Ryan
gripped the edge of the sink as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. Slowly,
hesitantly, he opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue. He squinted and
tilted his head just enough to try to see into his mouth. From the strange
angle, the only thing he could determine was that the inside of his mouth
looked... dark. He tried to angle his head so that the light over the mirror
shone into it, but then he couldn't get a good look at that, even when he
slouched or bent at the knees or stood on his toes. Giving up, he returned his
head to a normal position and the rest of himself
followed. Eyes met his reflection's eyes as though trying to intimidate himself. Unfortunately, he was wise to what he was up to.
With a deep sigh, he tore away from the sink.
He moved
slowly as he walked across the room and collapsed onto the bed. He lifted his
head just long enough to be sure the shades were pulled down for the night. A
tickling, twitchy sort of feeling in his nose prompted him to rub at his nose
with one last burst of energy. Then he wrapped his arms around the plump pillow
and mashed his face into it to fall asleep.
It wasn't
especially late, and he wasn't especially sleepy. But he was exhausted. December meant end of the quarter tests at school
and it meant worrying about presents. He hadn't worried about presents for a
long time, unless you counted worrying that the presents would be heated arguments
and black eyes.
As he
worked on falling asleep, he heard the familiar sounds of the door opening and
someone walking in. He recognized the footsteps and acknowledged with a
pillow-muffled chuckle the way the person sat and slid across the bed. Ryan kept
his eyes closed but he turned his head so he could be heard clearly. "What do
you want, Seth?"
"Just thought I'd stop in to say hi. Can't a guy just stop
in without wanting something?" Ryan said nothing, simply waited a few seconds.
Then, "All right, I want some advice, ye who is so wise in the way of women."
If it was
possible to roll one's eyes while still having them closed, Ryan would have had
the technique mastered by now. "Look, if this is about Anna and Summer, you're just going to have to choose and get--"
"Okay,
yeah, but here's the thing... I don't want to choose right now and--"
"Seth!"
Ryan groaned. This really wasn't the time. "Tired here.
Can we talk about this in the morning?"
There was a
pause. Then, "Sure. Just go ahead and sleep while my
love life commits a slow and painful suicide."
"Seth!"
Ryan moaned this time, a note of pain in his voice.
Seth got
off the bed. "No, no. It's all right. You have my total and complete permission
to sleep while everything comes crashing down around me."
Ryan
practically whimpered his plea for Seth to let him alone now. But then he
pushed away the pillow and opened his eyes, looking back at the retreating
Seth. "Hey," he called, making Seth pause and look back. "Things aren't going
to be that bad. It's Chrismakah, right?"
Seth
grinned, snapped his fingers, and pointed back at Ryan. "Absolutely, Man." Then
he turned and headed out of the pool house with a much more upbeat air.
Ryan
followed him with his gaze, then his eyes closed
again. He coughed and rubbed his knuckles at his nose. Then he turned back to
the pillow, hugging it and nuzzling his face into it. Before he knew it, he was
asleep again.
* * *
After
looking around to be sure none of the usual suspects were around, Ryan dug his
hand into his pocket and pulled out a badly folded, slightly used handkerchief.
He held it up to his face as his nose prickled with the need to sneeze. He
breathed out heavily into the cloth then his whole body lurched forward with a
"huhhtchhhh!" He massaged his nose through the
handkerchief then lowered it with a silent groan that could be seen clearly in
his expression.
"Bless
you." Ryan's head snapped up and he blinked wearily to see Marissa hovering
over him. "Developed a sudden allergy to coffee and exams or did you catch that
cold that's been going around?"
Ryan opened
his mouth to answer, but another expression crossed his face. It twitched the
corners of his mouth down and furrowed his brow and made him go all squinty and
tense. Then he raised the handkerchief again. "huhhTChooo!" He fell forward, then leaned back
again in his seat. "The secod one," he said, his
voice congested and muffled in the cloth. He wiped his nose discretely and
lowered the handkerchief again. From the moment he'd woken up that morning
feeling achy, stuffy and sneezy, he'd decided he needed something. He wasn't
exactly used to handkerchiefs, but he'd found it in the back of a dresser
drawer and decided it was a good alternative to carrying around a box of
tissues. After several classes, he was beginning to find it was losing its
usefulness.
