•••••Austyn's Perspective
7:30 a.m.
Visiting hours opened at 6:30, so I got up at 6 and took a taxi to the hospital.
It was a little nerve-racking, hailing a cab by myself, but there was no way Sky and Josh were getting up an hour early.
My pulse quickened a little, having to get inside a random person's vehicle and trust them to take me where I wanted to go, but I don't think my heart rate had slowed since Josh told me about Ben's accident anyway.
The nurse was a little surprised that I'd showed up so early, because apparently, normal people don't do that.
But she let me in nonetheless.
According to her, Ben had woken up once last night, but he was still asleep when I got there.
So I pulled one of the chairs up next to his bed, took his hand in mine, and sat still.
For an hour, I just sat there, scrolling through the show and matinee schedule, and trying to figure out which days I should take off to stay home with him when he was released.
I bit my lip. 'Two days is probably all I can afford,'
We had a matinee as well as a show that day, a show tomorrow, and another two-show day on Thursday.
'I could take off tomorrow and the show Thursday night?' I pulled up a direct message thread to Mr. Calhoun. 'That's a good compromise, isn't it?'
But before I could type my offer out, Ben's fingers tightened around mine.
I shut my phone off and set it on the chair next to me, smiling as I watched him blink the sleep from his eyes.
"You're up early."
"So are you." He replied. "What time is it?"
"7:30."
He wrinkled his nose, struggling to sit up. "That is early."
"No," I set my hand on his shoulder. "Lay back down."
"Austyn—"
"Really?" I raised an eyebrow. "You really wanna fight me on this? Again?"
He shook his head, obeying my instructions. "You're never gonna let me live that down, are you?"
"After you ignored me and wound up in the hospital? Never."
"I'm sorry." He said, genuinely apologizing. "I should've listened to you."
"I forgive you." I pressed my lips to his forehead. "Just remember this the next time you think I'm wrong."
He rolled his eyes. "You can't use this against me every time I disagree with you."
"Trust me, I will."
A loud gasp came from the doorway. "He lives!"
Ben laughed as Josh bounded across the room, with Sky following sluggishly in tow.
I left Ben's side to make room for Josh, and moved to stand next to my cousin.
"How're you holding up?" I asked, lowering my voice.
He exhaled, his shoulders slumping, and looked down at me with a sad gaze. "I want her to come home."
"She'll be home soon," I placed my hand sympathetically on his arm. "Day one."
"Day one." He agreed.
"Did Aiden leave already?" Ben asked, taking note of Sky's melancholy demeanor.
I nodded. "Last night."
"I don't remember...did I say goodbye to her?"
"No," Josh shook his head. "You were asleep. But she kissed you on the cheek, so it's all good."
"I should call her today."
"We're all gonna call her today." I said, glancing up at Sky. "Maximum of three times."
"Dang it." He muttered under his breath.
"Anyway," Josh turned to me. "We just wanted to swing by and see if you wanted to grab breakfast or something before the matinee."
Ben pressed an offended hand to his chest. "You mean you didn't come to see me?"
"We didn't think you'd be awake!" Josh retaliated, raising his hands defensively.
"It's fine." Ben crossed his arms, looking away with a fake sniff. "I don't need you."
Josh rolled his eyes. "Right, and who would make sure you always made it home safe at night?"
"The sugar plum fairy." Ben shot back, an amused glint in his bright blue eyes.
I shrugged. "I could see Josh as the sugar plum fairy."
"So could I, but that's beside the point," Josh returned the conversation to its original track. "Do you want to go to breakfast with us or not?"
"Well," I looked back down at Ben, "maybe I should stay,"
He tilted his head. "Why?"
"Won't you get bored?"
"Eh," he shrugged, "I should probably call my mom, and that'll probably take up a fair amount of time."
"But we'd have to go to the theater directly after we eat." I winced. "That's over eight hours by yourself."
He gave me a smirk. "Do you mean 'by myself' as in 'lonely', or as in 'unsupervised'?"
