Forever and Always, In my heart

Chapter 17:

Ch. 17

“Well…how’d it go?” David asked me when I walked out to the waiting room. Both he and Ally were out there. I wiped my eyes before answering. “Oh no…What is it?” David jumped out of his chair and ran over to me. He wrapped me in a hug and I just held onto his shirt and buried my face in his chest not wanting to answer. It was too scary to admit it out loud.

“Peyton?” I’ve never heard Ally’s voice so quiet before. “Tell us, honey.” Ally said, coming over and rubbing my back. I still hadn’t said anything. I couldn’t seem to find my voice.

I just stood there sobbing in David’s arms, and it took a lot for me to cry in front of anyone. I told them this was a bad idea. I knew I should have never come to the doctors. That only leads to bad things. You never come to the doctors and make it out without something being wrong, let alone a hospital. Finally, when I felt like there were no more tears that I could cry, I pulled away from David. Wiping my eyes one more time, I took a deep breath before talking. “I knew this was a bad idea!”

“What did they say?” David asked, searching my face for answers.

“I…I have to have open heart surgery.” I sat down in the nearest chair. I felt like I was just going to collapse right then and there if I didn’t. “They said they have to replace my aorta valve. The way that it is now is why I’ve been passing out. It’s not connecting right. It’s making it harder for my heart to work how it should. The easiest way to explain it is, it’s like a bridge between the valve and the heart, and right now it’s not straight like it should be. So this means no more softball for the season, and I’m going to be out of school for a while for recovery.”

“Aww babe…” Ally said and sat down beside me, wrapping her arms around me, pulling me to her. “You know I’ll be there with you through it all. I’ll be there whenever you need anything and I am only a phone call or text away.”

I nodded in her shoulder, “Thanks.”

“I’ll be there, too.” David said, kneeling in front of me and grabbing one of my hands. “Come on. Let’s get you home so you can tell your mom.”

I nodded and let them pull me up and lead me out to the parking lot. When we got to David’s truck, he opened the door for me and I climbed inside. “Bye girl. See you tomorrow.” Ally said and walked two cars down to her own car.

David hopped in on his side and started the truck. He pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards my house. I pulled my legs up to me and wrapped my arms around them and buried my head in my knees. I was terrified right now. The ride was pretty quiet except for when he was about to turn on my street and I realized that my car was still at the school.  “Wait! My car is at the school. I need to go get it.” I finally looked over at him, my eyes full of tears.

He shook his head, “You can get it tomorrow. I’ll drive you to school in the morning. This is way more important. Your mom needs to know what’s going on.” I was too worn out to argue with him on it, so I just went back to being quiet. It didn’t help that he was right. I did need to tell my mom. I mentally slapped myself. I was dead when I got home. I never told anyone I was going to the doctors, and I haven’t even looked at my phone to see if they tried to get in contact with me.

When we pulled into the driveway, David turned off his truck and got out. By the time he got to my side, I was already climbing out of the truck. He shut the door behind me after I climbed out and locked his truck behind him. We walked up to my front door. It was locked, of course, and we didn’t leave a spare key outside anymore. Tim swore it was too dangerous, even though we used to always keep a spare key outside before, and we never got into any trouble. I sighed and knocked on the door. Here goes nothing.