Marissa sat
down on the other half of the two person couch and stretched her arm across the
top of it, gently touching his back and shoulders. "You really don't look so
good. Maybe you should go home from school. It's just exam prep in all the
classes today. I can get you the notes and you can go home and get some rest."
She spoke soothingly and cocked her head, looking sympathetic.
Ryan shook
his head. "I'd love to but I cad't." He sniffed hard.
"The Cohens are buzzing around with this Chrismukkah thing, and the last thing they need right now
is to worry about me."
"Okay, let
me get this straight. You're sick. But you're not going home to rest. And,
instead, you're pretending you're well but not actually doing anything to get well?"
Ryan smiled
and nodded. "Doesn't make much sense when you put it that way, does it?" He chuckled.
"I just don't want them to go overboard like they always do. I'm not really
comfortable with that when I'm sick. I kinda just
like to be left alone."
Marissa
gave a few light laughs. "You know, I never would have guessed that about you."
She tugged at the sleeve of his sweatshirt and wrapped her other arm around his
shoulders in a loose hug. "But does that mean you want me to go, too?"
He looked
back at her with a mixed expression of hurt and apology. Then he raised his
handkerchief to his face again. "huhh-huhhhCHUSHHH! hehhChshhhh!" He rubbed at his nose than dropped
his hand back into his lap, resting it on top of the open textbook he'd been
trying to wade his way through during the morning break between classes.
Marissa
looked sympathetic again and gently patted his chest. "All
right. I'll leave you alone to feel miserable. But first..." She dove into
her purse and pulled out a cosmetics bag. From that she withdrew a small pack
of tissues. She handed that to Ryan to use instead of his handkerchief, which
wasn't going to make it much longer anyway. Then she picked up the cup of
coffee he had sitting in front of him on the coffee table and replaced it with a
bottle of juice from her backpack she'd been saving for lunch. "That's much
better for you than coffee." She released him from her partial embrace then ran
her hand against his face, most of her hand touching his cheek and her
fingertips feeling his warm forehead. Then she brushed his hair back. It fell
back into place but that wasn't the point of the action. "Call me tonight?
Cause you know I'll worry if you don't."
He nodded,
sniffling because he needed to and because she already knew he was sick. Ryan
guessed he would not get that luxury for the rest of the day.
* * *
This turned
out to be not entirely true. He was able to maneuver his was into taking three
bathroom breaks during the course of class. Still, he worked his way rather
steadily through the pack of tissues, being as discrete as he possibly could be.
He tried to pay attention and take notes, but his heart really wasn't into it
and he kept working through possibilities in his mind that would allow him to
carry on as normal at home without the Cohens
noticing he was ill.
Ryan rubbed
his nose roughly with the side of his hand, then
pinched it closed as it started to tickle yet again. His other hand reached for
the tissue pack, wanting to be ready just in case he were
to sneeze despite his willpower. His time, however, the urge died down and he
swallowed hard. His breath was still shaky, but at least he hadn't sneezed.
It was
going to be a much more difficult task than making it through classes, even
with being able to stay in the pool house. Seth would undoubtedly find him, and
he wouldn't be able to explain why he'd drawn all the shades in the first
place. It would be a miracle if he could pull this off for a day, let alone for
the duration of his cold.
The class
ended and he let the room empty around him. When there were but a few people
left, he pulled another tissue from the pack and blew his nose thoroughly. This
earned him a few glances, especially from the teacher who did not look
surprised. He supposed with all the bathroom breaks, and the recent absences
due to the season, she must know he was ill. He gave her a sheepish smile and
shrugged, then collected his books and headed out of the classroom.
He paused
in the hallway, just outside the classroom, and took a deep breath as he
thought of what he faced. He wasn't given much time to think, however. "huh... huhh-CHISHH! hehhChhhh! Hehhh-hehhhCHIShhhhh!" He wiped at his nose as he
breathed in and out heavily through only his mouth.
