Too Close for Comfort

"Are you feeling well, Jules? You seem a little bit off, honey." Sara put her hand up against my forehead. "You feel hot. You're pale, too. Go back to bed, hon, and I'll bring you soup."

"No, I'm okay, Sara. I'll just make myself some Top Ramen and maybe I'll have a run after. Sometimes exercise can get me feeling a lot better." I reached for the black pot in the cupboards' top shelf. "Thanks a lot, Sara, you've done so much for me and letting me stay with you guys over the summer...my parents didn't even want me around this summer!" I joked.

"It's no problem, honey. You're a good girl. Everyone likes having you around."

"Except me!" Matt called, walking by to get a bottle of his formula. "I think you suck, Juliet. And you smell." I whacked him in the shoulder as he passed.

"Brat."

"Runt." There he went again, with the puns at my expense to my lack of certain height. I set down the pot on the counter with the noodles and the flavor packet resting in the center and sauntered over toward Matt at his place at the table. "Can I help you, little lady?" he mocked me in a southern accent. I slapped him across the side of the head. "Why, shorty, why do you hurt me so?" That was it.

I snapped.

Now, before you go and think that I'm just normally temperamental and violent like that, let me backtrack. This was earlier in the morning than I had been accustomed to waking up. And I was just days away from my time of the month. Hence, I had to have been PMS-ing. But when I woke up from my temporary trance, I was pummeling Matt against his chair.

"Jules, Jules, stop! Jesus, I didn't know you could hit that good, God! Now could you get off me? You win. I won't call you short anymore."

"I–Matt, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, I just–I–I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me. I never meant to–I'm so sorry, Matt," I babbled, backing up away from him. "Are you hurt? Did I hurt you?" He laughed it off, shaking his head. "I didn't mean to hurt you, I just...something just happened."

"Jules, don't worry. I'm not hurt. You've just, uh, gotten a little bit stronger since I last fought you. But don't worry. Soon as this treatment stops, I'll be back up and atcha." I chewed my knuckle and watched him. How could I have done something that stupid? "Listen, Jules, I'm not mad or hurt or whatever you're trying to make me out to be. I'm perfectly okay. Don't worry."

"It was just so weird. I didn't even know what I was doing. I'm sorry." He rolled his eyes at me and I put up my hands in surrender. "Okay. Fine, I won't worry." I looked down and added in an undertone, "much."

Matt stepped behind me, churning his hands into my back. The knots were suddenly fading and slithering into oblivion. Sara waved her goodbye, as she slung on her bag over her shoulder. I lay my head down on the table, and Matt nearly put me to sleep. I was dozing, still somewhat conscious, but groggy and I felt waterlogged. And then, as I let myself fall into a daze and into vulnerability, she returned.

-So dramatic, she sighed, picking lazily at her fingernails until each cuticle met her meticulous standards. You haven't told Matt either, have you now? Such a shame, that he's got cancer. He really is a very interesting boy. My back was stiffening unpleasantly, and Matt ceased his back rub.

"You okay?" he inquired, concern filling his dark eyes. I stood up, treading over to my forgotten package of ramen in its pot. I prepared it, and she started hissing at me in a wicked tone.

-Do you know what you'll be like after you finish that? You'll be even fatter than you are now. You'll be enormous, you'll be gigantic, you'll–

-Please leave her alone, said a new voice, and I froze, my fingers clutching the handle very precariously. This new person had a voice quite unlike mine; it was male, and timid, and sounded awfully familiar, but I knew it wasn't Matt or Peter or Billy. She was seething, her eyes ablaze at how he had interfered on her barrage of insults.

-How dare you stick your filthy ghost nose into my business? How dare you intrude into my sanctuary? She was screaming at him, but yet no longer in control. And he was still a ghost, still just an imprint of a departed soul, but everything was quiet except their bickering, and he was standing strong in the corner behind Matt, his expression no longer affectionate or happy, but hard and protective.

"Jonah," I mumbled, holding my hands over my mouth as he approached her, glaring her in the face and sidestepping in front of me so that he could be sure that she wouldn't hurt me. She raised her hand, as if to hit him, but something in her ruby red eyes flickered, and she couldn't.

The two of them dissolved into the air as the clock struck nine.