Suitably Ill – Chapter Three: On The Way To Illsville

Tino paced back and forth in the living room stopping every once and a while to bite on his lower lip and drum his fingers on his chin. He may have matured a bit since his younger days but he could never completely overcome his worrisome nature. Currently, he was overly concerned about Tish's well being.

"Dude, you're gonna make a trench from pacing so much," Lor said.

"Yeah, T, you've been pacing for a while now. You need to settle down. Worrying will only make things seem worse," Carver added.

"But what if something horrible happened to her?" Tino asked.

"Tino, this is a small college town. The worst that happens around here are some drunk students or petty theft," Carver answered.

"Well those drunk students could be a big problem. What if one of them decides to get behind the wheel and Tish winds up getting hit by a car?"

"Oh c'mon, what are the chances of being hit by a car?" Lor asked.

"You never know. Well, maybe some drunk driver will offer Tish a ride and then they'll get into a terrible car crash."

"Do you honestly think Tish would take a ride from a stranger, a drunk one at that? I don't think anyone would take that offer. Nobody is that stupid," Carver replied.

"Fine, but what if all of a sudden Tish steps in what she thinks is a beam of light from a streetlight but it turns out to be a beam from an alien spacecraft and then she gets abducted. Then the aliens do all sorts of experiments on her and they find out she's actually their long lost queen. Then they'll take her back to their home planet where she'll usher in a new age of peace and prosperity. But a power hungry aide will try and stage an uprising then Tish will be forced to squash it like a bunch of bugs. After that everyone will be fearful of Tish and the whole planet will fall into complete disarray since they don't know who to trust anymore. Meanwhile we'll be here wondering whatever happened to Tish, wishing she'd come back to us. And in a cruel irony Tish will be wishing that we were there with her since we do trust her. Eventually the aliens will overthrow Tish and she'll be doomed to become a penniless vagrant having flashbacks to her golden glory days. And we'll still be here wondering where she is and if she's ever coming back. It's a very unhappy scenario."

Tino's back had been turned towards his friends during his rambling so it was only when he stopped and turned to them that he was greeted with the vacant stares that lacked any real way to stoop to the level of nonsense Tino had just been at.

"Oooookay, I think we'll just ignore that and move on," Carver commented.

"One has to consider all scenarios. You can't discount anything. Everything must be accounted for both the realistic and the fantastic."

"You keep thinking that."

"I will."

"Well good then."

"It is good."

"I bet it is."

"Are you mocking me?"

"What do you think?"

"I think you are."

"Well, maybe I am."

"Oh, is that right?"

"Yeah that is right."

"Boys, please! C'mon now, you're starting to make me the most mature person in the room. Now knock it off," Lor said exasperated with both Tino and Carver.

Both boys threw up their arms in acquiescence.

"That's more like it. Now let's all settle down and wait for Tish like patient mature young adults, okay?"

"Sounds weird coming from you," Carver mumbled.

"What was that?" Lor shot.

"Nothing. Just talkin' to myself."

"That's what I thought," Lor said with emphasis.

"Mature young adults, huh?" Carver thought.

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Tish hurried on her way hoping to make it back to the house as soon as possible. She knew that Tino was probably beside himself with worry since she had taken so long at the bookstore. Not to mention Tish was a bit afraid about being suddenly struck again with the weird sensations. If it was going to happen again she wished it to happen at a comfortable place. For the most part, though, she tried to push the scenario out of her mind and focus on other things.

"The guys are probably wondering what happened to me. They must have expected me to be back like an hour or so ago. I hope Lor and Carver got all of their stuff unpacked okay. Hmm, I probably should have stayed to help, give them the gift of my guidance. I'm sure they'll understand though."

A big smile spread across Tish's face as she began drifting onto the idea of living together with her friends.

"I can't wait to see what this year holds. All of us living in the same household together, I can't believe its actually happening. We might have lived together in the dorms last year but this time we're all on our own together. It's giving me goosebumps just thinking about it. This could be a big step for Tino and me. It could also prove to be a disaster, but I think we're mature enough to handle ourselves. Yeah, we can do this."

Tish continued on her way punctuating her walk with these various thoughts, most of the making her smile or even laugh a little. Soon she had completely pushed the weird sensations from earlier out of her mind. Thinking about the upcoming the school year distracted Tish and she found the walk back home went faster than she had expected.

"I guess it's time to calm Tino down," she thought to herself.

Tish opened the door to the house looking away slightly trying to act as if nothing was wrong.

"Hey everyone," she said nonchalantly.

"Hey, Tish," Lor and Carver both replied.

Tino simply stared at her with wide eyes.

"Here we go," Tish thought.

"Where have you been? It's been hours since you left. I was worried sick! I thought that maybe you had been hit a by a car or been in a crash with a drunk or that you had stepped into a light and-"

"But I'm here and I'm fine," Tish said thankfully cutting off Tino.

"Yeah and that's great but up until you just walked in right now I had no idea things were fine. I've been pacing back and forth for the past hour now."

"Yeah, I can see the wear and tear on the floor."

Tino grumbled a bit.

Tish laughed a little.

"You know, you are so cute when you worry," Tish commented giving Tino a peck on the cheek.

Tino rubbed his forehead and let out a deep breath. He knew that he could no longer complain.

Suddenly Lor's eyes brightened.

"Hey guys I just got a great idea. How about we all go out to a nice restaurant in honor of our living together now and to wish ourselves a good school year?

"Hey, it involves food you know you can count me in," Carver said.

"It sounds like a pretty good idea," Tish commented.

