A New Way of Living

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Of course I'm gonna get you something," she replied, gently ribbing him with her elbow.

"Well, you'll have to let me go on the day, 'cause I wanted to give mine to ya now."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box, handing it over to her from behind. She looked at the box, feeling her heart skip a beat for a moment. She knew what small, velvet boxes often meant, but there was no way they were there yet. 

She took it from him and popped it open, finding inside the small pearl earrings she had seen in the store window when she'd been with the girls. She spun around, elated.

"How did you--"

"I got my sources," Riff smirked, before leaning down to kiss her. 

---

Just before Christmas, trouble struck. 

Not just because there had been whisperings of protests across the west side against the Committee for Slum Clearance after more and more tenants had been receiving letters for eviction, not because the Jets had still seen no signs of Bernardo, a fact that started to agitate and infuriate them, but because Balkan got sick. Really sick.

There had been a flu spreading around, naturally a regular winter occurrence due to the cold weather, but it hit some harder than others.

So one evening, when Vivienne and Riff heard a frantic knock at the door from their spot on the bed, they were met with the image of Big Deal and Ice, holding Balkan between them.

Vivienne knew it was trouble immediately. Balkan flopped forward like a rag doll, his face grey and sweaty, his eyes glossy and gone. 

"We hadn't seen him since Tuesday," Ice explained. There was a flicker of something uncharacteristic in his eyes - a panic, a worry. "We went to go check on him and found him passed out like this."

"He's burnin' up," Big Deal added, moving to lift Balkan's head. "Like a hundred degrees."

"Get him inside," Vivienne instructed. "Put him on the couch."

Riff and Vivienne followed them in, staring down at the sickly Balkan with a rush of concern and thought.

"Has he said anythin'?" Riff asked, sounding stern and calm in his leadership.

"Just ramblin words," Ice shrugged. "Nothin' that makes sense."

"Hey, buddy," Riff leaned forward to say, clicking his fingers in front of Balkan's face. "It's Riff. Say somethin'."

Balkan responded with a nonsensical mumble, before slumping back over again. Vivienne pressed her hand against his forehead.

"Shit, if he's been like this since Tuesday then he's probably extremely dehydrated," she spoke, more to herself than anyone else. 

"What do we do?" Big Deal asked.

She looked up at them.

"You don't do anything. It can be contagious in the first few days, so you should be fine, but no sense in being here unnecessarily. Wash your hands and go home. I'll look out for him."