Beautiful, Deadly. - 2. Chapter 2

“My head hurts,” Casey whined the next morning.

 

As much as Alex didn’t want to hear it, that at least meant Casey was alive. He hadn’t died in his sleep from poison or anything else. Now, as long as Casey stayed quiet, everything would be fine.

 

“Can you get me a water? Some pain killers?” Casey pleaded, not moving from his bed.

 

Alex huffed, not wanting to move from the safety of his computer and bed. He got up anyways, grabbed a room temperature water bottle and some painkillers. He also opened up the window, flooding the room with light.

 

Casey tried to hide from it, letting out a moan of pain. “God, my eyes!”

 

Alex figured these were all the symptoms of a normal hang over. That was a good sign, too. He left the blinds open and watched as Casey downed the water and pills. He went right back to sleep afterwards.

 

Alex returned to his own bed and computer. Saturday morning. Well, it wasn’t really morning anymore—more like two in the afternoon. He set up a web-cam chat with his parents.

 

They asked about his week, asked about any parties. He didn’t tell them about the one from the night before. He hated lying, but they would freak out otherwise. He would be right back home, and as he had learned, Casey apparently needed someone to threaten to call his mother. Alex doubted many other people were going to do that.

 

Anyone else might have just left Casey to hang and turn up dead. Alex wasn’t going to let that happen.

 

And maybe choosing to talk with his parents wasn’t the best idea. They didn’t want to stop talking, and Alex had to come up with some excuse to get off.

 

It wasn’t until an hour later that Casey started to move again, albeit very slowly. He got up and dressed in some sweats and slipped into an old pair of shoes. “I’m hungry, going to get something to eat. You want to come?” he yawned.

 

“Sure, one sec.” Alex had to get dressed as well, though he looked more put together than his roommate. They left their room and went out for lunch.

 

Casey offered to pay after the hassle of last night. They got their food and sat down at a small two-person table. Alex had more of an appetite than Casey who slowly picked along at his food. He was mostly quiet the whole time, aside from some side comments about one of the girls working there.

 

Alex was fine with not talking. That’s what he was used to. And as long as he didn’t have to go to another party, he was fine being friends with Casey.

 

“Oh,” Casey remembered. “Numbers. You got like three numbers from girls last night. Give me some.”

 

Alex handed them all over, having no interest. Casey even asked if Alex wanted one, but got a shake of the head for an answer.

 

“Your loss,” Casey said and shrugged, happy with the numbers of girl’s. They would be disappointed it wasn’t Alex, but then Alex’s friend had to be the next best thing, right?

 

Once they finished lunch, Alex suggested they walk around some. He hadn’t seen much aside from the university campus. Casey agreed, though threatened his stomach was still feeling a little queasy.

 

They walked some of the streets, and Alex was fascinated with the place. How everything managed to look so dark, he didn’t know. It was an industrial city, so probably all the smoke in the air had to settle somewhere, right? Some of the buildings were closed off and boarded up. The area they were in was mostly offices; tall buildings all around were blocking out the smoke stacks in the distance.

 

All of it made Alex feel a little homesick for the cleanness of his home.

 

 

They returned to the dorm, where Casey crawled back into bed. He was determined to sleep of the rest of the weekend and be ready for classes on Monday. He liked parties, but he wasn’t going to throw away his grades for them.

 

 

Alex spent the rest of the evening on his computer. He didn’t have much homework to be working on, since he had done it all Saturday day.

 

 

It was later in the evening when Casey stirred again, this time feeling better. He went to the bathrooms and cleaned up in the showers before coming back and whipping out his cell phone. “Let’s see if I can set up a date for next weekend,” he announced and began to punch in numbers.

 

 

“A date?” Alex teased. “You expect to find a good date at a party?”

 

 

“Oh shut up,” Casey snapped and turned his back on Alex, as if that would block him out.

 

 

The first girl answered, and Casey began to work it over the phone—or at least try. “Yeah, my name is Casey. I’m the friend of that guy you gave your number to last night at the party. Listen I was wondering—” Casey paused and looked at his phone, scowling at the call ended screen.

 

 

“Told you,” Alex snickered.

 

 

“Shut up!” Casey said again and tried the next girl. He started with the same line, only the girl didn’t know what he was talking about.

 

 

“What guy?” she questioned, her voice slurred. “I don’t remember giving my number out… are you stalking me? Are you a stalker?”

 

 

Casey hung up on that one. Obviously, she had had more to drink or something than he had. Alex didn’t say anything, but let out another laugh-snort. Casey flipped him off and dialed in the last one.

 

 

She hung up too as soon as she found out it wasn’t the guy she wanted calling. Casey frowned and threw his phone onto the bed.

 

 

“See, that’s why I shouldn’t go with you to parties,” Alex warned. “Get their numbers yourself, that way when you call, you’re who they’re expecting.”

