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Dedicated to my favorite air hockey opponent, Rachael.
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Finny
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I expected Gene to oppose my new diet at first. Eventually, he would understand why I couldn't let the plight of suffering animals continue without my help. Roughly, if I never ate meat again, I could save one hundred and six thousand animals from a cruel life and a senseless death. The intensity of the films we watched in philosophy had shaken me. I felt crummy for eating meat my entire life. The only way to atone for my past of evils was to cease my meat-eating habit and try to convince others to join me.
I tried a tofu recipe later that night, must to Gene's disgust. I mixed some steamed veggies and fried tofu in ramen soup broth and it was actually pretty good. Gene ate unhealthily as usual with his leftover meat-lovers pizza.
I went to sleep that night with a cleared conscious and a stomach full of health food.
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When I woke up the next morning, my alarm clock had been going off for about twenty minutes. It was 9:15. Practical dance class started at 9:30 and Gene had already left. I banged my fist on the clock and rolled back up in my blankets.
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I next woke up at 11:56. I stretched and wondered what class I was supposed to be in the middle of. Shrugging in solitary query, I got up to make breakfast. I made a very strange tofu and pepper omelet.
I decided that quiet reflection and internet surfing were much more valuable than going to class, so that's what I did. It was definitely not a good thing that my college professors didn't count absences. So, I spent my day glued to the computer screen and getting in and out of bed. At around two-thirty I began to feel nauseous and light-headed. I attributed it to inactivity and devoted myself to accompanying Gene to the rec center when he got home. Moments after this decision, I climbed into bed and fell into a restless slumber.
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Gene
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When I got back to the dorm, quite irritated that Phineas had skipped all his classes that day, I found him in bed. I wondered if he had been asleep all that time until I saw that the computer had been turned on and was stuck on a vegan website. After slinging my backpack into the corner, I stared at Finny. His face was red and contorted into a look of displeasure.
I prodded him and said, "Wake up, you underachiever."
His eyes trembled and opened. He shivered and said, "I don't feel good…."
"Probably because you skipped school today," I reminded him. "You feel bad and you should be ashamed."
"That's completely illogical," he retorted. "I would never feel remorse for ditching class." He pulled his blanket over his head and curled up in it.
"So, I guess you don't want to go work out today, then?" I wondered. When he didn't answer me, I went on to my homework.
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That night I woke from my sleep when I heard Phineas stumbling out of bed and then throwing up in the bathroom. I sat up and waited for him to return. Ten minutes later he still hadn't come back, so I went to see if he was okay. I was jolted into alertness when I saw that he had collapsed to the floor. His breath came in struggling wheezes and his face was redder than before.
I called for an ambulance, and prayed that his symptoms weren't drug-related.
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Four hours later it was 3:20 in the morning, and I had a test at noon. However, all fear of impending exams fled my mind when Finny walked out of the ER hallway. I hopped out of my chair, nearly toppling over from my stiffness and rushed to meet him.
"Are you okay?" I asked, looking into his healthy-looking face.
"I'm better than fine," he said. Then my jaw dropped as he uttered, "I'm pregnant!"
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NoV: WHAT? Of course you know he's being silly. ………isn't he?
