The Ten-Year Game Plan

Chapter 36- Josie

Cam nudged me as Donovan left the table to give the plate to Danny. The youngest Starr boy was sitting next to his mother in one of the plastic chairs strewn about the yard. His shoulders were curved forward as he tried to regain his breath.

"That's his brother, isn't it?" Cam asked, her brow furrowing into a familiar look of pity.

Donovan would hate that look. He thought of pity as an ugly word, but all I saw on my best friend's face was compassion and sorrow for the neighborhood boy who got out of breath too easily.

I nodded, picking up Donovan's discarded plate to set it on the table beside his mother. She squeezed my hand gratefully, another one of those touches that said all of the words she wouldn't say out loud. Hopefully my answering smile conveyed the same.

When I went back to sit next to my friends, the mood was different than before. Winston was watching his best friend from across the yard, Gisele was trying to politely look anywhere but in Danny's direction, while Cam was watching me with a sad expression on her face.

"I didn't realize—" Winston cleared his throat, "I guess I didn't expect him to look so... not normal."

Unfortunately, Danny's latest bout of chemo was the harshest strain he'd had before. His skin was a sallow sort of gray and his clothes seemed to hang off his figure like limp newspapers. Our friends were seeing Danny at his worst, and it was jarring.

They were also seeing a new side to Donovan— one that still catches me off guard. Reconciling the boy who was the center of every party, made headlines, and fired off jokes like it was his job with the one before us with trembling hands and a furrowed brow was hard. Almost impossible.

"Is he... getting better?" Cam asked, squeezing Patrick's hand subtly.

I glanced over at the Starr family who, unconsciously, seemed to orbit their youngest son. Danny sat, resting his head on his fist while his family flurried around him. He waved a little at me.

I waved back, then turned to my friends. "Not yet."

"Let's play a game," Gisele suggested suddenly. We all stared at her, caught off guard by the change of subject. "I'll go get Danny and Donovan. You have a deck of cards, right Josie?"

"Why do you just assume I have—"

She shot me a look. "You have them in your purse, don't you?"

"I— yes, I do."

Sue me. I get bored easily.

"Excellent," she grinned, "I'll grab the other two and I can teach you all how to play one of my favorite games."

Cam and I made eye contact across the table knowing that we were in for a treat. Or, at least, some mild entertainment. The conversation started to get too serious for Gisele and this was the way she could help. I understood the feeling of helplessness and I understood the feeling of wanting to fix it.

Donovan and Danny joined our table, the two boys sitting on either side of me on the picnic bench. The oldest Starr boy smiled down at me, and I grabbed his hand in my own. This was it. This was how I tried to fix it. Still, it never felt like enough.

"Okay!" Gisele began, "the game is called 'fuck you.'"

"Sorry, what?"

***

"Fuck Donovan!" Winston shouted, slamming the eight of spades down on the table.

"Fuck Donovan!" Patrick agreed, shoving the eight of hearts down.

"What the hell, guys?" Donovan laughed, his eyes watering as the cards piled up against him.

"Fuck Josie!" Danny slammed the ace of hearts down on top of the pile.