Belief in Miracles (completed)

Chapter 23: Summer

23 Summer

Everyone had left Sebastian's room in tears, but it was Dev that startled me the most. His face was red and wet, his eyes droopy, and I heard him huff ever so slightly as he passed us to enter the bathroom on the back wall. For a minute, we all just stared at each other, and I could tell by the looks on the quad's faces that they'd never seen their brother cry before. The thought that he was crying now made a pit of worry soak like acid in my gut.

After another minute, Mark rose to his feet and went to knock on the door of the bathroom. "Dev? Hey, man, you okay?" There was no answer. "Dude, did Bas die?!"

At that, the door swung inward, and Dev's freshly washed face appeared. "No, he didn't die, stupid."

"Then why are you crying?"

"I'm not." Frowning at his brother, he turned his eyes to me. "Summer, he wants to see you."

Finally...

I all but leaped out of the chair and forced myself to walk down the hallway while Dev shut himself back in the bathroom. For a long second, I merely stood outside Sebastian's door, taking deep breaths to reign in my overactive emotions. From within, I could hear someone softly singing, the voice so smooth and melodic that I wondered if Dev had turned some music onto Sebastian's phone.

With another deep breath, I rounded the doorway and approached him. It wasn't a phone. It was Sebastian.

Sitting up in bed, he had both hands held over his head, his eyes closed as he sang. "God... there's nobody like you, God. There's nobody like you, God, and there will never be..."

I slapped a hand over my mouth to keep from choking on sobs at the sight of the crazy, wonderful man before me. He was dying, and what did he do to pass the time? He worshiped God. I was utterly and truly amazed by him, and when he sang a verse of a song that I recognized from church the previous day, I sang with him.

His eyes opened, and hands lowered when he heard me, a smile spreading wide across his face as he looked at me. Standing at the end of his bed, I merely watched him, my heart hurting with how full it was with love for him, and over the impending pain of losing him.

"Hey, you." He breathed, and spread his arms for me.

Smiling, I rounded to his left and sat on the edge of the bed, allowed him to pull me to him. With my face buried in the crook of his neck, arms wrapped around his frail body, it was all I could do not to cry. He smelled like hospital and antiseptic, not like the Sebastian I knew, who smelled of vanilla bourbon body wash and Pantene Pro-V. It forced ringing clarity into me of the situation he was in.

"How are you feeling?" I asked when I pulled away, and smiled as he tucked the hair behind my ear.

"Better now that you're here."

Though I smiled, I rolled my eyes. "How are you, really?"

"I'm good. I really am good. I feel better today than I have in... months."

"I'm glad. Did someone tell you that you might be going home?"

He nodded. "Yeah, Tom did. Do you know when?"

I shook my head. "By this evening, maybe, if the doctor okays it."

"Boy, I hope so. I'd hate to spend Thanksgiving eating hospital food. My mom makes a world class turkey." He was grinning as I rolled my eyes. Of course, he'd be thinking about food.

"You are so weird."

"Only to you, beloved."

I beamed and took his hands in mine. "It'll be nice to have you out of this place."