"Seriously," I ignored his sarcasm, "I can stay—"
"No." He shook his head. "You should go with them."
"Are you sure?"
He nodded. "I'm positive. You'll be back here when I get released anyway."
"Alright." I surrendered. "When do you get released?"
"4:30."
"We'll come back right after the matinee." Josh promised, dragging Sky out of the room by the arm.
I looked back down at Ben. "I guess I'll see you later this afternoon."
He nodded, smiling. "See you then."
I pressed a quick kiss to his lips. "Try to stay out of trouble."
"Love you," He said, his smirk still prominently displayed across his expression.
"Love you too." I replied, following the boys out the door.
"You do realize that wasn't a promise to stay out of trouble?" Josh whispered to me as we walked down the hallway.
"Yeah, I know." I shrugged, smiling softly. "But it was good enough for me."
He gasped loudly and stumbled against the wall, feigning dramatic agony. "No! It's too much cute for me to handle this early in the morning!"
"It's almost eight o'clock." Sky mumbled.
Josh scowled and sped up his walking pace so he could vehemently repeat his sentence in Sky's ear, "This. Early. In. The. Morning."
"Alright," I stepped in between then before Sky could slap Josh away himself. "Let's just go get some food, okay?"
The boys behaved themselves long enough for us to find a restaurant and get a table without any tears or silent treatments.
Ordering food was particularly uneventful, aside from Josh trying to figure out how much bacon he could buy with the extra $5 in his pocket.
(I feel like I've severely excluded the 'bacon enthusiast' canon and I am terribly sorry??)
"14 pieces." He sighed happily, munching on the fourth. "Best $5 I ever spent."
"It's just food." Sky grumbled, stabbing his pancakes with his fork.
"You take that back!" Josh cried angrily.
Sky set his fork down and crossed his arms, staring at Josh pointedly. "No."
"Guys, please," I begged, "You were doing so well."
A FaceTime request suddenly popped up on my phone, saving me from having to try and reason with them.
"Who is it?" Josh asked curiously, shoving another piece of bacon into his mouth.
I bit back a smile as I read the name that was displayed across the screen.
Aiden Tracer
I accepted it without hesitation, turning the phone so Josh and Sky could see it as well.
"Mom!" Josh exclaimed happily, his mouth full of food.
She laughed, waving excitedly. "Hi! What're you eating?"
"Bacon!" He replied.
"Have you been good for Austyn this morning?"
His smile vanished, and he looked over at me. "Have I?"
I nodded. "They've both been pretty good. Two near-arguments, but so far, everybody's in one piece."
She smiled, offering me faux applause. "Brava! How's Ben?"
"They told me he was awake last night, he was awake when we saw him this morning, and they're releasing him this afternoon."
"That's good," she said sincerely. "That's really good. I'm glad he's feeling better."
"I'm sorry I can't say the same for all of us." I dipped my head in Sky's direction.
"Ah," she nodded in understanding, before speaking to the sad redhead. "Good morning, Skyler."
"Good morning." He answered. "You look very pretty today."
She laughed. "Thank you."
"I miss you."
"I miss you too."
"When are you coming back?" He inquired, his bronze eyes gazing at her pleadingly.
"Soon." She said. "Try not to be so sad, okay?"
"Okay."
"Smile for me?" She asked.
He did as she asked, managing a small grin.
"Ugh." She smiled back at him. "You're so handsome."
Josh gripped my hand under the table, desperately trying not to screech at how cute they were.
"Alright," She exhaled, offering a frown. "I have to go pick my mom up from the airport before my next rehearsal, but I'll talk to you guys again later, okay?"
"We'll make sure Ben's here next time." I promised. "If he's awake, that is."
"Let the kid rest all he needs." She agreed. "I'll spam his text messages if I have to."
I laughed. "Thanks for checking in, Aiden. We all miss you."
"I can't wait to see you again, mom!" Josh chimed in with his signature smile.
She covered her eyes. "Please stop breaking my heart, all of you."
"You're the one who left!" I retaliated.
