Chapter Seven: The Walk of Lame

The world around was spinning, birds were piercing his ears, and his entire body was slower than a mummy crawling. Ethan had never felt worse in his entire life. The thought of walking more than three steps was enough to squeeze that qualmish feeling in his stomach without mercy. As much as he wanted to stay home and hibernate in bed, he recognized that Valentine's day was important for him and Benny. Scrummaging around all evening, it had taken Ethan a lengthy duration to discover the perfect gifts. Seeing the look on Benny's face would make him forget all about his illness, at least he hoped. Ethan's infatuation was the motivation that lead him to walking down this hall that felt like 16 kilometers long.

He tried to look his best for school, wearing his beloved cargo pants, a blue tee shirt with Spok, and brand new black sneakers that Benny had complimented once. His hair was more disheveled than usual, but he told himself he was going for more of a sexy 'I woke up like this' look. All of the blood had drained from his face, resulting in him sneaking his mother's blush subtly on his cheeks. A hint of his dad's cologne "Diptyque Philosykos", saved specially for date nights.

Meanwhile at the end of the hall, Benny looked rather fetching! The green striped shirt he wore rarely and loose jeans gave him this cute nerdy vibe that Ethan dug. He approached him slowly with a trembling smile on his face.

"Ethan...you look different," Benny didn't know how to comment on Ethan and confounded by the visual state he was in. Direly wanting to inquire his wellbeing, Benny refrained in fear that Ethan still mad at him for casting a spell and didn't want to push any buttons with him. Although he didn't remember the girls having difficulty recovering from the spell, who knew how it affected Ethan.

"I feel different. That's okay though," Ethan said to him, opening his locker and starting to sneak Benny's gifts in there so that he would give them to him the proper way.

"Man, I'm sorry about yesterday. I promise, no more love spells," Benny wanted to clear any tension that might've possibly in the air as he watched Ethan presumably give him the silent treatment. The last thing he needed after a crummy day was a friend who was upset with him too.

Ethan, however, wasn't paying attention to anything Benny said as he was too busy humming loving songs to himself.

"Close your eyes and hold out your hands," Ethan instructed.

Benny paused. Was this some kind of trick? Should he leave now before he was manhandled? It didn't seem like Ethan to quickly forgive him, so this had to be some kind of scheme.

"No way, I don't know what kind of evil plan you have," Benny said, stepping away from Ethan. Ethan sighed.

"Just do it," He pushed.

Benny huffed and shut his lids, giving in to whatever prank Ethan had up his sleeve. Hesitantly, he opened out his hands. Much to his pleasant surprise, he felt wrapping paper against his sweaty palms. His curious eyes settled on the poorly wrapped red boxes. This must be the prank, pretend to be nice and open a box of explosions. He placed the boxes in his locker, deciding he'd throw them out later.

"Aren't you going to open them?" Ethan asked expectantly, his eyes shiny like he truly had something wonderful he wanted to share with him.

"Alright," Benny pulled one of the presents back out and unwrapped to reveal a heart shaped box of his favorite sea salt caramel chocolates.

"Happy Valentine's day Benny," Ethan said proudly to him with the largest smile he could muster. So...the spell hadn't worn off. The heck! But on the bright side, he got some free food out of it so Benny surmised that it wasn't all bad. His next present was thinner. The CD had a list in order of all of his favorite songs. How did Ethan remember all of the songs he loved?

"Wow, thanks E," Benny grinned back at him. Ethan opened the box of chocolates for him and plucked one, raising it to Benny's lips.

"Try it," He insisted, smiling softly up at him. Benny didn't know whether Ethan was pretending to be under the spell or not, but figured there was no harm in just chewing on some chocolates. The caramel oozed into his mouth as he took a soft bite. This was some expensive stuff! The richness of the milk blended nicely with the chunks of salt. He swallowed thickly and licked the chocolate residue surrounding his face. Oh yes, he could get used to being pampered a little bit in exchange for some uncomfortable flirting.

"Do you like it?" Ethan said, searching for signs of approval. Benny nodded his head and placed the presents back safely in his locker.

"They're great," Ethan stood there, looking at him as if he were waiting for something.

"Well," Ethan said.

"Well what?"

"Where's mine?" Ethan said, starting to feel a little disappointed that Benny hadn't thought of him too.

"Oh um...you'll get your presents later. I wanted to make it special," Benny said, lying right through his teeth.

"I see. If you didn't get me anything you didn't have to lie about it," Ethan sighed, his feet seeming to be a better view at the moment than his disappointing boyfriend. Suddenly, it felt like someone had just stabbed him in the heart thirteen times. "Ow!" Ethan exclaimed, clutching his chest and falling against the locker for support.

Benny jumped in to help him, raising him up and feeling Ethan's forehead. Was he coming down with something or was this part of the spell. He couldn't tell. "You alright?" Benny asked worried.

"Yeah, just a little heart burn," Ethan stood up more by himself and snaked an arm around Benny's waist. "I think I'm just gonna stay here for a few minutes though," Ethan began to grow paler, small beads of sweat forming on the side of his neck and that excruciating pain in his heart didn't seem to subside. It felt like having the flu combined with the worst heartburn known to man, except replace burn with stabbing. Of all days to get sick, it had to be this one.

Ethan's jelly legs had forced Benny to turn into a crutch. His warmth emitted from his body, calming the panicking boy, who's head was spinning with questions. Likely, it was a communicable illness spread by some mindless student that didn't cover their mouth when they coughed, but he was unusually getting worse. Benny's touch seemed to be the only thing that helped. The world around him was dizzy and all he could think about was how he desperately needed a drink of water.

"Take me to the fountain...please," Ethan painfully managed to say as his body shifted to the direction of the disgusting school water fountain. Not only was the water always lukewarm and tasted filterless, the silver bowl was stained with God knows what.

Benny complied, worried for his friend. Poor Ethan. He was under a spell and seemed to be coming down with something all on a day when he could be pretending he was actually going to man up and ask Sarah out. He wasn't that heavy thankfully and hoisted him to the crusty spout.

Ethan clamped his mouth to the spout of the fountain and pushed the button, gulping large amounts of water so quickly that Benny was concerned that he'd throw up. But it tasted so good. Gosh, it was like his body had been deprived of water his entire life and had finally taken a sip for the first time.

"Hey, hey, easy there," Benny patted his back and pulled the dying fish away before he made himself feel queasy. Ethan rested against his side and placed a hand on his shoulder for balance. "Ethan? You should go home and get some rest,"

"No! I'm fine, really. I'm just a little dehydrated is all. This water helped so I should feel better by lunch time," Ethan said, not wanting to lose Benny for fear of getting worse and not being able to spend time with him on a special day.

"I don't know," Benny didn't believe the fable that Ethan was trying to sell to him. He assumed that the main reason Ethan wanted to stay was because of Valentine's Day. If he wasn't going to go home, then someone needed to keep an eye on him here.

"If you're staying here then I'm going to be with you," Benny would have to use some sort of temp rotary convincing spell for the teachers to let him in the classes, but thankfully it wasn't too difficult. Although his grandmother advised against using it, this was a desperate time. His parents had fallen under the dprll a few times. Good. The more he practiced the less of s chance he had to mess up.

As terrible as Ethan felt, he managed to grin at the thought of Benny offering to be with him all through the day. His aching heart skipped a beat. Lowering his hand, he snatched Benny's lightly and sighed.

"Okay," There was no way he'd argue with that!