Astrid gently sits cross cross besides Jason on the chairs of the waiting room, sipping a juice box, oatmeal raisin cookie in hand.
He's silent, sitting the same as her, long legs cross cross applesauce, hands folded on his lap.
"You just spoke, I'm not losing it right?"
She nods softly glancing over at him.
"And you have O-neg blood that you donated to my sister because I'm anaemic, right?"
She nods lightly, poking through the top of her second juice box.
"And now we're sitting side by side like kindergarteners, while you sip your juice box and cookies because you just gave two pints of blood within an hour."
She nods once more, and he turns to her, eyes more broken than she's ever seen from him.
"You're going to leave me here, aren't you?"
And for the first time, the answer to his question is the shake of her head.
Jason glances back down at his lap, and she can see the quiet tears slipping down his cheeks as he takes in a deep breath through his scarlet tinted nose.
"She'll he okay right?"
Astrid shrugs, but he doesn't glance over at her to catch it.
She gently takes his hand in hers, and he closes his eyes looking down.
"I think so," Astrid whispers, so quietly he's not entirely sure she said it in the first place, before coughing, heavily.
And then he looks at her, "Did Arden even make it out of the car?"
Now it's Astrid's turn to look down, before shaking her head lightly.
She takes in a deep breath, glancing at him.
It wasn't about her.
Jason sighs softly, resting his head on her shoulder and she gently kisses his forehead, patting down his wild locks of hair.
He sniffs softly, closing his eyes, tear clumped eyelashes coating his cheeks.
And it's there they sit for a long, long time.
•••
Jasons shoulder is shaken lightly, and he opens his eyes, expecting to see Cheryl or his mother above him— it all having been a terrible dream.
But instead he's created by a nurse glancing down at him, head rested on Astrid's lap, her hand rested on his shoulder.
He runs his hands over his face, sitting up quietly.
"Honey, your sister is awake. Would you like to see her?"
Jason finds himself nodding, absentmindedly gripping Astrid's hand.
He gently pulls her with him, but she doesn't fight it.
His mind drifts off as they scale the staircase and cross the drab grey walls to Cheryl's room.
The nurse opens it and Jason walks in first, Astrid behind her gently.
"I'm so sorry."
Those are the first words that come out of Cheryl's lips when she sees Jason's face.
He shakes his head, kneeling besides the bed and taking Jason's hands in his, "No- I- I should've heard you take the keys- he'll, they were by my bed Cheryl."
She starts to cry and his eyebrows furrow, "Hey- what- what's wrong?"
"You kind of did."
"What?" His eyes are so beyond confused, "What are you talking about?"
"You woke up- Well it was more of sleep talking b-but, I kind of talked you back to sleep. You told me you would drive me, and that I needed to watch the ice."
He's silent, and she can tell he's frustrated, "And you still went?"
"You're slipping," She blurts, and she can see the pain in his eyes when she says it.
"How—"
"Anyone can see it, and besides you're my brother, I can read you better than most."
Her brown eyes see Astrid at the back, "Except for perhaps her."
There's no crudity in her voice, more like a marvel of some sort, but she bites down on her pink gloss less lips.
"Cheryl—"
She shakes her head, "It's okay, I can't change the things that I can't do."
She watches his lips pout, and she sends him a soft, half-smile, brushing the hair from his eyes.
"What happened?"
"A piece of metal went into my hip, they had to remove it and stitch it. I'm okay."
He shakes his head, "You're in a hospital bed with wires in you, you're not okay."
She nods, "I'm okay."
•••
"Astrid?"
The strawberry blonde turns her head from Jason- who lies asleep on her lap, to Cheryl.
"Can we talk to you- or can I talk- I guess?"
Astrid nods, turning her full attention to Cheryl.
"Is it okay if it's pointless?"
She nods, because Astrid well knows that sometimes the best thought are the pointless ones.
"I have some stories about Jason, is it okay if I talk about those? I was just thinking about them."
She nods again, glancing down at Jason for a moment, before looking back to Cheryl who to watches the sleeping boy.
"When we were six or seven- you have to understand my parents never were very available for us emotionally or physically- my mother wouldn't braid my hair for my school photos anymore and I couldn't figure out how to do it, and I got so frustrated that I started crying. Jason and I were attached at the hip so he'd always watched my mom do it, and he told me to give him the hair tie, because he would do it for me."
She says and Astrid can't help but smile, "And during one of my periods I was watching a movie where a couple finally started dating and I started sobbing and JJ had just gotten back from a rough football practice so he was asleep on the couch across from me and he bolted up and asked what was wrong, and I told him my vagina was crying so I was crying and he just walks out of the house and like twenty minutes later he comes back and hands me a bag of chocolate and tampons and a warm bottle of water and told me that he would've taken ten minutes but he had to google things girls like on their periods."
She stops and sees Astrid pouting with a slight smile, glancing down at Jason.
He hums, readjusting on her lap sleepily, wrapping his arms around her legs as he sleeps .
He'd always been this way— he'd always put people before himself.
"He doesn't hate very much," She says lightly, "But he cannot stand people being sad if he can help it."
And so, Astrid just smiles lightly, patting down his cherry mane.
He was handsome guy, with a beautiful heart.
A rarity, one that she was so thankful for.