Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 555(@200wpm)___ 444(@250wpm)___ 370(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 555(@200wpm)___ 444(@250wpm)___ 370(@300wpm)
Kind of wish we’d had more time alone, Kyle messaged.
No, you don’t. Your friends are here. You need them right now.
I do, but…IDK
He knew, and I did too. I also knew that no amount of kisses or caresses could soothe what he was going through.
As I pulled up the news, a call from Sheila popped up. I declined the call, feeling more than justified to ignore it under the circumstances.
Hours passed before the nurse finally led us to the unit where Tex was. She said she could permit the four of us, but after, they’d have to limit visitors.
Tex’s face was as white as his hair, and he’d been hooked up to a ventilator via an endotracheal tube, with electrodes placed across his head, and two IVs attached nearby. He looked peaceful enough as he slept.
Taryn and Ben stuck around as we waited for more information. I noticed a few looks my way from both of them. They surely wondered why I was there, or so concerned.
Maybe I was overthinking it, but I texted Kyle: You sure you want me to stick around with your friends here?
I don’t give a fuck. They won’t care. Don’t leave me.
I won’t.
If he needed me to be there, I would be, for as long as he needed me to.
The doctor finally arrived to tell us the prognosis based on the results of the CT scan: a hemorrhagic stroke. As she described what this meant, I could tell Kyle was overwhelmed. How could he not be? The doctor dumped enough information to leave us all confused and googling like crazy, with a couple thousand more questions for when we saw him next, so basically a typical hospital experience.
For all that was happening, Kyle was doing amazing, but looked tired as fuck. It was a heartbreaking reminder that even having answers didn’t shake the worries or fears of the unknown.
As midnight rolled around, my stomach growled, but it wasn’t my own hunger that concerned me. “If you guys want, I can bring you something to eat,” I told them.
Taryn looked up from her textbook, stopping what calculus she’d been working in the notebook on one side of the page. “Um…”
“You guys need to get home,” Kyle said. “I appreciate your coming, but it’s a school night. I’ll text you if anything comes up.”
They hemmed and hawed about it some before caving to his wish.
“In that case, Kyle, can I get you something?” I asked him, but he shook his head. “Hey, you’ve gotta eat.”
“I had some mini-Oreos earlier.”
“You have to eat more than mini-Oreos.”
He snickered. “Maybe some Chips Ahoy!, then?”
“You’re not any good to Tex if you aren’t taking care of yourself,” Taryn told him.
Kyle seemed to be considering her remark, so I said, “How about some Asian fusion from the place down the street?”
He grinned. “That sounds good too.”
We shared the closest thing to a smile I’d seen from him since Tex had wound up in there. Understandably so.
I said my goodbyes to Taryn and Ben, and as soon as I was out the door, my phone buzzed. Sheila again. She couldn’t have had worse timing. But it was unusual for her to call like this, so I answered, “Hey, Sheila. I’m kind of busy. Can I—”
“What are you busy doing?”
Her question was as invasive as it might have been if we were together.
“I’m at the hospital,” I said, wishing I could have sucked the words back into my mouth. “I can’t talk right now.”
“I need to talk to you about something.”
“It’s not a good time, Sheila.”
“I just think—”
“I’ll call you when I get a moment, okay? Goodbye.” I didn’t give her a chance to get another word in. I knew where that would lead, and I was too fucking exhausted to deal with it.
As I stood in line at the Asian fusion restaurant, I called Kendra to follow up with her about my emergency, apologizing again for bailing before the movie.
I could only imagine what Kyle was thinking, what he was worrying about as he feared losing the only decent parent he’d ever known. I saw a younger Kyle, desperately needing to be loved, the way any child deserved, only to have his own blood and most of his hometown turn their backs on him. Too young to know that sort of betrayal and loneliness.
And now to fear that he might lose the man who had been there through it all.
I hoped he knew he wasn’t alone now. That no matter what happened, he’d still have Taryn and Ben…and me.
When I returned, I found Kyle in the ICU waiting room, a man and a woman sitting beside him. I tensed up. They seemed old enough to be his parents, but by the expression on his face, it was hard to tell.
Kyle turned and saw me as I neared.