by Davis, SJ
"Dude, spit it out." Tom took a slice of all three pizzas.
The couch was killing his back.
"What if I told you that me, Lauren and Jason are together?" He stared straight ahead, but he said the words.
The room became silent.
He clenched his fist.
"I would say that is awesome." Ken shoved the rest of the slice in his mouth and socked Russell in the arm. "Dude."
"I would say tell me something I don't know." Tom took hold of him and turned him. "How does that work?"
Russell was still back at the awesome remark. "What?"
"Don't you watch porn?" Ken's voice was stifled from trying to chew. "Lauren has enough room for at least two more men, maybe three."
"Hey." Russell shook his head. They really didn't need anyone else in the mix. He turned between his friends. "Seriously."
Ken went in for another slice of pizza. "It's a little out there, but sort of cool. I don't really care. I think it would be weird at first but it’s still you."
"What about work?" Russell pressed two fingers into his temple.
"We work in computers, you would be a God."
That answer was about as honest as he could hope for, and if he were alone he may punch his fist through a wall or burst into tears. He destroyed them. Wrecked the two people he loved.
Tom went to the refrigerator and got another beer. "Lauren was a given, but I have to admit, if I had Jason living with me, he would be hard to resist." He raised his bottle.
Ken and Tom both burst out laughing.
He let Lauren and Jason leave, practically pushed them out the door. His heart raced in that horrible way that told him he needed to get out of here, run and find them, or maybe go throw up. He moved down his glasses and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes trying to think. Jason sold them, or did he? Lauren left with a doctor. No she didn't, she only left with a box.
"Dude, where are your better thirds?"
He wasn't even sure who asked that question. He needed one of Jason's plans right now, needed to think, needed to ask Lauren what to do.
Without his partners, he would have to use what he had at hand. He looked up, adjusted his glasses, and opened his mouth to ask them when his phone vibrated on the table.
Maybe it was one of them, and instinct caused him to jump toward the table, almost knocking the computer over. He managed to grab his phone, and a quick glance at the number told him it wasn't either of his bedmates. "Hello?"
"Mr. Sinclair?" A female voice asked.
"Yes." The voice was too official and he turned to his friends, but they weren't the right ones.
"This is Cedar Sinai Hospital, Lauren Redmond has you listed as her emergency contact."
He froze and tried to listen, but the woman's words were drowned out by his own prayers. Right now, above everything else, he needed his best friend.
Chapter Thirty
Somehow Jason managed to get himself to the hospital, though the ogre managing the visitor's desk, and now down the hallway toward the surgery waiting room.
Before he entered, he stopped, leaning over and bracing himself on his knees, inhaling in an unsuccessful attempt to catch his breath. His throat ached for moisture, and his heart thumped a warning for him to take it down a notch.
With some sort of semblance of control coming over him, he straightened up and fought the need to burst through the door and demand to know what was going on with Lauren. Instead he opted to turn the knob and walk in like a man who didn't feel like he had a huge metal-toed boot kicking him right the groin.
He may as well have had the groin kicker.
Russell already arrived. Of course he got there first. He sat hunched over, his head in his hands, but looked up at the slam of the door.
They glanced at each other. Jason shoved his hand in his pocket and stepped further into the room, and at last Russell tilted his head. Jason answered with a nod and sat down next to him.
Jason rocked back and forth in his chair and scanned the room. At one point the walls were white, but they yellowed with age. The sparse furniture was a horrible rose color that in some decade when shoulder pads were fashionable may have been acceptable. The only items adorning the walls were a small television he was sure was devoid of cable and a poster about flu symptoms. If someone's illness didn't kill them, the décor would most definitely do the job.
He switched from rocking to foot tapping, and peeked at Russell. With twenty years of words between them, now when they needed to speak the most, they had nothing to say.
Leave it to Russell to do the right thing. "She's in surgery."
"Hence the surgical waiting room." Jason squeezed the bridge of his nose. "Do you know anything?" Russell always knew everything. The location of any bathroom, the nearest water fountain, answers about someone's life.
"I got a call she was in an accident. When I got here they told me to wait in this room. No one has come in yet." Russell strummed his fingers on his knee. "Do you know anything?"
Jason turned. Russell was asking him? "Same thing, call, hospital, room, nothing. Did you try to get anyone?"
Russell shook his head. "I was waiting for..." He cut himself off.
"For what?"
"Nothing." Russell shut his eyes.
"Right now all that matters is Laurie is okay." Jason would raise the white flag for now, for her.
"Yeah." He stood up and paced among the row of chairs. "She was alone."
Jason stared up at the ceiling. Nondescript white tiles and unflattering fluorescent lights. "I have already thought of that."
"She hates being alone." Russell paced the other way.
"She gets in trouble when she's alone. Remember last time?"
Russell stopped at the mention of their Vegas trip.
"God, that was great." Jason didn't realize he said the words aloud until he was met with Russell's glare at the mention of the unmentionable.
"The night or the creation?" Russell crossed his arms.
