"shhh! be quiet!"
"i'm trying!" phil dropped onto the tiled floor with a grunt. elodie giggled at him.
"hey! don't laugh at me!" phil said, but he was smiling as well.
"sorry," elodie whispered, bringing a hand up to cover her grin.
phil pulled himself up off the floor and plopped down onto her bed. the plastic sides creaked under his weight and the white sheets crumpled under him.
"here." he held out a sharing size bag of m&ms and patted the space next to him.
elodie sat down cautiously and let phil pour the candy into her outstretched hand.
"do you want to talk about it?" he asked after a moment. he was watching her sort the candy into color groups, flipping them all over so the white 'm' could be seen.
she shook her head. "i spend all day talking about me. doctors, nurses, therapists, my parents. i'm sick, and not just physically, but mentally as well. emotionally. i'm sick of myself." she shook her head again as if trying to erase her thoughts. she smiled up at phil and popped a bright yellow m&m into her mouth. "let's talk about you."
"well... you know how i post youtube videos, right?"
elodie nodded.
"there's this guy who's been commenting on my stuff a lot. he @ replies to all my tweets. he's funny, and he likes a lot of the same things i do."
"what's his name?"
"dan."
"he sounds nice."
phil sighed. "it's kind of weird though, don't you think?"
she tilted her head to the side. "how so?".
"it's borderline stalkerish!"
elodie rolled her eyes at him. "phil, you're just as much of a fanboy as he is. i've heard you go on and on about sarah michelle gellar. you're his buffy."
"huh." phil shrugged. "I suppose you're right. so should i reply to him?"
"definitely."
a happy silence fell between them, and with the sweet taste of candied chocolate on her tongue, just for a little while, elodie forgot all about why they were sitting together in a hospital room.
