Felix's heart thundered in his chest as he drove down the quiet, wooded streets near his home. He was going to be late, which only amplified his growing anxiety. He glanced at himself in his rearview mirror.

His hair seemed okay; not the best, but manageable for the amount of time he'd had. If he'd had more time, he would have flattened some parts more, maybe encouraged a random curl or two in his wavy hair. He'd shaved his face as well, that way he looked nice and clean-shaven. He didn't want Shane's friends to think he was some creature Shane had found in the dumpster. Though he wasn't entirely sure why he cared. At some point, Shane would grow tired of including him in the videos, and he'd never see Shane's friends again. But even so, he couldn't help but focus on every nanometer of face, trying to identify and mull over every imperfection. It called out thousands of them, but Felix shifted his attention to his outfit, beginning to wonder if he'd worn the right thing. He thought he should go for a nice mix between formal and casual, so he'd chosen a crew-cut sweatshirt with a polo underneath, to make him look more studious. Though, the more Felix thought about it, the more-

"God damn it!" Felix groaned, lightly hitting his steering wheel with his right hand. In all of his hasty preparation, he'd forgotten to take his meds again. It explained the heightened anxiety, and why he'd nearly gone off the road staring at himself in the mirror.

Felix took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. All it was was a video with Shane, plus a few friends who would help with filming. There was nothing he should be worried about. But the thought of playing in front of new people, new people who might judge him and directly affect the thoughts of someone he knew, made his gut twist.

His stomach growled angrily. Not a hungry, begging growl, but a warning one. One that meant something unpleasant might happen if Felix wasn't careful. He duly noted the warning, but knew he couldn't do anything about it.

The car broke through the wooded portion of the road, showcasing the flat plains that reached out for a distance. There were houses, just in view. They were on the fringe; the skin above the heart of the city. Felix glanced at his GPS, confirming that one of the stray houses would be Shane's.

From the edges of the woods to the first house, Felix's heart rate had spiked significantly. He was getting slightly dizzy, not dangerously so, but enough to where his head felt light. He swallowed thickly, his heart in his throat, as he surveyed the houses. They were all very nice, with large, fenced in yards and freshly painted walls.

"In five hundred feet, your destination will be on your right," the GPS alerted him. He glanced at where he estimated five hundred feet to be.

His eyes landed on a large, two or three story home. Its exterior was painted a brilliant white, with a dark blue door connected to its huge driveway. About four cars were in the driveway, with room for at least two more. A tall, wooden fence surrounded the closed off yard, which stretched for several dozen feet.

Felix pulled into the driveway, quickly putting the car in park. He shut it off, stopped the GPS, then sat silently in his driver's seat. He closed his eyes for a moment to try and calm his heartbeat before realizing it was useless. He popped open his car door and got out.

He wasted no time opening his back door and pulling out his violin case. He slung it over his shoulder and shut the car door, slightly harder than he meant to. At a brisk pace, he walked to the front door, taking a deep breath before knocking.

"Coming!" A voice shouted from inside. The voice wasn't familiar, making Felix's heart rate spike, only for a moment. Any higher and Felix was afraid he was going to have a heart attack.

The door swung open to reveal a young woman with bright green eyes and long brown hair. She looked to be about Felix's age, and somehow, her face seemed slightly familiar. Not like he'd seen her face before, but like she had a similar face, or pieces of a face he already knew.

"Hey," she said, looking slightly creeped out. Felix realized he was staring and widened his eyes.

"Hi, sorry if it looked like I was staring, I've been spacing out," Felix chuckled nervously, realizing he made himself sound worse. "I'm here to film a video with Shane."

She made a face of realization. "Oh, you must be Felix."

"You know who I am?" Felix asked, confused. The woman smiled.

"Shane told me you were coming over."

"Oh, I see."

"You can come on in, Shane's just out back."

The woman stepped aside, gesturing for Felix to enter. He cautiously stepped inside, glancing around as she shut the door behind him. Their house was bright inside, almost painfully so. The rooms were as wide as Felix had imagined from the outside; even the mudroom. Felix has a large house compared to most people his age, but his paled in comparison to Shane's.

"You have a very nice house," Felix commented. The young woman smiled.

"Thank you. Luckily, my brother has nice taste in houses."

Felix looked at her quizzically before coming to a realization. "You're Shane's sister?"

"That's me," she said, jutting her thumbs to herself. Her eyes widened. "I didn't introduce myself, did I?"

"You might've, and I just don't remember."

