Ned and Conor

Chapter 2

Bile made its way up Ned's poor throat, and spilled pint into the toilet. The skin on his knees were scraped from consecutively puking for the past three days and having to dive onto the tiled floor. Sun shone in from the window, prickling at his eyes.

Ned took a seat at the table, not having remotely a sliver of an appetite. "Any calls? Mail?" Ned questioned, trying to be sneaky about the fact that he had missed his closest friend like crazy. Their parting had been the hardest thing for him since having to come out and be tortured by the other boys.

"No, Ned, why do you continue to ask? What we should be focusing on is you getting better so you can transfer to your new school." His dad made it obvious he wanted Ned to be gone as quickly as possible, so they could continue their life together. "Go to the store and get some cold medicine, me and your stepmother are going shopping for the day."

Ned perused the aisles, grasping at any items to settle his stomach. He passed a small clump of pregnancy tests and remembered he'd once heard that they could also test for testicular cancer. Better to be safe than sorry. He grabbed two and threw it into his basket.

Upon returning home, he dosed out the medication he'd picked up, squirting some nose drops in his nose and then searched for anything more to make himself better. His dad may want him out, but he sure has hell wanted to get out of the house more. The only things left were two pregnancy tests, he laughed a little, but then seriously took the two boxes to the bathroom. He left a playlist playing out in the other room, which now switched to Go or Go Ahead. Convenient. He hummed under his breath to it, tears stinging at his eyes but he pushed them away. The song, for some odd reason, reminded him of Conor.

Waiting for the tests to finish, he sat and listened patiently to the music. Not so long ago this loneliness would've been perfectly normal or enjoyable to him, but...now he yearned for his friend. Now he simply awaited some contact from Conor. True, he could contact Conor, but maybe a small part of him was worried that Conor would no longer want him considering he couldn't use him to waste some time. The timer he'd set chimed, and he sprinted to look at the results.

Test one: Positive

Test two: Positive

Tear stung at his eyes, but he pushed them away scared to show his emotions. He didn't want to die. Things had just started looking up. He backed up against the door and slid down it, placing his shaking head into his knees, and trying to even his breathing.

***

Was it weird that Conor slept cuddled into Ned's blanket, head laying on top of his old pillow and taking in the scent? Maybe. But he'd never had a true friend like Ned. His teammates were fun to pal around with, but Ned truthfully understood him and made him laugh with his sarcastic, brutally honest comments.

***

Screw two. Any scientist will confirm that for an experiment to be valid the procedure needs to be repeated and tested numerous times. He, with hostility, lifted another basket of a completely different drug store. This received a dirty look from the teenage girl reading a magazine behind the counter, which he gladly returned with a nasty grimace. He was not in the mood to be tested. Pushing past a pair of gushing ladies that happily picked up the tests, he scooped out half of the shelf's supply and dumped the multitude into his basket. The ladies gave a phony smile, which he begrudgingly returned.

Racing to the bathroom with a jug of milk he drank half of the gallon and got two done, then went back for the half and got another two done. Placing the jug down, he took a seat on the dirty, moldy bathroom floor. He lightly tapped the tiled floor, the burning of his raw knees and the throbbing of his head being the only noises he heard. Checking his phone, the few minutes had passed and it was time for the moment of truth...for real this time.