"Springtime Beauty"? What did THAT mean?! I put the tube back into the box, and closed the lid.
Well, whatever was in that tube certainly seemed to have cured my thirst! I felt really refreshed-- almost the way I never seem to feel, even after a good night's rest! I practically skipped up the stairs.
Eric was in the kitchen, head stuck into the refrigerator.
(If sticking your head in an oven is a suicide attempt, is sticking your head in the fridge an attempt to prolong your life?)
I briefly wondered where that thought came from, then pushed it away.
"Hey, roomy, how was the Library?" I asked, walking up behind him. For some reason, I felt in a really good mood. Generally, dark cold nights tended to make me moody, but not this evening.
"Hm. Good. Hey, have you seen the cheddar cheese? I'm kind of in the mood for toasted cheese," he asked, pulling his head out of the refrigerator, and glancing at me.
"Didn't you use the last of it on that big omelet you made yesterday? That think with the onions, anchovies, olives, and I don't know what else?" I replied, stretching. I was feeling really limber and full of energy...
"Yeah, I guess I did...," Eric admitted, staring at me. "Hey, did you go to the gym while I was out?"
"No, mostly I've been trying to study. But the gym does sound like a good idea," I replied, thinking how nice it would be to be in motion, DOING something physical. Being indoors like this seemed confining... "Or maybe we can go to that place we went snowboarding that one time?"
"Hey, no way!" Eric protested, pulling an unlabeled container out of the fridge, pulling up a corner and taking an experimental sniff. "It's already after ten, and I got a Chem exam in the morning!"
I found I really couldn't stand still, and started pacing the floor.
"So, I dunno, why not blow it off?" I asked, even though I knew that there was no way he could do that. He'd been complaining about his chem grades all semester so far. "You can always drop it and take it again next semester! You'll already know most of the stuff, so you are bound to get a better grade!"
Eric held the container out in front of him, as if fending off my words.
"No, my dad would kill me! Are you sure you haven't been working out? You look, I don't know, leaner? thinner? or something. Kind of like you've lost weight. You haven't taken up cocaine, have you?"
"What? No way! I'd never take something like that!" I insisted, laughing a bit. Taking illegal drugs was stupid! For one thing, you never knew what might be in them!
Oh, kind of like that tube in the basement...
Eric open a drawer in hopes of finding a clean spoon, and I headed up to the bathroom to look in the mirror. Glancing in the mirror, I saw that there did seem to be something different about me. Studying my image I finally realized that I was now...