The Fault (Book 3 in The Deception Series)

Chapter 29: home

Chris

~~~~~~~~~~~

I lay in the hospital bed with Olivia lying on my chest. My friends were laughing and talking while I held the little girl close to me. I had a brain tumor. Yup. Amazing, right? I got surgery and the doctors said it went well. Luckily, I'll be okay. I guess that's why I kept getting those headaches, and why I felt so exhausted all the time. And why I kept throwing up, randomly. I had a seizure that day at the ice rink when my family brought me to the hospital. They told me I had a brain tumor, luckily it was a low-grade tumor, so I'll survive. It was 2 months ago that I found out about it. And now here we are, I've been in the hospital for the last two days, recovering. My friends and family were here, and I've never felt more happy to be alive.

"Dude, why is hospital food so good?" Garrett says as he stuffs his face with mashed potatoes.

"Isn't that for the patients?" I ask him.

"Yeah, this is your food. I took it." He says.

"Seriously, Garrett?" Taylor says.

"I was hungry." He says.

I laugh at them.

"Let me take Olivia, she's probably hurting you." Jess says as she goes to take her daughter.

"No, it's fine. I like her here." I say as I brush her hair out of her face.

She was fast asleep, she looked peaceful. I place a gentle kiss against her head. I felt bad that she saw my seizure, I hope she forgets it as she grows older.

Jess smiles and nods.

"Do you want me to tell you a story, Chrissy?" Brennen asks.

"Yes, make it about fish." I smile.

"Okay, there once was a fat ass fish." He begins.

Jules laughs and shakes her head at him.

"I'll help." Garrett interrupts.

Brennen chuckles and nods.

"This fat ass fish was named Chris." He says.

"Hey!" I snap.

He laughs before Jake speaks up, "Chris had no friends, he was lonely, he also was missing a fin." He says.

I roll my eyes as I listen to this story.

"You guys are so mean." Lily laughs.

"Chris would often get bullied by the other fishes." Brennen says.

"Yes, and there was one fish, named Garrett. He was so sexy, everyone loved him. He was the leader of the school of fish." Garrett says.

"You ruined the story." Brennen says.

"Did not." Garrett says.

Taylor laughs at them and I smile.

"All the lady fishes loved Garrett, they would follow him around everywhere." Garrett goes on.

"And then one day, Garrett gets eaten by a bird." Taylor says.

Garrett gasps as he looks at his girlfriend.

"But Garrett survives and becomes a bird, and then he goes and eats a lady fish named Tay-Tay." Garrett says.

"And then Chris realizes he's a shark, so he saves Tay-Tay and eats Garrett." I say.

"The end." Jules laughs.

We all laugh and Garrett pouts before he goes back to eating.

"It's okay, not all Garrett's get a happy ending." Lily says.

Garrett glares at her and I smile.

"We got bagels!" My parents say as they walk in.

"Oh yes." Jonah says as runs up to them.

They all get their bagels and begin to eat, Taylor takes Olivia and makes Garrett hold her since he isn't eating anymore.

"Taylor, can we make one?" He asks as he looks down at Olivia who is fast asleep in his lap.

"In a couple of years." She says as she eats her bagel.

I smile as I stuff my face with food. I love bagels.

"Here's your phone." Mom says as she hands me my phone.

"Thanks." I say as I look down at it.

I wanted to see if Dakota texted or called. She didn't. I didn't tell her about my brain tumor, Jonah told me to text her about it. But I couldn't. I didn't want to use my tumor as an excuse for her to forgive me for what I did. It wasn't fair. I haven't hooked up or even flirted with anyone since that day. I was only focused on hanging out with my family and friends right now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I walk through the front door of my house and smile. I missed this place.

"Chrissy!!" I hear Garrett's voice.

I look over and see him run down the stairs. I laugh as he hugs me.

"How are you doing, man?" He asks as we pull apart.

"I'm great. All healthy now." I smile.

"Yay!" He cheers.

"Senior year, baby!" I hear Brennen cheer before he comes running down the stairs.

I laugh as he wraps his arms around me.

"This is gonna be a great year, guys. I can feel it." I say.

"Oh yeahhhhhh." Jake sings as he appears from the kitchen.

He throws his arm over my shoulder and I smile at him.

"So, are we going to party or not?" I ask.

"Hell yeah!" Garrett cheers.

"Wooooooo." Brennen yells.

"I'm gonna go unpack first." I say before I grab my stuff and go upstairs.

I walk into my room and smile. I jump on the bed and sigh. Home.

I grab my suitcase and place it on my bed, I start to take my clothes out when I look at the nightstand, I stare at the pregnancy book sitting there. I haven't seen her in 3 months. I wonder if she still worked at the bookstore, I wonder if she still lived at apartment 502. I wonder if her Starbucks order is still a hot caramel macchiato.

Once I finished unpacking, I headed downstairs and the girls were already here. I fall down onto the bean bag.

"Dude, why did we already watch all of these horror movies?" Garrett asks as he scrolls through Netflix.

"Because Chris always wants to watch them." Lily says.

"I just love them, guys." I say.

"Beer?" Brennen asks as he hands me a beer.

"Thanks." I say as I take it.

"Let's watch a Disney movie." Jules says.

"Tangled!" Taylor cheers.

We all agree and play Tangled. I smile as I think about Dakota and the time I watched this movie with her and Olivia.