Cruel Me

Chapter 36: For Blue Skies

He's awake.

I bowed my head and breathed out a sigh of relief.

He's back with us.

I raised my head and gave him a smile. He was covered in braces. He had stitches on his face, too. The impact must've been helluva hard for him to end up looking like this. My hands balled into fists. I closed my eyes for a moment and tried to chill out.

"Hey, Frisco," greeted Connie softly.

"How're you doing, man?" asked Alfie, putting a hand on the bed and leaning forward to get a better look at our friend.

"Get well, a'ight?" said Kurt.

"Get up, dude," I teased, playfully patting him on the shoulder. "Come on, let the other patients use this room."

"We brought donuts," sang Alfie, nodding to the box at the nearby table.

Frisco was still too weak to do anything but stretch his lips and smile. It broke me. This was my friend. He was like a little brother to me. He stayed on our side even though we were nothing but fucked up messes. He didn't judge us for shit.

He was a true friend.

"We're here to bring you home, dude," I whispered earnestly.

His eyes flickered to me and they stayed like that until a tear rolled down his cheek, Connie leaned forward and gently wiped it away.

"We're here," she murmured. "We got your back."

He tried to nod, but failed. He ended up huffing, looking frustrated.

"Don't strain yourself," I told him, worried he might pull a muscle or something.

He was one of the toughest guys I knew. And yet, here he was – immobilized. I couldn't help but feel fucking responsible for it. Damn it.

Just then, the door opened. All heads turned to that direction and we watched as Sally, Frisco's mother, entered the room. She smiled widely when she saw us. She was always kind to us – never treated or looked at us as if we were menaces.

No wonder Frisco grew up to be such a good guy.

"I brought food for everyone," she said, placing the pack of food on the table where the doughnuts were. "Are you guys hungry?"

I rubbed the back of my neck, while the others gave her sheepish looks. We've been here since last Friday, only going home for a quick shower and change of clothes. So yeah, we were starving as hell. But we were sick of hospital food. How ironic was that?

"Don't worry," assured Sally, catching our expressions. "It's not hospital food."

My eyes widened in delight.

Oh, thank God.

There was an instant chorus of cheers in the room, making her laugh. We quickly walked toward her, got our food like excited kids on a birthday party, and chowed down.

We chatted for a while, talking about Frisco's misadventures and having a laugh about it. Of course, we had to keep it PG. Wouldn't want to expose Sally to what we were usually up to, even though we were pretty sure she knew already.

I felt my phone vibrate, and I pulled it out. Halo's face was on the screen. With eyes on my phone, I stood up and put the now empty food container in the trash bin.

"I'll step out for a bit," I informed them. "Gotta call Halo."

They only nodded.

"I'll ask her to take notes on your classes together, Frisco," I added jokingly. "I know how missing school must be eating you up." He grinned, making me smile.