Macaronic

Chapter Fifteen

One morning I walked into the offices, and it was disturbingly quiet. I went to my station, noticing that only Tristan and Cory were in, which was weird. I mean I know their job was their life, but where was everyone else?

I walked around the building, only finding Tim who was as confused as I was.

"Maybe we should try and call Adam or something," He suggested.

I nodded towards his suggestion and pulled out my phone. I took 10 minutes to try and get ahold of anyone, but no one answered, not even Ross. It was worrying me.

"Hey Tim, I wanna run up to Barneys's house, see if he's home or anything," I said.

I knew Adam had left the house long before I did, that was an always thing. I didn't really talk to the guys before work, and last night I was only with Ross, and he seemed okay. So where were they all?

"Okay, I'll ride along," He said, and I nodded in response.

We left the office and I drove us to Barney and Red's apartment. I saw Adam's car in the parking lot and was instantly filled with an anxious feeling. Tim and I both sensed something was wrong, as we quickly headed upstairs.

"Barney, Adam?" I called, frantically knocking on the door.

Adam opened it, stepping aside to allow us in, and I could see almost everyone was here. He greeted us with a hollow smile, and I noticed how red his eyes.... Red.

"What's going on?" I asked. My heart began to race, the beating clogging my ears. I didn't hear what Ross had said.

"What?"

"Red is in the hospital, he had an episode last night and he's not doing to well right now," He repeated, his voice cracking the more he spoke.

I sat down beside Ross, staring blankly at the floor as I tried to process all of this. Of course, my mind was instantly flooded with the worst scenarios.

"I need to see him," I said, snapping from my thoughts.

"We will, when we can," Ross assured, gently patting my shoulder.

"No, you don't understand, I need to be there now," I said, unintentionally raising my voice.

"Max, we can't go now, we'll just be sitting in a waiting room, they won't let us see him, I've tried a thousand times," Shelby said, making herself known to me.

The way she said my name. It wasn't as sweet or as soothing as Ross, but it tickled my heart in a way that caught my attention, and calmed my shot nerves.

I dismissed my romantic thoughts about Shelby before they even started, turning to Ross again.

"He's my best friend, I have to be there. I have to be the first to know if anything goes south," I told him, in almost a begging tone.

He gave me a sad look, but nodded and gently kissed my cheek.

"Thank you," I said.

"If you're going, I'm going too," Shelby spoke up, and before I could say anything, Barney chimed in with agreement.

"Alright then, you guys go to the hospital and we'll be waiting around for word at the office," Adam said after a moment of silence.

We all nodded at his words and got up. I lead Shelby and Barney to my car, and we sat in silence the whole way to the hospital. When we got there, Shelby led us to the waiting room near Red's room where his family was waiting. We gave awkward smiles and sat down, not knowing we'd be waiting for 3 hours.

I was still confused as to why Shelby wanted to come. I thought maybe it was because I had wanted to, but I was just flattering myself at this point. Eventually, I spoke up and asked her.

"If Ross were in Red's situation, you'd definitely want to be here, wouldn't you?" She said.

"Well yeah, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I weren't," I said, smiling on the inside at the fact that I had said boyfriend, that word made me happy.

"Exactly, so I don't see why you're questioning me," She said, almost sounding offended.

I sat for a moment in thought before rolling my eyes.

"What a way to share the news," I scoffed. Now I kind of hated her, she was just getting on my nerves now. I wasn't upset that she was dating Red, but the fact that she felt the need to wave it around in front of me was annoying as hell.

She shrugged me off and got up, moving to sit beside Red's mother. The waiting room was silent, until a doctor came out to speak with us. we all stood, standing around him as he granted us permission to see Red.

I let his parents and Shelby see him first, not wanting to intrude on their heartfelt moment. I also didn't want to see Red and Shelby being all couple-y and adorable. No, I wasn't jealous, it just bugged me.

When they came out, I slipped in the room. I just stared at Red, my heart sinking to my stomach when I saw the state he was in. His face was pale, colourless. His eyes were surrounded by dark circles, there was no flicker in his eye anymore. The light was burnt out. His hair was a mess, and his arms hung out of his hospital gown like limp noodles.

I got chocked up, not responding when he gave me a painful "hey"

I took a seat beside him, staring into his hopeless eyes.

"Max don't be sad," He said with a hoarse voice. "I'll be fine, and if I'm not that's okay too, because I know that if this kills me, I'll be in a happier place," He continued.

I knew he was saying this in attempt to make me feel better, but it was only scaring me more and more. I really couldn't lose Red now.

"Maybe it's my time, and I'm not going to try and fight it. Maybe there's something that I'm being saved from, and I can't be complaining," He said, starting to cry.

I got up and walked to his side, holding tightly to his hand. I wiped away his tears with his blanket and gave him my best smile.

"I'm not losing you Red. you can't get away from me so easily,"