I move my head slightly, flinching when my stomach burns anew. Oh no. This can’t be happening again.
“I still can’t believe we had it at the same time,” I mumble.
“Can I tell you a little secret? I gave it to you on purpose.”
“Huh?”
Weirdly enough, I remember that time crystal clear. Probably because it was a sunny spring, and Max and I were locked inside the house for what seemed like an eternity. We were ten, and the evening before I came down sick, he snuck into my bedroom to bring me some stickers I forgot at his house. When I woke up, I had five red, painful blotches on my body.
“I already knew I had chicken pox when I came to your house,” he says, as if reading my thoughts. “Mom forbade me to leave the house. When I realized I’d be stuck inside for weeks, I decided I didn’t want to be alone. Mom even moved Christopher to another room so he wouldn’t get sick.”
“You had half a dozen siblings in that house, but you chose me?”
“What can I say, Jonesie, there was no one I’d rather be sick with than you.”
“Wow.” I swallow my laughter for fear that any chuckle and giggle might be accompanied by my stomach acid. “You chose me to give chicken pox to. That’s really romantic. Hate to burst your bubble, though, but you didn’t have anything to do with it. The incubation period is ten to twenty days, so I contracted it long
before that.”
“Well, damn.”
We had fun, even though we were sick. Mrs. Bennett convinced Grams that it was better if I stayed at their house until I got healthy again, because I needed care and Grams couldn’t take so many days off. Since Christopher was moved to another room, I got to share a bedroom with Max. The boys had bunk beds, and even though the top one belonged to Max, he let me sleep in it, because I wanted it so badly.
“It’s different now, Max. We’re dating. You’re supposed to think I fart rainbows and never have morning breath.”
“You’re delusional.”
“All the more reason for you to go home and do something fun on a Friday night,” I insist.
“That’s not going to happen. You’d better get used it.”
“Ugh, I don’t even have the energy to fight you.”
“Excellent. I win by default then.”
He runs his palm on my back in circles, and God, it feels good.
“What’s in the other bag?” I ask, realizing one of the bags doesn’t have a pharmacy sign on it.
“Some cheese crackers. I’d bought them for Grams before you told me you were sick. I remember she liked them. She still does, doesn’t she?” he asks, glancing down at me.
“Stop being so considerate about everything,” I tell him without thinking.
Max cocks an eyebrow. “Why?”
Sighing, I admit, “I’m not used to it. I don’t know how to react.”
“You mean to say I wasn’t considerate before?”
“No, no. You always were sweet to me, but now it’s different, because....” My voice trails off when I catch his smile. “I’m not making any sense, I know.”
“You are, Jonesie. Because I know you.” He places a kiss on my forehead that shouldn’t make the skin on my entire body heat up, but it does any way. This man deserves a medal for not even cringing at the way I smell. I can barely stand myself. “It has to do with the farting rainbows bullshit. You think that because I got in your pants, I’ll suddenly become some kind of jerk.”
I cover my face with my hands. Through my fingers, I say, “I’m sorry. I know it’s not fair to hold you to the standard the jerks in my past have set.”
“Actually, I have no problem with it. They’ve set the bar so low it makes exceeding your expectations very easy.”
“Wow, when you put it that way.” I chuckle, and immediately I regret it because my stomach heaves.