His Favorite - Jordan Poole

eighty-one

Beep. Beep. Beep.

That's all Lydia could hear as she headed onto the red-eye flight to New York. Her dad. The one who hated the fact she was doing dance. The one who wanted her to be a lawyer. The one who was last to believe in her talent was on the brink of death.

"Baby. We are here." Jordan says as they pull up to the hospital. Catching a red-eye flight and getting through New York's early morning traffic, Lydia and Jordan finally made it to the hospital. She quickly gets out of the car and runs into the ER. She felt like her life was playing in slow motion.

"How can I help you ma'am?" The secretary asked as they both approach the desk. "I-I'm here for my dad. Andrew Michael." She says feeling Jordan's presence behind her.

"We are not accepting-"

"Lyd!" Landon, Lydia's brother calls out as he sat in the waiting room. She runs over to him and he pulls her into a hug.

"What is going on?" Lydia asked pulling away from Landon to see his eyes bloodshot. Her heart pangs.

"I-I,"

"Lydia," She snaps her head to look over to her mom who looked like she was crying for days.

"Mom?" Lydia says feeling tears come to her eyes. She immediately pulls her mom into a hug and feels the tears hit her sweatshirt.

"I'm sorry." Her mom mumbles and Lydia swallows before taking a deep sigh. "I'm sorry." Her mom repeats letting out a sob. Jordan stands there holding Lydia's bag and looks over to Landon who had stood there in shock.

A loud sob erupts from down the hall and Jordan looks over to see Layla covering her mouth and sliding down the hospital wall. Lydia looks up and her heart drops. What is going on with her dad?

-

"Is the family of Andrew Michael here?" A doctor says coming into the waiting room. After hours and hours of waiting in the living room with no updates on her father's status, everyone stands up and the doctor sighs.

"He is stable now but we are allowing only one visitor for now." He says and they all nod. "Let Lydia go," Landro says looking at her. Lydia looks at Jordan and he nods before kissing her forehead.

"Follow me, honey." A nurse says approaching Lydia and guiding her through the emergency room. Lydia has not seen the hospital since her pregnancy and she always associated the hospital with death.

"If you need anything, I'll be right out here honey." The nurse says stopping in front of the room. Lydia nods before pushing the door open. Her heart drops. Her dad had been connected to several wires and several IV lines coming out of him. She covers her mouth holding back a sob.

"Dad?" She lowly says closing the door behind her. He slowly opens his eyes and gives her a small smile.

"Come," He says opening his arms. Lydia walks over to the side of the hospital bed and he pulls her into a hug.

"I'm sorry baby." He mumbles into the sweatshirt that she wore. Lydia closes her eyes before taking a deep sigh.

"It came back?" Lydia asked sitting up and taking a seat on the chair that was next to the bedside. He nods before taking a hold of her hand.

"How long?" She asked. "Since last year June." He admits and her heart panged. Lydia's dad had battled prostate cancer for almost 6 years and he beat it. But it came back.

"This time more aggressive but I thought I had it under control but I guess not." He lowly says resting his head against the pillow. Lydia closes her eyes before resting her head on the bed.