Thanks for the great reviews everyone! My creative writing skills are a little rusty, so it was nice to get some positive comments. And I had to giggle a little at the comments about grammar—I'm qualified to teach English up to grade 10, so that's one thing I'd better not mess up on!
Anyway, here's chapter 2. It'll pick up more in the next chapter, I promise. Kudos to anyone who can guess what Soda has!
Pony came home not long after Steve left, letting the door slam behind him. I looked up from my newspaper and glared at him. "Pony, do ya have to make such a racket?" He looked at me like I'd just kicked his puppy and I sighed. I'd been really trying to lay off him lately and I didn't want to ruin it. "Sorry, Pony, I didn't mean it. It's just Soda's got the flu and he's sleeping. I didn't want you to wake him up."
Pony's look instantly changed from hurt to concern. "Is he okay?"
"Yeah, he should be fine. He just has a fever and needs to rest. He's not going in to work tomorrow. You going to be okay sleeping in there tonight? I don't want you to get sick, too."
Pony didn't hesitate. "I'll be fine." I smiled—it amazed me how close my two brothers were. I'm sure Pony wanted to stay with Soda to make sure he was okay and didn't need anything in the night. I watched him go off down the hall, then went to the kitchen to get a few supplies for Soda for the night. After grabbing a glass of water and some aspirins, I quietly opened their bedroom door. Pony was in his pajamas and was about to climb into bed next to the still sleeping Soda. "Darry, what if he gets sick in the night?" Hmm. Good point. I moved the garbage can next to Soda's side of the bed. Pony seemed satisfied, so I turned to leave.
"Call me if you need anything, or if he gets worse." I looked at Pony firmly, letting him know I'd rather he get me than let me sleep. He nodded and I closed the door.
I woke up later to Pony calling my name. I jumped out of bed and ran to my brothers' room. Throwing the door open, I saw Soda leaning over the side of the bed retching into the garbage can, Pony kneeling next to him with his hand on Soda's back. I quickly joined Pony on the floor, trying to offer whatever comfort I could to both my brothers. "What happened?"
"I don't know. He just woke up and started getting sick. Dar, is he going to be okay?"
Before I could answer, Soda did it for me. "I'm fine, Pony. It's just the flu. I'm sorry I woke you up. Go back to sleep." He lay back in bed, his face covered in sweat from the effort of throwing up. I knew he was right, but that didn't stop me from worrying, and I know it didn't help Pony none, either.
I went over to their closet and grabbed Soda's pajamas. "Here, let's get you out of your work clothes." He looked down at himself, just now realizing what he was wearing.
"Sure, sounds good." As I helped him change, Pony climbed back into bed, still looking worried. Soda saw the look on his face, too. "Really, Pony, there's nothing' to worry about." I put Soda's clothes in the laundry hamper and turned out their light, telling myself that he was right.
When I woke up in the morning, I still felt like crap. Mostly I was just tired, but I had a headache, too, and my whole body hurt. This was one hell of a flu. I rolled over and looked at the clock. Shit! It was one in the afternoon! How the hell did I sleep for fourteen hours? I groaned and stumbled out of bed to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror and cringed; I looked like shit. Darry must've heard me cause he knocked on the door a second later.
"Soda? What're you doing up? You should be in bed."
I sighed. I loved Darry, but sometimes he was way too overprotective, especially since Mom and Dad died. "I'm just gonna have a shower, Dar. Then I'll go back to bed." He gave me one of his famous big brother looks. "I swear!" I guess he believed me cause he let me be. I really was going to go back to bed, no arguments. I figured that the more I slept the sooner I'd feel better.
By the time I was done in the shower and had dried off, I was exhausted. I walked back to my room, threw on some clean pajamas and tossed my towel into the hamper. I was just climbing into bed again when Darry walked in with some chicken soup. "You should eat something, help get your strength back." I winced inwardly. I really didn't feel like eating, but I knew there was no arguing with Darry, so I took a few bites anyway. He frowned when I put the bowl on my nightstand still half full. "Soda, you need to eat."
"I know, Darry, but I'm just not hungry." He didn't look happy. "Look, I'll try and eat more later. For now, I'm just going to get some more sleep." Hearing that I was going to rest seemed to satisfy him.
"Okay. Call me if you need me, Pepsi." He left the room, closing the door behind him. I sighed and lay back down on the bed, hoping I would start feeling better after a few more hours sleep. I couldn't remember ever having a flu this bad before.
I woke up again at 9:00 to find Pony lying next to me reading a book. "Hey, Soda. How ya feeling?" I thought about it. I didn't feel nearly as bad as I did yesterday. I guess I was starting to kick this thing.
"Better. Tired still, but definitely better."
He smiled. "I'll go tell Darry."
I stopped him. "No, I'll go out there. I need to get up and move a bit." Pony looked at me uncertainly. Lordy! Both my brothers worried way too much. I guess it was because we had just lost too many people in the past couple years. "Pony, stop looking at me like that. I can walk down the hall."
When I reached the living room Darry looked up from his newspaper in surprise. "What're you doing up, Soda?"
"I'm feeling better and I needed to get up and move around a little. Twenty-four hours is way too long to spend in bed."
Darry laughed and nodded his head. "Yeah, I'd be going crazy by now, too. You hungry? You didn't eat much before." I really wasn't hungry at all, but I agreed to eat a piece of toast to make Darry happy. By the time I'd finished the toast I was pretty tired again. I wanted to stay up a bit longer just for a change of scenery, but Darry saw my face and went into big brother mode. "Okay, Soda, time to get back to bed." I groaned but didn't argue. I was sick of sleeping, but I was tired enough to keep doing it. I made my way back to my room and climbed in next to Pony, who was already asleep.