Leave The City (Book 8 of Adopted by the Josephs)

90. Dylan

I knew I should have insisted Sam go home instead of taking her to the game. We could have watched it on TV.

But, I let her convince me she was okay, even though she kept coughing throughout the afternoon. And it was starting to sound kind of, bad. The problem is, I want to give Samantha everything I can. I know her parents have given her experiences I could probably never duplicate, but I get lost in her eyes and she just makes me want to say yes to everything. Whatever it would take to keep her happy, I want to do.

So, I let her convince me she'd be fine and that she'd tell me if she felt worse. Even as I saw her eyes getting glassier, and as I saw the pink rose on her cheeks. I still didn't insist she go home to rest.

She spent more time in the bathroom than I thought was normal, but she looked okay when she came back out. She complained only of not being able to concentrate on her homework. To be honest, I couldn't either. But she claimed it was from being excited about going to the game. For me it was because I get lost looking at her. I just can't describe how much I love Sam and how much I want to make sure she's taken care of. That's she's okay.

She drank two hot teas while we were trying to get our homework done. She kept coughing and clearing her throat, and I don't think she really noticed.

And then she seemed a bit better, maybe, when we got to the game. A couple of the Toronto players came and talked to her because well, she's Samantha. Everyone who has met her loves her.  You can't convince me otherwise. The Lakers were playing the Raptors, and the Raptors had been playing the Cavs when Sam got into the car accident with her dad a couple of years ago. Both teams had visited her in the hospital after the game. She had been in a coma and had no clue. But here she was, in LA, talking to Kyle Lowry from the Raptors as if they were old friends. Sometimes I'm in awe of how easily Sam talks to people most people are intimidated by. I mean, I still get nervous when Sam's dad is around. Or if we're hanging at Sarah and Brendon's place and Pete Wentz comes over. Sam calls him Uncle Pete. I can barely get two words out when he's around. Fall Out Boy has been one of my favourite bands since I was a kid. And Sam just chats with Pete or Joe as if they aren't these famous rock stars.

But she doesn't make a big deal of it. It was a couple of weeks into the school year before we even learned who she was staying with. She never makes it a big deal with the people she's met. I mean, she played basketball with the President after the shooting at her school in Ohio. It was all over the news. She's never even mentioned it.

And that's one of the things I love so much about her. She's so humble and gets embarrassed if anyone brings up her past 'celebrity encounters'. She's never held it over anyone or anything. And it's not an act. She's always saying how grateful she is for the experiences her parents have been able to arrange for her, and that she knows that she's extremely lucky.

But still. I should have insisted on going home to watch the game. Because just as the game ended, as we were getting up to leave, Sam grabbed my arm.

"Dylan," she breathed out, as if she couldn't catch her breath. "I don't feel so good"

And then she passed out in my arms. I was able to get her back into a seat and called security over. Sam wasn't waking up and at this point I realized the heat I had been feeling wasn't the crowd (though that had been part of it). Sam was radiating heat.

They called the onsite medics who called for an ambulance because Sam wasn't waking up, and because they'd taken her temperature with one of those temperature gun things and it had shown 104°.

Because we aren't related (yet), the paramedics wouldn't let me ride with her but by the time I got to my car, a lot of the traffic was gone and I followed the ambulance to the hospital.

I called Brendon's phone as soon as I checked in on Sam when we got to the hospital and told him what had happened. They showed up about a half hour later. I wasn't going anywhere anyway, so Sam was never alone except in the ambulance and when they took her for some imaging.

Finally, they determined she had the flu and pneumonia. The doctor said it could be because she'd had her spleen removed after the accident with Brandi, that she got so sick so fast, since her immune system is compromised without a spleen.

I sat beside her, holding her hand. She hadn't regained consciousness yet. I was worried.

Around midnight she woke up, said something that made no sense and had a seizure.

She had several seizures throughout the night and her temperature wasn't coming down. It was 105° by the time she got to the hospital and stayed high almost all night. It came down a little as the sun was rising.

"Mama?" She said in a small voice, for the second time. Brendon and Sarah shot up, as did I, and we were at her side in an instant.

"Hey," Brendon said to her, stroking her hair.

"Wha?" She asked, looking around and trying to sit up.

"Hey, hey," I said, gently pushing her back down. "You're okay, you're in the hospital."

"Why?" She frowned, looking between Brendon and Sarah and I.

"Remember yesterday when you told us all you were fine?" I asked, smirking at her.

"Yeah," she said, frowning.

"Well, Sam, you weren't fine," Brendon frowned a little at her. "You've got the flu, and pneumonia, and you passed out at the game."

"No," she said. "What game?"

I looked at Brendon and Sarah and they looked at me.

Sam didn't remember going to the game last night?