Jason stood, but before he had a chance to say anything, the door opened.
"Who's here for Lauren Redmond?" A man in blue surgical scrubs entered carrying a folder.
They both rushed to the man.
"I'm Doctor Roberts." The doctor lifted his chart. "Is one of you her husband? Next of kin?"
"I am." Russell raised his hand.
"We are." Jason stood next to him. "We both are."
Now the man looked between them.
"Please tell us what's happening with my…" Russell paused. "With our Lauren."
The doctor turned a few pages of the chart and right as Jason went to step closer to Russell, Russell moved over and they collided with each other.
Jason ground his teeth together when Russell jumped away, putting ample space between them.
"Miss Redmond was in a serious car accident. She was struck by a car when she was running across the street." The doctor told them.
Russell covered his eyes.
Jason shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Why wasn't Russell taking over, asking if she were alive, would she be okay? He waited, wanting his best friend to do what he did best, but Russell remained transfixed, his eyes hidden and his hand shaking. "Is she alive?" Jason asked.
"She has a broken leg, a concussion and suffered some internal bleeding, but she is alive."
Russell still didn't move.
"Is she going to be okay?" Jason continued to ask the necessary questions. He needed to keep his focus, listen to everything. Be the eyes and ears, but right now being kicked in the groin seemed definitely preferable than having to hear this.
"She is still unconscious. We're monitoring her."
Jason heard what the doctor wasn't saying. The man purposely didn't answer his question. His stomach bottomed out and he turned to Russell.
Russell lowered his hand and stared off at nothing.
"Can we see her?"
"Yes, we're transferring her to a room now." The
doctor headed out of the room.
Jason walked forward but Russell stayed shaking his head. "Come on. She can't be alone." He stepped backwards, not turning until Russell followed.
The doctor led them through a maze of corridors. Jason was sure he would never be able to find his way out of this hospital again. Every room seemed to hold some sort of despair or potential for sadness and at last they were guided into their own hellhole.
"Jason."
At last Russell spoke, and Jason looked back at his friend. Any color had long left his face and now seemed to take on a greenish-grey hue.
He spun back and caught sight of what made Russell appear as if he were going to land in his own hospital bed.
Lauren wasn't big to begin with, but the bed, the tubing and the machines surrounding her made her seem tiny. If he blinked she would disappear. A car couldn't have done this much damage, more like a semi-truck, there seemed not one spot on her that wasn't bruised or bandaged.
Russell went around to one side of the bed, sat down and took her hand.
Jason followed suit, taking the opposite side and the opposite hand and there they sat with only the intermittent wheezing and clicking of a ton of devices he didn't understand to keep them company.
Her hand was limp, cold, nothing at all like when he would grab her during sleep. Even if she were exhausted she would moan or give him a squeeze, but now, nothing. Russell must have noticed it as well. He had Lauren's hand lying flat in his and was simply staring down.
He looked between Russell and Lauren. Her between them, them on either side. This was how things should be. "You know it did start out as an experiment."
Russell raised his head, but didn't speak.
"I thought it would be good for us, do what we always wanted. I thought we needed it." He swallowed. "Damn it, I wanted the inspiration."
Russell pursed his lips and nodded.
"Then it changed."
"What changed?"
Jason turned away, studying a pain scale hanging on the wall. Zero was a happy face with no pain and ten was a sad crying face. With everything, with Lauren, with Russell, with sitting in this hospital room, he would say his pain rated about a twelve and he wondered what that face's illustration would be, maybe someone's head exploding. "Somewhere in there I started to care." He faced Russell. "You and Lauren turned into more than my best friends. Both of you."
Russell didn't respond. Jason didn't expect him to, not yet. He could tell Russell was chewing on the inside of his mouth as if he needed to masticate and digest his words.
Jason waited, the weight on his chest pressing down, getting heavier with each passing second.
Russell slid his free hand across Lauren. He looked right at Jason and turned his hand over offering it to him palm up.
Jason inhaled for the first time in a week and took the gift Russell gave him, first putting his hand in his and then moving up and grabbing hold of his wrist.
Russell smiled and reciprocated the action. "It is more."
"It is." Jason looked at Lauren. "I hope she knows it."
"Me too." Russell tightened his hold. "Why was she running through Beverly Hills?"
He shook his head. Dr. Dalton and his handbag of wonders were in Beverly Hills. The douche was probably still there injecting people who didn't need it while they were here with Lauren. "I hope she knows we're here."
Chapter Thirty-One
On the fourth ring Russell wanted to slam his cell phone into something, instead he only squeezed it tighter. Lauren got him this cell phone when the three of them upgraded to the family plan.
Now he was on the fifth ring.
Before the sixth ring was over, there was an answer. "Hello?"
Russell swallowed. "Dad?" He tilted his neck from side to side and the bones cracked inside his skull.
"What's the matter?"
He lowered his voice not wanting Lauren to hear, if she could hear. "Lauren was in an accident."
His father grunted.
He ground his teeth together and waited for the magic answer.
