Lights, Cameras, Outsiders!

Chapter 32

LCO 32

They still didn't know why I had a cardiac arrest at eighteen years old, but they were determined to find out. But for now, they implanted an ICD (Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator) and I was recovering with Matt coming in everyday to talk to me. Once they discovered I was making a good recovery, they offered me to go through rehabilitation but I declined because I thought I could make it on my own.

"Okay, do you think you can get up in the chair?" A nurse asked me. Patrick was here with me while the rest of the crew was watching the filming.

"No," I said.

"Okay," Patrick helped me out of the bed and into the wheelchair. We made our way down to the parking lot and the nurse wheeled me to Patrick's car. They helped me in the front seat and the nurse waved goodbye. Patrick got in the front seat and turned the key but didn't put on his seatbelt or move the car.

"What's going on, Patrick? " I said.

"Look, Essie, you-you can't just go home and function the way you have before. This is serious," he said.

"I know."

"I mean you're ten years younger than me and you suffered through one of the leading causes of death. You can't go back on the set of the movie."

"I will after a while."

"Not until the end. This is going to take a toll on your entire life. Someone's got to take care of you."

"Well, I guess Susie can."

"Susie has David and a job. She can't take care of you."

"Well what do you want me to do, Patrick? I'm not moving back home with my parents, they wouldn't take care of me," I said.

"Well maybe we should all discuss this later," he said, putting his seatbelt on and pulling the stick.

"What? What do you mean we?" I said.

"Everyone."

"Whoa whoa whoa. This is me, this is my heart that's in recovery. The only person that would be involve in my care after this movie would be Matt."

"I know but we have a couple plans," Patrick said.

"Fine."

**********

"So, we've been discussing options about your care," Susie said. They had chairs gathered in a circle and a small couch. I sat next to Cruise on the couch and Matt grabbed my hand in a chair next to me. Cruise put his arm around me.

"I can take care of myself," I said.

"No you can't, baby," Matt said, squeezing my hand.

"I mean I'll need some help getting around at first but... I mean once I'm on my feet, I can get around," I said.

"Oh, yeah, Essie, just like that. You're going to need some care whether you think you need it or not," Ralph snapped. I drew back and Matt squeezed and rubbed his thumb along the back of my hand.

"You're acting as if I have dementia or something," I said.

"No, but you went through a very traumatic and deadly experience and we just need to kind of deal with it in a way you will be comfortable with," Susie said.

"I'm going to be fine," I said. Susie cocked her head over to Matt and he pulled my sight and I looked him dead in the eye.

"You may not think you need help, but you will. Whether I take care of you or Ralph or Cruise or Patrick, someone's got to provide some sort of care for you. Maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't, but we're just taking precautions to what could happen," he said.

"Okay," I nodded.

"So we thought about it, and Essie, I really can't take care of you. I have a husband, a job, and horses to maintain. Before, you could take care of yourself and now you can't. So we can maybe-" Susie started.

"I'm not going back to live with my parents," I said.

"Okay, then that's out of the question. The other option, Matt," she said.

Matt turned and looked at me.

"I was going to ask you later on in the shoot, but, um, I guess it's vital at this point. Would you, uh, want to come live with me in New York? We could our own apartment, my brother's already got one in mi-"

"Yes."

"Wait, you didn't let me finish. Wait, you said yes?" He began to smile. I nodded. He beamed and kissed me and backed up.

"So Matt would take some care of you while you live with him in New York," Susie said.

"Yes," Matt said.

"But we thought you would be alone when Matt went off to movies you couldn't get to or trips so we decided that we all have our own places now except Tommy. So whenever Matt's out on a movie,-" Patrick started.

"And I can take you if you want; you don't have to stay behind," Matt interrupted.

"Yeah, if you don't want to go filming, you can come stay with one of us while we're on a break or invite you to set," Patrick said.

"Oh, I don't know. Now I'm a burden on everyone's shoulders."

"You're not a burden," Cruise said.

"Seriously," Rob said.

"Don't think like that, you're our friend and we're here to take care of you," Emilio said.

"I guess..."

"Look, it'll be a cool experience... We're just scared if you're home alone and it happens again... No one's gonna know," Susie said.

"Okay... I'm saying yes for now but I'm still going to think about it."