"He's been showing more signs of consciousness as of lately."
"How so?"
"Well, he's been moving his fingers and toes for one thing."
"Can he hear us at all?"
"As of right now, no, but he'll probably be able to soon. He'll also probably be able to wake up soon as well."
Lafayette nodded as we stood by the bed that Marcus Kingsley was lying in. I was slightly uncomfortable, because I had never seen anyone or known anyone who was in a coma. I recalled the pictures Michael had shown me. Marcus looked incredibly vibrant in them. Lying in the bed before me, he was different. Very different. His skin was much more pale from lack of sunlight. He was thinner and the muscles he had had in the picture were not there. His hair had grown out over the years and the nurses had shabbily cut it so he had a scruffy appearance, along with some stubble on his face. They must've shaved him, too, because there were some bumps and cuts on his chin. I felt bad for him. Anyone would feel bad for someone in a coma, but the fact that he looked like this made me feel worse. If I were in a coma, I wouldn't want to be treated like this. It's not that the nurses are doing a bad job. They probably have tons of things to do and a haircut or a shave is one of the things they just need to get done. What's worse is that no one has visited him in over two years. The last person was his father, the doctor told us, and before that it was Lafayette.
The doctor let us sit with Marcus alone for a while, in the white room with the dim lighting. It was such an uncomfortable setting. I really just wanted to hug Marcus and make him wake up. I was getting emotional just sitting next to him. It really wasn't fair for him.
"You okay?" Lafayette asked me.
"Yeah. It's just..."
He nodded. "I know."
"What are you going to do if he wakes up?" I asked.
"I don't know. I gave the doctor a note to give him when he does wake up, but I'm going to be basically the only other person he knows. I'll have to help him when he wakes up. I could give him a job. I don't think he'd do too well living by himself. Michael and Emilio will probably let him stay with them for a while. I'll have to introduce him to new people. He's never been good with making new friends."
"I'll be his friend."
He smiled over at me. "I know you will. You're everyone's friend."
"Do you think he would like me?"
"Of course he would. Everyone likes you Em."
"Yeah, but...since I'm with you now, do you think he would resent that?"
He furrowed his brow, thinking. "No," he said. "He'd still like you. The relationship between Marcus and I was a very sad one. We used each other. I used him to try and feel better. He used me to try and be less alone. Once he sees us together, he'll find someone else. Hopefully, he really will fall in love, and then things will be better."
I sighed, calming down, and wondered about Marcus. I mean, he just seemed so...cute. It's weird to say, and I'm not saying he's cute as he lies on the bed, but from what Michael, Emilio, and Lafayette have told me he simply seems cute. He was really muscular in the photos and manly, but when he smiled he looked all bubbly and adorable. I feel like him and I would have gotten along. I think I would have weirded him out by how often I laughed, but I can picture him eventually laughing along. Thinking about it, I can make people smile. I guess I never really wanted to say I did because it would make me sound arrogant, but I actually can. Sometimes even when I cry it makes people smile or laugh because I can get so emotional over the smallest things. I also laugh a lot while I'm crying. It makes me wish I could have met him and been his friend. I wish I could be a lot of people's friends. After Kenneth passed away, I sort of tried to be a better friend. I put other people before me and listened more, because I wouldn't want them to feel empty or alone.
I looked over at Lafayette and smiled. "I've told you I loved you right?"
He laughed. "Everyday."
"Good."
"You sure you're okay?"
I nodded. "I'm swell."
He nodded, too. He didn't say anything for a few minutes, but just looked down, thinking. He glanced back up at me, though, and asked. "Do you believe in God?"
I was surprised by the random question, but thought about it. "I don't know," I answered. "I think I believe in some sort of God, but it could be more than one, male, female, both, something beyond my comprehension. I used to think about it a lot actually. Kenneth and I would always wonder about it. He believed in God, but he was really terrified of Him, which is sad, because I don't think you should be scared of God. I mean, I think there is a place you go when you die, like Heaven, but not exactly. I don't really like to think about it." I shrugged. "Many philosophers and great thinkers have spent time trying to figure it out for people like us."
He smiled and rested his hand on mine. "You've mentioned reincarnation before, right?"
"Yeah, but I hate reincarnation. I don't want to start a new life. I was to remember this one."
"Wanna remember me?"
"Duh. Like, I know it's basically the same people in your life, but no. You could be ugly in the next life."
He laughed, and when he did Marcus's toes moved slightly. I didn't mention it to Lafayette because the doctor said his toes and fingers moved, so I shrugged it off.
"I would be terrified to wake up after this long alone. Let's hope there's a nurse in here when he does. Oh, maybe a male nurse who's really hot. Then Marcus can just fall for him," I said.
"That quickly?"