"Are the three of you still doing whatever you were doing?" His father's question was more of an accusation.
He wanted to ask if it mattered. Wasn't the only thing that was important that Lauren was hurt? What about his son needing him? It didn't matter, and if he wanted anything he would answer. "Yes." He didn't have any further elaboration. Yes, they were doing what they were doing as long as Lauren still wanted them when and if she woke.
"How bad is she?"
Russell could picture his father taking a notepad out of his desk drawer and his pen and he lifted his own notes on Lauren's condition and read them to his father.
After a long silence, his father asked another question. "Where are you?"
"Cedar's." He exhaled.
"Who is her doctor?"
Russell balled his fist. The man was going to do something. "Bryan Roberts."
"We will be there soon."
A click echoed in his ear. No goodbye. No reassurances she would be all right, nothing, but Russell didn't care, he needed to play this hand and he set his phone down. His father knew people, people who may help, doctor's and specialists who owed the most powerful attorney in the world a favor. For once Russell didn't have the answers.
"Look what I got." Jason trotted back into the room and held up his find. "That nurse lady showed me where they keep the good stuff."
Russell took the orange sherbet and wooden spatula to be used a spoon. "I will never understand how you get these things."
"Old ladies like me." Jason grinned for one brief second and then turned to Lauren. His happiness over his score dissolved like a tablet in a glass of water.
Russell put his snack down on the hospital tray meant to hold a patient's food, only in this case it was only being used to house their snacks, magazines and laptops. Lauren hadn't eaten a thing. She hadn't moved in two days. Hadn't woken up. Where was she?
They didn't really talk about it. They didn't move from the hospital. They only sat together trying to keep the other from going insane, but now forty-eight hours after their lives changed, they would have to talk about something other than which vending machine didn't eat dollar bills and trying to play guess the disease with the rest of the patients in their hallway. "Jase."
"You know I wanted to take a third cup for Laurie but Nurse Nancy told me that after she wakes up she will be on clear liquids, so it will have to wait." Jason tossed his ice cream cup on the tray as well. "She really likes tomato bisque, but I guess that's not clear. I'll smuggle some in though. Just as soon as…" He stood and turned toward Lauren's IV.
He supposed it was Jason's turn to lose it. The man deserved it. Jason kept it together when he could not and it was nice to have someone take over for once. But now he needed his control back. He stared at Lauren's face. Every hour she remained locked away was another hour lost, their chances of getting her back fading. They both knew it. He wanted to demand she wake up this second, he wanted his family back. His family. Not the man on the phone, but the two people right in front of him. "I'm going to do something."
Jason spun back toward him. "What are you going to do?" He held his arms out. "What, Russ? We're trapped. We've asked for specialists, we've stalked everyone here down to the janitor. What are you going to do?"
He looked at her once more. Part of him wanted to grab her shoulders and shake her, the other wanted to lay his head down on her chest and sob. "I'm working on something." He pointed at Jason. "This doesn't end this way, Lauren wouldn't allow it." He sat back down. Truth of the matter was they didn't even know what would transpire when she woke up. Why was she running through Beverly Hills and not driving? Could they resuscitate their relationship?
"I called my parents." Jason shook his head, crossed his arms and resumed studying Lauren's IV bag. "They're coming down here."
He put his hand to his forehead and squeezed, wishing he could force a thought in his head. Yesterday Jason
didn't need to call his parents because Lauren would be up and calling them and they could do all the mom and dad things to her. However, even with that revelation, he could top it. "I called mine. They will be here soon."
Jason ran his hand through his hair. "What's the temperature today? Do you think it’s cold enough for a jacket?"
Russell frowned, wondering why he would randomly ask that question. "Low seventies, probably need something light."
Jason nodded. "The nearest gas station, do you know where it is?"
"There are three around here. One across the street if you go out the front entrance," he said. "Why? Are you leaving?"
"No." Jason waved his hand behind him, shooing his question away. "Tell me, is today a day to buy stocks or sell them?"
"It's a buying day." At this second he wished he were buying, even selling if that meant Lauren would be all right.
"Then tell me this." Jason never looked at him. "Do you think I'm going to be able to buy Lauren that soup tonight?"
He rubbed the stubble on his chin wanting to ask Jason if they should shave since Lauren hated them scruffy.
"Do you know what Lauren was doing the day she was hit?" Jason balled his hand into a fist.
Neither of them knew, they only had speculation and suspicion.
"Oh my God I just heard." A foreign voice rang through Lauren's room.
He stood and Jason turned.
"Where's her chart?" Dr. Dalton rushed inside with a nurse and two other people behind him. "I said get me her chart!"
The man showed, his blood raced, heating his skin, and both he and Jason moved in front of Lauren's bed.
The doctor grabbed the requested folder from the nurse and stopped in front of the two of them.
"Did you expect this?" Jason elbowed him.
"I'm surprised he didn't come sooner." Russell crossed his arms. Until they knew what was happening this man wasn't getting any closer to Lauren. She would have to tell them herself she wanted the doctor. "We only want family here right now."