Behind him
he heard a throat clear and he turned to see Marissa leaning back against the
wall between the door and the lockers, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Ba... sniff! Sniiiiff! Marissa,"
he said, then lowering his voice and going over to her. "What are you doing
here? I thought--"
"The more I
thought about it," she said, smiling a little, "The more I couldn't figure out
how you'd manage. You're very talented, Ryan Atwood,
but I still don't know how you're going to be able to pull this off. And so I
decided your best bet would be to get out of the house." She smiled even more,
"I told Seth that you and I had plans to go shopping for presents after
school."
Ryan
grinned. He didn't exactly want Marissa hovering over him while he was sick
either, but she seemed to understand him pretty well and he had to admit it was
a good plan.
* * *
Ryan dozed
on and off in the passenger seat as Marissa drove them
home from the mall. Given what had happened there, Ryan and Marissa didn't have
much to say to each other anyway. Though he had to wonder how bad it must be in
order for Marissa to have actually shoplifted.
"huhhh..." Ryan's nose twitched as he freed the
last tissue from the little pack Marissa had given him. They were close to
home, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't make it all the way on just one more
tissue. "huhhhCheew! Huhhh-huhhhChshhhh!" He wasn't even
going to make it five minutes. "Barissa?" he
snuffled, sounding as though he absolutely hated having to ask. "Do you hab ady bore, sniff, tissues?" He held the one beneath
his nose as he spoke.
"Yeah, I
think..." She took her right hand off the steering wheel and blindly reached back
to the armrest between their two seats. She lifted up the padded lid and pulled
out a small car-sized box of tissues. "Here you go." She closed the top and
looked over at him as he rubbed his nose with two fresh tissues. "Are you sure
you're going to be able to--"
"I'll be
fine," Ryan interrupted, dropping his hand to his lap, sniffing hard and giving
her an encouraging smile. "Nothing a little sleep won't take care of." He
coughed and cleared his throat. "Don't worry about me, okay?" She certainly had
enough to worry about already.
They pulled
into Marissa's driveway and Ryan immediately unfastened his seatbelt. "Uhmb..." He cleared his throat again. Thanking her seemed a
little strange after all that had happened. But he was grateful to have gotten
out of the house a little. "Thanks," he said finally. She looked thoughtful,
hurt, apologetic, and he didn't need her to explain. "Better not kiss me or you
might catch this. And I better got lie down now."
She nodded
and said a timid, "Feel better, Ryan."
Then they
each got out and headed to their respective homes. He tossed his schoolbag down
on the couch, stripped off his shirt, and headed straight for bed. Ryan pulled
the tissue box over and blew his nose hard. His head felt heavy, full, cloudy and though blowing his nose didn't help much, it was
better than doing nothing. "huhhh... huhh-Chooo! hurShuhhh!" He plucked another tissue from the
box and blew again.
He was really
only there a few moments before he heard a knock on the door. From where he
was, he couldn't see the door, which was good as it meant the
someone there couldn't see him either. Gathering up his strength, he
headed over. Giving his nose a hard rub to calm it while he
carried on a conversation and pretended he wasn't sick.
It was Sandy.
Ryan opened the door. "Hey," he said, trying to sound casual. "What's up?"
"Family
dinner at six-thirty," Sandy told
him. Then he looked Ryan over a moment, perhaps noticing that something was
different.
"Can do,"
Ryan said as cheerfully as Ryan could ever say anything. He didn't want to give
Sandy any reason to suspect his
health was anything other than stellar.
Sandy
continued to stare at him, brow furrowed. "Is something wrong?"
Ryan shook
his head, not trusting himself to lie directly to Sandy's
face. Sandy would know in a
heartbeat.
Sandy
apparently decided Ryan was just worried. "You remember we said no presents,
right?" he said. "You're not worried about this whole Chrismukkah
thing, are you?"
"Oh. No,"
Ryan replied truthfully. After the encounter with the police and his cold, he
really had forgotten about the holiday.
