Waiting For You (Tree Bros)

Chapter Eighteen: Okay

A/N: The final chapters are among us.

Evan paced around the waiting room at the hospital, sobbing.

Connor, Zoe, Alana, Isabel, Jeremy and Michael sat down, also crying.

But no one cried as much as Evan.

About an hour before, Evan had received a phone call from Jared's parents saying that Jared and Isaac had been involved in a very bad car accident.

Jared was going to be fine, but as for Isaac...

Evan took a shaky breath. This couldn't be happening. It was all a very bad dream, and he was going to wake up soon with his arms around Connor, a message on his phone from Jared reading, 'sweeto'.

Evan stopped pacing and closed his eyes tight, putting a hand over his mouth as he sobbed.

Connor leapt up from his seat, wrapping his arms around the smaller boy and Evan cried into his shoulder.

Connor ran a hand up and down Evan's back as they both cried.

"It's okay, Tree Boy," Connor said quietly. "It'll be okay. Jared and Isaac will be okay. Everything will be okay."

Evan sniffed and threw his arms around Connor's neck.

Everything was a blur. Everything around him seemed to disappear, leaving just him and Connor, in a world where everything was okay.

Everything was fine, and they were both happy.

Then Evan snapped back to reality.

Unfortunately, life wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. But he wished it was that easy.

Evan felt like he was losing a friend all over again.

He had lost Connor for a year, but he got him back. He found him.

Now the same thing was happening all over again, although the outcome could possibly be even worse.

Maybe not so temporary.

Evan tried to push the thought out of his head, but failed to do so.

He thought of what might happen if he lost Jared.

It would feel as though most of the light from his life would be gone. Jared filled his life with jokes and humour, especially in the darkest of times.

He had been Evan's first friend, even if they did stop talking for a while.

He came back. Every single time.

What if this time he didn't come back?

And what about Isaac?

Evan didn't know him as well as he knew Jared, and he regretted never taking the initiative to get to know him.

He knew that Isaac was kind. He never said a bad word about anyone, and he made Jared happy.

If Jared lost Isaac, he would be a mess. The thought of Isaac made Jared smile. Hell, even when he read The Fault in Our Stars he smiled because one of the characters was named Isaac.

He felt Connor tap him on the shoulder and he lifted his head.

A doctor stood in front of them, and the other five stood next to Connor and Evan.

"Are you friends with Jared Kleinman?" He asked.

They all nodded.

Evan grew anxious. What was going on?

"As you already know, Jared is going to be fine," he said. "We are allowing him to have a few visitors. He has requested to see Evan and Connor."

Evan and Connor nodded and followed the doctor to Jared's room.

Evan took a deep breath and wiped his eyes to try and stop crying.

It didn't work.

The three walked into the room, revealing Jared lying on a hospital bed.

A few scratches and cuts were on his face, and he had plaster on his ankle.

"We've had to put a temporary cast on him as he has to have surgery on his ankle," the doctor explained. "However, it can't be done until tomorrow."

The two boys nodded.

"I'll leave you three alone," the doctor said, walking out the room.

"Jared!" Evan exclaimed, rushing to his friend's side. "How are you feeling?"

Jared attempted to shift to face Evan, but stopped, wincing in pain. "My ankle hurts," he said. "The anesthetic gas they gave me when they put the cast on didn't do much. I got a cool green whistle, though." He smiled and held up a dark green whistle that was next to him and took a puff. "It helps with the pain. It also kind of tastes nice."

"They gave me one of those when I broke my arm," Evan said. "You're not supposed to have too much."

"I've had a reasonable amount," Jared said seriously.

Evan laughed through his tears, and Jared slowly reached up to wrap his arms around his neck. Evan hugged him back tight, but not too tight as to cause him pain.

That was the last thing he wanted.

"Thank-you for coming," Jared said, pulling away.

"Why wouldn't I come?"

"I... I don't know. I just really appreciate it."

Evan smiled and Jared smiled back.

"By the way..." Jared said, a serious look now on his face. "How's Isaac?"

Evan exchanged a nervous glance with Connor.

"Um... he's fine," he said, looking back at Jared. "He'll be okay."

Jared nodded. "That's good. I just can't believe all this happened. He had planned a perfect date and... the world just came crashing down. It's like the universe doesn't want me to be happy."

"Don't say that," Evan said. "You deserve happiness. Everything will be okay."

But of course, life didn't always work out that way.

The same doctor from before rushed into the room, asking to speak with Connor and Evan outside.

Everything happened quickly.

The two boys sat down, the doctor standing in front of them with a sincere look on his face.

He then said the six words that Evan had been dreading to hear.

A/N: W h o o p s .