How to Save A Life (On Hold)

6. Card Games

I went home at 2 in the morning and didn't fall asleep till 3. Drew drove me home and I went to bed. That's it; there's nothing else to it.
I went to school the next day and I was really tired. I was so tired, I fell asleep in history and got sent to study hall once again.
Mr. Morgan blinks at me when I walk into study hall, "again?" I don't reply. Nothing about the classroom has changed since the last time I was here, except, now I'm not alone in here. In the back of the room just across from Mr. Morgan is Jacob, my old best friend. He stares at me, I give a little wave and he ignores it.
"Okay," I mutter under my breath and then take my seat closer to the front of the room.
I'm still really sleepy, so I lay my head down on my desk and think about last night. How strange is it to sit on a rock with someone you barely know for five hours and not say a single word to each other? I'm still trying to figure out why it happened, but I don't think Drew is the type to explain herself, so I'll probably never know. It didn't feel like five hours though, time was moving so quickly, like when you're asleep.
I open my eyes when I hear the sound of a bell ringing in my ears. I fell asleep again! Mr. Morgan is gone and so is Jacob. Nobody bothered to wake me up and I'm going to be late for my next class. That's great.
I wipe the drool off of my cheek and the desk and then run down the hallway at full speed. Usually I would place my books in my locker nicely and then walk to class, but this time I toss them in, grab my English textbook and slam the locker door shut. I run to my English class and fortunately for me, my teacher isn't here yet. I take my seat as she enters, and then watch her walk over to the empty seat in the middle of the classroom. "Anyone know where Drew is this morning?"
Mrs. Cooper, such a sweet lady. Skinny and covered in wrinkles is the only way to describe her, she was suppose retire this year, but she decide to stay one more year beside she loves to teach.
She always says that she knew her purpose in life was to educated youth, she knew exactly what to do with her life and then followed that dream. I hope that one day I'll be the same.
"Why don't you ask Luke?" Alexia snorts, "he seemed to be getting cozy with her in the janitor closet. A few people snicker with her and feel my cheeks become warm.
"Alexia, that's enough!" Mrs. Cooper shouts. Her sweet side is gone. "Get out of my classroom right now, I will not let this form of bullying continue any longer!"
Alexia picks herself up out of the desk and struts out of the room. Mrs. Cooper calls down to the office to tell them about Alexia, who probably won't show up, and then gets back to teaching.
I don't see Drew again for the rest of the day, or even the day after that. On Thursday I go to school and once again Drew is not there. I text her and she doesn't reply, I try to call her and she doesn't answer. I figure she's probably back to ignoring me, or she has spontaneously moved away.
People leave this place in the blink of an eye all the time, so it doesn't surprise me. I just wish she would have said goodbye.
Then again, maybe the five hours we spent together the other night was goodbye for her.  It doesn't matter now, she's  gone and I am here, going back to my regular day, back to my regular schedule, and next in my regular schedule is work.
As I pull into the staff parking area at work, I notice that something is different. My uncles truck isn't there like it usually is. It's literally always there though, my uncles house is attached and he never leaves for anything! He's always at work. I dismiss the thought that something may be wrong and walk slowly into the shop.
Nobody is around. I check the break room for the guys, but they aren't there either.
"What the fuck?" I ask myself quietly checking the bathroom.
There's blood in the sink and on the paper towel in the garbage. Just before I go to call 911 to report a murder, Joey walks in.
"Oh, good! You're here!" He says in a panicked voice.
"Yeah, I'm here! What's going on?" I ask worried. My mind in jumping to all sorts of conclusions. Did everyone quit? Or did Joey kill them all and then hide the bodies in my uncles truck and then hide the truck until it got dark , so he could burry them in the woods? Well, that seems pretty unlikely because Joey isn't the smartest, but hey, I don't know what he's capable of. He has managed to keep this job for a number of years so he's go to be good at something.
Before my mind wanders any further, Joey says, "your uncle has been in an accident!"
"What? What kind of accident?" I asked worriedly.
"I'll explain in the car, let's go!" He herds me out the door and into his vehicle. I don't know if I believe him, but regardless I get into the little, blue Buick and drive off with him.
"Your uncle, he was having shortness of breath, and went to the bathroom to try and calm himself down. He had a heart attack."
"Oh, my god!" I reply, " is he alright?"
"He's about as good as anyone could be after they've just had a heart attack," Joey replies.
I sit for awhile taking in the news before remembering a very important detail, " why was there blood all over the bathroom?"
Joey is silent for a second and then says, "He went down pretty hard and hit his nose on the bathroom sink. There was blood everywhere and we were trying to stop the bleeding so we could do CPR on him. We couldn't put him down on the floor though because he could have choked on his blood, so we were trying everything to make the bleeding stop. We just started holding his nose with paper towels while someone did CPR." Joey says frantically, "It was just a mess."
"Why'd you come and get me?" I ask my final question.
"He knew you'd be worried, so I volunteered to come and get you. I'm glad I did because it looks like you were just about to call in the S.W.A.T team.
"I won't lie, when you first walked in I thought you were there to kill me next." I give a nervous chuckle and Joey doesn't say anything. After awhile I say, "thanks Joe."
To which he replies, " no problem Luke."
When we arrive at the hospital, Joey shuts off the truck and says, "I'll be in, in a second."