"Yeah. I would assume that he would find comfort in the first person he sees when he wakes up, when he's scared and confused and remembers everything. Kind of like how little baby animals think the first thing they see is their mother. So the first thing he sees should be a hot guy, because then he'll want to be with him."
"Well, let's hope so."
Lafayette and I sat there for about thirty more minutes, just talking. He told me some good memories about Marcus, like how he would always sing Buddy Holly or how he knew how to tap dance. They were pleasant memories, and I wished he would wake up and be happy soon. Lafayette eventually got up and said he was going to get some fast food from across the street real quick for us, because he said the hospital food wasn't good. I was lazy and didn't want to get up, but also because I just didn't like the fact that Marcus was always alone in the dimly lit room. He could use company for more than a short amount of time, even if he didn't know anyone was actually with him. Hopefully he did know, because then maybe he'd be less afraid.
I leaned forward onto the bed and looked at his face, wondering about his past, before Lafayette. His mother committed suicide, which was terrifying. I couldn't even bare the thought of not having my mother with me. Then apparently he didn't have the best relationship with his dad, but his dad must care somewhat if he's still keeping his son alive. I sighed and rested my head on the mattress, closing my eyes. I started to quietly sing Buddy Holly's "Everyday." I imagined Marcus singing this, and deep down I think Marcus made Lafayette happy, at least sometimes. I was sure he made him worry, and maybe even feel guilty, but he must've made him happy sometimes. I was certain of it.
"Everyday it's a-gettin' closer, goin' faster than a rollercoaster. Love like yours will surely come my way. A-hey, a-hey-hey"
Gently, something grazed my head, which freaked me out and I instantly shot my head up. My head had been right next to his hand, and so I calmed down. Then it dawned on me. He moved when he heard Lafayette laugh, and when I sang. So...could he hear us?
"Marcus?" I asked quietly. "Marcus?" He didn't move. I put my hand on his shoulder, rubbing my thumb over him. "You hear me in there?" He then moved his fingers, more than that actually. He completely closed his hand and opened it. Holy shit, is this how people woke up from a coma? I always thought they darted awake immediately. "Hey, that's it. Just open your eyes now, alright? You're there, I know you are. Time to wake up now. Can you do that? Can you say anything?" I had no idea if me talking would do anything, but I was hoping.
He let out a deep breath, moving his head slightly.
"Come on, Marcus. Rise and shine."
Then, he made some type of noise, that sounded like a "no."
"Yeah, come on. Wake on up Marcus. Look at me."
His brow furrowed, and slowly - he opened his eyes. He squinted instantly, blinking and trying to adjust to the light. Once he did open them, he looked around without moving his head. Then he looked at me with his really gorgeous green eyes. "Who..." I don't think he could finish his sentence. It had been forever before he had spoken.
"Hey," I greeted. "You're awake. I'm Emerson by the way." I smiled, because I was just so happy that he was awake, and I truly believe I helped with waking him.
He took a deep breath and licked his lips. "Where am I?" he asked, his voice very raw and husky.
"You're in the hospital," I said, realizing that I or someone would have to explain everything to him. "What's the last thing you remember?"
"I...I remember..." He looked at me still struggling to speak. "I think I was high. I-" He coughed. "I remember walking into my apartment building, but that's it." He shut his eyes tight and opened them, coughing more. "What happened?"
"Um...Marcus it's not going to be easy to tell you this, but you tried to hurt yourself. You, uh, jumped off the roof."
He looked at me for the longest time, tears forming. "What?"
"You tried to kill yourself, but it obviously didn't work."
"Why would I do that?"
"I'm not sure. You said you were high, and you were sick, and you and Lafayette had just broken up."
"Lafayette? Do you know him?"
"Yeah. He's, uh...he's my boyfriend."
He paused, taking in what I said and realizing something. "How long have I been in here?"
"Um...nine years."
Shock, horror, and fear were plastered onto his face. "What?" Tears started to stream down his face more and I could see the panic on his face. He lost nine years of his life. How horrifying?
"Hey, hey, I know you're scared and sad and confused, but don't worry. I'm here for you."
He looked at me, and like I said before - since I was the first person he saw, he found comfort in me. He was shaking, tears still falling.
"But you're awake now and I'm here and Lafayette is here. You're gonna do some physical therapy and some psychological therapy and Lafayette is gonna give you a job and a place to stay."
He looked at me, still scared, but calm.
"I'm gonna get the doctor alright?"
I left the room quickly and once I was away I flipped a shit. A guy who had been in a coma just woke up. Like fuck. I couldn't freak out in front of him, but seriously. The one time I ever go and visit him and he wakes up. What're the chances? I know the doctor said he was getting better, but they didn't intend on him waking up until next year. I walked down the hallway and found the doctor.
"Doctor, holy shit. Marcus woke up," I exclaimed.
