Covet (Clann)

confusion.
    “Oh. Yeah. I posted how sick I was on Facebook just so no one would think I was dead yet. Getting texts about it now.”
    “Well, cheer up, kid. The flu usually only lasts a few days. You should be getting better soon.”
    Tears filled her eyes. “Right. I know that.” She groped for a tissue, missing the box by six inches. I held the box closer to her. Her “thanks” came out muffled through a wad of Kleenex.
    I was going to sit on the edge of her bed to talk and picked up her phone to move it out of the way.
    She snatched it back and stuffed it under the covers.
    “Paranoid much?” I asked. “I wasn’t going to read it.”
    “No, I know that.” She wouldn’t look at me. “I just…have friends Mom probably wouldn’t like, and the less you know about them, the less she can pick the info out of your brain.”
    “What kind of friends are we talking about here?” I’d heard of college students getting into drugs and stuff while away from home, but Emily had never seemed the type to do any of that. She valued her intelligence too much to risk the brain damage.
    “Oh you know. Rockers. Computer geeks. Hardcore video gamers. Anyone who’s not ‘cool’ enough in her book.”
    Mom was a little obsessed with our family image. Sometimes I got the feeling that she must have been a social misfit while growing up and was trying to live through her kids.
    “Still running a fever?” I felt her forehead like Mom used to do for me on the rare occasion that I caught a virus. “Yeah, you feel warm. I’ll grab you some meds.”
    I got up but she waved off the offer. “Don’t bother. They make me too queasy. It’ll all come right back up.”
    “How often are you barfing?”
    She rested her head against her pillows and closed her eyes. “I’ve lost count. Pretty much all day and night with some naps in between. I’ve thrown up so much my abs are killing me. I could have sworn I was working out enough before now!”
    Starting to feel useless, I refilled her water glass with fresh water from the bathroom. “Hey, how about some of that drinkable flu medicine stuff? I think Dad got some the last time he got sick and didn’t want Mom to know.” Even Dad hated the herbal drinks.
    She made a face. “We can try it. But I’ll probably barf it up, too.”
    I ran downstairs to the kitchen and found the medicine hidden behind Dad’s stash of junk food in the cabinet over the fridge that Mom was too short to reach. After nuking a mug of water and stirring in the meds as directed, I brought the drink back upstairs to Emily.
    “Mom left a note on the fridge. Apparently she’s going to try some new herbs on you. She said she was going into town for supplies.”
    “Great.” Emily was texting again, her face set in the darkest scowl I’d ever seen.
    “Man, you are addicted to that thing,” I joked.
    She grunted in response, barely even glancing my way as I set the steaming mug on the nightstand.
    “Anything else I can fetch for the flu princess?” I asked.
    “No. Thanks, Tristan.” She smiled at me, which would have looked normal on her any other week but this one. Today it looked forced. “Maybe later I’ll go outside and get some fresh air.”
    “If you do, bundle up and don’t go too far,” I warned. “It’s like fifty degrees out there.”
    Not that Mom would let her out the door anyways once she got home.
    “You going to be around later?” she mumbled, her thumbs flying over her phone’s keypad.
    “I don’t know. Why?”
    She lifted a shoulder an inch in a weak half shrug. “It’s Friday. I’m just worried about your nonexistent social life since you got dumped. Twice.”
    Ouch. “You know, that case of flu you’ve got really brings out the mean in your eyes.”
    She sighed. “Sorry. I just meant you should go out and do something. Football and Sav aren’t the end-all and be-all of life.”
    It was my turn to grunt in response. “Quit worrying about me and get some rest.”
    * * *
    Later Mom came home and went to check on Emily. I could hear their conversation from across the hall.
    “Oh, Emily,” Mom sighed. “I just came home from the store. Why didn’t you tell me you needed more Sprite and crackers then?”
    “Because I didn’t know I needed them then,” Emily said. “I just read where someone suggested it on Facebook. They said it was the cure-all for any kind of queasiness. Well, except for food poisoning, I guess. They promised it might settle my stomach