Alex started to cough aggressively as he lay on the couch

He hadn’t been feeling well for the past few days and it was taking a toll on him.

Candy sat on a chair next to the couch, observing how Alex was.

She seemed nervous and anxious as if wondering what she could do for her best friend.

Suddenly, she gets up and looks at Alex, then heads to one of the kitchen cabinets and grabs a painkiller bottle which she places on the coffee table in front of the couch. “Here take it.”

Alex looks at the bottle and back at Candy with his tired eyes. “Again? I just took it 15 minutes ago.”

Candy lets out a tired sigh and starts to fiddle on the side of her shirt, “I know, I know, but is there anything I can do? Are you hungry? Thirsty? Or I can go to the grocery store and get you-“

“You’ve done a lot Candy” Alex says cutting Candy off as he sits up on the couch. “You really don’t have to worry that much about me.”

Candy nods to Alex’s words and sits back down on the chair. “I guess, knowing you can take care of yourself. But, it’s just that.” Candy pauses, “I’ve never seen you like this before…” She admits.

Alex smiles softly, now understanding where Candy is coming from and he looks at the TV and sees a commercial from a fast food restruant. “But,” Alex says turning his head back to Candy. “Since you mention I wouldn’t mind a burger.”

Candy hears this and quickly gets up as if she’s already ready. “ Bet! I’ll get us some food and I’ll be quick! Oh and I’ll pass by the grocery store to get us our favorite treats!” She says before quickly grabbing the keys on the kitchen table and rushing out of the apartment, shutting the door.

Alex chuckled softly and settled back on the couch, wincing slightly as his hand rested over a bandaged wound at his side.

When Candy returned, she was clearly carrying more than she could handle. With her holding tightly on the two paper bags and large plastic cups with the restruant logos.

“Um, are you sure you can carry all that? I can help”, Alex asks, but before he moves he can see Candy shaking her head. “No, you stay there. This is easy work for me.” She says, heading to the coffee table.

“Oh and I sadly wasn’t able to find any of our snacks at the grocery store, so, that plan failed.” She says placing the bags on the table.

But Candy had the cups positioned where once she places the bag down the cup wasn’t holding on as tightly by her arms and starts to slip down, until it eventually it slips and hits the ground splashing everywhere.

When the cup was falling Candy tries to catch it but she ends up tripping foward causing her to fall and drop the other cup to the ground.

Alex sees the scene unfold in front of him and he didn’t know how to react - how Candy would react either.

Then he heard her laugh at the mess she made. Nothing was going according to plan, but it was absolutely perfect for him.

To see her finally smile and chuckle instead of worrying for him. He knew she needed this as she had been taking care of him for the past few days.

“I really should of listened to you shouldn’t I.” Candy says small smile clearly visible.

“You sure should of, good thing you didn’t drop the food as well.” Alex says, his own smile showing.

Once Candy cleaned up her mess. She sat beside Alex, and they pulled their meals form the paper bag, eating in peace - even without drinks.