Chapter Text
“How many times do I need to tell you guys that I’m not going to order it? In what world does soda and lime juice mix? And besides, if you’re going to drink something unhealthy, the least you can do is drink something that doesn’t taste like someone put poison in it.”
“Come on, Si,” Ben said as he took a swig from his glass, “What do you have against Diet Coke? I thought it was supposed to be ‘healthier’ for you, anyway.”
“Too much of any sweetener is a bad thing, Man. Doesn’t matter where you get it from. Speaking of which, isn’t that your third refill?”
“Soon to be fourth.”
Simon sighed. “See? This is the problem I have with these so-called ‘designer drinks’. They purposely engineer this stuff to be as addictive as possible, otherwise no one in their right minds would think about having a glass, let alone three.”
“Okay, so Ben has zero self-control,” Reanne said, hand clenched around her glass, “Big surprise there. We’re stronger than him, Si. Better, even.”
“HEY!”
Simon ignored Ben’s outburst as he directed his attention towards Reanne, who was sitting right next to him. “And you’re on your second refill.”
“So? It’s good.”
“And addictive.”
Reanne rolled her eyes. “All it is is Diet Coke with a little lime and cream added to it. And as your local health nut, trust me when I say it’s not going to kill you to try soda with some fruit juice in it.”
“Uh-huh,” Hanna replied, “And lime is like, totally good for your pores or something. And you could do with having clearer skin.”
“Okay, does anyone else want to peer pressure me into wasting my money on products I don’t like and don’t need?” Simon asked, looking at Jason and Talia, who each had their own glasses of the ‘poison’.
Jason spoke up first. “We’re not trying to peddle drugs to you, Dude.”
“I don’t know,” Talia said, “Simon does have a point.”
“About that stuff tasting horrible and being bad for you at the same time?”
“No, of course not,” she replied, taking a sip, “Just that maybe we shouldn’t force you to try something you don’t want to? Like what the rest of us are doing?”
“Well, excuse me for trying to raise awareness about skincare.”
“Why don’t we buy you one, Si?” Ben asked, “That way, if you don’t like it, you won’t be wasting money. Hey, Jase, you’ve got a dollar to spare, right?”
Jason tossed Ben a glare, but dug through his jacket and handed him a Loonie. “You owe me for this. Wait, don’t you already owe me five bucks?”
Ben grabbed the coin and slid it over to Simon from across the booth. “Sometimes sacrifices must be made for the greater good.”
“In that case, your sacrifice is going to be that I’m not going to lend you jack ‘till you cough up the five, no, six dollars you owe me.”
“Yeah, fine, whatever,” Ben said before turning to Simon, “So, how about it, then?”
Simon picked up the coin and inspected it, letting out a sigh as he placed it back on the table. “So, if I agree to try the drink, you’ll quit bugging me about it?”
“Sure.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Totally.”
“Yup.”
“See, Dude? Was that so hard?”
“I’m only agreeing to try it, Ben,” Simon replied, “If I hate it, you have to promise to shut up about it, okay? I’m not going to keep drinking something that tastes horrible, no matter how popular it is. Collectivism is a plague.”
“Then call me bubonic because this guy is ready to get his drinks on!” Ben said as he waved down their server. “Hey; Going to need another Lime and Coke on the double for my buddy here.”
“I’ll get right on that. And I assume that you’re due for another refill?”
“You know it!”
As the server handed Ben and him their drinks, Simon turned to his friends. “I assume that the terms of our agreement involves me finishing the whole thing?”
“Duh,” Ben said. He stared at the glass in Simon’s hand, “Though if you’re not going to finish it, then I’d hate for a dollar to be wasted, so-”
Simon’s grip on the glass hardened. “You’ve had enough.”
“Yeah, Ben,” Talia said, “How about you finish your own glass instead of trying to leech off of everyone else’s?”
“Oh, right. I forgot about that.”
Ben returned to his drink as Simon inspected his. On the outside, nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary when compared to any other Coke he had seen, save for the complimentary lime that had been served on the side with it.
“I don’t have to put this in, right?” he asked, picking up the lime.
“Nah, they do that for the aesthetic,” Jason commented, “Kind of gives it more of an adult vibe, ya know?”
“Are you going to drink some or keep staring at it?”
Simon threw one last glare at Ben before taking a solid sip. A moment passed and he cocked an eyebrow. “I thought you said that all they put in this was Coke and Lime.”
“That’s all we taste,” Hanna said.
“I can’t help but taste something citrusy, and I don’t think it’s the lime,” Simon replied, “Not sure what it is, if I’m being honest. Not good, but not bad, either.”
“If you don’t like it-”
“I’m finishing this, Ben. If only so you don’t die from caffeine overconsumption. Just don’t expect me to order this again. Way too weird for my liking. Mind getting off my back about it now?”
Everyone nodded.
“Okay, good. So-”
Jason let out a sharp groan and started rubbing his arms. “Does anyone else feel like they got run over by a truck?”
“Ugh. Totally,” Hanna grumbled.
“You too, Dude?”
“My body’s aching like it’s on fire,” Talia said, “Think it’s from gym?”
“If we’re all feeling this crummy, then probably,” Reanne replied.
“Or you’ve all got some sort of serious dehydration going on,” Simon said, “Soda isn’t exactly a good source of getting water, you know. Maybe you all ought to do some kind of detox when we do our movie night tomorrow.”
“Like?” Jason asked.
