One Life

17.

As Sal and I walked through the entrance door hallway into the Gatto living room, Joe followed us and kept asking how I was feeling. I felt sorta weird being the center of attention, but it was nice that he was so concerned. I never liked being the center of attention, even though my medical issues usually forced me to get more attention than I wanted. Either way, as long as the attention was from people who cared about me, it didn't really bother me as much.

When we got into the living room, Bessy was sitting down on the couch with her daughter and their two puppies. Cannoli was the first one to greet Sal and I, with Biscotti following right behind us. I immediately knelt down closer to them and picked up Cannoli, giggling as she licked my face. Her tail wagged as fast as it could, while Sal picked Biscotti up and pet her gently. After the puppies were greeted, I went over to the new baby girl and smiled once I laid eyes on her. She was such a precious little girl, just sleeping soundly in her baby crib. I pushed Sal away to let her sleep, not having the heart to bother her.

"Mickey!" Bessy giggled, running over to me. She pulled me into a giant hug and held me close. "My god, when Joe told me you were in the hospital, I freaked out so badly! I was planning on visiting you, but I had no way of getting a baby sitter! I know, I know, I should've Skyped you or something, but.. the baby just has had us both so exhausted so much lately."

"No no," I said quickly, "don't even apologize, Bessy, honestly. I completely understand, I really do. I know you just had the baby and all that and your pups, it's all fine with me."

Bessy beamed as she nodded to me before going into the kitchen to get the box of donuts. Joe and Sal were talking about whatever with each other while I followed Bessy into the kitchen.

"So, how have you been?" I asked her, grabbing myself a bottle of water from the fridge. "You know, other than exhausted from the baby and pups and everything."

Bessy laughed as she cut the sticker off of the donut box. "Pretty good," she said. "The good thing about our baby girl is that she doesn't cry much. She is, however, always hungry which is why I think she takes after Joe on that part."

We both laughed as I took some plates out for her while she got some napkins and placed them on top of the donut box.

"Joe doing fine?" I asked her before taking another sip of my water.

"He's been worried about you," she said as she turned to me. "But he sure is glad you're out of that hospital now."

"He was worried about me?"

"Of course, Mickey. You're like one of his best friends."

Wow. It never really occurred to me that I was anyone's best friend. I mean, I know I considered the other guys my best friends, but I never considered myself one of their best friends. It was a strange thought, but I did like it a lot.

As my mind continued into wandering around, Bessy had already left the kitchen and went back into the living room. It took me a minute to realize that I was the one being slow, so I decided to quickly catch up with the other guys. When I went to run into the living room, though, my mind had other ideas. I stumbled slightly into the wall, dropping the plates out of my hands.

"Mickey!"

I heard Sal come running for me first, Joe and Bessy right behind him. Sal helped me up off the floor and sighed as he held me protectively in his arms.

"Shit, Mickey, what the hell happened in here?" Sal yelled, not meaning to, but his worry coming off in a loud manner.

"I just tripped a little bit," I told him as I brushed the hair out of my face, trying to collect myself again. "I'm fine, honestly. It's probably from being in that damn bed for the straight two days."

Joe and Bessy picked up the plates, which were, thankfully, not hurt in the accident. Joe scanned my IV arm to make sure nothing was bleeding, even though it wasn't a giant fall. I thought it was sweet how he still bothered to check.

"Alright, no injuries," Joe said as he picked himself up from the floor.

Bessy got up next and handed Joe the rest of the plates as Sal helped me up. I was feeling sort of dizzy, but didn't have the heart to tell anyone.

"Are you okay?" Sal kept asking me, repeating the question over and over and over again. "Please, Michelle, be honest with me. No lying to me, okay? Tell me the honest truth."

I wanted to tell him how dizzy I was feeling and how out of it I was feeling, but I didn't want to bother anyone about it. Plus, I hadn't seen Joe and Bessy in so long, that seeing them was a nice treat. Instead, I kept the dizziness to myself and decided to only tell them if it got any worse. Seemed like a good plan, right?

Even after all the attention on me was focused back on the donuts, Sal didn't quit asking if I was okay. It became a question that was asked less and less, but the fact that he was still asking me slightly annoyed me. It annoyed me, yet I was happy he was questioning me. He had this way of knowing when I was okay and when I was not, so I was hoping he would figure it out on his own instead of me having to tell him.

As we all munched on powdered donuts and jelly filled donuts and any other sort of donuts, we all talked about the hospital stay that I had to live through. I told them how exhausting it was, and there was literally no energy in me the whole time.

"Even when I was awake," I explained to them, "all I thought about was going back to bed.  It was terrible. The hospital is just.. a very exhausting place to be in."

Joe and Bessy nodded as they finished up with eating, their faces covered with either jelly or white powder. As they turned to each other, they both began to laugh when they saw each other.

"You got something on your-"

"So do you, I could help you-"

"Oh, great, thanks, beautiful."

While I watched them help each other clean their faces, Sal wiped his own mouth and prepared himself for the ride back to his place.

"We should be going," Sal said, wrapping one of his arms around me. "I know Michelle is tired and she should get some sleep. Hell, I'm tired and need more sleep."

Bessy and Joe nodded their heads with large smiles as they packed up the box of donuts. Sal helped Joe put the dishes away into the dish washer, while I helped Bessy clean up the little sprinkles of donut crumbs that were left on the living room couches where the boys sat. Once everyone was done with their share of cleaning up, Sal and I headed to the front door. Bessy and Joe followed us out to say a formal goodbye before we hit the road.

"I guess I'll be seeing you soon," I laughed to Bessy as Sal ran back into the house to use the bathroom one last time.

"Of course," Bessy said with a huge grin on her face. "Come over any time you want to, okay? Door is always open for you, no need to worry. You'll never both us, okay?"

I smiled as Sal came back from the bathroom and over to me. He kissed the top of my head gently as I nodded to Bessy. We waved one last time to Bessy and Joe as we walked down their front door steps and back to the car.

On the way to the car, the dizziness began coming back. I held onto Sal in hopes that I could make it to the car, but I just saw the world spinning around me. Just a few steps away from his car, I fell to the ground without warning.

"Michelle?! Oh my god, Michelle?!"

I could hear Sal calling out for Joe or Bessy to come back out to help him. He was not good with emergencies like this, but at least he was handling this better than when I told him about the need of the kidney transplant.

"Joe? Bessy? Someone, please! Oh my god, Michelle.."