After staying by the toilet for what seemed like ages, Joey thoroughly doused his face with cold water and used some Cool Mint Listerine to get rid of the horrible taste in his mouth.

Later, before the other guys could wake up, he made sure to change his sheets and clothes, so that by the time he showed up for breakfast, you would not have thought there was anything out of the ordinary. All four of his mates had already assembled at the table when he got there. “That is so gross, man,” Justin was saying to Chris, who had just poured himself some orange juice and some Diet Coke, using the same glass.

“Tastes okay to me,” Chris said after stirring the stuff around with a long straw and taking a sip.

Lance made a grimace and JC said wryly, “They call you the crazy one for good reason.”

Joey took his seat without a word and reached for the nearest cereal box. His friends all looked at him, but no one said anything for a minute, though their unease showed clearly in their faces and postures. JC ended up breaking the awkward silence first. “Hey, Joey.”

“Hey,” Joey mumbled back as he added milk to his cereal.

“How are you feeling?” Lance asked gently, pushing aside his mug of coffee. “I could hear you in the bathroom earlier this morning.” 

“Me too,” said Chris. “You sounded awful. Do you feel all right?”

“I’m okay,” Joey said softly, without looking up. “It must have been something I ate yesterday.” 

“Somehow, man, I doubt that’s the case,” Justin said.

JC reached over to touch Joey’s forehead. “I think you’ve got a fever, and your jaw’s all swollen.” 

“I’m fine, guys. Really.”

Shaking his head, making no effort to hide his sarcasm, Chris said, “If a lie showed up as plain as the nose on your face, Joey, you’d give Pinocchio a run for his money.”

“I think we should get you checked out today,” said JC, his hand still covering Joey’s brow. “This could be a bigger deal than any of us might assume.”

In addition to his annoyance, it surprised Joey that JC was the one to make the proposal, considering how the man felt about doctors and hospitals. Justin, Lance, and Chris were surprised, too; they recalled all too well the times when JC pitched a fit at the mere sight of a needle. But since there was no counterargument for this, Lance said, “I suppose today would be as good a day as any, when we’ve got some time to ourselves.”

“I was hoping to do something a bit more productive with my free time,” Chris muttered. At a warning glance from JC, he added quickly, “But I guess I’ll tag along with the rest of you. You know, for moral support.”

“Count me in, too,” Lance said.

Justin didn’t appear any happier about this than Chris did, but all he said was, “Okay, so when should we ship out?”

“The sooner, the better,” JC said, standing up and rummaging through his jeans pocket for his keys. “I’ll drive.”

“Now, wait a minute, guys,” Joey interjected. “Don’t I get a say-so in this?”

All eyes turned to him once more. “What do you mean by ‘a say-so’?” JC inquired.

“You go ahead and plan a doctor’s visit on the spot, and you don’t bother to ask me whether I even want to go in the first place?”

“Is this a matter of permission?” Chris asked, crossing his arms over the table and arching his eyebrows meaningfully.

Joey retorted, “In my case, yes!”

JC shook his head as he produced his keys with a flourish. “Sorry, Joey, but this isn’t up for debate. You’re going to the doctor, and you’re going today, this very morning.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are,” JC countered.

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are,” said Lance. 

“No, I’m not!”

An hour later, Joey could be found simmering in the waiting room of the nearest hospital in the district. He sat as far on the edge of his chair as he could without falling off, his arms folded atop his knees, grumbling a steady stream of indistinct words to himself. On his left side, JC was quietly flipping through the latest issue of People and looking smug. Lance sat in the chair on Joey’s right side, toying with his phone, and Chris and Justin stood close by with Styrofoam cups of coffee.

Chris took a drink, and almost spat it back into the cup. “Blecch! This coffee’s terrible! It’s like melted crayons from the inside of an old rubber tire.”

“This from the man who mixes his Coke with his OJ,” said Justin with a shrewd, sidelong glance.

The rest of the room, while not too crowded, was far from empty. Young people, old people, sickly-looking people, and people who appeared the picture of health sat or stood in various places, talking, crying, reading magazines and newspapers, or downing cup after cup of the coffee Chris found so revolting. Chris tried at least two more sips before he gave up. Justin, on the other hand, seemed to think the stuff tasted just fine, so Chris passed his cup to his younger companion and went to look for something, as he put it, “to put a better taste in my mouth.”

All the time they waited, Joey avoided looking directly at JC or any of his mates. He kept pressing his hands as he sat there, cracking his knuckles. It was almost another hour before he was called in, and though Lance patted him on the back and JC wished him luck, he still refused to face them as he made the dreaded walk down the hall. He vowed to himself that as soon as he was out of here, he would make sure to land JC and the other guys in here as well.

The time dragged. Every minute was the equivalent of an hour, and every hour spanned a hundred years.

Chris, who had never had much patience for lengthy waits, grew more and more restless and irritable; soon, even JC was starting to fret. Lance drummed his fingers on the wooden armrest of his chair while Justin paced the length of the room, back and forth.

What could possibly be taking so long?

As Lance had said before, none of them were experts when it came to the field of medicine. All the same, there was no denying the sense that something was wrong—very wrong.

At last, when they were on the verge of total combustion, a petite nurse with dark, curly hair and a soft Spanish accent came to them and summoned the “party for Mr. Joey Fatone.” Judging from her face and tone, all four men knew at once that the prospects were not pretty. With hammering hearts, clenched stomachs, and legs of jelly, they followed the woman into the next room, where they found Joey with his doctor.