Heading back home

"Anyone hungry?" Liam asked. "Figured we could grab a bite before heading home."

"Sounds good!" Melissa said.

Everyone else answered in a cacophony of agreement and suggestions for eating establishments. Kyle frowned and spoke up.

"Actually, I'm feeling a little sick," Kyle felt his phone vibrate at the mention of illness and grimaced. "I think I'd like to go home and rest. But don't let that stop the rest of you. I could find my own way home if you'd like."

"It's no problem," Melissa said. "We can do a girl's night, if you'd like."

"I'm really not feeling well. I think it might be... that time of the month." another vibration. Kyle closed his eyes in frustration. He was gonna get it from MARCI once he got home. "Go out, have fun, we can do girl's night some other time."

Melissa scrutinized Kyle, but relented and shrugged her shoulders.

"All right, we'll drop you off." Melissa said.

The car ride back to Uncle Mark's was a short one, but broken up by a trip to a pharmacy where the girls inundated Kyle with chocolate, painkillers, and heating pads, despite his protestations that given that his cousins are girls, the house is probably already filled with that stuff, and they stuck around as he exited the car, as if waiting for an invite inside, that never came.

Kyle opened the door, walked inside and...