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It's been 27 days since Shay has heard his best friend's voice; since he's heard his laugh.
It's been 26 days since Jaylan got into the car accident that fractured his spinal cord, broke his leg, and gave him a major concussion.
It's been 25 days since Shay has started coming to sit by Jaylan's bedside every day, waiting for him to wake up.
Jaylan's extremely lucky that they were able to get him to surgery quick enough that there shouldn't be too many lasting effects— as long as he wakes up.
It's should be the night of Jaylan and Shay's senior prom; instead he's laying in a hospital bed, intubated, as Shay sits beside him in his tux.
"Shay, come on. It's time to go." Piper, Shay's friend, and date for prom, says from the doorway.
"I don't know if—" Shay starts.
"He would want you to go." Says a new voice. Jaylan's sister, Harley, says from beside Piper. "I'll call if anything happens."
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"Any news on Jay?" Kieran, someone from Jaylan and Shay's friend group, asks when Shay and Piper walk in.
Shay shakes his head. "No. He's still asleep and intubated. The doctors have mentioned that we might want to start thinking about putting him on life support." The guys all look around at each, no one really sure what to say.
"Harley said she'd call me if anything changed, but... I doubt anything will."
"Piper, I'm really sorry but I'm going to go." Shay says after an hour, finding her on the dance floor with her friend Kristen.
Piper nods. "I get it Shay."
"He loves him." Kristen says as they watch Shay walk across the floor and out of the door. "He loves him more than a best friend does."
Piper nods, smiling thoughtfully. "I always thought they'd end up together..."
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Shay goes home to change into an old shirt and some sweats before he gets back in his car and heads to the hospital.
"What are you doing here?" Harley asks, looking up as Shay walks back through the door.
"I need to be here with him. I-I don't know why. Something in my gut is just telling me that I need to be here tonight." Shay says, walking down the hallway and into Jaylan's room, taking his seat in his chair, and grabbing his hand.
Shay sighs. "C'mon, Jay... Wake up. We still got so much to do together... You can pull through. I love you, and I can't lose you."
Maybe it's hours later, and maybe it's minutes later but a monitor starts beeping rapidly, Shay looks up, Harley rushes in, and nurses come running. Harley grabs Shay, pulling him back so the nurses can attend to Jaylan, wrapping Shay in a tight hug as tears stream down both of their faces.
Shay looks up, and for the first time in 25 days, there's no tube in Jaylan's mouth, his eyes are open, and his mouth is moving. Both Harley and Shay walk back into the room as a few nurses leave.
Jaylan reaches for Shay's hand, squeezing it.
"Breathe, Shay," Harley tells him softly; Shay lets out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.
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It takes a few weeks for Jaylan to be well enough to go home. Shay offers to stay with Harley so she has some help with Jaylan, which she gratefully accepts.
Jaylan is still working on being steady on his feet, after being in a bed for so long.
After they removed the tube, Jaylan looked around the room, looking for his best friend, the one whose voice he heard just moments before he woke up.
He spots him, Harley's arms wrapped around him from behind to hold him back.
A nurse turns to look at Shay and nods, as if saying You can come in, it's okay now. When Shay does come back in the room, Jaylan grabs his hand squeezing tight.
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Jaylan has been out of the hospital for about three weeks now. Shay is currently at work: an old 50's style diner called Ruby's Place. He's closing up the diner so that he can run home to grab more stuff before going to Jaylan's to help Harley out.
He's checking the cash register when he hears the door open, the bell ringing.
"I'm sorry, we're closed—" Shay says as he turns around, pausing in his tracks when he sees Jaylan standing there with no support.
"What are you doing here?" Shay asks, closing the register and walking over to Jaylan.
"I wanted to surprise you." Jaylan says. "Harley dropped me off..."
Shay smiles. "I'm almost finished and then I can take you home."
"I thought maybe we could go to the lake. Watch the stars?"
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Jaylan and Shay used to come out to the lake and do this so often, that all of their friends dubbed the spot they always sat at, leaning against a big old oak tree "Jaylan and Shay's tree".
The breeze is blowing tonight and Jaylan is looking out over the lake, watching the moon's reflection in the ripples of the water.
"I'm proud of you," Shay says after a long time of silence. "I'm so proud of you for everything you've done. Everything you've been through..."
Jaylan smiles, his cheeks heating up, he looks at the ground before grabbing Shay's hand and giving it a squeeze. He's thinking, trying to put what he's feeling into words, and when he can't...
He turns to Shay, watching him look at the sky until Shay notices, laughing, and saying, "What?"
Jaylan shakes his head. "Nothing... I'm just watching you."
"You know... the night that it happened I came out here and sat, probably for hours, and just thought. Every night after that, when I left the hospital, I came out here. I kept waiting for a call. I didn't know if it was going to be the call... I dreaded thinking about a life where I woke every morning without you... I did a lot of thinking..."
Shay looks up and meets Jaylan's teary gaze.
And when Jaylan leans in, Shay doesn't pull away; instead he leans in too, meeting in the middle.
One of the many times Shay was out here, he admitted to himself that, yes, he was in love with his best friend, and he had been for awhile.
Jaylan's lips feel good against Shay's— like they were made to kiss him; Shay smiles and Jaylan crawls closer to Shay, grabbing onto to front of his shirt and pushing him back against the tree.
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When Jaylan and Shay get back, it's close to one o'clock in the morning; Harley suspects she knows what happened but doesn't bring it up, instead she gives them a look and smiles to herself. She knew it would happen sooner or later— how could it not? A complete stranger could look at the two and see it clear as day.
Jaylan smiles when Shay kisses him before crawling in the bed beside him, pulling him close to his body and kissing his collarbone.
"Goodnight, J," Shay says softly, kissing his temple as Jaylan buries his face in Shay's neck.
7/18/2022
i can't believe it's almost August already 😳