"Okay," I say getting out of the truck and walking toward the front entrance. I turn back for a second and see Joey pounding on his steering wheel in frustration, tears streaming down his cheeks. This really hurt him.
I ask the receptionist at the front where my uncle is because Joey forgot to mention it, and I can go back and ask him now. Before she can answer me I hear a familiar voice call me.
"Luke?" It's my dad. I turn around and look at him, and suddenly the urge to cry washes over me. I try to keep it inside because I don't want to draw attention to myself, but my father walks closer to me and opens his arms. He hasn't done that since I was little. He embraces me and I start to cry. "It's okay pal, he's okay," he soothes.
I quickly compose myself and follow my father to my uncles room, 517.
He shares it with someone else,but luckily for us,the other guy isn't there.
We take up most of the room. Everyone's here, my mom, my sister, the guys from the shop, and of course my uncle.
He's hooked up to several different machines, that all make different noises and have different purposes. When he sees me, a huge grin crosses his face, and I want to cry again.
I walk over to hug him, and manage not to cry in front of everyone here, even though I know they won't judge me if I do. "Hey, kid," my uncle whispers and sniffles.
"Hi," I manage to get out and then quickly notice I'm still hugging him. I slowly let go of him and see that my mom is bawling over in the corner, while my sister holds her.
We haven't been in a hospital since my Aunt died, and that was years ago, but the pain is still there.
My uncle retells the story of what happened to him earlier this afternoon, and it's not any different from what Joey just told me. Joey, however did leave out the part that he was the one who did CPR. I guess I should give Joey more credit.
One of the guys from the shop explained the mystery of the missing truck. He said that they took my uncles truck to the hospital because it was the only vehicle that could take them all at once, and they would still be able to lay my uncle down in the back seat. Joey took his car in case it broke down, which it does often.
After a few minutes of talking and Joey rejoining us, a nurse comes in and checks my uncles vitals. She asks everyone to leave because visiting hours are over. My dad tries to tell her to let us stay, but my uncle confirms that he's tired and would like to rest. He knows my dad better than anyone and knows his temper.
We all exist the room talking quietly, and I hear my uncle call for me. I tell my mom that I'll be right there and walk back into my uncles room. "Kid," he starts, and I know what he's going to say. It's life lesson time. "Just because I'm in here, doesn't mean you can go back to working everyday at the shop."
"Okay," I pretend to frown, maybe there won't be a lesson today.
"Take this as a lesson," he continues, I was wrong, "make sure you live everyday like your last, you never know what might happen." I nod, hug him once more and leave the room.
I walk down toward the receptionist desk and see a familiar face, "Drew?" I whisper first to myself and then a bit louder when I realize it is her.
She turns and looks at me fearfully as I walk closer to her, "Lucas," she pauses, "what are you doing here?" She's looking all around me and not at me, like she's watching for someone else.
"My uncle was in an accident, what about you? I haven't seen you all week." I frown.
"I-" she goes to explain, but someone cuts her off.
"Drew?" A tall man, with blonde hair and the start of a beard, comes toward us. Drew freezes and turns slowly to face him.
"Benson," she tries to smile. "Um Lucas, Benson. Benson, Lucas." She introduces us and we shake hands. I examine Benson closer as we shake hands. He's got to be at least twenty five years old and close to six feet tall if not taller. I can tell he's examining me too.
I wonder if they're brother and sister.
Benson speaks in a rather low voice after we stop shaking hands, "hey, I'm Drew's boyfriend."
Definitely not brother and sister. I look at Drew and she's avoiding eye contact with both of us. "Cool," I reply and watch him take her hand. She smiles weakly at me and I say, "how long have you two been going out?"
Benson looks at Drew and says," what has it been babe? Almost a year?" She nods without a change in expression.
"A year?" I reply calmly and then say, "cool," again, while nodding even though I'm freaking out inside. "Well, I got to go." I lie and walk outside without another word. I resist the urge to turn around and look at her because I know if I do, I'll see those beautiful eyes and forget about everything that just happened.
Kari said she'd wait for me outside, so I find her car and hop in. We drive home without speaking. This day has just been too much for us.
I go to bed after I shower, and check my phone. I have one text from Drew asking if we can talk. I don't reply and shut off my phone for the night.
I don't sleep.
I just keep thinking about Drew. She kissed me and she has a boyfriend. She stops coming to school without an explanation and often misses days in the week and she was at the hospital even though nothing seemed to be wrong with her except she's a cheater and a liar.
Well actually, I don't know if she's a liar, but I'm sure she has lied to me about something.
I am awake to hear my alarm clock go off. I pick myself up out of bed and get dressed. I comb my hair and make my way downstairs for breakfast. My mother is still home and my father is already on his way to work this morning.
I make myself some toast and butter it with peanut butter. I eat slowly and watch some cartoons.
I don't feel like going to school today, but I also don't have an excuse not to.
So, just like every other day, I get in my crappy little car and drive to school.
I know now that if I'm going to fall asleep in any class, it had better not be history. So I manage to stay awake for all of history and then slip in a few minutes of sleep during english. 
Drew probably isn't coming to school today so I can sleep comfortably knowing that I won't have to talk to her today. After lunch, I take my seat in chemistry and wait for class to begin like I always do. I watch as Alexia and Julie join the class, both of which give me a quick glare before sitting. Then I watch my teacher walk in and the bell rings. Nothing has changed, my life is still exactly the same.
Then Drew walked in.