Jefferson Lake (MBBF Spin-Off)

Chap. 14

"How'd the surgery go?" I asked Parker over FaceTime, as I sat criss-cross on my futon, my homework laid out in front of me.

"A-okay," he said, flashing me a thumbs-up.

I could see the bags underneath his eyes, lined with dark circles.

"I should get out of here tomorrow," he added. "Given there's no complications. Which there shouldn't be."

"Awesome," I said, flashing him a smile.

He looked taken aback for a moment, but recovered quickly. "Yeah, so as soon as I'm off the pain meds, I'll have to find a new car."

"How will you ever replace the Ford?"

"It'll be a tough feat," Parker admitted, with an audible sigh. "I miss her already."

He'd put so many miles on the thing that it was bound to fall apart anyways.

"I'm sure you'll manage." I placed my pencil down, giving Parker my full attention. "What's going on with Emmett?"

Parker's eyes widened slightly, as though he was surprised that I knew anything.

His eyes flickered off the FaceTime camera, probably to check whether Emmett was in the room, and then back to me. "His asthma test results came back."

I nodded.

"And they weren't good."

"Why? What's the matter?"

I knew that Emmett pushed himself when it came to soccer, probably harder than he should considering the condition of his asthma.

But he's also struggled with it his entire life. So you'd think he'd know his limitations by now.

"They're sending him back to Jacksonville for further testing," Parker informed me. "And the Winstons are displeased."

"Why?"

"Because he's 18 and his lung function is that of like a 70-year old chain smoker?"

I couldn't help but wince.

"So once the Jacksonville testing is all good and done, they're going to have to figure out what his soccer future holds, and it doesn't look too bright," Parker finished.

I knew that Emmett had worked really hard to be where he was now.

No wonder he was so upset last night. He'd wanted his parents to understand his angle of things, where he was coming from.

"Everything good on your end?" Parker asked, after a few moments of silence.

I nodded. "Just working on some homework."

"And everything else?"

"Yes, I promise I'm taking my meds."

I knew that's what he was alluding to.

He just rolled his eyes. "Emily is going to drop me off at the dorm room tomorrow before she has to head back, and then I figured you could swing by because there's some stuff we need to talk about."

Stuff we need to talk about?

"What stuff?"

"The Social Services meeting for one," he stated, biting back a yawn. "I had to reschedule it because of all of this, but you know they'll be on my ass about taking care of you after the accident, so I'm going to have to get back onto my A-game."

I'd totally forgotten about that meeting.

Not that that was anything new.

"And then some other stuff,' he added, this time letting the yawn escape.