts to herself.
Yeah, it was better to have him as a friend than not have him at all.
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A/N Below:
Finally! Another LockxShock chapter! I bet you guys were starting to miss these two, werentcha? xD I hope this wasn't ended too abruptly, and I hope you guys liked it.