"Okay," said
Sandy, his dark eyes looking Ryan
over as though he suspected there could be something more there that he wasn't
seeing. What he couldn't see was that Ryan felt another sneeze coming on. It
was making his nose tingle and his throat seize up. He struggled to finish the
conversation before it struck.
"Well..."
Ryan said, gesturing over his shoulder, "I'd better get back to studying. End
of semester exams are going to kick my butt otherwise."
His voice sounded strange to him- a little higher, much more uncertain.
Sandy
surely heard it but said nothing about it. Instead he smiled at the idea of
Ryan caring about his schoolwork. "Right. Good luck
there, Kiddo."
Ryan closed
the door after him, then locked it. He turned, rubbing
a finger alongside his nose, the tickles intensifying. He held both hands to
his nose in praying style. Then he practically doubled over with the force of
the sneeze. "huhhhChuhhh!"
Sniffling, Ryan glanced over his shoulder to be sure Sandy
hadn't seen. But Sandy was already
in the main house and Ryan sighed with relief.
He closed
several of the window shades again, shielding the bed from the view of anyone
looking in from the direction of the house. Then he grabbed an extra blanket
and pillow from the linen closet by the bathroom and stretched out across the
bed with them.
He really
would have liked to have fallen asleep, just for a little while. But his body was
racked with coughs. And when he wasn't coughing, he was sneezing and sniffling
and blowing and rubbing his nose.
Burying his
face in a pillow, he almost wished he had someone who could give him a good
punch to knock him out a day or two so he could wake up well. Of course, that
meant explaining about how he felt to someone, and it was bad enough Marissa
knew. So, instead, he was forced to suffer through minute after minute and hour
after hour of torture. There was always a tissue in his hand for even as he
finished with one and tossed it aside, his nose needed immediate attention.
* * *
Before he
knew it, dinnertime was only a half an hour away. He pulled himself up, his
body aching all over, and headed for the bathroom. His only thought, as he
stripped off his clothes, was how much better he would feel once he was in a
nice warm shower. But first he had to get a towel and wait until the water
warmed up. Ryan stood just outside the shower stall, shivering, with his arms
crossed over and hugged to his chest. He coughed a few times, and blew his nose
once, hoping he wouldn't need to do so again until after the shower.
When he
finally stepped inside, the warm water struck his skin and immediately relaxed
him. He breathed deeply and folded his arms, pressing his forearms against the
wall and resting his forehead against his arms. The water poured down against
the back of his neck and his upper back. He coughed lightly and snuffled, but
the warm steam seemed to help quiet both.
"huhhShoo! huhhCshhh!"
His nose continued to be somewhat bothersome, however. He sneezed freely in the
shower, head still directed downwards. Mesmerized and tired, he watched the
water pool around his feet and swirl down the drain.
Ryan was
tempted to skip dinner altogether and stay there like that for the rest of the
day, especially as he wasn't too hungry. But sooner or later one of the Cohens would come looking for him, and he'd have to think
of something to explain. And as bad as the truth was, all the lies he could
think of were worse than admitting to them he was sick. So he turned off the
water and grabbed the towel.
He put on a
clean change of clothes, but stuffed a few tissues into his pocket,
sure he'd need them at some point during dinner. He just hoped he'd be able to
excuse himself from the table in time if he felt a really bad bout of sneezes
coming on. As nice as they were to take him in and look after him, none of them
deserved to have to see that while eating.
When he got
to the main house, however, he didn't smell anything cooking, and he was pretty
sure he wasn't quite that stuffed up yet. He'd expected the usual warm, delightful,
soothing smells of Sandy's cooking.
Or, at the very least, the smell of something burning, which
was characteristic of Kirsten's cooking. Confused and curious, he followed
the lack of smells through the living room and into the kitchen.
Kirsten was
there all right, but she was conspicuously dinner-less. "Oh,
Ryan! I was just about to pop over and see you. Seth's upstairs on the
phone and I need to dash." She paused to look at him a moment. "Are you all
right?"
He resisted
the urge to clear his throat before replying, "Of course." He hated lying to
her, but couldn't see any other way around it. Besides, she might figure it out
anyway no matter what he said to her. Mothers had a sixth sense about this sort
of thing. Well, not Ryan's mother, but most normal mothers.