 

 

“Yeah, but I never get anything,” Casey complained. “I usually get the whole ‘friend’ vibe.”

 

 

“Well, do you plan to marry any of them?” Alex asked.

 

 

“Well, no. I’m only eighteen!” Casey answered.

 

 

“Exactly. It’s not that big of a deal. Hold off dating till you’re older and want to get married,” Alex shrugged, thinking that was the easiest way.

 

 

“Yeah, so says the virgin!” Casey accused and threw himself back onto his bed. “Sometimes a hand isn’t enough.”

 

 

“We are not having this discussion,” Alex snarled. He did not want to talk to Casey about masturbation. He had only known the guy a week, and didn’t want any… weird talks.

 

 

“Says you!” Casey mumbled and sagged into his bed for a few minutes. “I’m hungry again,” he said. “Dinner time.”

 

 

Alex rolled his eyes. He wasn’t hungry—they had eaten too late of a lunch. But he would go with Casey anyways. They ate in the school cafeteria this time, in which Casey took his time to complain about the food.

 

 

“This tastes funny,” Casey whined and poked at something with his fork.

 

 

“And you look funny,” Alex retorted and earned a look from his roommate. Alex had to admit the food here wasn’t the best, but he was on a meal plan and didn’t have the money to eat off campus every time. He and Casey would just have to get used to it.

 

 

“Did your mom always cook?” Alex asked, knowing he much preferred his mother’s food to anything else.

 

 

“Yeah,” Casey brightened up. “I’m usually a really picky eater, so she always had to make meals I liked. She could make these fall off the bone tender maple-BBQ wings and drumsticks… oh my god, they were delicious. Sh*t, now I want them!”

 

 

Alex chuckled. “My mom can make these short ribs in the crock pot… super tender. I love those. They take a whole day to make, and the whole house smells like them…” And now he was starting to want those too.

 

 

He and Casey exchanged a look. “We should get a crock pot,” Alex suggested. “And get them to send us recipes. See if we can make them ourselves.”

 

 

“But what if it doesn’t turn out right?” Casey put down his fork, now preoccupied with the idea of food from home.

 

 

“Then we’ll figure something out,” Alex shrugged. They probably needed to learn to cook anyways, instead of getting pre-made meals from restaurants and the school.

 

 

Alex picked a little bit more at his dinner while Casey refused to touch it. They left and headed back to their room for the night.

 

 

Alex didn’t sleep well. The dream he had… was more of a memory. Where he was helping Casey out of Izzy’s back room. He took one last look over his shoulder, seeing those strange eyes. The air rippled with some effect, and—

 

 

Alex woke up, frozen stiff with terror. If Izzy wasn’t human, what was he? Alex rolled over on his side and stared at the wall, trying to calm himself down. He couldn’t say it was just a dream. All of it had happened, except for that last bit.

 

 

He stayed awake, realizing that Casey was awake in the other bed as well. Casey kept shifting and squirming, swearing under his breath.

 

 

“You okay?” Alex asked out loud.

 

 

Casey seemed to pause. “My stomach doesn’t feel good,” he said weakly. “It hasn’t all day… but now it’s worse.”

 

 

“Is it from the hang over?” Alex didn’t know what one felt like. Did they normally last this long?

 

 

“No… I don’t think so,” Casey mumbled.

 

 

Alex crawled out of his bed and went over to his roommate. He felt Casey’s forehead for a fever—while he was slightly damp with sweat, there was no temperature. Alex did the only thing he could think of. He got out two Tylenol and a bottle of water for Casey and handed them over.

 

 

Casey gulped them down, and Alex waited around some. When Casey seemed fine a few minutes later, Alex returned to his own bed. Still, he didn’t sleep. He stayed awake for hours, trying to picture Izzy in his head. Something was gnawing in the back of his mind, saying that he knew exactly what Izzy was.

 

 

He just couldn’t remember it.

 

 

The more he tried to form some sort of image of Izzy with that weird glow… he started to get another headache. Alex pursed his lips and rubbed his temple, willing for whatever knowledge to come to the front of his mind. It wouldn’t come, though.

 

 

He waited until morning, when Casey was up and moving again. “Hey, was Izzy glowing at the party?” Alex asked.

 

 

Casey struggled to remember. “No… I don’t think so. Not that I remember anyways.”

 

 

Alex mentally swore. “How are you feeling?” Izzy shouldn’t really matter at this point, anyways. They wouldn’t be going to another one of his parties. As long as it didn’t affect Alex or Casey, whatever Izzy did… didn’t matter.

 

 

“Better,” Casey said, pulling a shirt on. “A little tired from not sleeping well, that’s all.”

 

 

“Then you’ll sleep better tonight,” Alex pointed out. “So no naps or you won’t sleep at all.”

 

 

Casey shrugged and started to push some notebooks into his backpack. “I have a class. I’ll meet up with you for lunch though. Are we eating in the cafeteria again?” he asked, face turning into a look of disgust at the thought of the food.

