Anything Less Than Everything (17 page)

I
woke up the next morning to drizzly
gray skies. Yuck. It matched my mood after seeing Ashton-the-Ex drool all over
Aaron the night before. She didn’t deserve him. Unfortunately, he had not asked
my opinion. He didn’t mention her on the ride home, though, or while we watched
a movie in the upstairs bonus room. At least not until his phone dinged with a
text message. He checked it and muttered, “How did she...?” before sliding it
back in his pocket without responding. Still, I was not happy. That was unfair,
but at least for the moment I didn’t care.

I stretched
my arms out toward my toes, trying in vain to loosen the muscles that were
still sore from Aaron’s and my hike. Ugh. Just thinking about the hill and the
moment that wasn’t sent a rush of conflicting feelings through my heart. Rush
of conflicting feelings? When had I become such a cliché? The only thing to do,
really, was to go on like nothing had happened. Because it hadn’t.

I made my way
over to the bathroom to get ready, but a sound from within gave me pause.
Someone was already in there. Throwing up.

I knocked
softly. “Aaron? Are you in there?” More retching was the only answer. I cracked
the door and saw him curled up on the floor, resting his face on the cool
porcelain of the floor. He looked up at me, but didn’t say anything. I took a
washcloth from the towel holder, dampened it and handed it to him. “You okay?”
He nodded, but his flushed cheeks and glassy eyes told another story.

He pushed
himself up to a sitting position. “I must have eaten some bad chicken or
something last night,” he said. Without thinking, I reached over and placed the
back of my hand on his forehead, then his cheek.

“You’re
burning up,” I said. “How long have you been in here?”

“I don’t
know, since four? What time is it now?”

“After
eight.” Poor baby. He looked so pitiful, his height and strength no match for
whatever bug was raging through him. “Think you can get up?” He nodded, and I
helped him stand and got him a drink of water.

“Go change,”
I said. He did, and I went downstairs to see who was home. Maggie and Sara had
both spent the night with friends and were not expected home until later. John
had already left for work, and Liz had left a note on the counter that she
would be gone all day at some Women’s Show with her girlfriends. We were on our
own.

“Good news,”
I said, coming into Aaron’s room, where he lay on the bed. “You can have your
pick of TVs. Everyone else is gone.”

“Bonus room,”
he said. “It’s close to a bathroom.” I winced a bit, but grabbed his pillows
for him and followed him to the end of the hall and the bonus room.

After getting
him settled, I went back to the guest room to change and get myself decent. I
poked around in the kitchen, finding some Gator-Ade and a straw, and took it up
to him. He gave me a weak smile as I set it down on the coffee table.

“What else?” I
asked.

“A blanket
maybe? I’m freezing.” I nodded and went back to his room to get a blanket, and
rummaged in the bathroom for a thermometer and Tylenol.

Back in the
bonus room, I tucked Aaron in, and handed him the thermometer. “Under your
tongue,” I instructed. Surprisingly, he didn’t resist. I sat on the edge of the
couch beside him, and took out the thermometer when it beeped. “101.3,” I said.
“You are hot, my friend.”

“You’re not
so bad yourself,” he replied, giving me a weak version of my smile. I could
feel my cheeks reddening, even though I knew he was just joking around.

“I’m really
sorry, Brooke,” he said.

“What are you
talking about?”

“That I’m
sick. It kind of ruins the plans I had for us today.” I rolled my eyes at him
good-naturedly and moved to the end of the couch, placing his legs in my lap.

“Hopefully
your plans included spending the day with me, yes?” He nodded. “Then mission
accomplished. I hate that you’re sick, but I came here to see you, not the
sights, so don’t worry about me. Just get better.” He smiled.

“Well, do you
at least want to take my truck and go shopping or something? I don’t want to
infect you with this plague.”

“I’m not
doing that, Aaron. I’m staying here and taking care of you. Besides, I’m around
germy kids all the time. I’m immune to everything. Here,” I tossed him the
remote. “You can control this, but only because you’re sick.” We made it
through the first commercial break of some retro sitcom before Aaron had to
make a run for the bathroom. It was incessant, and I cringed each time I heard
him vomit.

I’d decided
to give him some privacy, but after ten minutes I felt the need to check on
him. I hovered in the doorway, not wanting to be in the way. Finally, he seemed
to have everything out of his system. “Man, this sucks,” he said as he pulled
himself up and splashed some water on his face.

“C’mon,” I
said, reaching for his hand. “Back on the couch.” He didn’t resist, but took my
hand and let me lead him back to the makeshift bed. “Maybe a nap? You can’t
have slept much last night.” He nodded and snuggled down into the nest of
covers.

Not long
after he fell asleep, his phone started ringing. I grabbed it to silence it,
not wanting to disturb his sleep. Five minutes later, it buzzed again. Then
again. I finally decided I should answer it, in case it was his mom or
something, but when whoever was on the other end heard my voice, they hung up.