But she
carried on, putting aside his wellness. "Sandy
was called in on a case and I just got a phone call from my father. It seems some
clients caught an earlier flight out here from New York
and want to meet with the group now. He
needs me there." She looked quite apologetic. "So we'll have to do the family
dinner tomorrow night instead. Could you let Seth know for me?"
Ryan
nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He felt a tickle in his nose which would
surely manifest into a sneeze if he wasn't careful to keep close track of it.
Kirsten picked
her portfolio up from the countertop, revealing a few bills. "I've left some
money, though. Feel free to order in if there's nothing in the fridge."
She glanced
at her watch and Ryan took the opportunity to rub at his nose. Unfortunately,
he instinctively sniffed and she heard. She looked up, missing his rubbing but
still seeming suspicious. "Are you sure you're all right? Sandy
said when he stopped by to talk with you earlier you--"
"I'm fine,"
he lied again. Then, wanting to speed up her exit before he
sneezed. "At least better than you'll be if you're late to your
meeting."
"Right!" She adjusted her blouse and skirt and headed out
with a wave and a goodbye. Ryan smiled pleasantly as she left, then grinned and
plopped down on the couch with a relieved sigh. "What great... uhh... luck," he finished just in time. "huhhhChhuhh!"
"What's
that?"
Ryan's head
snapped to the side and he saw Seth heading in, cordless phone in hand. Ryan straightened
up at once, trying to think of a plausible excuse for sneezing. Nothing came,
however, and he found himself replying with a "What's what?"
Seth leapt
and landed with a bounce right beside Ryan on the couch. "You said something
about luck."
"Oh," said
Ryan. "I don't know."
"Cool,"
said Seth, in the midst of changing the subject. He was turning the phone over
and over in his hands. "Okay, so I just got a call from Anna. She wanted to
know my favorite color. Is that some sort of girl code I don't get? I mean, I
know I'm technically kind of new at this but what do you think that's about?"
"Sounds to
me like she wanted to know your favorite color," Ryan said, shrugging. He
wasn't sure if Seth even heard his reply, however.
Seth
continued on, speaking quickly. "You don't think she's buying me a sweater or
something for Chrismukkah, do you? Because
that's not a girlfriend-type present. That's a doting old aunt-type
present. Ooooh! Maybe she's getting me a car."
"A car?" Ryan reached up and rubbed at his nose again,
feeling the tickles and the need to sniff a few times though he did not dare to
with Seth sitting inches away.
"But that's
more like a crazy, obsessed, stalker girlfriend-type present, isn't it?" Seth
looked down at the phone again. "I told her red but maybe I should have said
blue instead. Hey, do you think I should have asked hers?"
Ryan was
not at all in the mood to have this discussion. But before he went back to hide
in the pool house, he did need to let Seth know about dinner. He just hoped
he'd be able to do so without sneezing. The tickle in his nose was intensifying
by the second. "Your parents both had to work tonight. Kirsten left some money
for food."
"Great!"
Seth glanced over his shoulder towards the kitchen, spotting the money. Ryan
took the opportunity to rub more at his nose. "What do you feel like? Pizza? We could go hit the diner even. You could call
Marissa and I could call..." He looked back down at the phone. "Maybe I should
have asked her favorite color before answering with mine. Then I could have
claimed that was my favorite, too, and--"
"hh'TSChhhh!" Ryan had tried hard to stifle
it, but failed miserably. "Snifffff!"
"--we would
have laughed about that. And if we ever got married that'd be a great thing for
you to mention in your best man speech."
Ryan rolled
his eyes. Seth hadn't even noticed
his sneeze. Unbelievable. "Certainly more amusing a
story than this stringing two women along at the same
time story."
"Speaking
of which, what about Summer? She hasn't asked what my
favorite color is. What do you think that means? She's still going to get me
something, isn't she?"
