Starting Over (ITILMBBF Sequel)

A Family Matter

The following days are long. I email all my professors to let them know I won't be in this week. Given Adam's star power and the show he put on in front of the whole campus at the football field, they expected as much. Instead of attending classes Chace, Aaron, and I hover around the hospital. The staff was nice enough to bring in an extra chair so Aaron didn't have to sit on the floor. Not that he stays in one place for long anyway.

Aaron developed the role of our official gopher. The first night and morning after, he ran around getting us food and coffee. Making sure we ate, slept, and breathed sustenance instead of just our worry for Adam. His errand running only got worse when my parents arrived the next day.

They took a flight to Miami and arrived as soon as possible. Mom was inconsolable and I pitied the passengers who had to sit next to her on the plane ride over. Surely, they were flying to Miami for a more upbeat reason than their son laying in a hospital bed. My dad probably could've tempered her hysterics, if he had any control of his own emotions. If my mom was depression, my dad was pure rage. Yelling at the staff to do more. Like the nurses could wake him early from his medically induced coma.

The five of us camped out daily through visiting hours, though us youngins were sent on our way after they were over. The only ones who could stay were my parents and that was only because Adam was still young enough to make use out of the pediatric wing. It was almost funny, actually. My quest for independence, Adam always appearing larger than life and so much wiser than me. He was still a child. Still had to rely on our parents. We both did.

We hadn't talked about it yet, how my brother ended up here. But then the first Saturday after his incident, my parents invited Chace and I out for dinner and I just knew it was time to fess up. I had told the doctors already, the first night I got here. I wasn't going to mess with Adam's recovery, even if I was just informing them of what they already guessed (healthy, non-drug using nineteen year olds don't just have heart attacks).

I was grateful for Chace's presence at the local chain restaurant that night. I would've been even more grateful if Aaron had been here to act as a second buffer. Unfortunately for me, he left with Adam's football team earlier. I couldn't be sure, but I highly suspected my parents had waited to invite us out until Chace and I were alone.

The restaurant was noisy especially for a Saturday night. There was a great deal of hustle and bustle, as the wait staff swept through the narrow aisles to deliver trays of piping hot food. Kitschy decorations of street signs and memorabilia hung on the dark wood walls. I was surprised my parents would pick this place. They usually preferred a quiet, upscale destination, as did I. The only one who looked remotely at home was Chace, sitting with us as if we were his own family and the air wasn't ripe with tension. Though, that was always something I'd admired about Chace, he's got confidence.

Despite his apparent ease, no one spoke until the waitress came to take our orders. Instead we all studied the menus intensely as if the wait staff wouldn't return in five minutes if we sent them away with our indecisiveness. Decisions had been particularly hard for me since Adam landed in that bed. So when she asked what I wanted I let my eyes skim to the very first thing I saw.

"Mushroom Ravioli."

I handed over my menu and the table turned to Chace so he could order. His brows were furrowed in confusion as he stared down at me. It was only then I realized that I hated mushrooms and I'd ordered them on complete autopilot. Oh, well. I wasn't in the mood to eat lately anyway. My eyes darted away from Chace and I let out a heavy sigh.

"Personal pizza with spinach and tomato."

That sounded so good. Maybe if I was lucky he'd let me have a nibble. Only I didn't think luck was on my side tonight as my father opened his mouth and all the anger he'd reserved for the nursing staff poured out onto us.