When Aaron
woke up, I told him about his phone blowing up. He was scrolling through his
missed calls when it rang again. “She is not going to quit, is she?” he
muttered under his breath. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but she--Ashton, of
course--talked so loudly I could hear every word. Aaron even had to hold the
phone away from his ear. The conversation went like this:

            AARON:
Hello?

            ASHTON:
Hey! Where have you been? I’ve been trying to call you all day!

            AARON:
Uh, this really isn’t a good time, Ashton. I’m not feeling well.

            ASHTON:
Oh, no! What’s wrong?

            AARON:
Stomach virus.

            ASHTON:
Poor, poor Aaron. Do you need anything? I could come over or something...

AARON: No! (I noticed the unequivocal
tone in his voice.) Brooke is here. She’s taking good care of me.

ASHTON: Oh. (I noticed the defeated
tone in
her
voice.) Well, maybe you can call me when you feel better!

            AARON:
Um. Maybe. I really need to go. Sorry.

            ASHTON:
Okay. Feel better! If you...

Aaron hung up
before she could finish and closed his eyes. I wasn’t sure if it was from
frustration or feeling badly. Before I could ask him, though, he was off the
couch and rushing to the bathroom. I secretly hoped it was the conversation
with Ashton that had made him nauseous.

And that is
how the day went. Aaron would sleep, wake up to go puke in the bathroom, and
then we’d talk for awhile. It actually wasn’t as bad as it sounds.

“I feel
awful,” he said. It was after lunch, which I ate downstairs, afraid the sight
and smell of food would make things worse. He’d seemed a little perkier since
his last nap, though.

“That’s
because you’re sick,” I said, feeling his forehead. Still warm.

“No. I feel
awful about
being
sick while you’re here.”

“Aaron, I
told you, it’s fine. This is what friends do.”

“Yeah, right.
I can’t exactly picture Brandon helping me sip Gator-Ade from a bendy straw.”
He thought for a second.  “Maybe that’s an advantage of having a girl for a
best friend.”

“Maybe,” I
said. “But you’d do the same for me.” He didn’t say anything, because he knew I
was right. And he had done the same for me. Since the day we met, he’d been
taking care of me, coming to my rescue, dropping everything to be there for me
whenever I needed him. Maybe I hadn’t needed him to fetch me liquids and hold
my hair back, but the emotional nursing he’d given me had probably been much
more important.

The
awkwardness of yesterday seemed to have been forgotten, and to tell him all
this was to risk bringing it back, but I did it anyway, telling him exactly how
much his friendship meant to me, hopefully driving home the point that next
time I would fight for us. I was careful, and managed not to slip and reveal more
than I wanted to, though how I don’t know.

He listened
carefully, his eyes never leaving mine, then smiled weakly. “So just shut up
and let me take care of you for once, okay?”

He squeezed
my hand that he had taken at some point during my speech. I hadn’t even
noticed. “Yes ma’am.”

W
hen I woke up the next morning, it
was to the smell of bacon and the sight of a very small person sitting on the
bed watching me.

“Hi,” I said,
after the initial surprise passed.“You must be Maggie.” She nodded. “It is very
nice to meet you, Maggie. Do you know if your brother is up yet?” She nodded
again.

“He’s making
breakfast. He always makes me breakfast when he is home. It’s chadishun.” I
smiled at her pronunciation.

I shouldn’t
have been surprised that Aaron had a special tradition with his little sister,
but I was. Every amazing character trait of his surprised me, if only because
such things were such a rarity among people, especially boy people. He’d
probably even make pancakes for Ashton. Ugh. Just the thought of her gave me
the creeps. Aaron hadn’t mentioned her, and hadn’t responded to the multiple
texts she sent later that evening, at least not around me. But still. It wasn’t
even about my feelings for him. Okay, so maybe it was about my feelings for
him, at least a little. But mostly I just didn’t want my best friend, my Aaron,
getting sucked in by someone like her. He deserved better.

“He makes
shapes with my pancakes,” Maggie whispered, bringing my thoughts back into
focus. “He might do it for you, too. He likes you.” She giggled a little behind
her hand, and I noticed her eyes shined when she smiled just like Aaron’s.

“I like him,
too,” I whispered back.

“You’re
pretty. Are you going to marry my brother?”

“No, no,
silly. Aaron is my friend. That’s all,” I said. “What do you say we go find
your brother, okay?” She nodded. “Wait here.” I grabbed some clothes and headed
into the bathroom to change. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail and washed
my face, but didn’t bother with makeup.
It’s just Aaron
, I thought.

Maggie took
my hand as we walked down the stairs to what, based on the smell, was sure to
be an incredible meal. Aaron looked up from the griddle, where he flipped
pancakes, and raised his eyebrows at my entrance with his sister.

