Through sickness and in health

19

Monday

"Should he be leaning his head like that? Surely the blood is rushing forward if he's leaning" Jessica, Luke and Melissa are all stand around the kitchen watching. Jason's leaning over the sink whilst ivy plays with cooper, Kai and will.
"Don't be stupid" Jason rolls his eyes
"Tell me if it hurts or-"
"I'm not made of glass, I'm a normal human being. If you don't wanna do this I'll do it myself" Jason sighs
"No!" Jessica shouts
"You'd be the one to poke the wound and pull the staples out" she laughs

I laugh as Jason huffs but doesn't argue. He leans over the sink as I shampoo and condition Jason's hair. He seems content the whole time, probably feeling relieved his hair is getting washed after a week of not being able to wash it.
"Your hairs already beginning to grow back I can see little sprouts of hair growing" I smile. I put a towel on his head drying his hair and being careful around the stapled spot.
"When do you get your staples out?"
"They said like two or three weeks so maybe next week" Jason shrugs, I finish drying his hair with the towel leaving it damp.

"I look like a wet dog" he grumbles looking in the mirror. We all laugh at him as he looks at his staples with a grimacing face. He's quick to throw his hoodie back on and pull his hood up hiding the staples again.

I stand next to Jessica watching as jay runs over to ivy, he picks her up as she screams and laughs as he spins her in the air.
"He's gonna be a great dad you know" Jessica smiles
"We're 18 years old" I laugh
"I was 24 when I had ivy. You might be younger you might be older" she shrugs, she stares at me for a moment. Reading me.
"Don't think about the biopsy. Don't live in the what ifs" Jessica whispers wrapping her arm around my shoulder.
"Live in the now"
"If you live in the past your gonna become depressed. If you live in the future your gonna become anxious. Live today, don't worry about tomorrow and don't worry about yesterday. Think about right now. Fantasise about the future not worry about it" a tear travels down my cheek as she smiles wiping it with her sleeve and hugging me.

"You got that from Jason didn't you?" I say pulling away. A smile grows on her face making me laugh.
"He gives great advice. Who knew the kid that's living with this would be comforting us" she sighs letting her hands hit her sides.
"That's just Jason. He's a caretaker. And he gives great advice" I smile watching as he plays with ivy more. Seeing him with ivy makes me excited for the future with him, but now I find myself also worrying about the future. Worrying if we will have a future.

*~*

Wednesday
"Yo your not gonna believe this!" Cooper, will, kai and Eli all come storming into Jason's room. Jason stirs next to me looking up, groaning when he sees the guys and hides his head under the pillow.
"Get the fuck out" he murmurs under the pillow. None of them listen, cooper and kai plop down onto the couch in the corner as Eli sits in his desk chair, Will sits on the bed collapsing on top of Jason.
"Get the fuck off" Jason groans. Within seconds he's rolling his body over and shoving Will off, he falls onto the floor with a big thud making the guys break out laughing. I can't help but laugh seeing the fake hurt in wills eyes. Jason doesn't spare him another glance as he crawls back over to me and burying his head in my neck.

"Who knew he was clingy. Can't go two seconds without his girlfriend" cooper laughs. Kai and will throw their hands up as Eli stands there was an amused look on his face.
"At least I can keep my girlfriend for more than 5 minutes and within a 5 metre gap" Jason mumbles. Cooper throws a pillow at Jason and I, as the guys laugh, it's about to wack me in the face until Jason sees it coming and shoots his hand out blocking it, all while keeping his face buried in my neck.
"Asshole" cooper mumbles as everyone continues to laugh.
"Why did you come here so you can leave?" I sigh turning to look at the guys.
"We'll tell him later. He's in a shitty mood" will says pulling himself off the floor.
"Tell me now or have your tongues pulled out of your mouths" Jason murmurs

"Your not gonna be happy" Kai says shooting me a quick glance.
"Just tell me" Jason sighs sitting up, he pulls up his hood and leans his head against the headboard.
"At practice today. A new guy came over..." will hesitates stopping himself shooting a concerned glance at me. I'm pretty sure I can see where this is going, safe to say even I'm not happy about it.
"He's trying out for pitcher. He's not half bad either" Eli cuts in saying what Will was hesitant to say. My jaw is practically on the floor, I look at Jason seeing his jaw clenched and his hands balled in fists. Safe to say he isn't happy.
"It gets even worse" cooper mumbles,  Jason's head shoots up glaring at him.

"He's from west bridge" cooper says locking eyes with Jason. I stare at Jason in complete shock, his whole body is tense, probably not the best state for him to be in right now. I want to calm him but I'm not sure there's much calming you can do when he's this angry
"Name" is all he says looking at the guys. His hands are still tightly balled in fists at his sides, his knuckles turning white from how hard he's squeezing his fists together.

"Henry Lockwood" kai sighs. Even I know who fucking Henry Lockwood is, the lockwoods are stupid rich fucks. I hate Henry's younger sister Kayla, she's a spoilt brat. Henry's full of himself, he's a pretty decent pitcher, not as good as Jason but he's not half bad. He's better than beck,  our pitcher right now.
"What are the guys saying?" He asks
"All of them are pretty pissed. They miss you, we all do, your the best we've ever had. But he's a lot better than beck no one can lie about that, the guy can't even get one strike" Kai sighs.
"I-I c-can't. I c-can't" Jason begins to stutter shaking his head. He stands up and walks out of the room slamming the door behind him.

"What's up with the stutter?" Cooper asks, all 4 of the guys are staring at me.
"It's happened once or twice. When he's stressed out, or overwhelmed. The doctors recommend speech therapy but he refuses to go" I sigh
"He's pissed" Eli says, the guys all stare at him like he's a bag of rocks.
"Obviously. Im fucking pissed too! Lockwood saw our best pitcher was out and took the opportunity. We all know he's gonna make the team by try outs tomorrow. Then what? Jason isn't cleared yet, fuck knows when he will be. He's not even at school yet!" Coopers yelling now. Next thing I know I hear a bat outside. Jason's gone to the batting cage he has in his backyard. He's not cleared to play baseball but the doctor didn't say anything about batting the ball for practice.

"I'll talk to him" I say answering the question in Kai's eyes. Will nods watching as I walk out. I feel everyone's eyes on me downstairs as I open the patio doors and slip outside to where Jason's standing.

"Your tense" I whisper placing my hands on his shoulders. I feel his muscles bunch under my fingers then loosen when his body realised it's me...that happens a lot, his brain knows who it is but his body is a bit slow to catch up.
"Please" Jason sighs shrugging his shoulders so my hands fall.
"I love you. But I need some space right now" he whispers meeting my eyes. I nod my head trying to conceal the hurt. I understand,  he's mad and he needs to blow off some steam.
"I told you, we're a pair" I kiss his cheek
"Your with me" he mumbles, I nod my head feeling the heat of his gaze on me.
"Help me put the balls back?" He asks, a smile forms on my lips. We both begin re loading the shoot with the balls, I know Jason is probably going to be out here a while blowing off his frustration. I'll be here for it all. Helping him put the balls back in the shoot and watching as his form only improves as he keeps going.

Jason is going to get through this, and he is going to get better. Then he's going to take his spot back on the baseball team and kick Henry lockwoods ass because he's Jason fucking Parker for fuck sake.