His back was cold, that was the first thing Warren noticed. As his foggy brain started to piece his morning together, fragments resurfaced slowly. The slight tremor in his legs when he got out of bed. Making it to the kitchen and starting the coffee, the way the room had tilted and stretched as he reached for his mug. 

He didn’t remember going down, had no idea how long he’d been laying there, but the coffee maker was still hissing and bubbling so it couldn’t have been long. Giving himself the once over, he could feel his body running on fumes; legs dead weight, arms trembling. He was stuck, again. 

He’d been having a good month, meeting his deadlines and sleeping soundly, his body repaying him by mostly doing what he asked of it. It was just long enough to get cocky, to ignore the warning signs. If Warren had learned anything over the last decade it was that a string of good days was nothing more than that. He wasn’t ‘getting better’; there was no ‘getting better’. Not in the way his younger self had so desperately hoped when he was first diagnosed with CFS.  

He’d have to call someone. If he stayed down here he’d get dehydrated, and dehydration meant the ER. He very much wanted to avoid the ER. 

He thought about his brother, but he was sure he’d be busy at work. That new neighbor had pressed their number on him and insisted they were always just a phone call away, but they really had no idea what was going on, and he didn’t feel up to a lengthy explanation. Dana though… she knew the full story and wouldn’t need him to try and narrate his needs while horizontal and half-gone. 

His ex-girlfriend’s name surfaced the way it always did these days, with a mingling of warmth, frustration, and regret he was still working through. He’d spent most of a year madly in love with her while convinced she deserved better. Only when she’d given up could he see what a fool he’d been. They were no longer together, but lately they’d been quietly reconnecting. A walk in the park, reinstating the tradition of Sunday brunch at their favorite café downtown. He didn’t know what, if anything, they were building but he knew if he called, she’d come. 

It was a herculean effort to pull his phone from the pocket of his robe, but he finally managed to get it in hand and dial her number. 

She picked up mid-laugh, clearly in the middle of something. “Warren?”

“Yeah, hey. Sorry to bother you, but… I’m having a bad morning.” He hated how weak his voice sounded. “I crashed out before breakfast, and I need some help getting up.”

“Hold on.” The background noise behind her dropped away as she relocated herself to a quieter spot. “All right, how long have you been down?”

“I don’t know, but the coffee is still brewing so not too long.”

“How bad is it? Did you get anything to eat or drink before it happened?”

“Pretty bad. Legs have given out; arms are getting there.” He paused; the simple explanation having taken more out of him than he wanted to admit. “No food, went down before I had the chance.”

“Okay.” She didn’t ask him to explain further. “I’m on my way. You can stay on the line if you want.”

“No, I’m good.” The irony of saying that from the kitchen floor was not lost on him. “Thank you for this.”

“Of course,” she replied casually, as if their current situation were the most ordinary thing in the world. “I need to wrap up a couple things here; don’t do anything stupid in the next half an hour. See you soon.”

He didn’t get a chance to say goodbye before the line went dead. Secure in the knowledge that help was on the way, Warren pulled up Spotify, found something to listen to, and closed his eyes.    

***

The podcast had just ended when Warren heard the beep beep of someone hitting the buttons on his electronic lock. “I was afraid that might not work.” Dana mused as she entered the kitchen; a throw pillow and blanket from his couch in her hands. 

“I wasn’t exactly worried about you staging a home invasion.” He deflected as she covered him up and slipped the pillow under his head. He hadn’t been worried about a break-in, but the truth was that he couldn’t bring himself to remove her code.

“Good to know I’m not considered armed and dangerous I guess.” She chuckled, rooting around in the cabinets. “I promise I won’t let your coffee go to waste, you always did make a mean cup, but today you’ll have to settle for your favorite liquid salt lick. Where do you keep the electrolytes these days?”

 “I’m out; kept forgetting to pick up a new box.” He winced at the admission and the silence that followed. He could picture her expression, jaw tight as she struggled not to say what she was thinking.

“OK, then we get to do this the old-fashioned way.” Her voice was kind, but Warren didn’t miss the edge in it as he watched her snatch up the saltshaker and sugar dispenser with a little more zeal than necessary. 

You’re a disaster, the nasty little voice in his head that always seemed to pipe up when he made a fool of himself around Dana suddenly chimed in. This is humiliating enough without your ex-girlfriend having to feed you sips of water through a straw, get vertical damn it!

He knew trying to sit up on his own was a dumb move, but his body responded to his embarrassment before the rest of him got a vote. He made it to a half-sitting position, and for approximately two seconds thought he was going to do it. Then his pulse pounded in that disconnected, runaway way that meant his body was no longer interested in cooperating. His vision greyed at the edges as he went back down, hitting the floor with an unceremonious thud.

Dana didn’t turn from filling a glass with cold water at the refrigerator. “Whatcha doing down there, buddy?”

“Nothing.” he huffed with a grimace.

  “You had one job,” she reminded him as she stuck a straw in her homemade electrolytes and grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl. “I know this sucks, but you called me so you didn’t try to play the hero and end up in the ER. Now come on, down the hatch.”

“As disgusting as I remember.” he made a face as he took the first swallow. 

“Well, if someone had told me he was out when he called, I could have swung by the gas station and picked up some Gatorade.” She admonished “At least you get to chase it with your favorite fruit. Could be worse.” 

***

When he felt human enough to move, Warren found himself propped up on the couch with a glass of orange juice. Dana lounged in the armchair beside him, scrolling through a grocery delivery app on her phone. 

“Supplies acquired.” She announced, placing his credit card on the coffee table between them. “2 boxes of Liquid IV, a meat supreme take and bake pizza you’ll just have to pop into the oven when you’re ready, and a pint of AmeriCone Dream.”

“Thanks.” Warren fiddled with the remote “If you don’t have to be somewhere, we could see what’s on streaming. There’s a couple movies in my queue I think you’d like.”

“Sure, I can stay awhile, as long as you promise to share the ice cream.” She grinned at his nod of agreement, setting her phone down and snatching the remote out of his hand. “I’ll do the driving; you always try to skip the preview.”

“I don’t understand why you always want to ruin the surprise” he retorted as she rolled her eyes. “God, I missed this.”

“Right, I’m sure having no one to argue about movie trailers with has been devastating.”

“I miss us, Dae.” the words slipped out before he could stop them.

“Warren.” She looked at him with a directness he’d always found impossible to look away from. “The time to make big declarations isn’t 5 minutes after I hauled you up off the kitchen floor. I spent so long trying to show you I didn’t consider you ‘a burden’, that I wasn’t going anywhere, but you just couldn’t bring yourself to believe it. I’m not rehashing all that. Keep showing me you trust me enough to let me in when things go sideways, then we can talk.”

He nodded after a moment. “Okay… I can do that. Friends?”

“Obviously.” She turned to the screen “Now, tell me which of these movies you think is going to entice me to hang out with you for the next 2 hours.”