I was sharing stories with a coworker about how much we both hate taking drugs, and avoid them whenever possible.
And I told her my story about how I finally started taking Advil after I pulled a muscle in my neck. And of course, without meaning to, it dug up a positive memory I have with S.
I remember I had somehow pulled a muscle in my neck, and it was fairly uncomfortable. This was a couple of years ago when we were both still in school. S kept telling me to take an Advil because he had a bottle anyway, and I'd refuse, and chose to suck it up instead.
I stayed over at his house, and woke up in the middle of the night because the pain was becoming so uncomfortable that I couldn't sleep. After a long while I was still not able to sleep. So I finally gave in and got out of bed, trying not to wake S. I made it to the kitchen of his bachelor apartment, and just silently started crying because of the pain and frustration. I found his Advil bottle and took one.
I guess I had woken him despite my best efforts. So when I got back to bed, he held me in his arms and sat up with me until the Advil kicked in and the pain settled and I was able to try sleeping again. Then we both went back to bed together.
Later he would tease me that it took me crying in the middle of the night to take any type of medication.
It's just one of those memories that I keep tucked away because of all the tenderness he showed me that night.
Though I guess it's all very meaningless now. 9:42 PM