"Well, in either case, I'll do it now. I'm Hazel, Shane's twin sister."

Felix smiled. "Nice to meet you, Hazel."

Hazel smiled back. "Nice to meet you too, Felix. Now, let's bring you to my brother."

Hazel motioned for Felix to follow him, walking out of the mudroom. Felix quickly fell in pace behind her, glancing around the house as he walked. Every room was as bright as the mudroom, with very few walls separating each room. From what Felix could see, there were only a handful of rooms that were by themselves.

Hazel led him through a long stretch of hallway, then down one more, until they came to a glass sliding door. She pulled it open, stepping through it back into the outdoors. Felix followed, blinking his eyes as they readjusted to the sunlight they'd been in just moments ago.

Felix was standing on a stone patio, which stood only a step above the rest of the stone floor. After a few feet of stone, the ground met pavement, which encircled the large, L-shaped pool. A group of people stood beside the pool, including Shane. They seemed to be deep in conversation, an occasional laugh breaking out between them

"Shane!" Hazel shouted, grabbing his attention. "Felix is here!"

Shane turned, grinning when his eyes landed on Felix. Felix's heart rate, which had started to calm after the easy introduction to Hazel, spiked again. Felix smiled back, waving awkwardly. The rest of the group had ceased their conversation, staring at Felix with blank expressions.

"Felix!" Shane shouted, strolling over with a wide grin. "How was your 'not-a-friend' visit?"

Felix furrowed his brows, then remembered their conversation over the phone. "Oh, it was good."

"That's good!"

"Shane, I'm going inside," Hazel told him. "Don't be dumb and don't get anyone killed."

"Yes ma'am," Shane said seriously, saluting her. She rolled her eyes, lightly shoving him.

"I mean it, don't be dumb." And with that, Hazel disappeared back inside. Felix watched her go inside before looking back at Shane.

"She thinks she got everything good in the gene pool," Shane said, his gaze drifting from the door to Felix. "But I think I still got some of the looks."

Felix nodded, then realized how that looked. He cringed, apologetically smiling as his face began to heat up. Shane laughed, grinning widely. His green eyes sparkled in the sunlight, and for some reason, Felix couldn't look away.

"C'mon, let's introduce you to everyone," Shane said. Felix snapped his gaze away from Shane's, glancing at the group by the pool.

A spike of anxiety shot through Felix. His stomach had become painful since its warning, and his chest felt scarily light. And as Felix dazedly followed Shane to the group of guys by the pool, his head started to feel lighter. His chest was heaving up and down, luckily unnoticeable but not unfelt.

"Guys, this is Felix," Shane said, gesturing to a distracted Felix. Felix waved awkwardly, feeling his face flush as his breathing got worse. "Felix, this is Antonio, Marc, and Luther."

"Hey," they all said in synchrony, waving.

"You here for a video?" The guy with short red hair, who Felix assumed to be Luther, said.

Felix nodded, not trusting himself to speak. They all waited for elaboration, including Shane. Antonio, Marc, and Luther glanced between one another awkwardly as Felix remained silent.

"He's here to play violin," Shane said slowly, concern growing on his face.

"Since when do you-" Luther began to say, but the one with wavy blond hair, who Felix believed to be Marc, clapped a hand over his mouth.

"How long have you played violin?" He asked with a smile. Luther shoved Marc's hand off his mouth, giving him a look of disgust.

Felix took a deep breath, ignoring the unrest in his stomach. "I've played...for about..."

Felix suddenly stopped, his mouth clamping shut. His stomach had grown tired of warning Felix and had decided to take action. He could feel bile climbing up his throat, and a dull ache forming around his jaw.

"Bathroom," Felix said sharply. A look of confusion rippled through everyone. Shane, seeing Felix's expression, pointed to the house.

"Down the hall to the right," he said hurriedly. Felix tried to give him a nod of gratitude before dropping his violin case and sprinting into the house.

Felix was actively racing against the vomit that was rising up his esophagus. Its acidic, vile taste was in his mouth, and the lump slowly traveling up his chest was the last warning he was going to get. As he tore through the hallway, Hazel popped her head out of another hallway, confused.

"Are you good?" she asked, brows furrowed together. Felix didn't answer as he turned into the room on his right, praying it was the bathroom.

Thankfully, the room Felix had entered was indeed the bathroom. He got quick glimpses of the room as he rushed for the toilet, and if not in an emergency state, he would have commented on the cleanliness, which he was about to actively destroy. Just as Felix reached the toilet and ripped the lid open, the vomit finally made it to his mouth and barged out.

