Chapter Eleven: Lovesickness
"Baby, you aren't making any sense," Ethan said, holding his hand and swinging it as they walked to Benny's locker. Benny had been explaining, more to himself, what had been happening based on the events at school. Ethan refused to believe anything he was being told. Magic didn't make him genuinely feel the way he was about Benny, that was impossible. There had to be a vision he could use to prove to Benny that their love was realer than aliens one day taking over the earth. Weirdly, he wasn't seeing anything since he had been under the spell, maybe it was blocking his visions somehow.
"Actually, this is the most sense I've made all day," Benny said, positive that he had hit the nail on the head with this one. No matter what Ethan had claimed, he knew that it was all the spell talking. Though it was so convincing sometimes, he had to remind himself what magic could do to people. Love was one of those tricky things not to mess with and he had to learn that the hard way, again. Now that it came to mind, Benny was accepting that tampering with the forces of nature would bite him in the butt irregardless of how small. He wished he had figured that out before he got himself in a stir of trouble. On the bright side, if Tiffany had been under the spell there would be more at steak. Ethan was at least aware of magic and would know how to handle the aftermath. Explaining anything to Tiffany would've been tricky.
"Come on. No amount of magic in the world could make me feel so truly in love with you like this. There must be something else making me ill," Ethan insisted.
Ethan didn't care what Benny said, he loved him. Love was supposed to be magical anyway wasn't it? What was upsetting was that Benny wasn't accrediting his feelings and instead dismissing them altogether. Didn't Benny feel the same way? He acted like he did earlier, but he was contradicting everything from this morning with all this talk about the spell. Perchance Benny was the fake, not the spell. He was a liar and a manipulator. How could he have been so foolish?
Another punch to the heart, that's what Ethan felt as he was coming to the realization of their true relationship. Benny didn't want any of it and it was killing him, literally. A loud cry emitted from his lips, his grip tightening painfully in Benny's hand as they stood there patiently waiting for Sarah's arrival. It was like a thousand stones had toppled upon his chest and he was struggling to keep from collapsing underneath them. Dramatic as it was, the force of that hit was about to push him down to the ground. He felt like he was on the ground being tortured by a sadistic elephant, pressing all of its weight on his heart. His heart was about to burst!
"Ethan, are you alright?" Benny thought that touching him would help, but here they were with physical contact and Ethan was yelping in pain.
The spell was complicated. Throughout the duration of its existence, Ethan had been a roller coaster of emotions; lashing out at people close to Benny, annoyed whenever Benny wasn't around, and yearning for the slightest contact for reassurance that they were an item. Another change occurred. Previously he was in an immense amount of pain, yet how he handled it was contrasting to now. It was almost as if something had alternated, he just didn't know what.
"Yes. I just need to use the washroom. Excuse me," Ethan let go of Benny and raised a hand to the lockers, using them for support as he made his way over to the only thing that he could use for escape. He needed time to think. Benny was the only thing that was dancing in his brain, he needed space. Then that cloud in him could be wiped away and he'd be able to think clearly for once. All of his answers would fall right on his lap when he had a more intuitive disposition.
"What's with him?" Sarah said, filling in the space Ethan left and watching as he battled his way to his destination.
"Hey, I figured out what spell I used," Benny was less concerned with Ethan and wanted to let Sarah in as soon as possible before her worries combusted. And Ethan would fine once they got the cure for him, therefore no need to stress.
"Good, it's about time! What is it?" Sarah was relieved to hear that Benny finally had his act together and was ready to take this seriously.
"After reading through my book and seeing what's happened at school, I've deduced that I caused a lovesick spell to hit Ethan," Benny explained, knowing that there'd be followup questions.
"And that is?"
"I don't know the details, but essentially Ethan weakens whenever he isn't around me. The spell is communicable like a disease. I theorize that when he drank from the water fountain other people must've caught it," Benny said, looking at the door of the washroom with longing. Ethan never took more than two minutes to use it.
"Okay, so how do we fix it?" Sarah inquired. Sarah wasn't concerned with how Ethan was acting considering his behavior for the past two days were unusual. Nothing with these boys seemed to surprise her these days with all of the antics that they put her through. There was the pet apocalypse, the love potion, the blood drive, cheerleaders, and an abundance more that came to her mind.
"That's the problem. I don't know how," Benny said, frustrated that there wasn't a clear way to end this without outside help.
"Looks like we need to make a visit to your grandmother," Sarah said, not caring either way how this was dealt with as long as it was handled properly.
"I know. Man, I really hate facing her like this. She scares me," As soon as Benny spoke, Ethan appeared out of the washroom and with reddened eyes.
He looked extremely distraught, like he was pondering a difficult decision and was not able to face the grips of reality.
"Who scares you," Ethan said, interrupting the conversation.
"We're going to Benny's grandmother's," Sarah said, waiting for some reaction out of Ethan. Instead, she was left with a shrug of his shoulders. He didn't reach out for Benny either, which was odd all things considering. She cocked an eyebrow in suspicion at the male.
"If she threatens to turn me into a toad again, it'll be worth it," Benny surmised.