FicWad

Ct 66 the rock show.

Matts pov

I tune my guitar, as I work on the riff for a song Josh wrote called "shake tramp". We've had practice all week, and now, we have a show, at the local bar! I'm nervous but I don't want to show it. I've been in this band since we all started high school. Mike is changing his bass strings, and Ian is tapping his drumsticks on the table. Josh walks in. And we all stare.

He's pale, and shaking.

"Whoa, Josh...you okay?" Ian asks.

"I'm....fine. Just have the pre-show jitters.."

"Did you eat dinner?" I ask, feeling concerned.
"I just have a stomach ache... I will be fine."

He rubs his eyes, and smiles. "I'm fine, Matt. Really."

"You were pretty sick earlier this week. You sure you wanna go with this?"

"Absolutely."

We walk on the small stage, and Josh grabs the mike.

"Hey what's up? I'm Josh Ramsay, and we are Marianas Trench!"

He looks at me, and smiles. I start the riff to "Sicker Things" and Josh starts dancing to it, as his part comes in.

"Backwords leading.....daily beatings... I wasn't that surprised...."

He sounds amazing as he strums his guitar. He jumps around, as the song ends.

The crowd looks at us, and smiles. So far so good...


Josh starts the beginning of "Shake Tramp" I watch his body move with the song.

We play several other songs, and Josh is getting less and less hyped. He slows his pace, and looks around.

"Josh. You okay?" I ask him, as he stops. "My stomach isn't feeling so hot." He says, wiping sweat off of his face
No. He's sick. Again.
"Do you need to sit down? Did you drink something weird? You eat something funny?" I ask him.
"They spiked the fruit punch..." He mumbled.
I look at him, "You don't look drunk. You sure its the fruit punch?"



He nods, and starts the final song, "Feeling Small"

I watch him sing, as he shakes. By the chorus he looks really pale. I give him a worried glance, as he starts the solo.
"Josh? You okay?"

He stops singing, and races to the edge of the small stage, and bends over, retching. Mike looks at him, and I run over. 

"Josh? Josh! Are you okay?" I ask him. 

"It's just nerves..,." Josh whispers. He retches, as the bar spins. 

The crowd looks at us. 

Josh walks back to the mike, "Sorry, I've had a bad stomachache for the whole last week." 

The crowd looks at us, "Play another song!!" 

Josh grabs the mike and laughs, "If I barf during this one, we can blame Matt! He's so amazing I can't stomach it!"
I laugh with him, and start, "Decided To Break It".
Just as he sings the final chorus, his face turns paler. He races to the side of the stage and pukes. 

"See, what'd I tell ya? It's all Matt's fault!" He grins, as his stomach spins. 

I watch him closely the rest of the show, and finally, after playing some new shit, we finish. 

I ran over to him, "Dude! That was awesome! You did so good!" 

I was on a concert high. 

"Yeah, but I barfed." 

"Who cares if you showed everyone your lunch?! That was amazing! You didn't miss a step at all after you barfed!"  

"I think my stomach is still in concert nerves mode..." He mumbles. 

"We're almost to your house." 

We walk in the front door, all laughing. Sara looks at us.

"How was the show?" 

"Killer! Josh barfed during our last song!" Ian says. 

"He threw up?" She asks, raising an eyebrow. 
I nod, and look his way. 

"But it was hilarious!" Ian continued. "He told the crowd to blame his stomach virus on Matt!!" 

"Josh," she looks at her brother. "You need some medicine?" 

"No," he says. "Just had a nervous stomachache." 


Yeah, right. I roll my eyes. The last time he said he was fine, he was barfing up his organs on a boat. 

"Matt, take Josh to bed, and have a puke bucket by him." Sara says.

"Come on, Joshie. Time for bed." 

I lead him down his stairs, and he vomits on a few of them. Concert jitters my ass. He's sick, and in denial. He goes to the doc, and they give him pills to calm his stomach, but they don't help!
"Maaatttttt!!" 

Oh Christ, not again. 
I hear coughing from his bathroom. I hope it's coughing.

Nope. 

Josh barfed again! 

I sit by him, and watch him lunge forward, puking in the toilet. 

"Matt, why am I puking so much?" 

"Dunno, it probably was that pizza..." 

"Huuuuurrrrggghh." 

"With anchovies...and mushrooms." 

"Huuugggghhhh." 

I think I should stop talking about food. Josh wipes his mouth, and stares at the chunks of puked up pizza. I rub his back. 
 "Or maybe it's the ice cream sundae, with everything on it..." 

"Urrrrrggggghhh." Josh vomits again. 

Okay, food is bad to talk about when he's ill. 

"Josh, you need to eat something before we take the bus to school." 

"Huuuuuuurgggghhhh...." 

He finishes vomiting, and I take him upstairs to eat something small. 

I decide on unbuttered toast, and a glass of milk for him. 
He looks at the food, grimacing. 

"Not hungry?"

"I'm gonna hurl." He groans.


"Joshua. You have school today, and I think you need to keep your stomachaches on the down-low." Coralynn says.

"Mom, I can't go to school! I'm really sick."

She pushes the food towards him, as his face turns an off shade. He picks up the toast, and chokes it down. Then, he grabbed his glass of milk, and chugs it. 

By the time the bus arrives, josh is looking rather green.  He steps on the bus, and Betty the driver looks at him. 

"Dear lord child! You don't look so good!" She exclaims. 
Josh shrugs, and sits near the trash can. I sit by him, and let him lay his head on my shoulder. 

The bus moves, and Josh groans. The whole ride Josh is trying to settle his aching stomach. He's tried sleeping on me, looking at the windows, messing with his blackberry, you get it. We get to our high school, and Chris and Andrew are staring at him. 

"Wow, Ramsay, you look like shit." 

Josh groans, and walks to his locker, pulling his history book out. He's shaking, and I follow him to the class. He sits down, and grabs a notebook, and writes lyrics in them. 

The teacher drones on about the French-Canadian War, and Josh looks /misrable/. He's shaking, and sweating. He lies his head on the desk, and waits for the lights to stop being so bright. 

"Mr. Barclay! Ramsay's throwing up!" I hear a kid gasp. What is this? Primary school?! 

I look over, and sure enough, Josh barfed. Some kids look at the mess, and try to figure out what he ate to make himself ill. I hear them say he had some oatmeal, but barfed it up, as soon as it reached his stomach. 

Mr. Barclay looks at Josh. 

"Mr. Ramsay? Do you need to go to the infirmary?" 

Josh looks at his shirt, and pants. "I think I can make it through class..." 

"Alright, but if you need to throw up, just go."
I look at him, worriedly. I don't think this is a normal flu, it sure as hell doesn't leave him, but the doc said it would take time...

is Josh's hyper flu gonna affect how he manages life?! Enjoy do jules