Felix's body shook violently as everything in his stomach emptied itself in a torrent of vomit. He clutched onto the sides of the toilet like they were his lifeline, keeping him grounded, lest the force of the exiting vomit be enough to launch Felix backwards. Once the first wave was done, he took heavy, labored breaths, preparing for the next wave of vomiting.

Sure enough, after Felix had a few seconds to breathe, another round of bile shot from Felix's mouth. His entire abdomen was in pain now, and his throat burned like he'd drank liquid fire. He panted into the toilet bowl, weakly flushing away the first two waves of vomit.

"Hey, uh, you okay?" Hazel asked from the doorway. Felix glanced up, breathing heavily.

"Yes and no," Felix quickly turned back to the bowl to release the third wave of vomit. It was becoming little more than dry heaving at this point, which felt worse, as his body shook to get anything out.

"Are you sure there's a 'yes' in there? Cause it seems like a whole lot of no," she commented, cautiously taking a few steps in.

Felix flushed the toilet. "I'll be fine in a second."

"Felix?" Shane's voice called from the hallway. Then he appeared in the doorway, his eyes wide. "Oh my god, are you okay?"

"I'm okay," just as Felix said it, his body decided he'd had enough of a break. He quickly turned back to the toilet, his body shaking as only a few drops of liquid left his mouth.

"You do not seem okay," Shane said, hurrying into the room.

"That's what I said," Hazel said with an eyeroll.

Shane knelt beside Felix as he shook violently, the fourth round lasting longer than expected. Shane's hand pressed against the small of Felix's back. It began to rub small, gentle circles into Felix's back, causing him to shiver slightly. Felix panted into the toilet bowl, his eyes tightly closed in pain.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Felix was saying it more as an assurance to himself, rather than to Hazel and Shane. "I'm going to be fine."

"What happened?" Shane asked gently, continuing to rub circles into Felix's back.

Felix opened his mouth to respond, but felt his body start to shiver. He held up a finger to Shane just as he began to violently shake again, nothing exiting his body. Felix flushed the toilet, then stumbled to the side, pressing his back against the nearby wall. Shane's hand was replaced by the cool feeling of the wall, making Felix sigh in slight contentment, but also disappointment.

"I, uh, get pretty anxious sometimes," Felix stated, coughing into his arm. The nausea seemed to be over as it slowly edged away. In addition, the anxiety he was referring to was seemingly gone; lost in the river of vomit that Felix had unwillingly just let out.

"Pretty anxious?" Hazel asked dubiously. "I've gotten 'pretty anxious' before, and have not had that adverse of a reaction."

"I forgot to take my meds," Felix flinched, realizing he'd just revealed his medical information. But for some reason, his concern was more that he'd look weak, rather than their judgment of him.

"Meds?" Shane asked thoughtfully. Felix slowly nodded.

"What kind of meds?" Hazel asked.

"ADHD meds," Felix said, sighing. "It helps with anxiety too. I've been forgetting it recently, like today, and, well, it's not always pretty."

Both Shane and Hazel nodded, looking at Felix thoughtfully. Not judgmentally, like Felix had worried, but rather, they looked intrigued. They didn't look disgusted or skeptical, they simply seemed like they wanted to know more.

"So the meds help curb anxiety, and since you didn't take them, you got so anxious you puked?"

Felix contorted his face. "Kinda. There's a chance I would've puked no matter what, but the medication would've made it less likely."

"And how are you feeling now?" Shane asked, genuine concern on his face. Felix's chest lightened a little; a quick kick of adrenaline and anxiety, and something else Felix couldn't put his finger on.

"Fine," Felix moved to stand up before sitting back down, his abdomen aching and in pain. "Well, it hurts, but I'm fine."

"You sure you're good?" Hazel asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'll be fine. I came here to do a video, so that's what I'm going to try and do."

"I'm not gonna let you do the video if you're not up for it, Felix," Shane warned.

"I'll be fine," Felix placed his hands against the wall, using it as a support to stand up. "All I'm doing is playing violin, so I'll be good."

Shane glanced at Hazel for a moment, then back up at Felix. "Are you absolutely sure you're good right now?"

Felix was not. He was exhausted, the anxiety finally having worn itself out amidst the puking. His legs were weak and shaky, as if they would give out at any moment. His abdomen was aching, and his back felt like he'd been doing a work out for the past hour. But he smiled wearily, flashing Shane a thumbs up.

"I'm all good," he lied. "But I probably need to reintroduce myself to your friends."