By the time I stormed back into the diner, Liam right on my heels, Lily and Alex were already done eating. Lily raised a brow at me.
“You look angrier now than you were when you left.”
“That might have something to do with your asshole of a brother.” I snarled, nodding my head towards him.
“She called me handsome.” he said, smirking.
“That is a complete and utter lie!!” I yelled at him. “You are a narcissistic, self centered, egocentric, pompous, self indulgent--”
“Hey, I wonder how many synonyms for narcissist you can come up with!!” he exclaimed, cutting me off.
“OH MY GOD Lily can we just go home? I can only deal with so much Liam for one night--” I abruptly stopped talking at the sight of both Lily and Alex grinning like I’d just told the best joke they ever heard.
“Yeah, sure, we can go home.” said Lily, still carrying the face of the cheshire cat. “Let’s get a box for your fries, then we’ll get in the car.”
I slumped into the backseat, preparing myself for the longest car ride of my life. As Lily pulled out of the parking lot and Liam opened his mouth to what would likely be some stupid variation of ‘hey, I’m gonna annoy you, Sam!’, my phone rang again. This time, though, I decided to answer, willing to do anything to avoid a conversation with Liam (if ‘conversation’ could even be used to describe an exchange with him).
“SAMANTHA LAUREN COLLINS, THIS IS THE THIRD TIME I’VE CALLED YOU, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN????”
I winced as my mother’s deafening voice screamed through the phone. Liam raised a brow at me, amused. I stuck my tongue out at him.
“Hey mom… nice to talk to you too. What’s up?” The other end of the line was silent. Or at least, it sounded like it was. But over the soft rumble of the car motor, I heard the faint sound of sobbing. “Mom? Are you okay?” I asked. Maybe one of my little cousins was at the house. Still no answer. “Mom? Mom, is something wrong? Is dad okay?”
The sobbing was getting louder. Liam was looking at me, concerned. (I know, Liam, concerned? Wow.) Lily pulled the car to the side of the road and looked over at me. I exchanged a worried glance with her.
“Mom!!! Answer me!!!” I exclaimed.
“Sorry, honey, I just--” she was hysterical. “It’s Ted, he-- drunk-- car crash, doctor’s--” her words were pretty much incomprehensible, but I got the point.
“Okay mom, hold on. Are you at the hospital?” she made a noise that sounded mildly like a ‘yes’. I brought my phone down from my ear and covered the speaker. “Lily, could you please drop me off at the hospital? It’s Ted. He--” My voice cracked. I swallowed. “I think he’s gotten in an accident.” I sniffled. Lily immediately started the car and sped off towards the hospital.
There were a few minutes of tense silence. Of course, Liam didn’t make things better.
“Uh, sorry to have to ask this but I’m kinda lost here. Who’s Ted? Is he some boyfriend I didn’t know about, or…” he trailed off.
I sniffed. “Family friend. A really good family friend. We’ve known each other since we were born.” Liam nodded slowly.
“So… not a boyfriend then?”
The car jerked suddenly. “God, Liam, you’re not helping here!!! Does it even matter whether they dated or not? He’s in the hospital, probably holding on for his life, and all you can think about is whether or not Sam’s been romantically involved with him. You’re such a fucking ass, I don’t even know how you ended up as my brother.”
All three of us were in shock. Lily almost never swore. But she’d been almost as close to Ted as me, so it was understandable that she was stressed out, too. Alex put a hand on her knee, attempting to comfort her as she held back her tears and kept her eyes on the road.
“Technically you ended up as my sister, not the other way around.” Liam mumbled. I shot him a glare.
“If you must know, Liam,” I started, hoarsely. “Ted and I dated for two years in high school, then we broke up after prom.” I hesitated. “His parents died when he was really young, and my parents were his godparents, so we grew up in the same house.” I laughed bitterly. “It never would’ve worked out between us, anyways, we were too much like siblings.”
The car was silent for the rest of the ride.
We arrived at the hospital in record time, which, incidentally, was not very fast at all. Lily took a shaky breath as she unlocked the car doors and the four of us sat in silence.
“I’m scared of what I’ll find when I walk into that hospital room.” I said softly.
I don’t think anyone knew how to respond to that.
“Just… just call me when you know he’s okay, alright? I don’t want to spend the night thinking my best friend’s best friend might be dead because then she wouldn’t be okay then I wouldn’t be okay and I--”
She started sobbing. Liam and Alex immediately moved to comfort her. I quietly left the car.
“Hi, there. Could I get the name of the patient you’re visiting?” asked the nurse at the front desk. I cleared my throat and nodded.
“Yeah, um, Ted-- Theodore Williams.” I fidgeted nervously as the nurse typed his name into the computer.
“And you’re a family member?” she asked. “Could I get an ID please?”
I took out my driver’s license. “My parents are his godparents. His parents passed away a while back. He’s basically my brother.”
The nurse smiled sympathetically. “He’s in room 426. Take the elevator up to the fourth floor then go left, the room’s on the right.”
I nodded, and swallowed nervously. “Do you-- would you be able to tell me if he’s alright? You know, just so I can prepare myself.”
She tilted her head a little, then responded warmly. “I think it’d be best for you to see him yourself, but he’s not in the best condition.”
I inhaled and exhaled slowly. “Thank you.”
She nodded. “Good luck. I hope Theodore gets better.”
I attempted to smile at her but it came out as more of a grimace.
When I stepped out of the elevator I could already hear my mother’s sobbing. I followed the noise and made my way to Ted’s room, where I found my mother and father sitting on opposite sides of a bed with Ted lying down, eyes closed. A shiver went down my spine at the sight of Ted so motionless and pale. Out of the two of us, he’d always been the optimist, always happier, always more energetic.
A tear slipped down my cheek and I wiped it away immediately with a small sniffle. My mother and father lifted their heads at the sound, my mom immediately jumping up to come hug me. I just stood there, still as statue, trying to process that fact that Ted-- Ted, the boy who never drank a single drop, who took care of me when I was too drunk to think-- was fighting for his life after driving drunk.
I hesitantly stepped forward. Then I took another step, and another, until I was right beside him. I reached my hand out and touched his hand, trying to make myself believe that this was real. That this was really my Ted.
I grasped his hand loosely with one hand, while brushing his cheek with the other. The moment my fingers met his skin, he jerked and the pulse monitor started going ballistic. Oh God, I thought to myself. Ted is dying. He’s dying. I have to do something. I sat down and his bed dipped. The monitor went even crazier but I just rubbed his hand and kept on whispering,
“You’re going to be okay, Ted. You’ll fight through this, just like you fought for everything you ever got. You’ll be fine. You’ll wake up, and you’ll be okay. You’ll be okay.”
Whether I was talking to Ted, or my parents, or myself, I couldn’t tell. When the nurses and the doctor came rushing in, trying to rush me out and insisting that Ted had to be left alone, I wouldn’t move. I kept holding his hand and whispering those words like a mantra, and all the other people in the room were just bees buzzing about, for all I cared.
“Ms. Collins, please, you have to let him rest,” they all said. “he needs all the sleep he can get to recover.” I closed my eyes, and brought his hand to my lips, inhaling his orange vanilla scent that I hadn’t forgotten after months without seeing him. And slowly but surely, his heart rate rose back to normal, and the hospital room was left with frenzied, anxious breathing, and the steady beeping of Ted’s heartbeat.