His eyes grew wide, and so did the nurse's he was talking to. They both walked quickly down to Marcus's room and I followed. The doctor asked him questions as the nurse helped him move. It was like in "Kill Bill" how she couldn't move once she woke up after four or five years. Wiggle your big toe! Though he was slowly able to sit up and move his arms. The nurses regularly moved his limbs for exercises for him over the years. He started to move his legs a little more and he was unplugged from some tubes. They brought him some food that he could eat and the doctor pulled me out of the room as the nurse helped Marcus.
"Tell me what happened as he woke up," the doctor said.
"Well, I was singing Buddy Holly, because Marcus likes Buddy Holly. I think he heard me, though, and so he moved his hand. I kept talking to him and telling him to wake up and he did. He was scared but I comforted him."
The doctor nodded. "Right. Where did Mr. Jeff go?"
"He went and got some food. He should be here any minute."
And Lafayette showed up two minutes later. "Hey, I got you a number seven," he said to me.
"Faye," I said. I nodded to the room, where you could see the nurse helping Marcus through the window.
He looked through the window for a few good minutes. He set down the food and asked the doctor if he could go in and talk to Marcus privately. So he went into the room, the nurse left, and him and Marcus spoke for a few minutes. Though Lafayette came out and asked me to come in with him because Marcus asked for me.
"I'm glad you were here Em when he woke up," Lafayette said. He looked down at Marcus. "I'm certain the two of you will become great friends. Em is everyone's friend."
"How long have you two been together?" Marcus asked.
"Only a few weeks."
"How old are you?" he asked me.
"Twenty-two."
"When did you meet?"
"A little over a year ago."
"It took you that long to be together?"
Lafayette chuckled. "It took me that long to make a move on him."
"You love each other, though, right?"
"Yeah, a whole lot."
"I can tell. You look happier than I've ever seen you." Marcus leaned back against his pillows. "I don't know what I'm going to do."
"Don't worry about it. We'll help you out."
He sighed. "What have I missed?"
Lafayette looked at me, exhaling deeply. We both sat down and tried to inform him on major events of the past years.
"Michael and Emilio are still together."
"They killed Bin Laden."
"Barack Obama is president."
"The economy is wonderful because of Lafayette."
"Donald retired."
"People use Facebook and Twitter now instead of Myspace."
"Technology has ridiculously advanced."
"Youtube is a place to watch online videos of basically anything."
"There was a really horrible hurricane called Katrina in 2005."
"Hussein was executed."
"Pluto is not a planet."
"Global population is seven billion."
We told him what we could remember, and there was a lot he missed, especially with freaking technology. He didn't even have a cell phone before he jumped, and no one had a laptop. No one had iPods either. It was your standard, huge computers and mp3 players instead. Sure, people had cell phones and computers, but not everyone had them back then, and Marcus was especially not the technology type. Everyone over eighteen had an email address back then - except for Marcus. So this is all pretty surprising to him, especially by the fact that everyone is using technology now.
"Oh, Heath Ledger died in 2008," I said.
"What? No. He was so good," Marcus said.
"Yeah, and Michael Jackson, Patrick Swayze, David Carradine, Bernie Mac, Farrah Fawcett, Whitney Houston, Amy Whinehouse, Elizabeth Taylor, MCA from the Beastie Boys, Neil Armstrong, Margaret Thatcher."
"How do you remember all of these?" Lafayette asked me.
"I'm using my phone," I said cheekily.
"You can look stuff up on your phone?" Marcus asked.
"Yeah. It's basically a computer in a phone, and you have all these applications, too, so you can play games and check your email and do a bunch of stuff. You'll totally love it. Lafayette hates it, but he only hates it because everyone uses Apple products."
"I don't even make any products. I just let Apple do all the technology. Leave me out of that and let me do everything else."
I rolled my eyes. "Things will be easier Marcus. They really will."
He had to stay in the hospital for a few more days. His dad was alerted and came and visited him. Apparently they dispelled any negative feelings for each other and made up, so Marcus was going to live with his dad instead. Marcus ended up basically getting my old position on the 23rd floor. So I introduced him to everyone on the 23rd floor and told them they had to be nice to Marcus and invite him places. When they went out for lunch, I usually joined them because Marcus was a little too scared still, but I knew he'd eventually stop needing me. He did his job well and earned his money. Over the course of the first month of him being out of the hospital, he really got better. He still went to therapy because he would get down about him missing so many years of his life. Though he was only progressing. He was eating more and walking to and fro, so he wasn't as skinny but more thick and toned. He wasn't as strong as he used to be, but much healthier. Color returned to his skin and Emilio gave him a nice haircut. After a while, things became natural for him. He didn't need me to go to lunch with him and instead was making friends of his own. He redid his father's apartment and helped pay the rent more. He bought some new clothes, and he was smiling more. He learned that he just had to keep moving forward in order to be happy. He said he couldn't mope around any longer.
