Survival Of The Fittest

The soft rays of sunlight dappling the walls and gently warming the room and brightening the world were awfully ironic to Blair given how shitty she felt.

Blair wheezed with every step as she descended the stairs, the thick sensation in her lungs and ache in her body telling her what she already knew; she had a chest infection. Last night, her nose had been running, her cough had worsened, and she'd felt the telltale early-onset fatigue. She'd let her parents know, naturally, and they'd organized a pickup of the standard antibiotic inhaler she used for the next day. At the time, Blair was just glad to have an excuse to avoid the history test the next day.

But this was worse than usual.

Blair felt dizzy as soon as she sat up in bed, and as she forced herself to her feet she almost collapsed. Blair tried to call for her mom before realizing that she couldn't speak above a whisper, with her aching chest and sore throat. Then she remembered that her phone was downstairs. A piercing sense of fear hit Blair; she needed help, badly. Her sisters were both at school, and Blair's parents never came into her room. She'd have to get downstairs by herself.,

Staggering, Blair just made it down the stairs and into the living room. Croaking out, "Mom...", Blair nearly fell to her knees, her weak lungs unable to get oxygen to the rest of her body. "Blair, are you okay?" Theresa Moore called out, entering the stairwell to find Blair looking worse than she had in a long time. "Oh my god!" She exclaimed, rushing to support her daughter.

--


An hour later, Blair was curled up on the couch, shivering with every hacking cough under the pile of blankets. She took a breath from the inhaler before setting it down and trying to relax. The fear had subsided; while it was severe, her infection wasn't going to send her to the hospital. She might have to up her dosage on her meds though, which worried her a little. There was only so high you could go, and after that...

Groping for her phone, Blair pulled it up to her face and checked her messages. Caedyn had sent her a text asking where she was about an hour ago, which made Blair smile. The two went way back, and it was nice to see Caedyn's concern, since it was always a pleasant surprise to get such sincerity from her.

Fumbling a little, Blair typed in her response. 'I'm home sick. It's pretty bad this time. How are you?' She returned the phone to the table and reached for the remote. Doctor Who had another episode, so hopefully she could work through that.

It'd taken Caedyn a little while to realize something was missing from the class, like the whole aura of the room was off. Then, like, a little while longer to realize that something was a someone, and that someone was her best friend. Maybe she should have noticed that sooner, but Blair would probably get it, right?

Especially if she didn't tell her.

Instead, she waited until she felt she had a window to get away with it and snuck her phone out under her desk for a rapid fire text. She had enough practice at this point that she could do it without looking. Like, 99% of the time. Maybe 98% on the bad day. Maybe she'd had a couple messed up tweets and stuff, but for the most part, she was a pro.

Her phone buzzed with the tell-tale sign of a response. She waited for a hole in her teacher's attention before glancing back down. Awww, poor girl. At least she gets out of the test later? Her eyes drifted back up to the front of the class as she rattled out a response.

that sucks!!! feel better boo~ dont worry sure dukoff will keep a test warm for you im okay, jus missin my bestie oc

'Hahaha, oh god. Thanks though.'

Blair had a weird habit with texts. She couldn't stand using imperfect grammar and spelling. Like, she didn't mind when other people did it, but she couldn't help but feel it reflected poorly on her if she wrote in a lazy manner. After all, she was hardly an idiot, so why 'talk' like one? Convenience, sure, but that wasn't quite worth looking like you had 40 less IQ points than you actually possessed.

That aside, she sent the text right as the familiar tightening in her lungs prompted a fit of hacking that left her winded after about ten seconds. Panting slightly, Blair took a deep breath and focused on the text, trying to distract herself from the misery that currently occupied her body.

'I miss anything good? Give me the juicy stuff ; )'

The winky face totally sold it.