Ryan sighed
heavily. Much as he would normally love angsting with
Seth about this, he didn't feel in the mood to do anything at the moment apart
from get back into bed with a box of tissues. "I don't think you have anything
to worry ab-about." Ryan said, patting Seth's
shoulder, then pulling his hand back and quickly covering his nose and mouth. "hehhhChushhh! huhhChoooo!
Sniff!" He cleared his throat. "Look, I'm not so hungry. Order whatever you
want. I'm going for a walk."
Seth seemed
too preoccupied with staring at the phone for a witty reply. And though Ryan
figured he could probably just go back to the pool house, he didn't want to
risk Seth barging in on him with a new set of questions that had no answer. Besides,
he had his own things to brood over at the moment. And every one of them
revolved around Marissa.
* * *
Glad now
for the tissues he'd loaded his pockets with, he wasted no time in blowing his
nose as he walked. His pace was slow, but he wound up on the beach before he
knew it.
The sun had
set early, as they were rapidly approaching the shortest day of the year. And
once the sun was down, it grew dark very quickly. There were lights on the now
abandoned lifeguard towers and the moon was bright so he could see his way as
he shuffled across the sand. The sound of the waves slapping the shores wasn't
enough to drown out his sniffles, however, and there was a cool breeze blowing
that only made his nose run more. So he selected a nice patch of sand and sat
down with his legs bent at the knees and his lower arms resting on those knees.
Looking out at the waves, he lost himself to thought and to his ailment.
Ryan was
more than familiar with the circumstances it took for someone to shoplift, and
it wasn't all about a lack of finances. Add to that the drinking and it was
pretty clear that Marissa needed help. Ryan just found himself wondering who
could give that to her.
"huhhh-Schooo! hehhKShuhhh!"
Of course,
even though he was glad to be out of the house and alone again, he couldn't
help but think about how bad he was feeling. There was a little nagging voice
in the back of his head telling him to go home and get in bed. But there was
the constant worry that he'd be found out and he really had no idea what would
happen then. The Cohens weren't anything like his
family an he imagined they wouldn't exactly let him
sleep it off alone the way his family did. They'd probably fuss over him until
he escaped to the beach anyway.
"uhhh-uhhhTSchhhh!" He sniffled wetly, rubbing a tissue
at his nose.
"Bless you...
Ryan?"
He froze, recognizing the voice, then hid the tissue in the
palm of his hand and turned to see Summer walking over to him. "I suppose you
want to know Seth's favorite color?" he asked, looking up at her and squinting
as the light from the lifeguard stand just a few yards away came into view
instead. It made his nose tickle more and he had to rub his knuckles at the tip
furiously before it would back down.
"What?" she
asked, looking confused.
"Nothing,"
he said, shaking his head dismissively.
Summer
gracefully sat down beside him, looking down at the strip of sand between them.
Her finger drew a heart in the sand, then traced around it to make a deep shape
that would soon be eaten by the tide. "I was just out for a walk. Needed time to think."
Ryan
certainly knew the feeling. Then his head snapped down. And though he pinched
his nose in the tissue, a sneeze still struck. "hettChhh!"
"Bless you
again," she said absentmindedly. Then she paused and her jaw dropped. "Wait,
you're sick!" He thought of denying it. "Cohen let you come out here when
you're sick? It's freezing out here."
"It's not
freezing," Ryan argued. "And Seth doesn't know."
"Well
that's obvious." She grabbed hold of his arm and yanked. As she was sitting
cross-legged, she managed to stand easily without losing her balance, taking
him with her. "You're probably running a fever and delirious. Why else would
you be out here?"
"You're out
here," he pointed out.
"Yeah,
well, I'm stupid. Which should be self-evident considering
the fact that I'm on a beach alone at night thinking about Cohen."
Sniffing, "You're
not alone any more."
"I will be
soon. You should be home and in bed." She cocked her head. "Does Marissa know
you're sick?" He nodded, and Summer sighed. "Then you've
really got to go. She'd kill me if I left you out here to catch pneumonia. And
we wouldn't want to add murder to her rapsheet, would
we?"