"Yeah, remind me never to do that again." She sighed. "I love you all, and I'll talk to you later,"
"Bye!" We all waved before she cut the connection.
Sky nodded, pulling out a pen and etching a tally mark onto an unused napkin, along with the day's date. "One call down, two to go."
After paying for our meal and making sure that we hadn't left anything important like phones or wallets behind, we took another taxi to the theater.
I hardly remember anything at all up until the matinee—which is saying something considering I had about five hours to kill until the places call, but the events after the show were more memorable.
I was approached by nearly every member in the cast, presented with homemade get-well cards for Ben, all made from markers and colorful construction paper.
Usually there'd only be one card per cast member, but in some cases, such as that of Zachary Sayle, there could be up to five to seven.
I guess some people get more excited about get-well cards than others.
Mr. Calhoun had to help me find a large Ziploc bag to carry all 28 cards, but we eventually got all of them packaged up.
"Is he headed home today?" Mr. Calhoun asked as helped me fit the last card into the bag. "Or are visiting opportunities still open?"
"He's getting discharged at 4:30, but he'll have to stay home for another day or two, if you wanted to visit him at the house."
He nodded, handing me the bag. "Give him my best."
I smiled. "I will. Thanks for helping me with the cards."
"Make sure you take care of yourself too, now, okay?" He said, giving me a stern look.
I nodded, turning and exiting the resource room.
Finding Sky and Josh wasn't as much of a hassle as I thought it'd be, even with the theater's massive size.
Sky found me before I could even begin looking for him, and we found Josh in a heated argument over Cats.
"Why don't you take him to the vending machine to get a water bottle or something to help him cool off?" I suggested to Sky as we walked through the hospital's entrance. "We've still got twenty minutes or so before Ben can go home."
"Good idea." Sky agreed, glancing over at Josh, who was still fuming.
"'Doesn't even have a plot'." He continued his angry mumbling. "What do they know about plot?"
"Hey," Sky nudged him. "Do you want a pop tart?"
Josh looked up at him, sniffed, and nodded.
"Okay," Sky placed his hand on his shoulder. "Let's go find the vending machine."
I shot them a smile before heading in the opposite direction, toward Ben's room.
His eyes were open, but he seemed to be half-asleep: he was blinking slowly, and his gaze wasn't focused on anything in particular.
He glanced up at me when I sat down on the edge of his bed, but then let his eyes wander again.
"You were wide awake the last time we were here." I said softly, slipping my fingers through his blonde curls. "How do you feel?"
"Sick." He murmured.
I nodded. "They said that would happen. Why don't you try and get some rest before we take you home, okay?"
He managed to shake his head, wincing slightly, as if it hurt to do so. "I only have a few more minutes before they let me go. I have to stay awake."
"Go ahead and sleep a little." I insisted. "You can stay a few extra minutes if you have to."
"Are you sure?"
I nodded. "I'm sure."
His eyelids began to slide shut. "Will you wake me up?"
"I'll wake you up when it's time to go."
"Okay," he breathed, drifting off.
I kept running my hand through his hair, waiting patiently as his breathing fell into a steady rhythm.
It was around 4:15 when someone knocked on the doorframe.
"Hey, Austyn." A familiar voice greeted me with a sickeningly cheerful tone.
I folded my hands in my lap, looking up and forcing a smile. "Chase,"
(I know y'all missed him)
"Jeff told me I'd find you here." He said, stepping into the room. "Yikes," he winced when he caught sight of Ben. "He looks a little worse for wear."
"Did you stop by to visit him?" I asked, hoping I could come up with a believable excuse for him to leave. "He just fell asleep, and I don't think he'll feel much like talking when he wakes up,"
"No, actually," he slid his hands into his pockets. "I came to see you."
I raised an eyebrow. "Me?"
He nodded. "Yeah, I was wondering if you," he scratched the back of his neck, "I don't know, wanted to go out with me tonight?"
My blood ran cold. "Wait, what?"
