Chapter 9: January 20th, 2012 3:35PM
“I can’t believe we got THAT lost.” I said to Daniel as we pulled into the parking lot of the hospital. Who knew one wrong turn could make you end up on the other side of the entire town?
“Hey, it’s not my fault. I’ve never had to drive that way to the hospital. I think I did pretty good… once I finally figured out where we were.” I just chuckled at him and unbuckled my seatbelt.
“Bonnie…” Daniel said.
“What’s up?” I answered.
“Umm… thanks… you know… for coming with me today. I’m really glad you’re here.”
“It’s really no problem Daniel; I’m always here whenever you need me. You know that. There is no way I could ever repay you for what you did for me.”
Daniel just smiled at me and we got out of the car. I haven’t been at a hospital since my dad died, and I was hoping I’d never have to go to another one. Even though this wasn’t the same exact hospital, it still felt kind of weird being here at all. I knew I had to be here for Daniel. Why did he have to be so nice and good looking?
We walked into the hospital and Daniel led me to his grandfather’s room. Daniel walked in before me, and I knew that something was wrong. He walked out of the room in a panic and searched for the nearest nurse. I opened the door and examined the room to figure out what was wrong. The room was empty. Daniel was running down the hallway to find anyone he could ask what happened to his grandfather. After about 30 seconds, I lost him. I needed to find him to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid. In situations where Daniel was in a panic, he would tend to lose his head a little bit. I ran around practically the entire first floor of the hospital before finding him talking to his grandfather’s doctor. I waited about 20 feet behind him before I walked up and asked what happened. I sat down on the bench that was outside one of the hospital rooms and waited for Daniel to finish his conversation. Within 30 seconds of sitting down, Daniel turned around and started walking towards me.
“What happened? What’s wrong?”
“They had to take him into emergency surgery. Something about his heart failing earlier today. I… I just want to know that they will be okay.” Daniel started to cry and I wiped his eyes. He threw his arms around me and buried his head into my shoulder. I hugged him back and just told him that everything would be okay. I pulled him back and made him look me in the eyes.
“Listen to me Daniel; you can’t think anything negative, okay? They are going to finish that surgery with everything working the way it needs to be working. Your grandfather is going to in perfect condition when all of this is over. I promise, okay? I just can’t have you thinking or saying anything negative.”
Daniel hugged me again, unable to say anything without choking on his tears. Daniel’s parents divorced when Daniel was really young so he never had a true father figure other than his grandfather. They were closer than any two people I’ve ever met. Daniel’s grandfather has been through everything with him and I can’t imagine how Daniel would feel without him here anymore. Losing my father was just really different. I was never too close with my dad. He had always wanted a son, one who was really into sports. Unfortunately, I just never felt like I was enough for him. I never lived up to his standards. For Daniel, this was absolutely devastating.
“Give me your keys.” I said to Daniel.
He reached into his pocket and before putting them in my hands, he asked, “Wait, why?”
“I need to get you out of here. At least for a few hours. I’ll take to the woman at the front desk and ask her to give you a call when your grandfather is out of surgery. You need to get your mind off of this for a little while.”
Daniel handed over his keys. I handed them back and told him to go unlock the car while I talked to the woman in the front. When he left, I walked up to the front desk.
“What can I help you with?”
“Hi, umm, the man staying in room 116, do you know what time he is going to be out of surgery?”
She turned to her computer and pressed a few keys on her keyboard.
“There is nothing listed here that says when his surgery will be over, is there anything else I can do for you?”
“Yeah, if I leave a number can you call me when he is out of surgery?”
“Of course.” She grabbed a pen and piece of paper and I wrote down Daniel’s number on it.
“Thank you so much.” I said as I walked out into the parking lot.
I got to Daniel’s car and sat in the driver’s seat. I looked over at Daniel who was still pretty distraught, but I needed to find a way to get his mind off of it for a little while. But how? We could always go catch a movie, but I didn’t think that would be enough to distract him. I got it! What’s more perfect than going ice skating? Daniel and I used to love going ice skating our freshman year of high school. I didn’t know where the ice skating rink was from the hospital, but we’d find it sooner or later.
“He’s going to be okay Daniel, I promise.”
“I know, it’s just scary.”
I reached over and squeezed Daniel’s hand.
“Where are we going?” he asked, squeezing my hand back.
“You’ll see. I know you are going to love it. Don’t you worry.”
I looked over at him and smiled. Once I got on the main roads, I knew exactly where I was supposed to be going. It didn’t take long to get there at all from the hospital, about a 10 minute drive, if that. I pulled in to the parking lot and Daniel just started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“Nothing, its… it’s just like the good old days.” He said, smiling at me.
“Well come on!” I exclaimed as I jumped out of the car.
After hours of skating, giggling, and falling on our butts Daniel got the call from the hospital. We returned our skates and walked out to the car.
“You better let me drive.” I said to Daniel.
“Yeah, you’re right.” He threw me the keys and we got into the car.
“Bonnie… Thank you. I really needed that.”
I looked over at Daniel who was just smiling at me. I couldn’t help but to smile back, and blush a little bit.
“Anything for you Daniel.”
