The Other Side

Crush

Chapter 9

Tyde

“Lots of stuff’s happened lately,” I said, making my way over to the sick man on the bed. The heart monitor beat at a steady rate, his chest rising with every breath he took. “For starters, Erika’s back for senior year. I know how much you wanted to talk to her again.”

I took a deep breath, the air hitching in m throat on the way down. “But I’m not ready to tell her yet. She thinks you’re on a business trip.” He gave no response, just calmly breathing in and out. I sank down into the plastic chair next to the bed and gripped his cold hand.

“Why won’t you wake up, Daddy?” I whispered.

The door creaked as it pushed open, and my mom walked in, sitting on the other side of Dad. We were quiet for a while, silent just watching his serene, comatose figure in the pale blue and green hues of the hospital pajamas.

“Mom, do you think I should tell Erika about Dad,” I said, my voice cracking.

“You mean you haven’t told her?” Mom looked kind of shocked.

“I just… don’t know how to bring it up. How do you explain to your best friend that your dad’s in a coma because of lung cancer?” I retorted bitterly, immediately regretting it when I saw her face fall.

“Well, sweetie, you should tell her soon. Frank loved her like a daughter and you know it. She was very affectionate toward him also, and I’m sure the news will devastate her like it did us.”

“See, this is my problem,” I got up and began to pace around the confined space. “How do I tell her that her best friend’s dad is in a coma, without her looking at me with pity in her eyes?”

She regarded me with a serious expression. “All I can say is trust your instincts, Tyde. You’ll know when the right time is.”

______

Erika

“Oh, come on!” I cried as Mr. Daken slapped another sheet of chemistry problems onto Tyde and I’s lab table.

“Its not that bad, Er,” Tyde said, chewing on his lip thoughtfully. “Here, copy off me.”

“Thank you,” I breathed, taking the worksheet gratefully. “I honestly don’t give a fudge whether I fail Chem or not. Its not like I need it and all,”

“Because I’m just that amazing, I actually understand what’s going on in class, while you just daydream the hour away. I end up doing all the work too,” he pointed out casually.

I groaned, my forehead meeting the desk with a resonating bang. “Chemistry kills my brain cells.”

He chuckled softly at my words, turning back to the worksheet in front of him. “Sure it does,”

I narrowed my eyes as I glared at him. His chiseled jaw clenched as he thought about the homework, and he subconsciously flipped some of his dark hair off his forehead. His blue eyes sparkled from the sunlight in the classroom, and his teeth closed around his lip as he focused. Tyde pulled off the ‘messy schoolboy player’ look perfectly, with the top two buttons of his shirt undone and the tie loosely knotted around his neck, sleeves pushed up to the elbows.

As if he could sense me checking him out, he turned and sent me a dashing smile. “Like what you see,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Oh, shut up.”

+____+_____

The day progressed as usual, I guess. I attended my classes, I turned in my homework, I even did as told and ran 18 laps in PE. Not that I didn’t usually do what the teacher said, but come on. Eighteen laps. Really?