"I'm asking if you want to go on a date with me." He clarified his question. "There's a nice restaurant down the street from the theater, and I think you might like it."
I stared up at him in disgust. "Are you kidding me?"
"Well, if you're busy, then we can find another night to—"
"You're seriously asking me out?" I gestured down to Ben's motionless body. "In front of him?"
Chase blinked, confused. "He wouldn't have to know, would he? And he doesn't exactly seem to be awake, so,"
I widened my eyes, beyond mortified. "Are you trying to get me to cheat on my boyfriend?"
He raised his hands in surrender. "It's not like that—"
"Then what is it like?"
"Well, for starters, 'cheat' is a strong word. I just wanted to, y'know," he shrugged, as if it wasn't a big deal, "give you another option."
I couldn't stop myself from laughing. "What makes you think I need another option?"
He returned my amusement, snickering, but his laughter was cold and full of ridicule. "I mean, when you get mixed up with him," he nodded to Ben, "I can't see why you wouldn't want another option. Think of me as a way out."
"Why do you assume that I want to get away from him?" I narrowed my eyes, trying to figure his reasoning out. "Did I drop any hints that I was unhappy?"
"It's just common sense. I mean, I get that everybody thinks Ben Cook is this spectacular dancer, but," he shrugged, "I don't find him that impressive."
I crossed my arms, taking a deep breath. "Well, I'm sorry that he doesn't impress you, but he impresses me, and I happen to be very satisfied with the relationship I have."
He raised an eyebrow. "You've gotta be kidding me."
I hugged my arms closer to myself, wishing he would just disappear. "I would like you to leave."
He didn't move a muscle. "But, you haven't thanked me for my offer—"
"I did not find it a polite or necessary offer, and I'm not going to thank you for it. Now, please," I fixed him with a hard stare—the one I used to get Sky to go to bed on Friday nights, "go."
Still, he didn't move. "I'm not leaving until you say—"
"She asked you to leave her alone." Josh suddenly appeared in the doorway, crossing his arms with a scowl.
Chase glared. "She's being rude and irrational—"
"You're being rude and irrational." Josh replied. "That happens to be my honorary sister, and I won't tolerate you bothering her."
"I was merely making her a proposition." Chase raised his hands in innocent surrender. "No harm, no foul."
Josh sighed. "Sir, I may not look like much," he shrugged, "but I will knock you into next Tuesday if need be. So, for the love of Racetrack Higgins, go away."
Chase stared him down for a few seconds more, before nodding stiffly. "Okay, fine." And he calmly strode out of the room.
As soon as he was gone, I let out a sigh of relief, hiding my face in my hands.
I felt Josh's hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"No," I laughed, standing up and letting him slip his arms around me. "Thank you."
"Anytime," He hugged me closer, slowly rocking me back and forth. "Scaring creepers off is my hidden talent."
"I see that." I looked up at him apologetically. "I'm sorry you had to get involved. It wouldn't have happened if he had just left when I asked him to."
"Oh, I don't mind." He released me, his gaze falling on Ben. "I made a promise to him, when he started dating you. Well," he rolled his eyes, "I didn't tell him about it, but I promised myself that I'd look out for you when he wasn't around. Did the same for Sky and Aiden."
I swear I could feel my heart breaking. "That's sweet, Josh."
"I wasn't trying to be sweet," he shrugged, fumbling with his words, "I was just trying to be a good brother."
"You are the best brother." I smiled, hooking my arm around his torso in a side-hug. "And whoever ends up with you is going to be one of the luckiest women alive."
He managed a sheepish grin. "That's nice of you to say."
Another knock sounded on the doorframe, but to my relief, it wasn't Chase this time.
"We're ready to release him," the nurse said, stepping inside and handing Josh the discharge papers. "He has to be out by five o'clock, so you've got a little bit of time to get him up and walking, but I'd recommend getting him out as soon as possible. We need to get the room ready for the next patient."
Josh smiled. "Thank you."
She gave us a nod before leaving.
I knelt down beside the hospital bed and placed my hand on Ben's arm, gently nudging him.