One day, Lafayette was at a meeting in freaking Boston, on a Saturday, and so I invited Marcus to go shopping with me because it was getting colder and I wanted new sweaters. Having gotten my license, I picked him up in a corvette and drove to Lafayette Fashion Store.
"How are things?" I asked.
"They're good," he replied. "My dad and I visited his parents yesterday. They're really happy to see us. My dad has cleaned up a lot since I woke up and they're just happy to see me awake."
"Cool. For some reason I thought Lafayette said your grandparents had passed away."
"No, they're all alive actually. My dad's parents are in a nice retirement home. My mom's parents live in Maine. I was going to go see them for Thanksgiving, though. They're having a family feast so I get to see everyone."
"That's great. Lafayette is joining my family and I for Thanksgiving again. His family usually vacations around this time of year."
"What's your family like?"
"Really big and really loving. I should let you meet them. They'll love you."
He smiled. "I have a feeling everyone in your family loves everyone, because that's the way you are."
I laughed, because it was true. Though thinking about home and Marcus got me thinking about Kenneth. I had recently thought of him a lot, and I could easily imagine him if he were alive today. He would've gone to Penn State, his dream school, on a football scholarship because he was amazing at football and he loved it. He would've majored in management but I know he really wanted to play for the NFL, the New York Giants preferably. I so badly wish he were alive. If he embraced his sexuality, he could have been an openly gay football player. It makes me wish I had come out sooner. Thinking about him, though, it made me think that him and Marcus could be a good couple. I can imagine what Kenneth would look like now and how he'd be a nice fit for Marcus. Even though Marcus is twenty-eight, he jumped before he was even twenty-one. So he basically had the same maturity levels as me, and Kenneth had always been mature. They would have been a good couple.
"Hey Em."
I looked up and saw Daniel coming out of a dressing room, holding some clothes. "Oh hey Daniel," I greeted. "How are you?"
"I'm good. Yourself?"
"Splendid. Just wasting Lafayette's money."
"Yeah, he told me you two were finally together. About time."
I rolled my eyes, smiling. "Whatever."
He laughed and glanced at Marcus.
"Oh! This is my friend Marcus Kingsley. Marcus, this is my friend Daniel Shipley."
"Nice to meet you," Daniel said nicely, smiling.
"Nice to meet you, too," Marcus said shyly, still being shy around new people. He was shy, but he actually tried to talk to new people.
"Daniel was Lafayette's first gay experience," I said, making Daniel laugh.
"Yeah, we kissed like three times when we were eleven or something."
"Another ex of Lafayette, huh?" Marcus said.
"Hardly. We never said we were boyfriends or anything. You dated him, though?"
"Uh, yeah, but it was a complicated relationship."
"Lafayette's a complicated guy."
"Tell me about it," I mumbled.
Daniel laughed again. "Well I'm gonna go check out now. Nice seeing you Em. Nice to meet you Marcus."
"See ya!"
He walked away and to the check out. I continued shopping, trying to find some really tight pants.
"He was gorgeous," Marcus said.
"Yeah, he is pretty hot. That's not really my type, though. I like guys with more hair, preferably dirty blonde."
"Lafayette is your type."
"Yeah, my only type. Though Daniel is still attractive. He's really nice, too. He was in the Army for a while. His family lives a few minutes away, on the outskirts of the city in a house. He bought the house right next to them because he loves his family so much. His brother lives with him, too. It's actually a nice house, pretty big and spacious. There's a loft above the garage, too. Very nice."
"Do you think you could set me up on a date with him?"
"What? Of course! Oh I love being matchmaker!"
He laughed, growing red in the cheeks.
After we shopped, I dropped him off at his apartment and then drove back to the flat. To my joy, Lafayette was back from his meeting. I snuck up behind him and gave him a hug so big we fell over. We laughed and we rolled over so I was lying on him. "I'm glad you're back," I said.
"I'm glad you're back, too. Where'd you go?" he asked.
"Shopping with Marcus. We ran into Daniel while we were there."
"Daniel? Ew."
"I thought you were friends with him."
"I am, but I don't want you to be."
I rolled my eyes. "You are such a jealous bitch."
"Hell yes I'm jealous. You're all mine. If it weren't for jealousy, I wouldn't have asked you out."
"Well he knows we're together. He's not going to make a move on me. He knows you can get away with murder. Besides, I'm setting him up on a date with Marcus."
"Good."
I laughed. "You are engulfed in a jelly jar."
He laughed, too. "Get off me and take your clothes off already."
"Fine." I stood up. "Like my new pants?"
He stood up as well and put his hands on my hips. "How did you manage to get into these?"
"I think the question to ask is how can you manage to take me out of them."
He scooped me up and threw me onto the bed. "I can easily manage to do that dear."
"Good."
"You know this is why I love you right?"
"I know, Faye."