“I dunno. Since we’re going to be hosting at my place this time, I could try to whip up some fruit to eat and maybe some fruit smoothies. Along with lots of water, of course. ”
Reanne smiled. “That doesn’t sound so bad. I have some organic produce at my house that I could bring over. What do you think, Hanna?”
“I did say Simon could do with having clearer skin, so I’m fine with it.”
“Great,” Simon said, “What about everyone else, then?”
“Sounds good.”
“What Tal said.”
Simon turned his attention towards the last member; Ben. “Well? Think you can go a day or two without drinking anything caffeinated? No shame if you can’t; we can’t all be strong-willed. Isn’t that right, Reanne?”
Reanne giggled while Ben let out a loud huff.
“Come on, Ben. We’ll have some fruit, that’s all. And besides, I allowed you to talk me into drinking whatever…” Simon trailed off, then motioned to his drink, “This is. It’s only fair that you do something for me now.”
“Alright, fine. I’ll do your little ‘detox’, but only because I want my body to stop aching like I’m somebody’s roadkill.”
“Then it’s settled. See you all at my house tomorrow night. I guarantee this’ll help make you better.”
An itch settled in Simon’s eyes as soon as he said that, so he reached up and rubbed them. Allergies; the bane of any nerd’s existence. But he supposed he could worry about allergy season after making sure his friends didn’t end up killing themselves from the vapid delusions of commercialism.
Come the next day, however…
“Ugh. Si, I thought you said this was supposed to make us feel better.”
Simon winced at Hanna’s statement and the glares the others were shooting his way. “Why are you blaming me? I’m not the one who decided to drink nothing but soda for the entire week. Give it a couple more days.”
“Gee, thanks,” Ben said from his spot on the couch.
“You brought all of this on yourselves. We wouldn’t be here if you knew how to pace yourselves. Especially you, Ben. Now do you all see why I think collectivism is nothing but trouble?”
“Blaming us for our own suffering; nice,” Talia said, “So we did something stupid; how does that justify us being miserable?”
Jason crossed his arms. “I don’t think drinking a little too much soda means my body should feel like someone stuck a bunch of needles in me.”
“At least your head isn’t trying to split into two,” Ben moaned.
“My legs are itchy,” Hanna piped up.
Reanne looked up from the arm she had been idly itching. “Lucky you. I’ve got itches all over.”
“How about being itchy and sore?” Talia asked.
Simon groaned. “Can you guys please stop with the complaining? I wanted to watch a movie, not sit here and listen to my best friends complain about problems they brought on themselves. So, maybe- Hold on.”
He took off his glasses and started rubbing his eyes.
Jason gave him a look. “Eyes bothering you?”
“It’s just allergies,” Simon replied, “They’ve been bothering me ever since I had that weird drink. Perhaps I’m allergic to something in it. That’ll teach you not to force people to drink things they don’t want to.”
“Yeah, yeah. So what are we watching?”
Simon held up the movie he had chosen with a smirk. “Alex Fry, the Science Spy. Any objections?”
“I’ve got one,” Ben said, “That movie’s for geeks. You know that, right?”
“Considering I let you pressure me into drinking something I never wanted to, the least you owe me is letting me pick the movie.”
“Fine, but you better not expect me to learn anything from this.”
“Me neither,” Jason said, “Now can you both quit your yapping and put the movie on, already? And maybe fetch me some tylenol too?”
“Tylenol coming up. You want a smoothie while I’m up too?”
“You got anything that has strawberries in it?”
“I do.”
Simon inserted the movie and let it start playing as he headed to fetch the requested items for Jason.
“So when does Alex figure out the celeb he’s been doing security for is behind the mind warping ray guns?”
Simon blinked at Ben’s question. “I’m sorry?”
“Ben’s right, Si,” Jason said, “It’s so obvious Dallas Hills is behind all the people getting their personalities messed with.”
“It’s, like, totes in your face,” Hanna added.
“Um, assuming you’re right, what’s the motive for it?”
“Pure chaos,” Talia said. “And not even the ‘for an evil plot’ kind of chaos; it’s all because Dallas got bored with the celebrity life and decided to see what would happen.”
Reanne shook her head with a disapproving scowl. “Some people want to make the world burn because they can and it amuses them. So disgusting.”
“How’d you all figure it out? I mean, I saw the movie when it first came out, and I never saw that twist coming. Looking back, though, I guess there were signs. Signs that now make me question how I could have been so stupid not to notice them.”
“Nice introspection,” Jason commented, “How about next time you do it without spoiling the entire rest of the movie?”
Simon winced. “Oh, uh, sorry. Wait; I thought you weren’t going to get invested in this thing.”
“We’re not,” Jason said, “But if you’re going to leverage what happened yesterday against us to make everyone watch some boring sci-fi crap, you can’t blame us for wanting to make commentary about how predictable it is.”
“It’s not predictable.”
“Is so.”
“Is not! Ben, you don’t think it’s predictable, do you? Ben?”
Simon turned toward his friend, only to be met with a snore from Ben, who was sprawled out beside him. His right arm twitched a little from Simon’s address, but he otherwise remained dead to the world.
“Well, there’s your answer,” Jason said with a smirk, “Can’t blame him either for wanting to skip out on this snoozefest. Matter of fact, I think I’m starting to-”
He let out a yawn and his eyes fluttered shut.
“Jase, are you…”
Simon looked around the room as everyone else started yawning and drifting off to sleep.
‘What’s going on? Why is everyone…”
His thoughts trailed off as he found himself overcome with exhaustion as well.
‘Why… Why do my eyes…’
Whatever question he was going to ask faded into nothingness as he joined his friends in sleep.