His eyes cracked open. "What?"
I breathed a laugh. "It's time to go."
"It is?"
"Yeah," I nodded. "Do you feel any better?"
"A little bit."
"Well enough to walk to the car?"
He nodded. "I think so."
After Ben had changed into a fresh set of clothes and had walked around the room a bit, we gathered what little he'd brought to the hospital and left, finding Sky somewhere along the way.
Ben could stand upright and walk straight, but it was clear that he desperately wanted to lay down again.
A passing nurse noticed, and offered us the vacant wheelchair she'd been steering around the hallway.
We accepted it thankfully, and Josh immediately began begging me for the right of pushing Ben to the parking lot.
I, stupidly, said yes without hesitation, and spent the rest of the walk through the hospital struggling to prevent him from doing wheelies and sending Ben speeding down the hall at unreasonable speeds.
Josh got him out of the hospital as quickly as he could without getting our wheelchair privileges taken away, and helped Ben into the car, where he happily sat down again for the drive back to the house.
"Still got a temperature," I muttered to myself, feeling his forehead with the back of my hand. "Does your head hurt at all?"
Ben shrugged, struggling to keep his eyes open. "Nah, I'm fine. I mean, it does kind of feel like I got hit by a truck, but I'm fine."
I sighed, pressing my hand to his cheek. "You're exhausted, aren't you?"
"More than I've ever been in my life,"
"Come here," I guided his head to lay atop my shoulder. "We're almost there."
"I don't need to be babied." He chided, but he closed his eyes and rested against me.
"I'll baby you if I want." I said decidedly. "And you are a bit of a baby at the moment, so it seems appropriate."
"So cute." Josh whispered from the front seat. "So heckin' cute."
Ben went straight to bed as soon as we stepped through the house's front door, and I dragged Josh and Sky into the kitchen.
"Okay," I began, trying to remember the procedures my mom would follow whenever I had a fever. "Do we have any washcloths that won't be used?"
Sky raised his hand. "There are a bunch of extras in our bathroom."
"But, won't we need them for showers?" Josh asked.
I dismissed his concern with a wave of my hand. "We can do laundry. Bring me every single extra."
They nodded and ran off.
When we'd gathered all of the washcloths we could spare, I sent Sky on a medicine run, and put Josh to work helping me soak the washcloths, and then ring them out.
"This seems a little excessive," he remarked as he rolled up another damp washcloth.
I shook my head. "I'm not taking any risks."
He shrugged. "Whatever you say."
"Trust my mom, if you can't trust me." I said, repeating the rinsing and ringing process for the last washcloth. "This is what she would do for me."
"Oh," he lowered his head, "I do trust your mom."
I patted his arm. "Let's get these into the freezer."
"The freezer?"
"Trust my mom!" I reminded him, opening the freezer door and beginning to nearly stack all the rolled up washcloths on the top rack.
"So," Josh started, leaning against the counter, "how many days do you think Ben will be out?"
I glanced back at him. "What do you mean?"
"How many days do you think Ben's gonna be off his feet?" He asked again. "I need to know how many shows I'm gonna have to skip to watch him until he can be home alone."
"Oh, Josh, you don't need to skip any shows." I shook my head. "I was gonna message Mr. Calhoun to count me out for a day or two."
"That's okay, I can do it. I don't want you to have to have to sit any performances out."
"Josh," I set the last washcloth on the rack and closed the freezer door. "You've already done so much for me—"
"And I can do a little more." He shrugged. "Unless you want to skip the shows?"
"No, of course not, but surely you don't want to miss any either?"
"Well, no, but you're more important."
I sighed, giving in. "You know I'm never gonna be able to repay you. For any of this."
"I'm not asking for anything in return—"
"Well, you should be!" I snapped in exasperation, before taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry,"
He shook his head. "That's okay."
"No, it's not." I turned my palms upward. "You're being the nicest guy on the planet, and I'm..." I managed a laugh, "I'm a mess."