“Maggie,” he
said, a note of scolding in his voice. “You didn’t wake Brooke up, did you?”

“No,” she
answered. “I was just there when she did.” He gave her a look, but I jumped in.

“She’s fine,”
I said. “It was actually the bacon that woke me. Looks like you’re feeling
better.” He still looked a little weak, but he was vertical, which was a
drastic improvement over yesterday.

“Much,” he
said. “You’re just in time to experience my culinary expertise.”

“I didn’t
know you were a man of so many talents,” I flirted.

“Oh, you have
no idea.” His eyes lingered on me, and I felt my cheeks turn pink, unsure of
whether or not there was anything to that. He quickly looked back at the
pancakes and slid one off with a spatula onto a waiting plate. Maggie clapped
her hands together at the red-tinted school house he’d made.

“It looks
like kindergarten!” she exclaimed. She bounded down from the counter to go eat
at the nearby kitchen table.

“Very
impressive,” I said. “Do you take requests?”

“Hmm,
sometimes, but it usually comes out better if you let me surprise you.” I
started to look over the edge at the griddle, but he stopped me. “No peeking!”

A couple of
minutes later he slid a plate over to me containing a flower-shaped pancake. He
handed me the syrup and then came around to my side of the counter with his own
plate.

“So? How are
they?” he asked.

“Incredible.
But they’re different from any other pancakes I’ve had. What’s in them?”

“Vanilla. And
a touch of salt.”

“Interesting.
It works, though.”

“Kind of like
us, right?” He bumped me with his shoulder, and I smiled and turned eight
shades of red. But it was. Like us, I mean. Our friendship was unconventional,
and beyond the comprehension of most we knew. But it was perfect. I needed to
remember this. I had everything I needed from Aaron.

“You’re so
cheesy,” I said to cover my thoughts. Aaron just ignored me.

“Thanks again
for taking care of me yesterday,” he said.

“Of course.”

“Really. It
meant a lot. I promise I’ll make it up to you today.”

“Well, it
sounds like there was quite a line waiting to take my job away from me,” I
said. I hadn’t really planned to bring Ashton up. Fortunately, it came out
teasing and not bitchy.

Aaron pushed
away from the counter. “Yeah, well, that was definitely not what I needed to
make me feel better.” Tentative relief spread over me.

“No? She
seemed to assume it would.”

“She assumes
too much.” Now I felt confidently relieved. I’m not sure why I ever thought
he’d be lured in by her.

“So what’s
the story with her?” I asked.

“Are you
trying to make me nauseous again, Brooke?”

“Sorry,” I
said. “She was telling me all about your relationship in high school, but you’d
never mentioned her before. Not that you have to--” I rushed on, but Aaron
interrupted me.

“Relationship?
Ha!”

“You two
didn’t go out?” I asked.

“We went out.
Once,” he said. “I didn’t really want to, but she kind of wore me down. She
liked me because I was popular, but she didn’t really know me or even care to.
We went to a party together, and once we were there she deserted me to talk to
everyone about us, like we were a couple. I never asked her out again, but
anytime we were at the same place, she would try to make it seem like we were
there together, and she convinced a lot of people we were. Herself most of
all.”

“That’s a
relief,” I said. “I was afraid you were going to fall for her over-the-top
flirting or barely covered boobs or something, and then, being the awesome
friend I am, I would have stand by and let you make your own mistakes and just
be there when she left you heartbroken.”

“Give me a
little credit, Brooke. Trust me: I am not interested in that.”

“Good. You
deserve better.”

At that
moment his mom came into the kitchen behind us, talking on the phone. “Yes, I
understand that emergencies happen, but I can’t just drop everything and...When
is the next available? No, that won’t work.” There was a long pause while
whoever was on the other end of the line spoke. Liz rubbed her temples with one
hand, obviously stressed about the conversation. “You know what,” she said,
“just never mind. I’ll be there at ten, but it is a huge inconvenience.” She
clicked off the phone without saying goodbye.

“Mom?” Aaron
said. Liz was standing at the counter tapping her fingers on the smooth
granite, obviously seething.

“Why is it
people always expect you to just rearrange your lives for them?” She looked
over at us, but neither of us answered, so she continued. “I scheduled an
appointment for Monday months ago, and now, just days before, they call to tell
me that Dr. Dillon will be out of town that day and can only see me today or a
month from now. And since it is such short notice, and a Saturday, I have no
sitter for Maggie. Sara’s at class, your father is playing golf...” She picked
up her phone and started going through her contacts, I assume looking for
someone to watch Maggie.

“She can stay
with us,” I said. I glanced over at Aaron, not sure what his reaction would be,
especially since he had just talked about making up for the time we lost the
day before.

“No,” Liz said
flatly. “I’m sure you have plans, and you get so little time together as it
is.”

