Changes

I rolled awake around 7:00. When I got up out of bed my stomach was in knots. I could feel all of last night’s dinner in the pit of my stomach. But as I stood up, I could feel it in my throat. I dashed into the bathroom and slammed the door behind me, falling to the floor and hugging the toilet, pasta and chicken was spewed right into it.
I got up and washed out my mouth, counting to twenty before spitting and then repeating. I cleaned up the sink and toilet then quietly peeked out into the hallway. Molly’s light was still dark beneath the crack of her door so I assumed she didn’t hear me. But before I knew it, I felt it again. So I turned right back around and repeated the whole process until my stomach finally settled down enough for me to make it back to my bed.
I lied down on my bed and closed my eyes. I think getting the stomach flu is the worst. You can’t eat, even if you want to, you can only drink certain things, you end up feeling weak and you never know when your stomach will have a fit. You’ll be lying there, relaxing, or trying to, then it hits. Your body freezes, refusing to let it happen, you break into a cold sweat and you can feel your pulse all throughout your body. All you can think about is finding somewhere safe to chuck it up in but you never know if you’ll make it on time, so you wait, hoping the sickening aches inside you will die down, false alarms can be amazing at times, but you know when it’s real. Then, after all the horror is over, you feel better than you ever have in years. Or so it seems.
I didn’t want to believe I was getting sick though. It’s Sunday, stomach flu’s can last a week. I wasn’t about to miss school, so I got back up out of bed, found my way down the stairs and to the medicine cabinet. I started pulling out random bottles, attempting to read the names and what they are used for, and not to my surprise, we didn’t have anything for puking. Behind me I could hear the quiet pitter-patter of feet. I went to turn around but Molly was already peeking over to see what I was up to.
“Are you organizing everything?” she gave me a look, concern maybe? “no, my stomach hurts, I was just-”
“Your stomach hurts? Why? I watched you eat dinner last night.”
“Yes, you did. But I-”
“But what?”
“Molly. I just don’t feel good okay? But don’t tell mom. She’ll send me to the ER for a hang nail.”
She pranced her way over to the fridge and pulled out two oranges. Ugh. “maybe you have Scurvy.”
“Really Moll? Scurvy?”
“You never eat.”
“You just saw me last night.”
“I didn’t see you after. You have a problem Ben”
“Problem?”
“Do you throw up?”
“Huh?” The doorbell rang, Molly looked up at me and I could see in her eyes she was praying I’d ignore it, but I couldn’t. I left her there and went to see who was here so early. I peeked through the peep hole to see Aaron standing there peeking back at me. Hmm. I opened the door for him to come in, he didn’t, he just looked at me.
“Uh, hey. You okay?”
“I wanna ask you the same thing, you haven’t talked to me sense I messaged you, and I’m just worried.”
“You’ve seen me pass out before, why is this one so important?” now he invited himself in, walking past me and into the kitchen to find Molly standing there working at her oranges. She looked up and glee spread across her face, wiping out the sadness that had once been. “Aaron!” she ran up to hug him, she had always loved Aaron, in a family way, and Aaron loved her, but today seemed different. Aaron hugged her back and then leaned over and spoke to her in a loving way. “Hey Moll, I need to chat with your brother, can you go back to your room?” she nodded and took her fruit, scampering up the steps.
“What the hell is going on Aaron?” I was more annoyed than anything. “Ben.. There’s some stuff about me you don’t know about.” he wandered his way back to the living room, sitting on the couch and doing everything he could to avoid eye-contact. “What do you mean? I know everything about you.” I really thought I did. He shook his head, standing back up and headed towards the door. “I’m sorry Ben, I shouldn’t of came, I’ll see you at school.” he was out before I could say anything.
“That was awkward.” Molly found her way back into the kitchen and was throwing away her peels. I just walked right past her and went on up to my room. My head was spinning. I needed to get out. I grabbed my jacket and put on new jeans. I heard my parents moving about in there room so I stuffed my pillows in my bed, left Molly a note on my computer and climbed out of my window. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go, but I needed to go somewhere. I just kept walking around trying to process what had just happened.
I turned up at the park. I looked around and saw nearly no one. A dog-walker, an old man jogging, and a few kids with their parents. I kept walking, went straight through the playground and just kept walking. I realized I forgot my watch, I had no idea what time it was, and that began to bug me. But I had other things to worry about. For once the time was not my top priority.
I stopped walking when I saw a familiar face in the distance beside the pond. Her dark hair was straighter than before and tied up in a bun, it looked perfect. She turned and spotted me, my stomach panicked, but she didn’t. she smiled and waved me over so I accepted it and forced my feet to move. “Hey Ben!” Her voice sent sparks through my fingers. “Hey. Robyn.” she stood up from the rock she was on and looked around, I assumed looking for my company. “Are you here alone?” I beat her to the question. She nodded, not letting her smile slip at all. “Yeah, I just wanted to get out. Are you?” she took the words right from my mouth. “Yeah, I was feeling the same way.” her smile stayed glued to her face as she turned to look at the pond, her strands of fallen hair were flying like superhero capes in the wind. “so uh, why did you give me that book? I thought you wanted it.” lame. “I figured it’d make your sister happy.” Smart. “It did. Thank you.”
She looked back at me and nodded. “How old are you, Ben?”
“Fifteen,” Oh god, what if she’s older? “almost sixteen.” Ugh!
“Oh.” Oh?! “what about you?” she laughed and shook her head. “A lady never reveals her age. But I’m fifteen, too.” Why couldn’t she just of said that?
“Oh, that’s cool. How come I haven’t seen you around school?”
“I don’t go to school. I’m home schooled. We move a lot, so.”
“Ah. I see.” Why was I so nervous when she seemed so chill?
“Hey, I’d still like to read that book. Maybe I could have it when you’re done?” Shocked. I looked at her, that smile was staring straight at me. “Uh, yeah! Sure that’d be fine. But how-”
“My numbers in the back. I put it there while you were talking to your sister.”
“You did?”
“Is that odd?”
“Not at all.”
“Good. So, you have a phone right? Call me sometime.”
She waved and spun around, walking away from me. I watched her, my eyes followed her every moment until she vanished in the distance. Then I realized I had to get home. I turned and dashed my way through the park, running back to my house.
I climbed up my latter, falling onto my stacked pillows and opened my bedroom door, finding my father leaving his room. He looked horrible. “Dad! You’re here!” he jumped and smiled, opening his arms for me. I ran into them and hugged him, nearly knocking him off his feet. “Ahh, Benny. Joining us for breakfast?” I nodded and ran downstairs. I always eat when Dad’s home. I looked into the kitchen to find the table cleared. “Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Jesus!” I jumped and turned around, finding her behind me. “Breakfast?”
“We’re going out together. You look pale.”
“You just scared the pee out of me!”
She laughed, dad joining in and then Molly and then myself.
“So, we’re going where?”
Molly smiled and took my hand, “Denny’s. Just like we used to.” Things were changing, but in a good way, a way I could accept. But then I remembered Aaron’s scene, and my stomach kicked me. Is he okay? What did he mean when he said I didn’t know some stuff? Molly’s tugging on my hand brought me back. She pulled me down and whispered in my ear, asking where I went off to, and then I was gone again, thinking about Robyn and her hair and her phone number hidden in the book up in my room, and my stomach was smiling again.