Two texts? The girl really did love her. If it wasn't for being in the middle of class, she'd probably laugh. Best to not keep her waiting, then. Caedyn glanced at the texts to figure out the gist and then thought for awhile, trying to see what she could come up with.

hmm, well i saw jerebear talking to some dark-haired girl in hall, deffo sumthin there but prty boring so far tbh

Wait, what did he just say? Ja, she hoped he didn't call on her today, she was completely gone. Not that half the class wasn't, but still. It was kinda hard to keep focused with her bestie wasting away. Blair should appreciate the sacrifices she makes for her, clearly.

hbu? holdin up ok or need me to skip skip to the rezq?

'I'll be okay for now. Thanks.'

Blair coughed some more, feeling the phlegm in her throat rattling. God, it was just disgusting. If she was going to be chronically ill, couldn't it at least be more glamorous? Or like, less gross. Snot lungs. What a shitty disease she had.

'You mean Jeremy was talking to someone? Weird. Does he strike you as the flirty sort?' Blair couldn't offhand remember why they called Jeremy 'jerbear'. Did Caedyn go out with him sometime? Probably not.

Blair took a sip of water and gulped, trying to catch her breath from the heavy coughing. 'brb, getting food.' She typed out to Caedyn before trying to pull blankets off of her and make her way to the kitchen. She was starved.

wel just let me kno if u need anythin, u kno ur my bae <3 <3 <3

Uh-oh, was that a stink-eye from the front of the room? Did he see her phone? Or was it all in her head? Whatever, if she got caught she got caught and she'd talk her way out of it later. Her bestie needed her!

Was Jeremy the flirty sort? Not really, at least he hadn't been back when they were a thing, but maybe he was coming out of his shell? Hmmmmm...she'd need to keep an eye on that. There could be some ~promising developments~ for her to wiggle her way into. That could go under the table for now, though. uuuuh like not when we were tgther XD he was supes cold and awks

An involuntary shiver ran up her spine. Maybe the only change Jeremy needed was being with somebody who wasn't her. It wouldn't be the first time, not after...

No, no, no, fuck that and fuck them, they were the problem. She was the best.

She'd always been the best. Anybody who didn't get that was either stupid or wasn't around her enough. Their problem. Never hers.

Never hers.

What was she doing again?

Wheezing sucked. Coughing sucked. That feeling where she exhaled and it made a rattling sensation in her chest sucked. Being sick sucked. Being chronically sick sucked. Everything sucked.

But at least Blair was home, with some hot buttered toast and honey/lemon tea and other generic sick crap. And her meds, can't forget those. Oops, here comes a coughing fit! Isn't dying just so much fun?! Blair grinned in the most exaggerated way, as if someone could possibly miss the sarcasm so far. God, this sucked. She'd nearly dropped her toast, too.

Flopping haphazardly onto her couch-nest, Blair took a second to catch her breath and try to recover her poor useless lungs. While tossing the blankets around with one arm to try and cover herself, Blair used her other hand to grab her phone from the table and check her messages.

'Weird, huh. He probably didn't appreciate you.' Heh, as if anyone could really appreciate Caedyn. She was great and all, but she was just such a freak sometimes. Hmm. That was kind of mean. Where'd that come from? Whatever. Blair was sick as fuck, she was allowed to be a bitch in private. Who cared?

Caedyn started to write a reply, but from the corner of an eye she caught a stink eye and froze. He was definitely on to her. She could push her luck, technically. Blair needed someone to keep her company on these days stuck at home, it probably helped her stop feeling so miserable and stuff, y'know? But if she pushed anymore right now, she'd probably end up losing her phone. Then she wouldn't be able to talk to her at all, and she wouldn't want that, now would she?

It'd be okay. She'd mellow out for a little bit and then text Blair again later, after class. Or, y'know, before the next one, if she got busy in the hall. Definitely by lunch. She'd get around to it. She wouldn't forget her best friend.

Even if she did, Blair would understand, right?

((Caedyn Miller Remembered Elsewhere))