Freaks and Fortune

"You decent?" I asked cautiously, poking my head through the door.

I heard Cal laugh.

I stepped inside the cabin, immediately seeing that Cal was right where I'd left him a few hours earlier -- curled up in his hammock with a wet cloth on his head.

"What's so funny?" I demanded, grabbing the purple cold medicine from the dresser.

"I'm not going to take a shower!" he laughed. "I'm not even in my beds!"

I pulled up the stool in front of Savannah's vanity mirror and sat by his hammock.

"What?" I asked. "What did you say?"
He just laughed.

Cal was giggling heavily, his laugh fell from his lips like thick syrup. His gaze was dense and blurred, unfocused like he was still dreaming. A light sweat dusted his brow and upper lip but the room was cold from the breath of the overzealous air-conditioner.

It was then that I noticed that the bottle of purple medicine was lighter than I had remembered. A lot lighter. I gasped.

"You idiot!" I yelled, smacking his forehead with the bottom of the bottle. "You drank it!"
Cal could hardly speak for laughing. "Not all of it!" he protested weakly.

I examined the clear plastic body. A thin coating layered the bottom like a ragged blanket.

"I wish I could sing..." Cal muttered.

I bent the flimsy plastic material of the medicine bottle with my fingers in my anger.

"Sometimes I wonder if you should get some help," I spat at him, half serious.
"Help! I need somebody! Help! Not just anybody!" Cal sang loudly, off key.

I frowned and rolled my eyes. He laughed at me. I pushed the small chair back and rose to leave. Cal, in his state of half-being, somehow managed to grab my hand. I could feel the pressure of suppressed heat rise through his leather gloves.

"Let go!" I ordered, wriggling my fingers from his grasp.
"Ivy, don't leave," he said, surprising me enough to cause me to jump slightly.

His eyes widened with seriousness. He was being entirely sincere.

"You look terrible," I told him.

His hair was wavy. Strange. It was rare to see him without his costume on... Without his hair slicked back into a severe part.

"What else is new, babe?"
"Your pupils are huge."
He tried to contain himself for my sake, but he failed and let out a small laugh.
"You're making yourself sicker, you know," I informed him. "Guzzling cough syrup isn't exactly going to make you better."
"That's the point!" he yelled, his voice scratchy. He was trying to make a joke but I could tell he was serious.
"Let me feel your forehead," I ordered.

"No!" he screeched.

Cal threw the blanket over his head dramatically, but I sighed and yanked it off. Immediately, he curled up upon himself. It seemed strange that he was wearing his gloves, because he was wearing nothing else, other than plaid boxers. I saw his flannel pajama bottoms and his black shirt on the floor. He must have taken them off once he started sweating.

"You've probably got a fever," I said.
"NO!"

His hands flew up to his face, covering his forehead and cheeks.

"I have to check-"
"Ivy, don't touch my skin!" he pleaded into the his pillow.

I scowled, confused. Cal peeked at me through his fingers, reached out, and snatched the blanket from my hands. I barely had any time to protest before he threw it over himself and secured it at his feet by curling his toes.

"Don't be-" I began, but cut myself off when I found that I could pull the blanket off his head. He was holding on to it with all his might.

"Get out!" he ordered. "Out, out, out!"
"You are so-"
"Out, out, out!"
"I'm going!" I yelled, kicking the chair back violently. It clattered against the floor as it toppled.
"Out!"

I gave him a good kick through the bottom of his hammock. It was enough to make him yelp. I must've hit him in the crotch. Or at least his side.

I stormed out, slamming the cabin door behind me.

"Ivy!" Savannah cried, climbing up the front stairs. "What's the matter?"
"Cal," I muttered darkly.
"What did he do?" she asked, eyeing the door to the cabin.
"He drank all the cold medicine, for one thing!"
"He what?!"
"I know! He's in there, high as a kite."
"Idiot!"
"Then, I got scared, you know, that he'd made himself sicker."
"Yeah?"
"And I went to feel his forehead-"
"You didn't touch him?" Savannah hissed worriedly. "His skin?"
"No," I said slowly, suspicion rising. "Why?"
"Good God!" she breathed. "At least he's still got some common sense."
"What?" I asked breathlessly, so confused it was almost funny.

Savannah only shook her head, more relieved than angry - as she had been a few seconds ago.

"Don't worry about it, Ivy," she reassured me. "Cal will be fine."

And she left me outside, bewildered.