The Transplant ✔️

29. Visitor

Jolie's POV:

"Mom, where are you going?" I was in dialysis, for the millionth time, when I noticed my mother standing up. Worried that she was leaving, I bgean to panic. I hated being alone here, and even if I seemed to have it all together with my calm persona, I was anything but in tact.

"I see you have a visitor by the door." Mom tightened her lips together, punting at the entrance.

I almost lost my breath as I saw him walk in and so did the rest of the patients. It had gotten so quiet that you could probablg hear my blood rushing through the tubes.

I watched as Jobe Boston searched the crowd of sickly people. He was unbelievably gorgeous in his grey sweatshirt and blue jeans, walking as if he owned the place. He was perfect in every way. I loved the way his blue eyes searched the room, his short eyelashes barely fluttering as he did so. He was lost, clearly, his scruffy eyebrows fixing in confusion. His pale red lips smashed together forcing his strong jaw to settle into an angular look. I decided I saw him struggle enough, clearing my throat so that he could finally notice me.

"Jobe, you lost?" I teased.

Jobe's eyes met mine for the first time today, a crooked grin filling his face.

"Hey." Jobe greeted me, then shook my mother's hand as she passed by us. It was obvious my mother thought this was a bit abnormal, having Jobe show up out of the blue, but she said nothing, as did I.

"What are you doing here?" I wanted to cover up the tubes and the wires surrounding me. He was seeing me out of our normal element. I felt vulnerable and out of place by letting him see me like this. I was ill, we both know that, but I was afraid having him see it would make it all too real for him.

"Well, I remember you saying you had dialysis today, so I figured I'd keep you company." His eyes scanned the amount of tubes and monitors, but looked away, shutting his eyes rather tightly before normalizing.

"You don't have to stay. I know these wires and stuff look weird. Plus, the sight of blood can disgust some people." I said.

"It doesn't disgust me at all. I just hate seeing you like this. I hate seeing you suffer." He really wasn't disgusted by all of this? Any man would have ran away by now, but then again, Jobe wasn't exactly sane.

"It's not all that bad." I shrugged.

"Then explain it to me. Explain what this dialysis is so I can understand what's happening." He took my mother's former seat and sat with me as I explained what's happening.

"It's pretty simple, honestly. My blood is being filtered, cleaned of all waste, and then put back inside my body. Since my kidneys can't do their job properly, dialysis does it for me. I feel some pain from the poking and prodding, but other than that, the process goes quickly. Now the aftermath is a little rough; I get quite weak for a while, a bit nauseated, but hey, I can't complain. I'm alive and that's what really matters."

"So those black and blue bruises on your arm are from dialysis?" Jobe asked.

"Yes, from a blow-out, but I usually cover them up with makeup. I remember this one time actually, I had a blow out two days before my senior prom. I was so disgusted with the looks of my arms that I didn't want to go to prom. Even though the makeup covered them all, I knew the bruises were still there in the back of my mind. I ended up skipping my prom because of it, how stupid is that? I still regret my decision to this day."

Jobe instantly grabbed my free hand, squeezing it as if he was bringing life back into me.

"You don't need to hide your bruises, not in front of me and not in front of anyone."

"Thanks, Jobe, you're sweet. You don't have to try to make me feel better and you certainly don't have to stay here with me listening to me gripe." I told him.

His grip got tighter, refusing to move away.

"I'm not going anywhere."

**

"What's going on with you two?"

"With who?" On the ride back from dialysis with my mother, I knew I was going to be probed and prodded far more than I had endured at the hospital. Mom had some questions about Jobe, and I guess what parent wouldn't.

I was playing dumb, pretending like I didn't know what she was talking about.

"With that boy, Jobe. How serious is the friendship?" Mom asked.

"We're friends, but not very close." I answered.

"It's pretty close if he's visiting you for appointments."

"Mom, stop it. He's visiting because he's curious about my disease. And who wouldn't be if they're donating a kidney? He has a girlfriend, anyway, and I'd never step in the way of that."

"But if he didn't have a girlfriend?" Mom really knew how to pester someone.

I was fighting within myself on whether to lie to my mother or just to tell her the truth.

"Look, I don't know, Mom. He's a great guy, yes, but he has a girlfriend so your question wasn't fair to ask." If he didn't have a girlfriend, I still would be too chicken to try anything with Jobe, and I'm pretty sure he'd be weirded out by it anyway.

"Okay, you're right, I'm sorry. You're old enough to make your own decisions, but I'm still your mother and I worry about you. All I'm asking is that you be careful around him." She said, focusing on the drive ahead of her.

"I am careful. Why would you think differently?" I cleared my throat.

"Men can make women do crazy things. And that man, has got his eyes on you, whether he has a girlfriend or not. He has the same look your father had for me. Your father couldn't see any other woman when I was in the room, and the same goes with Jobe." Mom had to be joking. Jobe had no one else to look at in a hospital filled with older people, so her statement was irrelevant.

"How do you know?" I asked anyway, a little apprehensive and very much curious.

"I might be getting older, but I'm getting wiser, as well. You'll just have to trust your old mom on this one. So if you like him, which I have a feeling you do, be careful, that's all."

My mom has never been so forceful in her opinions of a man's infatuation towards me, so it was hard not to believe her. But believing her meant that it was going to be harder to stay away from Jobe Boston. As if it wasn't hard enough already!