Finish Line

Chapter 9

Sydney 

I open my eyes and it hurts. The lights are too bright and the beeping sound is too loud. The first thing I see is Jake. How can that be? I’m still dreaming, then. But the Jake I’m looking at now is not ten years old. In fact he looks tired and worried. The beeping sound is starting to annoy me.

Jake 

Sydney’s just staring at me. She looks confused. Doesn’t she recognize me? Did the surgery go wrong? Does she remember anything at all?

“Dreaming” she murmurs

“You’re not dreaming, Sydney. You’re awake” I tell her. Why would she think she’s dreaming?

“I’m still dreaming. Jake and I are playing ball in the yard” she mumbles and closes her eyes. She still thinks she’s dreaming. She’s talking about the time we played when we were ten years old.

Stacy mutters a curse and shoves me aside. She leans down and whispers to Sydney. I can’t hear what she says but Sydney’s eyes snap open.

“Welcome back” Stacy sighs in relief

Sydney looks at me again and she gasps loudly “Jake?” why does she look surprised to see me?

“Yeah Sydney it’s me” she frowns then looks around. She sees the nurses standing behind me then looks back at me. I see her swallow hard. She clears her throat.

“Um, what are you doing here Jake?” she asks

I didn’t get to answer her because the doctors arrived and so did dad, Luke and Maddie. We were asked to leave.

Dad asked what happened and I told him everything. He also asked what Stacy said to her to get out of her dream state.

“When you left her and I’d spot you in school I would tell her you were nearby. She started getting annoyed so I came up with a code to alert her and she got used to it. I won’t tell you what it is though. So when she woke up earlier she said she was dreaming and that was the only thing I was sure of to get her to snap out.”

“Okay, so why didn’t he recognize me then?”

“She does recognize you, she just doesn’t believe you were real” she sighs

“I don’t get it” I shake my head in frustration

Dad cuts in “you avoided her and she eventually got used to you not being around, so she finally seeing you now is a surprise for her” okay, that kind of hurt. I see Luke and Stacy nodding in agreement. I close my eyes and bang my head on the wall behind me several times.

“Am I that much of an ass?” I murmur to myself

“Yup” I hear Maddie say. I smile at her when she hugs me tight.

“Boys are stupid” she shakes her head. Apparently she said it loud enough for Luke and dad to hear because we’re all laughing.

The door opens and the doctors leave

“She’s looking for her best friend” nurse molly says. Stacy and I look at each other.

“The guy best friend” the nurse continues and Stacy smiles at me.

I wipe my hands on my pants and fix my hair. Dad chuckles beside me and pushes me towards the door.

“You look fine boy, this isn’t prom” he winks. Shit, now I’m blushing. Madison’s giggling.

“Jake” Stacy grabs my arm before I enter. I nod at her because I know what she’s telling me.

Sydney 

The doctors have informed me of the successful surgery. The mass was in fact benign. Doctor Penny was right. They explain about the blood I coughed up. I was relieved that they got the mass out. The only thing that surprised me was I had to undergo therapy. The mass was found near the part of my brain responsible for my balance, so I had to gain it back through therapy. I had to work hard though. Now, I had to face someone I haven’t seen in a long time.

Jake 

I enter the room and the first thing I see is Sydney’s sweet smile. I smile back at her as I sit beside her bed. I grab her hand and she squeezes it. I love the feel of her hands on mine.

“How long have I been here?” her voice hoarse

“One week and two days” I inform her

“Wow” I chuckle at her surprise

“What happened?” she asks. She doesn’t know what happened so I tell her what took place in school that day. I also tell her about the time we spent here in her room while she was resting. She listens to me and smiles once in a while. When I’m done she closes her eyes and leans back. I know she’s processing everything I told her. I pick her hand up and kiss it.

“Jake?” she whispers and I almost didn’t hear her

“Yeah?”

“Why are you here now?” she asks. This is exactly what Stacy has been telling me about.