The Wallflower And The Jock {on hold}

7. The Dare

A/N: Dedicated to TheCaptainAmerica because her sweet messages are <333 Everyone go check her stories out! :>

7. The Dare

It had been a stroke.

My grandfather had a stroke.

No matter how many times I thought about it, I still couldn’t wrap my head around it.  Apparently, everybody had been trying to contact me, but because I had detention, I had my phone off, which I’ve coincidentally forgotten to turn back on.  And because I walked home from school, our driver couldn’t bring me to the hospital when the news broke out.

Isn’t it my lucky day.

The stroke was completely unexpected –my grandpa was a strong person, not like many grandparents, who were already on wheelchairs and were weak to the bone.  Which is why when Aunt Courtney told me the news, my mind lost all ability to form words.

Finally, I managed to croak out, “Is he going to die?”

Great job, Zoe. Way to keep things positive.

Aunt Courtney was taken aback, and Brent and Alaina snapped their necks to look at me. There was a long pause. “He’s completely stable right now, Zoe.  Don’t worry too much about it.  Your mom will probably be there with your grandmother all night, so she told me that you could sleep at our house tonight.”

I could only nod.  I was still in complete shock.

She looked at me with concern. “You should go pack your things now.” She gave me a small smile. “Brent, wait here and help Zoe with her things, alright? I’ll wait for you in the house.”

I gulped and looked at Brent, who, in turn looked at me nervously. I had already forgotten about what happened earlier, about him not believing me about Barbara.

Barbara. Oh yeah, his girlfriend. My stomach dropped, and I immediately looked away. 

I nodded in Aunt Courtney’s direction and climbed up the stairs to my room. I stopped mid way and looked back at her. “When can I go see him?”

She was staring at the floor, and looked up so that her eyes met mine. “Maybe tomorrow.” She gave me a sad smile.

Brent followed me up the stairs, but I barely noticed him, because all I could think about was that she never answered my question.

She never answered if he was going to die.

***

I put my overnight bag on top of my bed, and sighed.

“He’ll be okay.” I turned around, and saw Brent leaning against the doorframe.  I had almost forgotten that he was there.

“How can you be so sure?”

His eyes burned with emotion, sadness and something else. Was it pity? No, it wasn’t.  But before I could contemplate any longer, it was gone.

“Do you remember that time when he took us to the zoo?” He said as I started putting clothes into the bag.

I stopped to look at him.  He had an amused smile on his face.

Of course I remembered it.  It was one of my fondest memories.  Brent and I were probably about six years old at the time, and we were playing tag at the backyard when my grandfather came barging in and announced that he was taking us to the zoo.

We, of course, agreed.  We didn’t have much of a choice, because my grandfather was just like that.

And so we went to the zoo, and I remember my grandfather buying us both milkshakes, and I don’t actually know how it happened, but Brent managed to spill his on the pond.  All over the crocodiles.  Which didn’t leave the zoo keeper, or my grandfather, too happy.  So of course, he grabbed my milkshake right out of my hands and blamed it all on me.