"Well, I'm certainly not gonna be the party pooper here so I say let's go for it. I also think I'll do the driving," Tino said last.

Carver said a silent thank you to the sky.

"Are you sure? I can drive if you want. I'll get us there in no time flat," Lor offered.

"No thanks, you've done enough driving for one day. Plus the 'Lor Driving' warning was only for earlier today."

Lor scoffed.

"It's not my fault if every other driver in this state can't get out of my way."

"Riiiiight. Anyway I'm hungry now so let's get this show on the road."

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The four friends settled on a nice little restaurant along the main thoroughfare right in front of the biggest of the university buildings. The patrons of the restaurant were almost exclusively college students. The place had a pretty large sized crowd on their hands, so needless to say it was pretty loud. The group was placed in a booth towards the back and somewhat in the corner. The waitress who came to take their orders looked to be a college student as well. In fact with the exception of the owner and the manager all of the people who worked at the restaurant were students.

"So what can I get for you guys tonight?" the waitress kindly asked.

The four looked at each other and then back at the waitress

"We'll have a large pizza and four root beers please," Tino said for the group.

"Okay then," the waitress said as she scribbled it down on the pad of paper.

"Actually,…" Lor started.

The waitress stopped writing to look, her friends also turned to look at Lor.

"I'd like a beer, please."

"No problem, what kind?" the waitress asked without batting an eye.

"Whatever you have on tap will be fine."

"All right then. I'll be back shortly with your drinks."

The waitress left but all eyes were still on Lor.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Lor asked sincerely.

"What do you mean what? You know what. You just ordered a beer, Lor," Tino said.

"Yeah, I know. What's the big deal?"

"You're 19, Lor. You aren't old enough to drink. That's the big deal."

"Oh lighten up Tino. We're out on our own now. We don't have our parents breathing down our necks anymore. We're miles away from them we should be able to cut loose, ya know? I mean c'mon we're in college this is what you do. Plus, I don't think one beer is gonna hurt."

Tino grumbled a bit.

"I still don't like it. It just seems like trouble to me."

Not wanting to spoil the evening both Tino and Lor put aside their little disagreement for the time being. Soon after the waitress returned with their drinks. The easy atmosphere that usually existed among the friends slipped back into place and they all began chatting it up sometimes talking as a group and sometimes pairing off with one another to converse. Even when the food arrived the talking never stopped. They managed to consume the pizza in between conversations. The topics were all over the place ranging from discussions of childhood to cleaning the house to simply living in the house to thoughts on the upcoming school year, it never ended. Before they even realized it they had finished all of their pizza. All of them were still a little hungry and they still wanted to hang out for a little while so they decided to order some dessert.

"So then what'll it be for dessert?" the waitress asked.

"Is chocolate ice cream good with everyone? Chocolate ice cream, please," Tino politely said.

"Umm, could I have another beer please?" Lor asked.

"Sure, no problem."

Tino shot Lor a look.

"Uhhh, could I have a glass of Baccardi?" Tish asked almost sheepishly.

"Of course."

Tino's eyes went wide as he turned slowly to look at Tish.

The waitress wrote the order down on her pad of paper and walked off.

"Now you're doing it too, Tish? I don't understand. And Lor, you're having another? Is it just gonna snowball from here?" Tino asked.

Tish fidgeted a little.

"Geez, Tino, calm down. This isn't the end of the world. We aren't drunks. You should get a drink too it would probably do you some good," Lor chided.

"No thanks. I'll stick with my root beer."

"Fine, do as you like, but let us do the same."

Tino sighed.

"Fine, fine. I guess I can deal with it. I do trust you guys."

"Now that's what I like to hear. Here's to understanding!" Lor said raising her glass.

The others followed suit and clinked the glasses together. Once again the relaxed atmosphere returned and they slipped back into conversation with ease. As the evening went on Tish loosened up even more than usual. Despite only having one drink it put her very much at ease. It was quite clear that Tish was definitely a lightweight.

"You know, I think this year I'm gonna join all of those students in the streets. Those people are right. This government is terrible, and more kids should vote, and women are oppressed, and everyone should be vegetarians, and people… have too much free time on their hands. Yeah, I'll be right out there with the protestors. Somebody needs to take a stand. It must be done."

Tish finished and took the last sip of her drink.

"And another thing…" Tish stopped.

Her stomach began to tie itself into knots. The feeling was excruciating and it made Tish rest her head on the table.

"Tish, are you okay? You look a little pale," Tino asked.

Tish replied with a groan. Her friends looked at each other, something seemed quite amiss. Tish tried to hold her head up but now it felt like it was full of lead and she struggled to keep herself sitting upright.

"No, its happening again, isn't it?" Tish thought.

Suddenly sharp pains shot through Tish's head ricocheting off her skull. It was almost unbearable.

"I think I need to go home," Tish managed to say.

"Yeah, that seems like a good idea. Let's get going," Tino said getting up from the booth.

He turned back and helped Tish to her feet and gave her support to help her to the car. As Tish left the restaurant she swore she could hear laughter. Someone, somewhere was laughing at her.

End of Chapter Three

Well, well, I finally got around to updating this story. I'm as surprised as you are. I believe that when I get back to school my updates should come faster. Yeah, I realize that the idea of getting more writing done during the school year rather than during summer doesn't sound right, but that's just how I operate. Oh by the way did anyone else notice that once the chapter moved to the restaurant Carver never got anymore lines? Somehow I kinda forgot that he was there, plus I didn't know where to fit him in. Read, review, blah blah blah. I'm sure I'll update sometime so I'll catch you then.