Overcome

Chapter Twenty-three

Starbucks was crowded with the early morning rush of people getting their coffee before work. I squeeze my way through the crowd with my hot chocolate and sit down at the last open seat. A couple seconds later when I see her squeezing through the crowd I raise my hand so she can see me.

"Gina" she smiles, sitting down.

"Mrs. Farrington" I return her smile.

Is it Mrs.? I think as I say her name.

She's pretty, you could totally tell that she's Justin's mom. She has shoulder length, dirty blonde hair and the same nose. She even has blue eyes but, hers a much lighter than Justin's.

"What brings me here? Is Justin okay?" She asks semi- worriedly..

"Yes, he's fine, well....yeah..." I sigh.

"I called him, he didn't answer." She says quietly.

"That's why I called you here." I pause trying to find the right words. "When you called Justin he was shocked, sad, and mad all at the same time. He didn't know what to do." Mrs. Farrington attentively looked at me while I was talking. "Only a couple of days ago I learned the real reason why Justin is staying with us."

"He never told you?" She asks stunned.

I continue explaining, ignoring her question. "He would wake u p in the middle of the night screaming in his sleep. He told me the nightmare was about the day he left your house. I'm going to be totally honest, I don't think he regrets it. The fighting gnawed at him, he needed out! He keeps saying he's not ready to talk to you guys. I think that he thinks that the fighting will somehow make his way back to you if you talked or saw him. Calling him out of the blue made all the memories, not just the nightmare come flooding back."

Justin's whimpering eyes popped into my head and I couldn't help but tear up myself.

"I'm going to try my hardest to have him come to you. I think that if he goes to you it won't be as hard for him to handle because it would be his choice." I say before I start crying. "I mean, he already promised that he would call you and just the other day he wanted nothing to do with you."

"You know, you're a really smart girl." Mrs. Farrington started to explain. "But he obviously doen't want anything to to do with us. I don't want you to waste any of your time." She says very casual.

Justin's image flew out of my head and it filled with rage. "Excuse me?! I'm sorry, but do you not want to see your son? Is that the real reason why you haven't called in 7 months?!"

Before I can say anything else she bursts into tears "He slammed the door so hard! We stopped fighting. Actually losing him made us realize all of the amazing things we had to loose. We wanted to give him time away from us, thought that it make things better." She looks at me with horror in her eyes. "His dad was on his way to see Justin yesterday when he got in a car accident."

"no" I said faintly.

"He didn't die" She reassures me.

oh thank god!

"But his legs are paralyzed and he's out of it. Not unconscious, but just doesn't want anything to do with life anymore. "

My hand covers my mouth as she talks.

"the doctor said that it's a 30% chance of a full recovery. And that is if he tries to get better."

I run my fingers through my hair.

"That's why I called him. I couldn't not!"

"well, not exactly a good time to tell him" i meant to say nicely but didn't.

"Please don't tell him! Please leave that up to us!"

"How can I not? He's my best friend....My only friend.." I say quietly so that she couldn't hear.

"Just don't, please!"

"fine! But if he asks, then I will tell him."

"Thank you!" Her phone beeps. "I'm so sorry, its the doctor! I have to go, i'm so sorry.

I nod my head letting her know its okay.

Once she leaves I stand on the now short line to order Justin breakfast.

"Didn't you order already?" the tall, thin man scrunched his eyebrows down annoyed that he's late for his break.

I ignore him and order a bagel for Justin. Once I have it and paid for it I decide that I should get him a drink too because it's the nice thing to do.

"oh my god! how many things are you going to order?" he complains.

"Wow, someone has a stick up their ass" I say turning back around and walk out.

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

Justin was in the exact same position that I left him in.

"Justin" I coo "Justin come on, you gotta eat." I coo again.

"Food" he mumbles and rolls over.

I smile and giggle a little "Yes Justin, food"