“What?” Harrison demanded.
“I forgot my phone.” I groaned and leaned my head back, feeling queasy.
“You don’t have your phone.” I could hear the edge in his voice. Even though my eyes were sealed shut, I was sure that if I opened them I’d find him glaring down at me with a disapproving look.
“That’s so irresponsible,” he berated. “We’re in another country. What if something happened to you?”
I opened my mouth to defend myself, but before I could answer, my stomach churned violently. I covered my mouth with both hands and bolted out of my seat, sprinting for the bathroom I had passed on the way in.
Thankfully, I made it to a toilet stall just in time to lose the little breakfast I had consumed. The relief I felt was instant, but I knew another wave of nausea wouldn’t be far behind.
Squatting there, desperately trying to keep my butt from touching the tiled floor, I pressed my cold hands to my hot face. Just when I was starting to feel better, the ferry rocked forcefully and bile crept up my throat again. This time, hardly anything came up when I leaned over the toilet.
“Ugh, disgusting,” I muttered, flushing the contents away.
“Lila!” A deep voice called from the entrance.
Tilting my head back, I let out a long groan. I didn’t want anyone to see me like this, let alone Harrison. Hopefully the fact that this was a women’s bathroom would be enough to keep him from barging into the stall.
“Fine!” was all I could manage to call back. Complete sentences were too much for me right now.
After another few minutes, Harrison called again. “Come here!”
Assessing my body, I realized that while still feeling like my stomach was on a roller coaster, I didn’t feel the need to throw up again. I stood slowly, bracing my hands on my knees on the way up. Exiting the stall, I winced at the sight of myself in the mirror. My skin had turned a shade of ghostly white. I turned on the sink and splashed some water on my face, before cupping my hand and lifting some into my mouth. My breath tasted like death, but there was little I could do about that.
Thankfully, one bright spot about getting a bout of motion sickness meant I no longer cared how I appeared to Harrison. I was too weak.
He stood in the doorway with a small plastic bag, eyebrows pinched together.
“You alright?”
“Great,” I said, walking right past him to get back to my seat as quickly as possible.
He kept pace with me, reaching out and grabbing my elbow to steady me as the boat rocked. Finally, I stumbled into my seat and pulled my legs up so that I could cradle my chin on my knees.
Harrison sat down next to me and rummaged through the bag on his lap. He brought out a small pill bottle and opened it before shaking a couple out.
“Here,” he said, handing me the pills and an electrolyte drink.
“What’s this?” I took them from him.
“For motion sickness. I got them at the snack counter.”
“How’d you know?” I asked, knocking them back and taking a few cautious sips of the drink.
“You were completely green. It was obvious.” He opened another bag and thrust a few crackers in my direction. “Eat these.”
I blanched at the thought. “No way.”
“They’ll help,” he insisted.
“Yeah, help me puke again.”
He tilted his head and gave me an irritated look. “You shouldn’t take those pills on an empty stomach. You need something.”
I sighed heavily before taking a cracker and slowly nibbling at the edge.
“You’re a bossy caretaker.”
