Thank you Lilrebelgirl and jhhhhjfjk89 and Sharkie2008 and Drkdawn and Silver Dog Demon and Kirsten-B and Kokomocalifornia and Sarah Atwood and Jinxyknockonwood and Leentjeand NaleyBrucasFan (aka Lizzy) for your reviews! All in all, I would say this is a great turnout of reviews! Thank you all! Oh, and to answer some questions, this story and "Cold" are not connected. Sorry. I might change my mind on that, though. I always love suggestions. I am proud of my introductory chapter on this one. My intro for "Cold" was pretty good, but I really like this one. If you have not read "Cold", it is 20 chapters long, but the chapters are shorter than average chapters I've seen. Plus, it's got lots of twists, some new characters, a crazy weird side of Kirsten, and practically no romance. I'm hoping to unveil some really crazy plot in it, and in this one as well. Sorry, sorry it took me forever to update.
Disclaimer: Nothing.
Ryan entered the poolhouse. He had finished breakfast in a hurry, knowing that Seth was up to something. Seth was hooking up the game.
"What game?" Ryan asked, still uneased.
"Spiderman. I have a question for you, too. What happened to your neck?" Seth was very calm and did not even look up as he asked. Ryan's hand automatically went to the long scratch on the right side of his neck. He had forgotten to conceal it. His larger wound was a bit more to worry about, though.
"I tripped and landed on my neck. It's been sore ever since Saturday." Ryan rubbed his neck and made his face look agitated for effect.
"Did you trip over somebody who later gave you that mark?"
"What are you implying?"
"Ryan, I'm Seth, your best friend and brother. I know you. I know when you get into trouble. You got into trouble in Chino. A fight, I might assume?"
"How do you get it and no one else does? I'm surprised Sandy and Kirsten didn't ask more questions than they did."
"I'm surprised they didn't see that mark. It's gigantic."
"Yeah, I know. I'm going to go put a Band-Aid on it in case Kirsten comes in. She wants to check my temperature sometime today."
"Oh, so you have a fever, too?" Seth's tone and facial expression were very indifferent. He had already selected a controller. Ryan retreated to the bathroom and came back briefly with two bandages on his neck. He sat next to Seth on the carpet, picking up the remaining controller.
"Seth, no more questions. I'm still tired from the whole ordeal. I've got a lot going on in my mind. And quite frankly, you're annoying."
"I'm slightly offended. Man, you totally stole my villain! I wanted to beat Doc Oc!"
XXX
"Hi, boys," Kirsten greeted her sons with a smile as they entered the kitchen. "What are you up to?"
"No good," Seth joked.
"Ha ha, wiseguy. I need Ryan for a second, so you do your 'no good' deed, and he'll catch up soon."
"Fine Mom, but no funny business, okay?"
"Go," she urged playfully as Seth left with his shoulders slumped and his head down.
"What's up?" Ryan asked, self-consciously.
"I never took your temperature after breakfast. I didn't want to interrupt you and Seth's game time." At this, Ryan groaned and allowed his head to fall.
"I know you're Mr. Toughguy, but I'm going to take it with or without your consent, and without will be a lot harder for both of us. Open wide."
Ryan did as he was told and felt the cold thermometer slide under his tongue. Ryan was not used to this attention. Dawn would never care. She would put her hand on his head for two seconds, say he was fine, or say he felt warm but oh well. Never any official stuff or motherly words of worry. Kirsten was a much better mother.
"Looks like...one hundred point one. Not too bad, but I don't want it to get any worse. Would it kill you to take a quick trip to the doc-"
"Yes!" Ryan blurted, knowing that any routine checkup involved a doctor prodding his upper body, which would mean finding the wound. Kirsten was startled at the response.
"Are...you afraid of doctors, Ryan?"
"No, well, yeah, sort of. I've...had a few bad experiences. I vowed to myself that I would never go back there unless it was a real emergency. Like life or death."
"Well, you never know with fevers. Could mean the Black Death."
"Or it could mean a common cold that I would get over in less than a week."
"Well, I guess if you really don't want to go. What bad experiences?"
"Um, I've just been to hospitals way too many times in this life. Dawn's old boyfriends used to really...they weren't nice people. Plus, I got in my share of school fights, group home fights, jail fights, gang fights, hit by a car a couple times, the list goes on and on."
"Um, well, o-okay. I realize Chino was a...not the best place to grow up in."
"By far." Ryan started to blush. He had not meant for Kirsten to know all of that, but at least it got him out of what could have become a sticky situation. The Cohens would go crazy if they knew of such a wound on their precious Ryan. Not to mention all the questions he would be bombarded with. And that meant confessions, which Ryan did not want to tell. In the meantime, Kirsten's pleasant smile had returned along with the color in her cheeks.
"You go do whatever you and Seth were going to do. If your fever gets any worse, I'm taking you. No ifs, ands, or buts about it."
"Okay." Ryan smiled and left. He was not actually happy about that. Sure he was glad that the doctor trip had been postponed, but that was all it was. He knew the fever would get worse. He had driven all the way from Chino to Newport just trying to clamp his wound with his hand, which he could not do the entire way. It was infected by now, and his body was fighting it. Fever. Ryan thought of pouring alcohol on the wound to clean it. He had only used soap before. Alcohol would sting even worse. He decided to try it later that night, but in case it did not work, Ryan needed to figure out how to get his fever down. He knew there was some type of fever-relieving medicine, but he was unsure of the name. The internet could help with that. Next, he would need a drugstore that was open twenty-four hours a day. He knew just the place.
Look forward to more.
