Prompt - Pumpkin Spice
It’s fall and pumpkin spice is everywhere. A local coffee shop has some great new recipes and there’s been a lot of buzz about it—only, if you’ve indulged you may find yourself with some unusual side effects. Due to some very defective pumpkins (and who knows what else), pumpkin spice lovers are suffering from nausea, vomiting and—perhaps worst of all—your skin has turned orange on top of it all. Thankfully the discoloration and illness seems to wear off within a few hours, but you probably shouldn’t go back for a second cup.
It wasn't very often that Jason found himself back at his parent's house. He had his own apartment and was a grown man after all. But, sometimes his Mom liked to bribe him into coming home for a little while. She had played it smart this time, appealing to Jason's love of both donuts and coffee. As it happened, one of the local coffee shops had come up with some new pumpkin spice recipes, one of the holidays most beloved treats and something she also knew Jason always looked forward to around this time of year.
She and bought a dozen pumpkin spice donuts and a latte for Jason, Jess, and herself. It was a rare afternoon that his father had off as well and unbelievably it was the weekend and Ebony was also in the house. His mother couldn't believe her luck, the whole family together for the first time in who knew how long.
"You're getting awfully good at bribing my way into your house these days." jason teased as he sipped at his coffee and dug one of the donuts out of the box. Everyone was sitting down in the living room, some show was on the tv, and they were enjoying some quality time. He kept dodging the questions they asked about his classes, he hadn't told anyone yet about his change in major. That seemed to be going fairly well. Some light-hearted teasing that he ought to be around more to help Ebony with some of her classes. That got a 'Mom! Jeez" out of his sister before she snagged another donut and stormed off to her own room.
"She can't be doing that bad..." Honestly, it was probably a miracle that she was still attending Crystal Academy. He half expected to get a phone call any day now with his Mom crying and telling him she was kicked out. Her attendance was barely good enough and apparently her grades were slipping again. He knew she'd find someway to barely scrape by though, she certainly didn't need him, on top of everyone else, to bother her about it.
After that drama was out of the way, things took a dive for the worse. His Mom was the first to excuse herself, claiming she felt a little sick. Oddly enough, he wasn't feeling that great either. Jess claimed she was gonna lay down for a nap and then he was alone with his father. Jason Sr. had been the only one to leave the donuts untouched and seeing everyone else was suddenly feeling ill, he looked a little worried.
Things got pretty crazy fast, Ebony came out of her room and immediately Jason noticed the discoloration of her skin. "You're orange!" Ebony was kind enough to point out that he was as well. Seeing as both the bathrooms were occupied, thanks Mom and Jess, Ebony had no choice but to empty her stomach in the kitchen sink. Immediately his father went into doctor mode. He wasn't extremely worried, obviously just a very bad case of food poisoning.
Jason curled up on the couch and tried to ignore the sounds of everyone else in his house being sick. He hated being sick, he refused to vomit into a toilet. He let his father message his back as he held a blanket around himself.
"I'm never eating anything pumpkin again in my life..." He moaned before he finally found some sleep to ignore the pain. When he woke up he found it had mostly passed, he still felt a little nauseous but everyone seemed to be feeling better at least.
"We should do family stuff more often." He joked, but at least he got a laugh out of his father. The girls in the room gave him some of the meanest looks he had ever seen in his life. But it was worth it to hear his Dad laugh for a change.
