Thin Air (Complete EDITING)

13- Andrew

13 Andrew May 16, 2020

Firm knocking from the front of my house wakes me.

I crept to the door in just my pajama pants, careful not to wake anyone. Seeing Jamie standing there with red eyes and wet lashes does little to clear the confusion of being pulled from bed at this hour.

"Hey, are you okay? What happened?" I pull her to me, trying to assess the situation in my half-asleep brain.

She sniffles against my bare chest, "No, Drew. I tried to call, it's -"

The door pulls open the rest of the way behind me, revealing a messy-haired Nicole, wearing only a cami and a pair of my boxers briefs. "Hey, Jamie. What's going on?"

Jamie pushes me away, and hurt takes over the sadness that was there before.

"Cal is in the hospital. They think he had a stroke."

I stand frozen in place as I try to process it all. Jamies is in front of me, crying. Nicole is half-naked off to my side. My dad is in the hospital.

Nicole places her hand possessively in the middle of my back. I cringe, wishing that I pulled a shirt on before leaving my room. "Go ahead, I'll stay here with the boys."

Jamie looks between us and nods, saying she will wait in her car as she turns her back to me, heading down the porch steps. I can't read the look on her face, but I know it's not good.

___________________

I'm dressed and in the passenger seat a short time later. I made sure Nicole had what she needed for the boys since I didn't know how long I would be gone.

I turn to Jamie, knowing this isn't going to go well. "Jamie, that wasn't-. "

"It's fine. I said I wasn't going to do this on and off thing, and I meant it. All you did was make sure that I couldn't change my mind again. It's fine. I was just surprised to see her is all."

"No, but-"

"Really, Drew, it's fine. This isn't the time to talk about it." She pulls up to the hospital entrance, reaches over, and squeezes my knee reassuringly. "I'm going to park the car. I'll meet you in there. Everyone else is upstairs in the ICU waiting room. Shannon said doctor would be out soon."

I notice her shoulders shaking with sobs as she pulls away. I don't know how I am going to fix this, but I will. Right now, I need to go see what is happening with my dad.