How The Sun Rises

9: Laughter and Exploding Flower

"Of course not," Jackson snapped, to which Kyle gave a suggestive smile. "I'm not blushing, damn it!"

Ray hummed beside me and leaned back, locking her fingers through the holes of the table. "Of course you're not. You just have naturally red skin."

Kyle snorted and I bit back a smile. Apparently, it didn't work because when Jackson looked over at me, he visibly deflated.

"Even you?" He groaned. "I'm not blushing."

"C'mon Bunny, he is blushing. Right?" Kyle winked at me.

I gaped at the beaming blonde. What was I supposed to say? Ray elbowed my side and I jumped, causing her to snort with amusement. Maybe I had been hanging around so much that her personality was rubbing off. Maybe my shyness was slowly dissipating because I finally had friends. Either way I smiled sheepishly at Jackson, softly admitting, "You are blushing."

Both Kyle and Ray burst out laughing as Jackson let out a strained grunt and banged his head against the table. His hands reached up and locked around the mess of dark curls on his head, and he gently knocked his forehead against the surface of the table one more time before sitting up straight. "Not helping, Bunny." He grumbled with a frown. "You're supposed to be on my side."

At that, my heart pounded loudly in my chest and my face flushed, but my smile remained intact at the rather childish expression displayed on Jackson's usually blank or upset face. Ray cooed at me and pinched my cheek while Kyle doubled over from laughing so hard. All in all, the scene was a complete mess. There was no denying we probably looked ridiculous. Still I couldn't help one thought which rang through my head over and over again: this is nice. It was quickly followed by a much more negative one, but I was persistent in keeping that one down.

"Remember that explanation I promised?" I blurted out, completely silencing Kyle, Ray, and Jackson - although the latter hadn't been making much noise anyway.

"Yeah," Ray dragged the word out. "What about it?"

Kyle glanced between Ray and Jackson before finally shifting his gaze towards me. Maybe he could sense I was nervous, because he quickly stood and walked around the table, plopping down beside me and throwing an arm around my shoulders.

"Whenever you're ready," he said.

I gawked up at him - his seriousness was surprising, although I hadn't exactly been expecting him to throw jokes either. Nevertheless, it was reassuring. I took a deep breath and looked up towards Jackson, on the opposite side of the table, and he gave a short nod. A silent 'go for it.'

So I did. I gave them the same explanation I had given Jackson, only with a bit more stuttering and a lot more details.

"I was born with Congenital Heart Disease, but the doctors didn't find it until I was five when I passed out from shortness of breath trying to climb the slide on the playground. But I'm sure the blue skin and me being so underweight helped them figure it out too. I don't remember much about it because I was so young, but I think there was a hole in my heart. They gave me surgery and I was fine for a while with all the medicine and treatments, but I practically lived in the hospital. When I turned seven they told me they had a potential heart for me, but the donor hadn't died yet so it was just a matter of waiting to see if she would make it or not.

"Some things happened in my childhood, and I developed an anxiety disorder which didn't exactly work well with the heart condition. I did end up getting the heart, but after a year or so I started getting seizures because of my anxiety. I'm fine but I have to be careful because too many seizures could stress my heart."