Post Dawn

28. Medication

Matt and Jess had gotten up a few hours after they had both woken up. Jess had been strong enough to stand but still needed Matt's help a few times.

He had happily obliged. She had poured the pancake batter onto the burner as Matt helped flip them. Jess was impressed with his flipping skills and even tried herself. She wasn't as good as he was though.

"How'd you learn to get that good?" She asked him. Matt chuckled to himself, a knowing smile coming to his lips.

"Well my dad and I used to make pancakes all the time. While we weren't practicing football outside. We used to always make breakfast in bed for my mom while she was sick.." his voice trailed off at the last few words.

Jess knew that Matt had lost his mother a year or so before the prank. He hadn't been open to talking about it before with anyone. He had just thrown himself into sports.

She looked over at him from the corner of her eye as he put his hand to his mouth. He sighed and then continued his story.

"I used to pour the batter instead while my dad flipped. You always know it's ready to flip when the batter on top starts bubbling. It doesn't take long. Then you just get the spatula and put the whole thing under it and flip it. You can't go too slow or it'll not come out so pretty." Matt explained.

He smiled down at the pancake and then pointed to it as it started to have bubbles pop in the batter.

Jess smiled at his enthusiasm as he flipped.

She pursed her lips and tried to easily phrase her sentence.

She wasn't really sure a good way to say it so she just did it. "You never told us what happened to your mom..." she said quietly.

She saw Matt tense up after she finished her sentence. He took a breath and closed his eyes as he stayed looking down at the burner.

"She uh- she got cancer. She had tried fighting it for years and had always gone through these treatments or surgeries that would supposedly help but it never did. My dad and I both shaved our heads for her. I tried my best with football because she always wanted me to be a star football player..." he trailed off once again and then continued.

"After- after she died, I tried to be the best football player I could be. For her. For my dad, and for the bills he had to pay off from my moms medical." He finished.

Jess sighed and then nodded, leaning against Matt's arm.

"I'm so sorry." Was all she could muster. She didn't really know what to say. She couldn't imagine his situation.

She had been born into an already wealthy family and she never thought about Matt's financial problems. Ever since she had gone into high school, her parents told her she needed to get a job if she wanted to get anywhere in life.

She never got her hands on any application and her parents were displeased. They hadn't been very warm towards her since her junior year in high school.

It had been a while. "I know she'd be proud of you." Jess heard herself say.

She hadn't even realized she was speaking until her sentence was done. She looked up at Matt to see him smiling slightly and then look down at her.

"Thank you." Matt said to her.

The air around them went silent, only the sounds of the batter sizzling against the burner.

~~~~~~~

Josh and Emily had both settled onto the couch and watched t.v.

Emily had told Josh about her calling Mike and Sam later that day and Josh tried to distract her from thinking about it too much.