Broken

Chapter 6

"Sweetheart, it will be fine. I'm so sorry, but these things happen sometimes. We'll take you to a psychologist and get you fixed up. You'll be okay."
I'm sitting at the kitchen, silently crying and listening to my mother try to talk me through it.
"Will I need to get surgery to remove it, since it won't fall off on its own?" It hurts to ask that. Not because I'm worried about the surgery, it's just, I haven't been able to talk much since it happens. When I get bad news, I tend to crawl into my own little shell and block everyone out. Its how I cope.
"Yes, love, but it's not major. All it is is a short day surgery. It will take the surgeons less than an hour to do it. You won't even have to stay overnight."
"Okay. " Several minutes pass before I finally break the silence again, "Does daddy know yet?"
"No, I haven't told him yet."
"Will," I stop for a minute to keep back more tears, "will I be alone forever?"
"Honey," she has a pained, concerned look on her face as she searches for the words, "I'm not sure..." I can feel my expression growing more and more downcast, "but honestly, it's not the end of the world. There's more to life than finding someone. There's so much else to do." I guess she noticed the look on my face as well.
"Okay." Okay is all I can ever manage to get out. It's always "okay". I want to scream at her that it's not okay. That it feels like the end of the world. I want her to know how much it hurts, but it's easier to just say okay, and that's what I always do.
I get up from my chair and go to my room. I collapse into my bed, connect my phone to the charger, and call Gabe, but, just like this morning, he doesn't pick up. I didn't think he would. I text him, telling him everything that happened. Then, I try Odessa, who doesn't answer either. I tell her all that I told Gabe. Why aren't they answering? I start to get mad at them. I know it's not their fault, but it still hurts that they're not there for me when I need it most.
I put my phone on the charger, set it down on my nightstand, and lie back down on my bed. Maybe sleep will help. It only takes me a few minutes to fall asleep, as opposed to the several hours it usually takes. At least one good thing has come out of this...

                                                                    ***********************

I wake up sometime in the middle of the night. It must be pretty late, as it sounds like everyone's already asleep; I can't hear anyone walking or talking. I check my phone for the time. It's 2:13 and I've gotten messages from both Odessa and Gabe. I check the one from Odessa first:

"Oh my gosh, really??? I'm so sorry!!!
Do you want to go get some ice cream tomorrow???
That might make you feel better..."

I contemplate whether I should text her back yet or not, but decide not to, as I don't want to wake her up this late. I check the texts from Gabe next...

"What? Are you serious?"
"I'm coming over."

My heart skips a beat when I read this. I check the time it sent:
1:47
I'm starting to get a panic attack at this point. My parents would kill me if he snuck over this late and they found about it. I can't let him.

"Dude no"

"You can't come over"

"My parents would kill me"

"I'll see you tomorrow"

He texts back after a few minutes...

"Too bad. I'm only a couple houses down.
I'll be there in like two minutes."

"Shit dude no"

"You can't do that"

He doesn't text back. After a few minutes of me freaking out, I hear a soft tap on my window that makes me jump at least a foot in the air. I peak out and see him standing there, laughing his ass off at me. I open the window, and as soon as I do, I can smell fast food. He climbs inside with difficulty, as he's holding two bags of food from Sonic. That explains the smell.
He sits down on the bed next to me and gives me a hug. I expected it to be quick, but it lasts for a couple of minutes. It feels a bit awkward, but I don't care. I need a hug right now.
"I'm really sorry," he says while we're still hugging. We keep holding each other for about another minute until he finally let's go. "I know it's not much, but I brought you some food."
"Thank you," Even though I'm still freaking out, I'm still really glad he came. He always knows how to make things better. "What did you get." I got us each a double bacon cheeseburger with everything on it, no mayo for you, a peanut butter oreo blast, a coke, and a bunch of fried Oreos."
"You shouldn't have spent all of that money on me."
"But I wanted to. Also, it gave me a chance to get myself food and to see you, so we're even. Don't even think about paying me back." He knows me so well. If he hadn't said not to, I would have slipped him money for all of this, plus some extra.
"Fine. Really, though, we have to be quiet. If my parents catch you in here they'll ground me until I turn 18 and they'll never let me see you again. That would be the end of our friendship."
Yeah, I know. It's two in the morning, though. Everyone's asleep, and your AC is so loud that no one will hear us if we talk normally."
"We're whispering, just in case."
"Okay. Do you..." It takes him a second to get the words out, "want to talk about what happened?"
"I was taking a walk like I normally do, but for some reason, I couldn't stop thinking about my clock. I kept looking down at it. Anyways, I went to the park and sat down on the grassy circle at the end of the dock, and I looked down one last time, and I noticed that only a couple minutes passed, even though it took me half an hour to get there."
"Oh. I'm really sorry. Will you have to get it surgically removed, or will it fall off on its own."
"I'm going to need surgery, but it's quick. Only a day surgery, or at least that's what my mom said."
"Oh, okay."
I pick up my burger and start eating it, and Gabe does the same. He only takes one bite, though, before asking another question.
"Are you afraid you'll never find love?"
"Honestly," I think about it for a moment, wanting to find some sort of hope in me, but I can't, "yes."