Just a Newsboy

Chapter 16

Sunday
•••••Cricket's Perspective

I kicked the door open and raised the bottle of Lysol disinfecting spray. "Shield your eyes and mouths, please."

The stage manager and sound technician obeyed my instructions, covering their faces with their sleeves while I sprayed the entire tech booth down.

That 24-hour fever that Aiden had mentioned had recently taken out at least five ensemble members and two understudies.

Mr. Calhoun had gone so far as to lock the leads in their dressing rooms until the 15 minute call.

He'd also insisted that we disinfect every inch of the theater at least twice a day.

I left the tech booth to return the Lysol to the orchestra pit so they could finish spraying down their music stands.

"The tech booth all sanitized?" Aiden asked as she took the bottle from me.

"Yep." I nodded, wrinkling my nose. "I just wish it didn't smell like lavender."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course you do."

I frowned, hearing a subtle tone of accusation in her voice. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing." She shrugged, but the tone was still there. "I just thought we'd made progress, you know? With the whole 'happiness' thing?"

"I've never been happy like that." I said, raising an eyebrow.

"You were happy when you were with Josh—"

"I wasn't ever 'with' him, Aiden."

"You could've been."

"I really don't want to talk about Josh right now." I snapped, crossing my arms.

She raised her hands in surrender. "Fine."

I let out a sharp exhale, but sucked it back in as a sickly feeling made its way through my stomach.

Aiden's expression melted into concern. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I shook my head. "I just don't feel good."

"Like, you feel sick?"

I nodded. "It's actually been a while since I haven't felt sick."

"Hmm." She bit her lip. "Do you think you have that fever?"

"No, it's not that. Just occasional headaches, sometimes a migraine, and my stomach's been bothering me."

"Did you eat breakfast today?"

I opened my mouth to answer, before closing it again and pondering the question. "Actually, I don't think I've eaten breakfast at all this week."

"What about sleeping? Have you been falling asleep at a decent hour?"

"I keep losing track of time." I shrugged. "I've been going to bed past three at the earliest."

Her lips twisted into a puzzled frown. "You haven't been like this in a long time, Cricket."

She was right; even before I'd joined the tour, I'd been doing better than this.

"What do you think is happening?" She asked.

I thought for a moment, trying to recall days in which I'd remembered to eat breakfast and go to bed before 1:30 a.m.

And then it clicked.

"Well, usually Josh reminds me..." I mumbled.

"Uh-huh." Aiden crossed her arms, giving me a knowing look. "Y'know, everyone needs someone."