Not Falling Apart

Chapter 10

Adam’s POV

Adam was up, showered, and dressed by 8:15. He walked into the living room and found Blake sitting on the couch, watching the Today Show. He turned around when he heard Adam.

“Hey, you’re dressed already?”

“Yeah.”

Blake turned off the T.V. and got up. He was wearing the same clothes he had on yesterday.

“I would offer you something else to wear, but I don’t know if anything would fit.”

“Nah, I’ll be fine. I’ll go home later today. And I’ll get someone at the studio to come with me to bring your car back.”

“Thanks.”

“You ready to get going?”

“Sure.”

They walked to the front door and headed out.

***

Adam tried to calm his nerves on the drive to the hospital. He didn’t get nervous that easily, but hospitals, and especially surgery, made him anxious. He glanced over at Blake, who had his eyes fixed straight ahead on the road. His left hand was on the steering wheel, and his right was on the console. Adam considered moving his own hand to where it would be closer to Blake’s, but decided against it. He didn’t want the older man to get any ideas.

He spoke instead. “I want to thank you again for all that you’ve done for me. I don’t really have anyone else who would…” he trailed off, mumbling the last few words. He dropped his gaze. Don’t get soft now!

Blake looked over and smiled. “I told ya, it’s no problem. That’s what friends do for each other.”

Friends. Adam had to remember that they were friends, and nothing more.

***

They arrived at the hospital about ten minutes early. Inside, a receptionist had Adam fill out some forms. They pretty much stated that he acknowledged all the risks and complications associated with the surgery, etc.  Always nice to know. You’ll go in just fine, but you may not wake up. Or you may be permanently damaged. And here’s the form that says you’re okay with that! Adam shuddered.

Blake looked over to him as he was writing. “I didn’t know you were left-handed.”

“You’ve never seen me writing those love notes to you?” Adam joked.

“Yeah, but I didn’t pay attention.”

Adam smiled. “Well, now you know.”

Once everything was filled out and signed, Adam was led back to a room for the surgery. He looked back and saw Blake give him a small wave, and he returned the gesture.

Blake’s POV

Blake decided to wait at the hospital, instead of go home and change or go get Adam’s car. He would do those things eventually, but right now he wanted to be with Adam.

He thought briefly of what happened last night at Adam’s place. He kept picturing Adam shirtless, and the jokes they exchanged, and inhaling the sweet scent of Adam’s cologne. It was a good night, and Blake wanted to relive it.

He looked up just in time to see two familiar faces walk through the door. They went over and sat down by Blake.

“How is everything?” Shakira asked.

“So far, so good, I guess.” He looked at the clock. It had been half an hour.

Usher spoke up. “What we really want to know, is what the hell is going on.” Shakira nodded.

“I told you all the other day.” But Blake knew what they meant—all the stuff before that. He sighed. “It’s a long story…”

“Okay, then can you answer some of our questions?” Shakira asked.

“Like what?”

“Like how you knew about this before we did, and how long you knew about it, and why you didn’t tell us?”

Blake held up his hands. “Alright, alright, I’ll tell you.”

He told them about when he first noticed something was wrong with Adam, and how he told him to go to the doctor, and how he got worse and didn’t answer Blake’s calls, and why he fainted at the studio and the talk they had backstage.

“…and I didn’t say anything to ya’ll because I didn’t even know the whole story until Adam told me, and I didn’t figure he’d want me telling everybody. Sorry guys.”

Shakira placed a hand on Blake’s shoulder. “It’s okay, we were just really worried about him. I’m so happy he had you to watch out for him.”

“Are you guys going to hang around?”

“Definitely.”

So they all waited together for Adam to come out of surgery.

Adam’s POV

His vision was fuzzy just like it was the last time he was in here. Which was yesterday, he had to remind himself. So much had happened in the past 24 hours.

He came to his senses and looked around the room. He was alone. His body hurt—bad. He had an IV in one arm. He reached down and felt that the majority of his stomach was covered with bandages. It was over. They had cut him open, removed whatever it was, and stitched him up. He could only imagine what he looked like under the covering.

He remembered what the doctor had told him right before the surgery. It would take about two hours, he would remove all of the cancer spots he could find, which also usually involved removing part of the stomach, he would likely be sore for a while and may still have symptoms, and he would receive follow-up radiation treatment for several weeks, a few days per week. Awesome. But at least the surgery was over, the part that Adam had feared the most. And he was alive and seemingly okay.

He laid his head back down against the pillow and tried to fall asleep.