AFTER THE RAIN (Bonus edition)

14. You want to take a selfie?

Stormy woke up suddenly and realized that Marcus was no longer in the car. They were parked on the side of the road and the driver's door was wide open. A bolt of panic gripped her and she shot up. Where was he?

Alien abduction? That was very plausible; it often happened on long, deserted roads like this. But then again, it was daytime, and most abductions happened at night.

Spontaneous combustion? She checked the seat, but there was no ash.

De-atomization? Possible, not likely though, not with our current technology, anyway. Although she did have it on good authority that they were currently experimenting with that technology in Area 53 in Nebraska.

She was just about to consider vaporization when....

She saw him standing on the side of the road a little way back. Aaahhh, nature was obviously calling. She was about to look away when she saw him bend forward and hold his head. Something was wrong. She jumped out of the car and ran over.

"Marcus, are you okay?"

He waved his hand for her to get back. "Fine. Fine," he sort of shouted-mumbled-choked.

"No you're not. I can see something is wrong."

He waved his hand some more as she edged forward. "I just feel a bit nauseous. It's probably from that kebab you forced me to eat."

Stormy actually laughed out loud. "Nonsense!"

"You can't eat stuff off the side of the road. I told you. Look what happens!"

Stormy shook her head dismissively. "It's psychosomatic, Marcus. I'm totally fine. There was nothing wrong with –" Marcus turned around and looked at her. He was positively green; his brow was furrowed and his lips clamped together as he fought off the obvious urge to gag.

"Oh God! You really are sick."

Marcus gave a faint nod. "Just get back into the car, I'll be fine."

"I'm not leaving you here."

She approached him and his hand started flapping at her again. Clearly, he was the type of guy who didn't want anyone seeing him when he was sick and vulnerable – typical. But as she approached he threw up, and the arm waving became even more violent as he tried to shoo her away. Jolted by a stab of sympathy, Stormy ran up to him and rubbed his back.

"Stormy, seriously, leave me, I'll be fine," he choked.

"Marcus will you stop being such a macho..." She put on a mocking, exaggerated manly voice. "I'm a manly man and don't get sick or show weakness and I wrestle bulls to the ground with my hands tied behind my back kind of guy."

He ignored her jibe, wiped the back of his mouth with his hand and swigged down some water. She rubbed his back in large circles. "Do you know how many friends' hair I've held back when they've had too much to drink in a club?" she tried to reassure him.

"I don't really want to know that right now," Marcus bleated.

"I'm just saying... that's what we girls do for each other. It's no big deal. You don't have to be embarrassed." Marcus finally stood up and straightened out. He looked way less green but still a bit sick. Stormy reached out and laid her hand across his forehead to see if he had a temperature. He felt clammy.