It only takes 10 seconds

Part Twenty-Two

Andrew's POV

I sit in the waiting room, absent mindedly staring at the wall and bouncing my leg up and down with nervousness. The old lady in the corner is knitting something and she looks up at me and gives me a little smile. My phone vibrates with an incoming call. I hit the answer button without looking at the number.

"Hello?" "Andrew, where are you? We have practice right now!" Laura shouts at me through the little speakers. "Oh shit," I mumble. "Where the heck are you?" she asks me. I take a deep breath. "I'm with Becca right now," I tell her. "What are you two having a little love-fest over there?" Her voice is bitterly harsh. "Andrew you know that this game against the Avalanche is going to be tough. We need to practice!" "Laura, didn't Becca tell you?" I ask. "Tell me what?" she responds. "She hasn't talked with me since Jonny proposed."

I breathe out a little sigh. "Maybe she just didn't want to tell anyone, but she has breast cancer. She's in surgery right now." I hear a little gasp at the other end of the line. "Andrew, please tell me you're kidding. You know what, I'm coming over there right now. I'll tell Q that I need to miss practice. Just tell me where you are." "No, no, it's ok. I don't think she wanted to draw a lot of attention to what's happening in her life. She had a hard enough time telling me. You go to practice, really, the team needs you," I tell her. I can hear a little bit of crying on the other end of the line. "Andrew, please let her be okay, she's one of my best friends." "I will," I tell her. "I promise."

Patrick's POV

Kayla runs at me, tears running down her face. Her lips crash against mine and the kiss floods me with every emotion that she's been holding inside. She hugs me tight, and mumbles into my shoulder, "I thought you were dead." "Dead?" I say, "Jeez, what are they telling you at the front desk up there?" She pulls away from me and wipes a tear from her face. "They told me you were in here, but when I came in the bed was made and you weren't here and I just assumed the worst." Sobs start choking her up again and she hugs me again, the little trembles running through her body and hitting my skin. I try to pat her on the back, balancing my crutches awkwardly. "Shhh, it's ok. I'm ok and you're ok and that's all that matters."

She takes a minute to compose herself, grabbing her stuff from the ground. "I'm sorry, I'm just such a mess right now. You probably think I'm ridiculous. I just-I just thought the worst." "Kayla, don't worry, ok. Please, I don't want you to worry." She gives me a little smile. "Ready to go home now?" I nod and she opens the door for me. I hobble out on my crutches and we make our way to her car in the parking lot. I slowly lower myself into the passenger seat and she closes the door for me. It feels weird sitting here. Normally I'm the driver, the one in charge. Now others are taking care of me. We drive in silence to my apartment and in the elevator, Kayla holds my hand until we reach the 16th floor. She opens the door and I'm stunned by what I see. 

Heidi's POV

Laura comes into the guest room where I'm lying in bed and smiles at me. "Hey! You want to come to practice today, all the guys will be there." I shake my head, giving her a fake smile back. "I'm just going to stay here today, if that's ok with you." She nods, "Help yourself to any food or anything you want. I should be back in about an hour or so, it's just a short practice today." I hear the door slam shut ten minutes later as I turn on the tv.

It's only a matter of minutes before the abusive texts start exploding on my phone. All the way here, Spencer was texting me, saying things like how I never mattered to him and that I was never worth anything. Somehow the girl he was with got my number and she's been sending me threats too. My phone pings with another text, the normally happy ping sound sounding like a massive gong. I get up and walk to the bathroom as I read the text. "Maybe you should just go curl up in a corner and die bitch." It's from Camille, the girl Spencer was with. I get another text from her right away. "It's not like anyone would miss you anyway." I look at myself in the bathroom mirror. My eyes are surrounded by dark circles from my lack of sleeping and my face looks pale and distorted. Maybe she's right, maybe no one would miss me anyway.