The trail of green slime worked it's way down her face, moving steadily closer to her mouth. Like when you pass an accident on the highway and you know you don't really want to see any dead bodies, but you find yourself looking anyhow, I couldn't pull my gaze from the horror unfolding.

     The oblivious mother was at the other end of the cart, throwing groceries onto the belt as fast as her arms would move. Strapped into the seat, the blonde haired toddler clutched a stuffed pink elephant missing an eye, and watched me with equal fascination as I showed her. Big blue eyes lit up with curiosity when I shifted my overloaded shopping basket to my other hand.

     The thick snot inched closer to her upper lip. I eyed it, not sure if I should say something to the mom. Mom's don't like unsolicited advice, right? Especially from 20 year olds who've never changed a diaper in their life.

     My inner conflict was solved when the girl's tongue swept out and the green streak disappeared.

     Holding back the urge to gag, I looked anywhere but at the kid. The store was packed. Why did I always manage to come do my shopping at the busiest times? You would think I would learn not to shop on a Friday night. The lines were long, resulting in the painful wait behind the snot nosed kid I was currently experiencing.

     A large red sign hanging over the pharmacy advertised flu shots. Glancing back at the girl, I wondered if I should fork over the cash and get one. I never had before, but I really couldn't afford to miss any work, and the news stations were calling this year's flu an epidemic.

     The line wrapping around the pharmacy counter was what finally convinced me to skip the vaccine for now. I'd already suffered inside this grocery store long enough for one day. That line looked like there had to be dozens of people in it.

     Finally, enough room appeared on the belt for me to put my groceries up. Flexing my shoulder, I tried to rid myself of the soreness that my heavy basket had caused. Thankfully, the mother was now blocking my view of her sick daughter. After a few more minutes spent reading about the new president's policies, policies that had the country melting down, on the tabloids strategically placed at eye level, it was my turn.

     "Thank you for shopping with us today. Did you find everything ok?" The bored cashier mumbled as she began scanning my things. She didn't look up.

     "Sure, I..." I trailed off. The woman didn't actually care and wasn't really listening. Not that I blamed her. How many times a day was she forced to repeat that idiotic greeting?

     I swiped my card and picked up my bags, stepping into the steady flow of shoppers leaving the store. Out in the packed parking lot, I found my ten year old Honda and jumped inside. All I really wanted to do was get home, put my food away, and curl up on the couch in my comfy pajamas. Netflix was calling me.

     The house I shared with my roommate was only a few minutes away from the store. The short driveway barely had enough room for both of our cars. Parking carefully, I didn't want to bump her car again, I lugged the bags up the sidewalk and through the unlocked front door.

     "Evie!" I put one armload down long enough to twist the lock behind me. "You left the door unlocked again!" My roommate was pretty good, as far as roommates went, but she frequently forgot to lock the door behind herself. A pet peeve of mine.

     "Sorry!" Evie's head of red curls appeared at the top of the steps. "I was thinking about what to wear tonight. I must have forgot." She ducked back out of sight.

     Sighing, I carried my bags to the kitchen and dumped them on the small table. Evie was never going to change, and I'd figured that out at some point during the nearly two years we had lived under the same roof. Restocking my shelf in the fridge with my purchases, I tossed the balled up plastic bags in the trash and headed upstairs. An oversized pair of ugly flannel pjs, a bag of chips, and binge watching my favorite pair of brothers were my only plans for the night.

     Evie darted out of our shared bathroom, still putting an earring in her ear. I jumped back to avoid a collision.

     "Sorry!" She smiled brightly at me. "What do ya think?"

     Wearing a slinky black dress that barely covered her backside and sky high heels that I would be guaranteed to break an ankle in, Evie was dressed for a good time. "Going out with Austin?" For once, she was dating a guy that I actually liked. Evie's usual type was jerk.

     "Yeah. He's taking me out for our two month anniversary," she flashed darkly lined eyes at me and grinned.

     "You look great, Evie. Have fun." As I was talking I noticed a band aid in her upper arm. "What's that?"

     Noticing the direction I was looking, Evie gasped, "Oh! Thank goodness you noticed. I forgot." Reaching up, she pulled the band aid off. "I went and got a flu shot today over my lunch break."

     "I almost got one today, too. But the line was too long."

     "Yeah, I was almost late clocking back in, it took so long. At least now I shouldn't get sick."

     Three loud knocks on the door downstairs cut our conversation short. Waving goodbye, she rapidly bounced down the steps and I heard the door open. My room was the last door in the hall, and I walked there as I heard her happily greeting her boyfriend.

     The next couple of hours were spent drooling over Dean and stuffing my face with junk food. I was sprawled out on our lumpy couch, almost asleep, when I registered the sound of the front door opening. Pulled from my food coma, I sat up far enough to see who was coming in over the back of the couch. Only three people had a key, Evie, me, and our landlord. But it never failed to make me nervous when someone came in the door. You could never be too careful.

     Austin appeared, an arm around Evie's waist as if he was supporting her as they came into the room.

     "Here you go," he helped her into the recliner.

     Awake now, I sat up all of the way. "What's wrong guys?"

     "Evie's not feeling so great."

     "I'm fine. I'm just feeling a little dizzy," she swayed a bit as she attempted to smile at me.

     Evie didn't actually look fine. Her normally pale skin had washed out even more, except for her flushed cheeks. "You don't look fine, Evie. Maybe we should take your temperature."

     She waved my suggestion away, "No. Don't worry, I just need to sleep this off. Must be that danged flu shot. That'll be the last time I get one of those." She looked up to where her boyfriend was still hovering next to her chair. "Help me upstairs?"

     The two of them slowly made their way up to Evie's room. I was awake now, but no longer in a Netflix kind of mood. It wasn't like my friend to get sick. I picked up the mess I'd made in the living room and ran into Austin as he came back down the stairs.

     He left after soliciting a promise from me to keep an eye on Evie for the night. Not that he needed to ask, I planned to check in on her anyhow. But it was nice to finally see Evie with someone who was concerned about her.

     Up in my room, I put away the basket of laundry that had been sitting by my closet for three days. Deciding to check on Evie before climbing into bed, I crept to her door and opened it as silently as I could. I didn't want to wake her up if she was asleep.

     Covered with a pile of warm blankets, Evie shifted restlessly, but appeared to be sleeping. After sneaking a glass of water and some Ibuprofen onto her night stand, I quietly closed her door and went back to my own room.