The Marriage Contract by Natasha Black (best novels for teenagers TXT) 📕

He smiled and ate the bite. As he chewed, he looked at the container slightly questioningly. “Does that taste right to you?”

I ate another bite. “Yes. It’s delicious. Why?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Just doesn’t taste like I thought it should.”

“It’s cold,” I said.

“That’s probably it. Alright, you finish your weird breakfast, and then we should really get some laundry and stuff done around here before work. We’ve been neglecting it a bit over the last week.”

I grinned. “I wonder why.”

He kissed me and headed for the shower. I finished eating and made my way to the bedroom to change clothes.

That evening we headed into work together, and Matt kissed me before we parted ways in the middle of the bar. Hannah was standing nearby and rushed over as soon as Matt walked away. She took me by my wrist and pulled me off to the side so no one could hear us talking.

“How’s everything going?” she asked. “It seems better between you two.”

I nodded. “Things are much better. We talked things out and are working on our communication. We had a really great talk and figured everything out. Things are better than ever.”

Hannah let out a little squeal and hugged me. “I’m so happy to hear that. I told you things would get better. You just have to be a little bit patient and try.”

“You were right,” I said. “Everything is going great now.”

And I felt exactly that good, like life was finally working out and things had fallen into place, right up until later that night. A couple of hours before closing, the late-night menu rolled out, which meant a whole lot of very greasy fried foods to appeal to those who had been drinking throughout the night. Matt and Jordan made it a very specific point not to over-serve anyone, but there was nothing like a few beers to make a massive spread of breaded, fried food sound magnificent.

A table had ordered one of the most popular items, a tower of onion rings made special with a few twists straight from Tyler, and I was bringing it to them when my stomach revolted. I didn’t know if it was the liberal sprinkling of garlic over the onion rings or the smoky mixture of ranch dressing and barbecue sauce on the side, but something about the smell hit me wrong.

I managed to set the plate down on the table with a wobbly smile and run to the bathroom before throwing up. A few seconds later, Hannah rushed in after me.

“Chloe?” she said from the other side of the stall door. “Are you okay?”

I sank to the floor and rested my head back against the wall. “I think so.”

No sooner had the words come out of my mouth than another wave of sickness hit me.

“You don’t sound okay,” she said.

“I’m not,” I said when I finished. I remembered what Matt said about the Chinese food I had for breakfast, and my heart sank. “I think I might have food poisoning.”

“Oh, no. I’ve been through that. It’s awful. Alright, I’m sending you and Matt home.”

“No,” I argued. “It’s busy, and I already went home early a week ago. I can’t leave you without the two of us. I’ll be fine.”

She waited while another wave came and went down the toilet.

“Yeah,” she said. “That’s not making anybody feel good about hanging out here and we don’t want to risk you passing it to someone else. You need to get home and get rest. Unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot that can be done about food poisoning but just letting it run its course. Sleep, drink a ton of sports drinks and water. Don’t worry about anything until you feel better. Do you think you can get up?”

I managed to drag myself to my feet and unlocked the door. “Yeah.”

“Good, because it would not have been cute if I had to wriggle myself across the floor to get under there to you. Come on, let’s get you outside, and I’ll get Matt.”

“I think I might be cashing in my ‘in sickness’ card a bit early in this marriage.”

“Fortunately, it’s renewable,” Hannah said. “Don’t worry. I’m sure he’ll reciprocate before terribly long.”

The ride home was touch and go to say the least. Matt had to stop a couple of times, and by the time we finally got there, I felt like I was turned inside out. He brought me in and helped me to the bathroom so I could brush my teeth. Then I changed into pajamas, and he tucked me into bed. For the rest of the night, he took care of me. As my stomach settled, he brought me water and sat beside me watching TV so I wouldn’t be alone. Finally, I fell asleep.

31

Matt

Chloe feeling sick was simultaneously pitiful and adorable. Shuffling between the bed and the bathroom in fuzzy slippers and a bathrobe, her hair askew, was a side of her I had never seen. My heart broke for her for feeling so badly. I wanted to help her in whatever way I could and also baby her. She deserved that. Everyone deserved someone doting on them and making them feel better when they felt sick. While I hadn’t had anyone to do it for years now, Mom instilled in all of us that the best way to get to feeling better was to be babied and do absolutely nothing but focus on getting well.

I was doing my part to make sure she was as babied as I could make her. Bringing her another cup of soup was about all I could do that morning, aside from making sure she had a bucket and a pitcher with tons of ice and a glass for water. I sat at the foot of the bed and rubbed her legs over the blanket. She was curled up on one side, looking tired and sad and still, somehow, cute. I could mostly only see hair as her head was