It was the end of the world.
Tonight was the prom. He had scored the best date of the class. And he had woken up like this.
*sniff*
*sniff sniff*
He groaned and thumped his head back into his pillow. He could hear the terrible two yelling downstairs, and Scott's voice drifted up to him, asking them to calm down. Virgil snorted – and that was a definite mistake – no way that they were going to do that until they were ready for school.
'Virgil! Time to get up.' Urgh. He must have drifted off again. John's head poked around the door. 'Come on, Virg, or we'll be late for sch…woah. Are you alright?' He frowned at his brother. John came fully into the room and sat on the bed beside him.
'What, John?' He didn't mean it to come out so harshly, but everyone knew that he wasn't a morning person. John smiled at him and patted his leg.
'I'm going to tell Scott you're ill.'
'NO! No, don't. I'm fine, John.'
'You don't look fine, Virgil.'
And John was gone. Sure enough, Scott's footsteps sounded on the stairs not five minutes later, as John's voice was now the one trying to wrangle the two youngest. His oldest brother's head appeared around the door, just as John's had.
'John said you were ill.' Concern bled from his voice. Virgil rolled his eyes.
'It's nothing, Scott. Just some sniffles.' And just to illustrate that his nose decided to drip.
*sniff, sniff, sniff*
'If you're sure, Virg. Take it easy today.'
'I will, Scott. I will.'
By the time school finished Virgil seemed to be sniffing more often, and had begun to feel a little lightheaded. No matter, he thought to himself. He dosed himself with Tylenol and went to bed for a couple of hours before being called down for dinner.
No one said anything, but there were Looks. They bounced right off Virgil, well used to such looks from his oldest brother, and he determinedly finished dinner and went upstairs to get ready.
Scott was waiting for him downstairs.
'You all set, then?' Virgil nodded. He was dressed in his best suit, and he accepted the corsage that Scott was holding. 'You don't look so hot, Virg.'
'M fine.' It was a mumbled reply that wasn't remotely reassuring, but all Scott did was raise an eyebrow and follow him out to the car. His brother had offered to be chauffer for the evening, for which Virgil was very grateful.
She looked stunning. Her dress was emerald green and sparkled. It matched Virgil's tie, and not for the first time he reflected how much he liked the colour. He placed the corsage on her wrist, white orchids and pale green leaves that looked stunning against the emerald. And they climbed into Scott's car and were off.
So far so good. The sniffles were under control.
They had almost arrived when Virgil could feel the pressure building. Oh no. No, no, no, no no! This couldn't happen now! He tried hard to stifle it, pulling the handkerchief his Dad had pressed into his hand as he left out of his pocket and wiping his nose, turning to the window in the hope that she wouldn't notice. He could feel Scott's eyes boring into him from the mirror.
'Virgil, are you alright?' She'd noticed. He turned to face her, opened his mouth to respond when…
*Achoo!*
He couldn't help the explosive sneeze.
Time stood still for a moment. Then she cried 'urgh!' and demanded that Scott pull over immediately. Nothing more was said as she climbed out of the car, throwing the corsage at him and flouncing off.
It really was the end of the world.