"You're tired." He corrected me. "And I'm just following my promise. Ben's out, so the least I could do to help him is help you."
"Yeah, but after what happened with Chase earlier, and now you're taking time off," I shrugged, "it's too much for me to just say 'thank you'."
"Well, there is something I've been meaning to ask you, if you'd want to consider that as a way to pay me back?"
"I'm listening."
He pulled out his phone, pulling up a screenshot of an advertisement. "There's this other theater nearby here that's doing a charity event, kind of like you and Aiden did that one time. It's two nights back to back, duets the first night and solos the second night." He bit his lip. "Would you do a duet with me?"
I nodded without hesitation. "Absolutely."
He smiled. "Really?"
"Why wouldn't I? Do you have a song in mind?"
"No," he winced, "and it's next week, but I'm sure we can find something in time."
"Sure we can." I agreed. "We'll figure it out."
"Great! And now that that's settled," he set his hand briefly on my arm. "Why don't you try and get some sleep?"
"I got plenty last night—"
He gave me a look. "Right, after going to bed past ten and getting up at six?"
I scoffed, crossing my arms. "I think I can take care of myself—"
"Nope. There's time for you to get a small nap in before tonight's show." He interrupted me, pointing in the direction of Aiden and I's room. "Bed. Now."
"Fine," I gave up fighting and trudged through the living room, running into Sky in the hallway and nearly causing him to drop his two newly purchased bottles of Tylenol.
"Why're you so grouchy?" He asked as I shoved past him.
"Because Joshua is being bossy." I replied, walking into the bedroom and closing the door behind me.
I sat down on the edge of the bed, pulling my phone out of my pocket.
Almost five o'clock.
'He sends me to bed at almost five o'clock.' I rolled my eyes, but a puzzled thought suddenly surfaced. 'Has it really been half an hour since we left the hospital?'
Half an hour since Chase.
Frowning, I typed Aiden's number into my phone and held it to my ear, tapping my finger against the case as I listened to it ring.
"Hey," she answered almost immediately. "How's things?"
"They're alright." I cleared my throat. "Um, can I ask you a question?"
"Fire away."
"Did you get a chance to meet Ben's new understudy?"
"Chase Henington? Yeah, I know the kid."
"You met him before?"
"Mhm. He was an understudy for Antony in Sweeney Todd in L.A."
"Oh." I tucked my feet up underneath me. "What's your...impression of him?"
"He seems nice. Why? Did you perceive otherwise?"
"No," I threw a little sarcasm into my voice, shaking my head. "No, he does seem nice. A little too nice."
She sucked in a breath. "Oh my gosh. Are you serious?"
"Yep." I nodded. "Josh had to scare him off."
"I am so sorry, Austyn," she exhaled sharply, as if she was trying to restrain herself from screaming. "Gosh, sorry, I really wanna commit a homicide right now."
"I've still got that thirty bucks, if you need me to bail you out." I joked. "Although, Sky may or may not have just spent it on Tylenol for Ben."
"Oh, shoot, that's right!" She groaned. "Ben's out sick!"
I sat up straighter, having a feeling she was getting to the part of the conundrum that I was worried about. "Do you think Chase will bother me again? Because, you know, Ben's out of the picture for a few days?"
She took a deep breath. "I don't know. But whatever happens, I'm sure you'll be fine."
"Okay," I said, my voice beginning to tremble. "It's just, I've never had to deal with this before,"
"I know you haven't. You're so pure and innocent, I actually cannot believe he would pick on you." She sighed, "but, that being said, you can take care of yourself. Keep your guard up, but don't keep your head down."
I nodded. "Okay."
"You're gonna be okay, I promise."
I nodded again. "Yeah."
"I gotta go to another rehearsal now, but call me up anytime, okay?"
"I will." I promised. "Thanks."
"Anytime." And with that, she ended the connection.
My mind buzzed with the day's events and the possibilities of that of tomorrow's, but I managed to fall asleep before too long.
__________
Ooooooooo spooky spooky foreshadowing spooky spooky