When You Need Me | Scomiche

Chapter 18

     The waiting room of the hospital was filled with a strange group of people. Mitch and his parents, Scott's sisters and Dad, Scott, and oddly enough, Beau, were all sat in a weird clump. Mitch looked warily from the men sat on either side of him, feeling a terrible mixture of awkward, uncomfortable, and sad. Scott's knee had been bouncing furiously for the past ten minutes and he was just staring at the floor. Beau was watching the two friends like a hawk, like if he watched close enough he could figure out all the answers to his questions. Mitch felt so stiff. He looked over to his parents who were quietly whispering to each other across from him and then to Lauren and Lindsay who looked downright distraught with misery.

     Scott sighed and dropped his head. No one has come to update them on his mom's status and he felt like his stomach had lassoed his heart and was squeezing as hard as it could. He felt a small hand run up his back and he turned his head to look at Mitch. That was the first time he really touched him since Beau was here and he needed the comfort more than anything. He tried to smile at him but could only manage a grimace. His eyes flicked to the head beside Mitch's and saw a fire behind hazel eyes, staring down at his hand that rested on Mitch's thigh. Beau must be uncomfortable with the PDA Mitch was showing him. 

     He hated to be thinking this, especially at this time and in this setting, but damn I really want to kiss Mitch right now. He knew it was for all the wrong reasons, but he couldn't manage to care right now. He leaned the slightest bit towards Mitch and tilted his chin forwards. Mitch's brows furrowed before glancing over at his parents, then back to Scott's eyes. The older man looked drained and Mitch just wanted to be there for him. He would do everything in his power to take away Scott's pain and if a kiss was what he wanted right now, Mitch would be willing to give it to him. He leaned the rest of the way to meet Scott and placed a chaste kiss on his lips before pulling back. Neither of the boys wanted to meet any of the eyes in the room so they both just kept their faces towards the ground.

     The door to the waiting room swung open. "Family of Connie Hoying." Scott and his Dad practically leaped to their feet. "Connie suffered a seizure at eight forty-nine pm. We did a scan of her brain and I regret to inform you that her cancer has metastasized there. There is a small tumor resting in the right hemisphere. She is unresponsive currently due to the seizure and will most likely not wake up for several more hours. We have no way of telling how serious this has affected her until we can get a conscious reading of her brain."

     "When can we go in to see her?" Mitch had never heard Rick Hoying sound so vulnerable.

     "She will be able to have visitors after the close monitoring is done with, however, that won't be finished for at least another hour." Scott groaned and turned away from the man. Rick weakly nodded his head and went back to his seat. Mitch rose from his chair and walked over to Scott and wrapped his arms around him.

     "Come on, Scott. Just a little more waiting and we will get to see her." He gently pulled Scott by his hand back to their seats and they plopped down. Twenty minutes passed and you could hear a pin drop, but the overall mood of the room had lightened knowing Connie was okay and recovering right now.

     "Hey, baby?" Mitch turned his head to Beau. "My flight back home isn't until Tuesday. Could I stay with you? I didn't plan to find somewhere because I thought this trip would've gone a little differently." Mitch just looked at him, a little shocked that he would bring this up here, and turned to Scott who was obviously listening to their conversation. Scott shrugged.

     "You can probably stay in my room," Mitch whispered over to Beau, already feeling the eyes of the room on them for talking.

     "Are you staying there?"

     "Don't worry about me, I'll find somewhere to stay." Mitch rolled his eyes, fed up with having this conversation here and now.

     "I'm sorry I can't just switch off caring about people like you, Mitch." Beau snapped back and Mitch's jaw dropped. Scott's head turned towards Beau.

     Not bothering to lower his voice, Scott decided to speak up, "Don't speak to hi--."

     "Scott, stop. I can handle myself." Mitch was tired of the competition for dominance over him. The room settled into an awkward silence after that. Mitch's parents sharing looks with each other and Lauren and Lindsey trying to catch Scott's eye. "I'm going to go call Kirstie and let her know what's going on."

     "Can I go with you?" Scott batted his eyes and grabbed a now standing Mitch's fingers gently in his own. He got a little tug in return. They both walked through the hospital into the main lobby and found a little nook away from most of the commotion. Mitch sat close to Scott and squeezed his hand before talking.

     "He is mad, okay? He came here thinking I was going to want to go back to LA with him and I had to break his heart and tell him no. Give him a rest. You've been throwing eye daggers at his head this whole night."

     "I'm sorry. It's just..." He trailed off and glanced down at Mitch's lips, unconsciously leaning towards him an inch.

     "Just what?"

     "I'm finally getting you to myself, and I need you to myself right now, but since he is here you are acting different, hesitating where I think you wouldn't and filtering what you say because he is around us. It makes me..." Scott's voice trailed off into a mumble. "Jealous, knowing what you had together."

     Mitch's eyes softened and he lifted a hand and set it against Scott's cheek. Scott closed his eyes and leaned into the comfort and sighed. "I just don't want to make this harder for him than it already is. He doesn't deserve that." Scott opened his eyes and caught the back of Mitch's neck in his hand and tugged him forward, gently settling their lips together. The kiss was soft and slow, different than the others today and he couldn't stop himself from chasing lips when Mitch started to pull away. He rested his forehead against Mitch's.

     "You are amazing." Scott pulled back. Mitch's cheeks went pink and he smiled. "No, I'm serious, Mitch. You are so thoughtful and considerate of people and you always put them before yourself. You are just an incredible person." He punctuated his sentence with another light kiss, quickly becoming addicted to this drug.

     "Thank you, Scott. We really need to call Kirst though." Scott nodded and pulled away completely to let Mitch get it over with.

     Two and half hours passed before the doctors would let anyone in to see Connie. Mike had offered to take Nel and Beau home about an hour in and they both reluctantly agreed. Nel, promising to be back first thing in the morning and Beau quickly becoming exhausted with the heavy emotion lingering in the room and around his heart. Rick and Lindsey were the firsts to visit, Lindsey switching with Lauren a bit later, then finally, after what felt like ages to Scott, they were walking down the hall to the room number given to them. As soon as his mom was in sight his lip quivered. Mitch watched as Scott stared at his mom for a long time. He watched as the man slowly disassociated from himself, the reality of the situation sinking in. His heart ached worse than it ever had in his life watching Scott's eyes glaze over the longer he stared. He wasn't sure how much time had passed when he heard the door open and footsteps approach them. He turned to see Rick.

     "Son?" Scott's head turned but his eyes weren't focused on anything. "It's almost one so you should go ahead and head home." Scott's eyes blinked a bit before he finally got a good look at his dad. "I'll be here with your mom and if anything happens I'll call you immediately." Scott nodded slowly. His mind settled back in reality when he felt Mitch's head lift from his shoulder and looked over at him. He was struggling to keep his eyes open but looked determined to stay awake. He stood from the chair and hugged his dad, dragging a sleepy Mitch from the hospital and down to his car. No words were shared the entire ride home.