Keeping Tabs

Chapter 6

“What? Why does he. . . Oh yeah. How is he?” I suddenly remembered why he would be in the hospital. I felt bad for taking away from the attention Adam should have been receiving.

“He's sick. He just started chemo last week, and it's not treating him too good. He's gonna be here longer than you will. Bone cancer treats no one gently. But the doctors say you'll be in here for at least another week. They want to make sure your brain still works. It does, doesn't it?” Chris raised an eyebrow at me as he asked if my I.Q. had dropped below normal levels.

“Yes, idiot. My brain still works. It's yours I'm starting to worry about. Can I go see him?” I started to throw off the covers when I felt Chris lay his hand on my shoulder to stop me. I looked at him with bewildered irritation.

“Not while you're hooked up to all these tubes and wires, you're not. Besides, he just had a treatment about twelve hours ago, so he's not really up for visitors at the moment. Give it a bit, neither of you are going anywhere for a while.”

“What about in the morning?” I felt foolish for even asking, because I knew that he would say no.

“It is in the morning. That's why it's called A.M., you know.” Chris said, grinning at me again, knowing that if my arm hadn't been broken, I would have hit him. And when I reached over and punched his arm with my other hand, his expression told me that he'd forgotten that my left arm was just fine.

“I meant later, dumb ass. You know, after sunrise?” I rolled my eyes at him this time, and I instantly regretted it, because my head began throbbing furiously again.

I looked up as I heard the doorknob click, and Micah walked into the room juggling three cups in his hands as he maneuvered into the room. He was concentrating on his task so intently that he didn't even notice that I was awake.

“Hey guys, I got coffee for every-”

Micah froze, his eyes locked with mine at that moment, and his went wide with alarm. The forgotten cups in his hands fell to the floor, splashing hot coffee all over him, though he didn't seem to feel it at all. He sputtered for a moment, looking for the words, before finally settling on one simple question. “You're awake?”

I nodded in response, almost certain that he would have a complete meltdown if I spoke. He took three quick strides to the side of my bed and crushed me into a tight, meaningful hug. I was glad to feel so loved, but the pressure he was applying made me squeak in response to the pain in my chest. He apologized briefly as he let me go, his eyes never leaving my face.

“Did you call the doctor in yet?” Micah asked the question so frantically I began to wonder if something was really wrong, or if I just really looked that bad. He was next to my bed in an instant, shooing Chris out of the way so he could push the call button for the nurse. Chris threw his hand over Micah's.

“What the hell, Chris?” Micah was obviously outraged and demanded an explanation. Chris looked back at him with complete seriousness in his green eyes.

“Let's just think about what we're doing here. This is serious. The second our parents all find out that she's awake, the sooner we have to go to school. We could milk this a few more days, you know.”

Micah looked completely speechless for a long moment before his hand pushed the call button. As soon as the nurse came on to the speaker, Micah blurted that I was awake. Chris had him in a headlock a few seconds later. They wrestled a bit until the doorknob moved. They both jumped to opposite ends of the room, acting as though nothing had happened when the doctor walked in.

“There's only supposed to be two of you in here, boys. And one of you should definitely clean up this mess on the floor.” The doctor spoke in a subdued, almost bored tone as he studied my chart, stepping over the spilled coffee without ever taking his eyes away from the paper in front of him.