“Mom, it’s
fine,” Aaron said. “I was planning to take Brooke to Lake Shore--,” he looked
at me, “it’s a water park/beach place--and Maggie loves it.”

“I don’t
know,” Liz said warily. “I just can’t imagine that playing with a five-year-old
really fits into what you were hoping to do today.” Something about the way she
said that made me think she suspected we were planning more than just a day of
fun in the sun.

“It will be fun,”
I chimed in. “Aaron never gets to see her, either. And it will give me a chance
to get to know her better, too.”

“She’s right,
Mom. We’ll take her with us, and you can come get her after lunch. Brooke and I
will still have plenty of time on our own.”

Liz sighed.
“Okay. Let me grab her pass. And get some money out of my wallet. You know how
she is about the concessions.”

Thirty
minutes later the three of us, along with an assortment of towels, sunscreen
and snacks, were on the road toward Lake Shore. Maggie was so excited that I
thought she would bounce out of her booster seat.

“I haven’t
been to this place in forever!” she cried.

Aaron said,
“I thought you said you went last week?”

“But that is
forever in kid years,” she said. Maggie was seriously funny, and I was becoming
more and more attached to her with every word she uttered. She had jumped up
and down and hugged me when Aaron told her the plans. Then she’d insisted on
taking me up to her room to pick out a bathing suit.

Now in
Aaron’s truck, she was talking a mile a minute. “And they have a million water
slides! And some of them you ride down on floats! And two people can slide
down. Will you slide with me? Oh! And they have a beach and it has real sand
and waves and...”

“Take a
breath, there, Talks A Lot,” Aaron said, smiling.

“It sounds
like lots of fun,” I said to her. She smiled, satisfied.

It actually
was
a blast. I took Maggie to the kiddie pool while Aaron staked out some
chairs. The pool had a zero entry, like a beach, and was full of those
mushrooms squirting water and stuff that kids love. Maggie ran in, splashing
and laughing, with me close behind. After about ten minutes of us horse playing
and being silly, I looked up to see Aaron watching us, smiling.

“Look,
Maggie,” I said. “There’s your brother. Let’s go get him.”

Maggie
ran/splashed through the water, trying her best to douse Aaron as she neared
him. He scooped her up and threw her upside down over his shoulder, tickling
her until she dissolved into a mess of giggles. “Put me down! Put me down!” she
cried between laughs. Aaron did, and she ran back off into the water.

“Hey, Mags!”
Aaron called. She turned around. “Stay where I can see you, okay?” She nodded
and then continued on.

“You’re
really good with her,” I said.

“I was just
about to say the same thing about you.” I smiled at his compliment.

“You can tell
a lot about a person by the way they act with kids.” I was looking out at the
pool, my hand raised to shield my eyes from the sun.

“Yeah?” he
asked. “Like what?”

“Well,” I
began, “like how patient they are, how seriously they take themselves, stuff
like that. Your real self comes out when you’re around kids. If a person is a
jerk around kids, there’s no way they’re decent around adults.”

“Makes
sense,” he said. “Thanks for letting her tag along today. That says a lot about
you, too.”

“She’s fun.
And I like watching you two together.”

We spent the
rest of the morning zooming down water slides, splashing in the wave pool, and
making trip after trip to the concession stand. In a two hour period that kid
had ice cream, a snow cone, chips, a hot dog, and an assortment of candy. Aaron
couldn’t say no to her, and she took full advantage of it.

She was
practically asleep by the time Liz called to say she had arrived to pick Maggie
up. Aaron walked her to the exit to meet their mom. I was sitting on a chaise
rubbing more sunscreen onto my shoulders when Aaron returned. He plopped down
beside me, taking the sunscreen bottle from me without a word. He squeezed some
into his hand and began rubbing it on my back where I couldn’t reach. My skin
tingled when his fingers slipped just under my bikini strap. This time it was
me who moved away. “Thanks,” I mumbled.

“So, it’s
just you and me finally,” he said. “What do you want to do?”

“Hmm. What do
you suggest?”
Make out like a couple of teenagers? Hold hands and make
googly eyes at each other?
            “Lazy River? It’s more or less in the shade,” he said indicating my
shoulders that were starting to get a little pink.

We each
grabbed an inner tube and waded into the shallow water. I propped my feet up on
Aaron’s float so we wouldn’t get separated.

We floated
around for awhile, not really talking, but just like normal, the silence wasn’t
awkward. For this I was grateful.

I had almost
dozed off when Aaron spoke. “Hey, Brooke? Can I ask you a question?” His voice
was quiet, thoughtful, and I knew this was a serious question, not one of our
silly conversation starters.

“You know you
can.”

“Earlier,
when we were talking about Ashton,” I tensed, wondering what was coming next,
“what did you mean?”

I had no idea
what he was talking about. “By what?”