 |
| It's no fun to have a cold. |
Sue still wasn't sure about this. Her parents had invited some of their friends to come spend a week at the house. And those parents had a son about Sue's age.
"You and Jason will have someone to hang out with while we're talking with Linda and Greg," their mom explained. "Won't that be nice?"
"Is he cool?" Jason asked. Sue could have smacked her brother. Although, this wasn't the worst thing he'd said, so she decided against it.
"Leo?" their mom asked. She chuckled. "His mom didn't tell me, and I'm not sure us adults could tell you if a kid is cool or not. But I'm sure he's a nice young man."
Sue sighed. "Well, Jason can hang out with him, anyway," she said. "He likes video games, right?"
Their mom nodded.
"Cool!" Jason said. "Get me his screen name. We can start gaming tonight."
Sue rolled her eyes and walked away. Younger brothers were a pain, but at least she wouldn't have to put up with Leo if she didn't like him.
A few weeks later, Leo and his parents arrived. They all went out for dinner. While their parents talked, Jason and Leo talked about their latest game. Sue tuned it all out until she caught the two boys looking at her.
"What?" she asked.
"Leo asked you what grade you're starting in the fall," Jason said slowly.
Sue glared at her brother a little. "I'm going to be a junior," she told Leo. "What grade will you be?"
"I'll be a sophomore," he replied. "I guess everyone's going to start bugging you about college."
Sue made a face. "Hopefully not until the end of the year. I don't want to think about that yet."
"Sue wants to spend all of her time making videos for YouTube," Jason explained obnoxiously.
"Really?" Leo asked. "What's your name on there? I'll follow you."
"Oh, it's just makeup videos," Sue replied, blushing a little. "You don't need to find me."
"Here she is," Jason said, bringing up the app on his phone.
Of course, he scrolled past the makeup videos to some of Sue's rants about books and English class. He was trying to pick one to play, when their mother looked over.
"Jason, no phones at the table," she said.
"Mom, I was just showing Leo something."
"Then you can show him later," she replied.
Sighing, Jason put his phone away. Of course, now the adults remembered they had kids, so they started asking Sue if she'd started thinking about college yet. Maybe it was the conversation, or the food, or something else, but Sue wasn't feeling quite right by the time they were done. They went home, and Sue said she'd go to bed early.
She woke up the next day feeling awful. Her head was pounding and she was freezing. Sue stumbled out of bed to get some breakfast. Maybe she'd warm up when she had something to eat. Of course, Jason was still asleep, but Leo was in the kitchen, making himself toast. He did a double take when he saw Sue.
"Good morning," she said, moving past him to make some oatmeal.
"Didn't sleep well?" he asked.
Sue shook her head, then put a hand to her temple as she realized this was a bad idea. "Not really," she said.
Sue's mom came in the kitchen. "Are you all right?" she asked.
"No," Sue said. Her mom could make her feel better. Sue's mom looked at Sue for a moment, then said. "I'm going to take your temperature. Let me go get the thermometer."
"Are you sick?" Leo asked.
Sue shrugged with one shoulder. "If she thinks so, then I probably am. She always knows."
Leo laughed. "I'm hardly ever sick."
Sue bit back her sarcastic reply, and put the kettle on to boil water for her oatmeal instead. Her mom came back in and took Sue's temperature.
"You've got a fever," her mom said, looking at the thermometer.
"My head hurts too," Sue said.
Her mom nodded. She reached up over the sink and got down a bottle of pain relievers. "Take two," she said. "These should help you feel better."
Sue did as her mom said, and then moved into the dining room to sit down.
"You know, I'm not sure you need makeup," Leo said, following her in. "You look really pretty."
"Thanks," Sue replied, trying not to grimace as she looked for a comfortable position on the chair. How was she pretty? She hadn't even thought to brush her hair. Boys.
Sue managed to eat her oatmeal and decided to go back to bed and read. Her mom came in to check on her awhile later, and woke her up. Sue took some more of the pain reliever. She felt a little better, so she got dressed. And she remembered to brush her hair. She came out for lunch; they were having soup.
Silently blessing her mother, Sue sat down at the table and let her mom serve her.
"So, Jason said you like to read. Do you have a favorite book?" Leo asked.
Sue looked at him, still feeling a little foggy. Was he hitting on her while she was sick? "Um. It's hard to pick a favorite, but I read a lot of mystery and urban fantasy."
"Cool. Do you like Agatha Christie?"
It wasn't a bad conversation, but Sue just wanted to eat her lunch without having to think too much. After lunch, she let herself be persuaded to watch a movie with Jason and Leo. She sat down on the end of the couch right away and once the guys had grabbed the remotes, Jason sat next to her.
They picked a movie Sue liked, but she'd seen it before, so she didn't need to focus on it, which was nice. Maybe an hour into the movie, Leo tried to hold her hand. Sue was bundled in blankets, so she just moved a little and put both of her hands under the blankets. Seriously, what was he doing? Did he think that they had to date because their parents were friends? The movie ended, and Jason loudly announced that he was going to the bathroom and why he was going. Boys.
That left Sue and Leo alone for a moment. He turned to her. Sue knew he was going to say something, but she really wished he wouldn't.
"You're really pretty and smart," he said. "Ever since this morning, I've just seen you in a whole new light. You're not like other girls."
Sue choked back her laugh. "Leo, if you didn't notice, I'm sick." Something occurred to her. "I might be contagious. I probably should go back to my room."
"But you're so delicate," Leo protested. "A delicate flower, like women are supposed to be."
Now Sue leveled a glare at him like Jason had never seen. "Excuse me?"
Leo wilted. "Women are supposed to be delicate, right?"
Sue barked out a laugh. "If women are supposed to feel the way I do now, you just want a girl who's constantly sick. And, dude, we just met yesterday. Stop trying to hold my hand. You don't even know if I have a boyfriend."
"Do you?" Leo looked suddenly worried.
Sue shook her head at him and, slowly, stood up. "I think I'm going back to my room for awhile. I'm sure Jason will play some video games with you once he comes back."
Sue left the living room and saw Jason standing a little bit down the hall. "Eavesdropping again?" Sue asked, exasperated.
"Why did you have to be mean to him? He's good at video games. If you date him, my squad will win, like, all the time."
Sue sighed and walked away. Boys.
No comments:
Post a Comment