One of the Boys

I woke up the next day with a headache and a stuffy nose. I felt awful. When I got up to walk to my closet I felt the room spinning and fell back down on my bed. It was obvious I couldn’t go to work today saw my cell phone on the table beside my bed. I grabbed it and called Margret, the Wal-Mart manager.

“Hello?” She answered in a perky voice.

“Hey, it’s Alex,” I said. My eyes widened. My voice didn’t sound normal, it sounded like I had a frog in my throat.

“Alex? Are you alright? You don’t sound good,” she said.

“That’s why I called, I can’t come into work. I think I have a cold or something. I feel awful,” I said.

“Do you think you have swine-I mean H1N1 flu?” she asked.

“I don’t think so, this doesn’t feel like flu,” I said.

“Well, I hope you feel better,” she said.

“Thanks,” I said. I closed my phone and closed my eyes.



I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. I painfully opened my eyes and looked at my clock. It was 11:30. I reached for my phone.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Alex, it that you? You don’t sound good,” Nick said worriedly.

“I have a cold or something,” I answered.

“Do you need anything? I can come over,” Nick asked. I smiled. He was so sweet.

“No, I’m fine,” I answered.

“Are you sure?” Nick asked.

“Yeah, it’s probably just a 24 hour bug or something, I’ll be better by tomorrow,” I assured him.

“Well, ok. I’ll call back later to check up on you,” Nick said.

“Ok. Bye,” I said. I closed my phone and went back to sleep.



I woke up to the sound of someone knocking on my door. I opened my eyes and sat up. My head didn’t spin as much, but I was still a little dizzy. I looked at the clock and saw that it was 2:00. I walked to the door and opened it. I saw Nick standing there.

“Why are you here?” I asked him.

“You wouldn’t answer your phone, so I came to check up on you,” Nick said.

“I’m fine,” I said. Suddenly I heard my stomach rumble, and it wasn’t just a little noise, it was loud. Nick laughed.

“Sounds like you’re hungry,” he said. I nodded. I opened the door more and let him in. I walked to my couch and laid down. Nick walked over to my and knelt down in front of me. He stroked my hair.

“What do you want to eat?” he asked.

“Chicken noodle soup,” I said.

‘Ok,” he said as he got up. He disappeared in the kitchen.

Ten minutes later Nick came out with a bowl of soup. He helped me sit up and turned the TV on.

“So, how are you feeling?” Nick asked me.

“Better than I did when I woke up this morning,” I said. I sat there and ate my soup while Nick watched TV. When I was done with my soup he took my bowl into the kitchen and I laid down on the couch and fell asleep.



I woke up to the evening news.

“And now for the weather,” the news anchor lady said. Nick saw I had woken up.

“I’m sorry, did the TV wake you up?” he asked. He turned it off.

“No, I just woke up,” I lied. He turned the TV back on but he just kept looking at me. I looked at the clock on the wall. It read 6:00. I looked at Nick surprised.

“You stayed here all this time?” I asked. He nodded.

“I didn’t want to leave you, you might need help or something,” He said. I sat up.

“Thanks,” I said with a smile. “So, how is Joe?” He might have deserted me, but I was still curious. A look of anger came over Nick’s face.

“He got what he deserved. When I got back home yesterday I told mom what he did and she grounded him for two months,” Nick said. “And as it’s not bad enough that he deserted you, you got a cold for standing out in the rain. This is all his fault.” I hadn’t thought about this cold or whatever it was being caused by being out in the rain, but now that I thought about it, I knew that, that was what made me sick. This was all Joe’s fault. If he had taken the fact that I was in love with someone else like a man, then I wouldn’t be sick right now.

“Well, I have to get home for supper, will you be alright?” Nick asked as he turned off the TV and got up.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” I assured him.

“Ok. I’ll come over tomorrow to check up on you,” Nick said. I nodded in understanding. Nick got up and so did I. I watched from the window as Nick walked to his car, got in, and drove away.



I woke up with a huge headache. I groaned in pain. I looked at the clock. It was 5:57. It was way too early too get up, but I needed some Tylenol. I got up and stumbled to the kitchen. I opened a cabinet and got out the Tylenol. I swallowed a couple pills. I couldn’t go back to sleep now that I was already awake. I walked into the living room and picked up the TV remote. I doubted anything good would be on at 6 in the morning, but I couldn’t think of anything else to do. I turned the TV on and click on the menu button. I scrolled through the channels, searching for something interesting. I stopped when I came to a channel with Star Trek. This must be the original Star Trek, the one the movie was based on. If it was anything like the original it would be awesome. I clicked on it. A picture of a space ship flying through space appeared.

“Space--the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. It’s five-year mission--to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before.”



I heard a knock on my door.

“Come in,” I said without taking my eyes off the screen. I was still watching Star Trek. I found out that it was a marathon leading up to the release of Star Trek the movie on DVD. I hadn’t planned on watching it this long, but once I started watching it I couldn’t stop. It didn’t have as good special effects as the movie, but it was really interesting.

I heard someone open the door and walk in. I heard the door close again. I glanced at who walked in and saw Nick. He smiled at me and sat down on the couch next to me.

“How are you feeling?” Nick asked me. I turned my attention back to the screen.

“I still don’t feel too good,” I said.

“What are you watching?” Nick asked.

“Star Trek,” I answered automatically.

“Is this what the movie was based on?”

“Yep.”



It was two hours later and I was still watching Star Trek, and Nick was watching it with me. I guess he liked it too. All of the sudden there was a knock on the door.

“Who is it?” I asked without looking away from the screen. Nick was already here so who could it be?

“Joe,” the person on the other side of the door answered.