The Bright Side of Darkness

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"Rise and shine, sleepyheads," Travis sings as he barges through the door and opens the curtain of the hospital room. The sunlight comes in quickly, assaulting my groggy eyes.

I smack Travis on the arm before I stand up and rub my eyes, casting a glance at a still-sleeping Tay. "Why do you have to be such an -" I stop when I realize Tay's parents are in the doorway of the room. "Oh, hey, Laurie and Senior." I force a smile. Senior and I haven't talked much in the past, and I want to make a good impression, so I avoid scolding Travis.

Laurie pats my shoulder as she crosses the room to her son's bed. She shakes him awake with the gentleness of a mother and smiles. "Morning, sunshine."

Tay licks his lips and reaches for the water on the stand beside him. "Hey, Ma. What time is it?"

"It's only eight-thirty, but I couldn't wait any longer to check on you." When Tay sits up, she grabs his pillow and fusses over its 'sorry quality.' Lottie moves to her side, trying to help Tay calm down, but her efforts are futile as Laurie continues to fuss.

"The doctor should be soon, and your momma and I are gonna try to get breakfast after that happens." Senior's green eyes - eyes startlingly similar to Tay's - shift to me. "If you want, you can join us. You know, to give Tay a little space."

A little pace? It's not like I'm suffocating him by being here. If anything, I'm helping him get through all this.

"Sorry, that came out wrong. I just figured you would be hungry and I wanted to properly thank you for making this all possible." Senior rubs his neck sheepishly as he glances over at his wife, who seems satisfied with his response.

Breakfast with Tay's parents? Without Tay? "Uh... Sure?" It comes out as more of a question than I want, but I hope Senior won't notice.

"If it's okay, I'd like to have Em stay here with me." Tay sits up in bed.

Senior looks like he wants to say something, but he doesn't get the chance before Laurie pulls him out the door. Apparently, they aren't waiting for the doctor to appear first.

Lottie and the guys glance at Tay one last time before leaving the room as well. It's just us again, and Tay flops back against the bed in relief.

"I love my parents, but they can be frustrating." He takes a sip of his water and sighs. "With Ma's fussing over the quality of things and Dad's constant worrying about what to say, it's impossible to change the subject."

I consider responding, but he's only telling me his frustrations. That doesn't need a response.

There's a knock at the door before a nurse walks in. She takes Tay's vitals and gives him some pain medicine to take before she changes his bandages. She offers to bring something for him to eat and tells us her name. He declines the food, and she leaves.

I turn to him as she shuts the door behind her. He's rummaging through the bag his mom brought him and pulls out a razor.

"How are you supposed to shave if you can't see your face?"

He titles his head up toward me and bites his cheek. "Ma usually helps me, but good point." He remains silent and still as he runs his finger over the plastic cover of the razor. Our breathing is the only sound in the room for a few minutes. "You know, Em, I -"

"The cafeteria has Starbucks!" Jackson barges into the room, causing both Tay and me to jump. After a few seconds of unloading his food haul, he grins at us. "Hey, guys, you hungry?"

I stand up and grab a bagel from him and Tay clears his throat.

Jackson looks between us in confusion. "Did I interrupt something?"

I prepare to respond, but Tay wraps an arm around Jackson. He plucks a frappé from Jackson's hand, much to his friend's protest. "Nope, I was just getting ready to say that y'all were taking forever."

That is definitely not what he was going to say, but I ignore that.

Laurie sweeps into the room, reaching up a small hand to run over Tay's cheek. She nods in satisfaction as she takes a sip of her coffee. "I changed my mind. I actually quite like stubble on you." She turns to me. "Emori, your mom has asked that I bring you home."

She shakes her head at the look on my face. "It's nothing serious, I promise." She kisses her husband on the cheek and gestures for me to follow her downstairs.

"You'll be okay?" I glance at Tay one last time.

He smiles and nods, and I follow Laurie through the door.

When we make it to the ground floor, Laurie lets out a surprised squeal as she starts to walk toward a woman in the coffee line. She glances at me and promises that she'll be right back, before approaching the woman.

"How's Tay?" The voice comes from behind me, and I jump.

"Bain?" Why does he care whether Tay is doing good or not? He didn't care before. Not while he was still more worried about making Tay's life more of a living hell than it was before.

Bain raises his hands outwards in a defensive motion. "Tay and I may not be on the best terms, but I still care about how he's doing. So?"

"He's fine." I cross my arms and glance over at Laurie. She's still very into her conversation. I stifle a groan as I glance back at Bain.

"You seem very worried about him." He moves closer, and I try not to step back. If he comes any closer, I might kick him. "Any guy would be lucky to have you. Any guy who actually deserves you, that is."

He steps closer, and I stagger back a step.

"Come on, sugar, he doesn't deserve you." His tone is soft and dripping with sweet malice. His dark caramel hair falls into his face and makes his icy blue eyes more silver than ever.

His voice snaps me out of my trance. I turn away from him and toward Laurie without another word.

Bain scoffs and walks away.

"What was that?" Laurie puts her hand on my shoulder, causing me to jump.

"Nothing, ma'am." I smile at her. "Let's get back to Norton Valley."