Was It Always Us?

𝚂𝚔𝚒𝚛𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜

As soon as I saw her her sitting on the floor, hair disheveled and clothes dirty, my anger dissipated. I closed the door and knelt beside her.

"Hey. What happened?"

She shook her head.

"Vomiting. I think it's food poisoning or something."

I took a minute to process that. Then, I helped her get up and gently made her lay down on the bed. I brought some wipes and cleaned her face and clothes the best I could. She winced. After clearing off the mess in the washroom too, I sat next to her and checked her forehead. She was burning up.

"We need to go to the doctor, Lily." I said.

"In the morning, please?"

"No. Right now. You have a fever and everything."

"I don't want to go anywhere right now."

"How are you going to get well-"

"Stop babying me."

"Fine. But you have to eat some medicine, at least."

"But-"

"I'm not taking no for an answer, okay?"

I didn't wait for an answer and went to the kitchen to get her Aspirin, and a syrup for vomiting which I'd gotten for Josh when he fell sick some time ago. I went back to the room and fed her myself, which she didn't seem to mind that much.

"What were you angry about?" she eventually asked me.

My brow furrowed and I stared at her for a bit. Without thinking about it, I clenched my fists.

"Nothing. It's nothing." I forced the words out, even though I knew she wouldn't believe me. Swallowing down the lump that had formed in my throat, I went outside to get my shit together.

"Atlas?" Lily called out from the room. I didn't answer.

"Back in a bit." I replied after a little while. I roamed around the living room for a bit, but then went back to the kitchen. I scanned the fridge and decided to cook pasta. Better than sitting around doing nothing. I melted some butter in a pan and added minced garlic. While it cooked, I chopped up the rest of the vegetables. Then, I mixed some flour and milk into the sauce. After the mixture took on a uniform consistency, I put in grated cheese, too.

I was about to pour the vegetables into the pan as well when I heard footsteps. I thought it was Lily at first, but it turned out to be Josh.

"What're you doing?" he asked, sitting up on the counter.

"Cooking pasta, idiot." I muttered.

"No need to be rude, Atlas. Save some for me, too."

"You are so annoying sometimes."

"Thanks for the compliment. Anyway, I forgot to tell you, but we have a baseball match two days later, and my coach wants us to put in some extra practice time."

"And?"

"And I might need to stay back in school for a bit."

I sighed.

"Fine. You can walk home, right?"

"Yeah, that's no problem. I just didn't want you to think I was up to something again."

"Like the time you got drunk? And almost winded up in jail?"

"Will you ever get over that?"

"Forget it."