Ryan
chuckled and shook his head as Summer gave him a light
push in the direction of home. He took a few steps, then
cupped his hand to his face, nearly doubling over as more sneezes struck. "ehhhh-hehhh-CHShhhhh! hehhChuhhh! UHHSchhhhh! Sniff!"
"Bless
you." Summer pulled a face. "Why are
you out here anyway?"
He cleared
his throat. "I just didn't want to worry the Cohens.
Thought I was safer out here and that I wouldn't run into anyone."
"Ah," she
said with a nod. "You still underestimate how small this town is. And it sounds
like you're underestimating the Cohens, too. After
all you've put them through, I think they can deal
with a little head cold without totally flipping out. If you need space, just
tell them you need space." She shrugged.
Ryan found
himself smiling, and he pressed the back of his hand to his forehead. "I must
be delirious if you're startling to make sense."
"Ha-ha.
Even sick you're not funny." She leaned over and gave him another encouraging
push. "Now go."
He went. He
had some bottled water in the pool house but he was starting to feel a little
hungry, so he headed back to the main house. He found Seth in the kitchen,
leaning over the island, elbows on the counter, a bowl of cereal in front of
him and a comic book in his hand. "And how was the brooding?" Seth asked
without looking up.
Ryan gave a
chuckle. "Short. I ran into Summer."
This made
him lift his head and look over with interest. "Did you now? And she said...?"
"Not a lot...
which in and of itself shows how much she likes you."
Seth
groaned and buried his head in his comic book again just as Ryan felt another
sneeze coming on. "huhhh-TChhooo!"
Seth didn't look up. Ryan sighed to himself as he grabbed a bagel. "Hey, Seth?"
"Mmm?"
But Ryan
could tell Seth wasn't really listening. Ryan rubbed the back of his neck and
took another deep breath. "I, ah, I'm kind of sick so I'm going to go turn in
early. If you could just let your parents know when they get--"
"Let us
know what?" Sandy was home, with
Kirsten walking in the front door right behind him.
He hated to
put a lot of trust in something Summer said, but Ryan knew he really should
give the Cohens more credit after all they'd done for
him. "I'm not feeling-hahhh..." Might as well let that explain it. He
found a tissue in his pocket and clamped it to his face. "hahh-Chuhhhhh! hehhhChhooo!"
"How long
have you been sick?" Sandy asked at
once as Kirsten made straight for him and felt his forehead.
"Since this
morning," Ryan said, rubbing his nose and resisting his natural instinct to
pull away from Kirsten's touch. "Maybe last night."
"And you
didn't tell us... why?" Sandy asked
over his shoulder as he turned to the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange
juice. Kirsten was over on the other side of the kitchen, now, rummaging
through a cabinet.
"Didn't want to bother you all. Sniff! Sniiiiffff!" He tucked the
used tissue back into his pocket. "Didn't want to ruin the
season for you all."
"Ryan,
Ryan, Ryan," Seth said, no longer paying any attention to his comic book and
clucking his tongue. "Have you learned nothing? It's impossible to ruin Chrismukkah with
something like this. The holiday is indestructible."
"hihh-Chew!"
"And just
for the record, I noticed something was up but didn't want to bring up the
subject until you mentioned it." Amused, Ryan wondered how long it had taken
Seth to notice. "Course this doesn't excuse you from the party, either," said
Seth, wanting to be clear on that fact. Sandy
handed Ryan a glass of orange juice and Kirsten gave him a box of cold medicine
and an extra box of Kleenex.
Ryan nodded
weakly, feeling a bit overwhelmed.
Then Sandy
put a hand on his shoulder. "Bet you want to just head to bed, right?" Ryan
nodded again. "Well then we won't keep you. We're here for you in a second if
you need us for anything, but we'll try to stay out of your hair until then,
all right?"
Ryan nodded
a third time, this time accompanied by a grateful smile. He coughed into his
shoulder, then turned to leave.
"Hey," Seth
called, and Ryan glanced over his shoulder. "You'll feel better sooner than you
think. It's Chrismukkah, right?"
Tired of
nodding, Ryan gave his last one of the night. "Absolutely," he replied before
heading out to the pool house.