NOLA
I felt slightly better after my nap, enough to pick at the loaf of bread on the counter. It tasted like paste on my tongue, even though I knew it was my favorite honey loaf Ravana always managed to find at the market just outside of the university. I despised public places, what with all the scents raging around, and my Omega was nice enough to bring a loaf home whenever I behaved myself.
Which was… for the most part, all the time. I was only ever a bitch during her TOM.
I scowled at the foreign texture on her tongue, unable to taste the delicacy. Strange. My hands fell to my stomach, wondering why the grumbling pains hadn't started. This was when I found stuffing my face until I got sleepy again and slept through the rest of my TOM. But I had never lost my taste buds before.
Venturing to the counter, shuffling my feet as I did, I searched for something else to stuff my face with. When my eyes landed on the delicate pink sugar bowl in our makeshift kitchen, a Ravana's 'family heirloom', I shrugged and decided it was as good a taste test as any. As I slid the top off, the scraping of plastic and metal reaching my ears, I realized the cheap thing had come from a thrift store at best. Not that I was judging, I just didn't see why my Omega had to lie about it.
Not even the point. I raised the bowl to my lips, disregarding etiquette as I poured a healthy amount into my mouth. My sweet tooth was unmatched and I was instantly glad for my body's ability to keep up with my poor decisions.
Ash. Sand. Gravel. No taste.
Fuck.
Omegas occasionally lost their tastebuds during a heat, but Zetas didn't have heats. They had these strange TOMs where their body tried to figure out if they were Alpha or Omega, before righting itself again. If I was going into heat, which was impossible, there was absolutely no statistical data to follow.
Nothing to reference.
No one to ask.
Except for the Omega health books but we had an entirely different biological makeup. Our – my – reaction to a heat would be different, right? I felt lost, especially since Ravana had left for class almost two hours ago. Parking my ass on one of the kitchen stools, I stared aimlessly at the mess of sugar and honey loaf on the counter, my emotions a chaotic whirlwind as I tried to organize the facts I knew.
One – my taste buds were gone. A pity. It was the only solace during my TOMs. The only thing that kept me from going out of my mind while the pain coursed through my body.
Two – there was a dull ache in the pit of my stomach ALL THE DAMN TIME. This was semi-normal, but I usually slept through my TOM and woke up without having to deal with any of the side effects. But this? This was a never-ending throbbing in my gut.
Three – my senses were all over the place. My nose worked perfectly fine. Well… define 'fine'. I couldn't smell anything but pheromones. And they all stunk. Including Ravana's, not a new development, just a more prominent one.
Waking up to Ravana nestled in my arms as per usual, I tried to snuggle closer, stuffing my face into her scent gland to draw in that cotton candy and blueberry scent. There was always a pungent twang to it, but I had gotten used to it over the years. No idea what time it was, but I was pretty sure I had missed my morning classes, not that it mattered. I didn't want to be anywhere other than right here.
Except for the fact that the more I stuffed my face into her gland, the more I despised the smell that met my nose. Blueberry mixed with rotten eggs filled my senses, causing me to gag, and reigniting the pain in my stomach. Ravana's scent didn't come with the usual calming elixir I was accustomed to. One second, I was wrapped around her and the next I was racing to the bathroom to spill what little I had managed to eat the night before.
The ever-caring Omega had stood outside the door, pleading for an explanation but her words came off as insincere and condescending. It was more 'what the fuck is wrong with you' than 'are you okay', a lingering thought that plagued my thoughts. Ravana promised to return at the end of the day, going so far as to tell me that there was a honey loaf on the counter before she left.
I couldn't even fault my Omega for her scent, having always found her scent… off. Having cataloged it as safe, I managed to ignore my distaste for it, something that I was beginning to realize wasn't normal.
It didn't feel safe anymore. It felt foreign, hostile.
But if I couldn't stand her scent, there was no use trying to go outside and brave the campus full of students and teenage angst. I couldn't even handle class in this state. Opening the windows to air out the dorm had been worse than usual. One whiff of the fresh air this morning had me retching into the sink, all bile, telling me just how much I hadn't been eating. I always ate and now I didn't have an appetite?
It wasn't adding up.
I took an experimental sniff, my stomach threatening to act up again. Ravan's scent was everywhere. On the couch, in the kitchen, the bedroom, the bathroom. Even my clothes fucking smelled like her. I was beginning to regret letting her decorate my room because scent blockers were the only thing that could save me from my agony now. That left me with two problems – they were damn expensive and they were out there, at the little corner shop just off campus. With all the other scents.
A wave of pain sent shivers down her spine and I bent over, holding onto the kitchen table, gripping it until my knuckles were white. I took deep, calculated breaths, trying to overcome the heated tingling running under my skin but that only made everything worse as rotten candy and sour blueberries overwhelmed me. Enough knowledge about designations and Omegas told me that the reason I found Ravana's scent so putrid wasn't just that we weren't compatible, but that we would never work. In any capacity.
Staying here, I was going to pass out. My TOMs had never been this violent and with no idea what was going on, I'd have to brave the elements and fight my way to the corner store. Without them, I was going to end up doing something I'd regret, more than likely something that included destroying our apartment until I couldn't fucking smell Ravana anymore.
I'd never be able to face her if I did that, so I swung open the apartment door and whined. Fucking whined at the onslaught of scent as I fought to keep my head on straight. These scent blockers had better fucking work because if they didn't, I wasn't sure what options I'd have left.