 

 

“Nah, we’ll eat out. I’ll buy. And I’ll e-mail my mom for recipes,” Alex said.

 

 

Casey nodded and left for his morning class. Alex didn’t have a class until after lunch. He knew an e-mail wouldn’t satisfy his mother, so he called and asked to chat over the web-cam again.

 

 

Both of his parents crowded around to talk to him. “How are things going?” his mother asked, as if his answer had changed from two days before.

 

 

“Fine,” Alex answered. “I think my roommate has some sort of stomach bug… his stomach hasn’t been feeling good, but that’s about it.”

 

 

“No getting sick!” His father interjected firmly.

 

 

“Dad, I can’t really control whether or not I get sick,” Alex chuckled.

 

 

“Well no missing classes,” his father said.

 

 

Alex rolled his eyes. “Anyways, Casey and I were talking some about the food here. Mom, do you think you could e-mail me some of your recipes for dinners, and any lunch ideas? We’re not liking the school food.”

 

 

“Oh, two mama’s boys in the same dorm room!” His mother clasped her hands together, smiling. “You both miss your mom’s cooking. How sweet.”

 

 

Alex scowled, saying nothing. Both of his parents laughed. “Yes, I’ll e-mail you some,” his mother agreed.

 

 

“And where do you think I could get a crock pot? The dorm building has a small kitchen Casey and I could use, but I don’t think there’s a crock pot…” Alex asked. He wanted those ribs.

 

 

“Any kitchen appliance store,” his mother answered easily. “Speaking of which, I still need another salt shaker. Did you steal it?”

 

 

“Mom, why would I steal your salt shaker?” Alex asked, not amused that the blame was being put on him.

 

 

“I don’t know, maybe you miss home that much that you took something with you?” his mother teased.

 

 

“No, I didn’t take it. You just are skilled at losing or misplacing things,” Alex grumbled. “Anyways I need to get going.”

 

 

“I’ll send that e-mail later today,” his mother said.

 

 

They said their good-byes, and Alex shut down the chat with them. He wandered around the Internet, almost wondering if he could type Izzy into Google and find something about him. Probably not. There wasn’t much to go off of, anyways.

 

 

Casey came back from his class, looking a little worn after his weekend. They went out for lunch, where Alex paid. Casey only picked at his food, swallowing a few meager bites.

 

 

“Stomach still not feeling well?” Alex asked carefully.

 

 

“The food just tastes… bland,” Casey remarked in confusion. “I don’t know.”

 

 

Alex glanced down at his own food. It all tasted fine to him… So this wasn’t normal. Two days after the party, he knew it had to be something with Izzy. F*ck. What had he done to Casey?

 

 

Alex huffed and glared down at his food. That drink, what had it been? Maybe some sort of chemical concoction. His headache started to come back again, hard and painful. Behind his eyes throbbed, and pain racked through his head.

 

 

“Sh*t,” Alex groaned, overwhelmed with the pain of it.

 

 

Remember, never ever accept food or drink from a…

 

 

From a what? And who had told him that? Someone had told him that—some woman… he could vaguely remember her voice. He tried to picture her face, but his headache worsened.

 

 

“Alex?” Casey questioned, sounding a little panicked. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

 

 

“Nothing,” Alex snarled, batting away Casey’s hands. He didn't want to be touched right now. His head hurt like no other.

 

 

Alex ground his teeth. He covered his ears with his hand, trying to block out all sound. He squeezed his eyes shut to keep out the light. Wasn’t that what someone did for a migraine? Was this a migraine? It was horrible.

 

 

Alex tried to stop thinking, too. He tried to clear his head and think about something simple, like… pandas. Yes, pandas. The pain started to subside, and then Casey’s voice was breaking in again—loud and fresh.

 

 

“Seriously, Alex! What’s wrong?” Casey was freaking out, drawing some attention to themselves in the restaurant. With the pain, Alex had lost his appetite.

 

 

He looked up at Casey hopelessly. “I don’t know. I just got this really bad headache…”

 

 

Casey relaxed a little, forcing a wary smile. “Did your head hit the headboard a few too many times?” he tried to joke.

 

 

Alex fought back his own smile at that, still not feeling completely better. The pain was still there, very faint and very minor—but still there.

 

 

They left and went back to their dorm room, where Alex crawled up in bed and hid under the covers. Casey closed the blinds, darkening the room. He gave Alex the same treatment of a water bottle and some Tylenol. Alex took it gratefully, hoping it would help some.

 

 

Alex was only able to rest for an hour before he had to go to his class. Even then, he had some trouble paying attention. Things felt skewed. Some of the light looked too bright, some of the sounds too loud and crisp. He wondered if this was all just sensitivity because of that headache.

 

 

He made it through the class though, and returned to his room. There, both he and Casey didn’t eat dinner. They both went straight to sleep in their beds, exhausted.