Like You Mean It

by Trish Edmisten

  Instead of worrying about that, Danni needed to figure out how to tell Darren that Spencer was back at school. While Spencer was able to hang out with his friends and act like nothing happened, Darren was stuck in a hospital bed dealing with losing his arm.

  “Are you okay?” Darren asked.

  “Spencer came back to school today,” Danni blurted out.

  Darren’s expression stayed the same. “Yeah? Is he okay?”

  “I’m surprised you care,” Danni admitted.

  “Sure I care. He’s been my best friend since middle school.”

  “Then how come he hasn’t come to visit you?”

  Darren laughed. “You sound like J.J.”

  “I guess I do, but J.J. has a point,” Danni said.

  “I know. It’s just that I can’t hate him.”

  “But it’s his fault you lost your arm.”

  “It’s my fault,” Darren said softly.

  “Darren, what happened that night?” Danni asked the question that had been on her mind for weeks.

  Darren’s gaze drifted toward the wall. When he didn’t respond right away, Danni thought he might want her to mind her own business, but after a while he spoke.

  “We went to a party after the game,” he began, not turning to face her. “There were a lot of people drinking. Spence drank before the game, and he drank even more at the party. By the time we left, he couldn’t even walk.”

  “What about you?” Danni asked.

  “I was sober,” Darren whispered.

  “What?” she gasped.

  “I don’t drink. The first time I tried I got so sick I swore I’d never do it again.”

  “What about Lee and Matt?”

  “They were buzzed, but not drunk.”

  “You were the only sober one and you let the drunkest guy drive?”

  “It wasn’t the first time he’d driven like that, and my house wasn’t far. I figured we’d be okay,” Darren explained.

  “And that’s why you did it?” Danni asked.

  “No.” Darren still wasn’t looking at her. “I didn’t want to look like a punk if I stood up to Spence and told him he couldn’t drive.”

  Danni sank back in the chair as she tried to absorb his words. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Darren Jacobs, the most popular guy in school, had been sucked in by peer pressure? It just didn’t seem possible. Everyone followed him and did whatever he said.

  It would have been so easy for him to prevent the accident. If only he had taken the car keys, he wouldn’t be here now. That was what she would have done. She would never let any of her friends drive drunk. Who cares if it made them mad? They would’ve gotten over it and probably thanked her later for saving their lives. But what if it hadn’t been Chelsea or Marcy? What if she’d been at that party with Darren?

  Danni knew about those parties and how wild they could get, but that hadn’t stopped her from wanting to go to one. It wasn’t just that she wanted to go; she had been dying to go with Darren. So, what if by some weird chance he had invited her to that same party? It would have been the best thing that ever happened to her, and she wouldn’t have wanted to mess things up. Trying to play the designated driver would have made her look like the world’s biggest loser.

  “I told you it was my fault.” Darren’s voice was so soft she almost didn’t hear him. “Guess this is my punishment for letting him drive.”

  “I guess so,” Danni scoffed. “You lost your arm and ended up with a loser for a girlfriend.”

  Darren frowned, bringing his eyes to meet hers. “What?”

  “If you hadn’t been in that accident, you wouldn’t even know my name,” she reminded him. “I sit right next to you in English class and you’ve never even looked at me.”

  “Yes, I have. I knew who you were the minute J.J. described you, and I told him I always thought you were pretty,” Darren insisted. “Ask him if you don’t believe me.”

  “Then why didn’t you ever ask me out?” Danni asked.

  “Everyone thinks they know me,” he said. “People think I’m this stupid jock who just thinks about girls and baseball. Nobody really knows me though. Nobody knows I’m just this shy guy who never felt comfortable around girls until I met you.”

  “What makes me special?”

  “Every day you sit here and see me with this stump for an arm, and you still kiss me like you mean it,” Darren answered. “If you can accept me like this then I know I can trust you. Do you understand?”

  “Yeah, I get it.”

  Darren grinned at her. “Good, now will you stop being mad at me and kiss me like you mean it?”

  Danni moved from the chair to her usual place on the bed. When she brought her lips to meet his, the heat from his body warmed her from head to toe.

  Chapter Seven

  Thursday morning, Danni sat in her sociology class watching a film on sexually transmitted diseases when she felt her cell phone vibrate in her purse. Danni slid the phone from her purse but sent the call to voice mail since she didn’t recognize the number. Whoever it was would probably realize they had the wrong number and hang up. Just as Danni went to drop the phone back into her purse, the same person called again. She declined the call, only for the same thing to happen again.

  Danni frowned as she stared down at the phone. Either someone really wanted to talk to her or they didn’t realize they had the wrong number. When she received a fourth call from the same number, she cast a quick glance around the darkened room before taking a chance on hitting the answer button.

  “Hello?” she whispered.

  “Danni?”

  It was Darren.

  “I’m in sociology class,” Danni hissed. “I get out in like ten minutes. I’ll call you back then.”

  “Please don’t hang up,” Darren begged. “I need you.”

  The urgency in his voice quickened her heartbeat and not in a good way. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’ve got some kind of infection in my arm and the doctors are talking surgery.”

  “What?”

  “My physical therapist noticed I was warm when he came to see me, and he called the nurse to take my temperature. It’s over a hundred degrees,” Darren explained. “The nurse panicked and called the doctor, and he came in and looked at my arm and said it’s infected.”

  “Why would you need surgery for that?” Danni asked.

  “They’re saying the infection is bad and they might not be able to save what’s left of my arm,” Darren replied. “My parents are with the doctors now. I’m so scared, Danni. If they take the rest of my arm, I might not be able to wear a prosthesis.”

  “I’ll be right there,” she said.

  Danni tried to be inconspicuous as she gathered her things, but the teacher noticed the disturbance.

  Ms. Keene came to stand in front of her desk. “Is something wrong, Danni?”

  “I need to go to the nurse’s office. I don’t feel very well.”

  “Are you sure you can’t wait until the end of class?”

  “No, I really can’t. I think I might throw up.”

  The people sitting at either side of Danni slid their desks away from her.

  “Of course, dear,” Ms. Keene replied, and she almost felt bad for lying.

  Danni took the pass the teacher gave her, but she didn’t go to the nurse’s office. Instead, she walked right out of school without telling anyone.

  * * *

  Danni had been so focused on getting to the hospital as soon as possible, she didn’t even consider how she might look bursting into Darren’s room. It also took her a moment to notice the two people sitting on his bed. Both of them regarded her with amused expressions.

  Relief flooded Darren’s face when he saw her. “Danni!”

  The woman’s smile broadened and she rose from the bed. “You’re Danni?”

  “Um, yes.”

  “My sons have told me a lot about you. My name is Ann Jacobs.”

  Darren’s
mother was beautiful with bright blue eyes and rosy cheeks. Wisps of blonde hair escaped her French twist, giving Ann a carefree look.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Jacobs,” Danni said, holding out her hand.

  Rather than accept her outstretched hand, Ann pulled her into an embrace. “Thank you, Danni.”

  “Mom,” Darren mumbled with a groan, and Ann let go.

  “Hugs are much better than handshakes,” Ann insisted. “Danni, this is my husband, Gerald.”

  While there was no doubt Ann was Justin and Darren’s mother, Danni wasn’t so sure about Gerald being their father. Other than the fact that he was tall, he looked nothing like his sons. Gerald had deep brown eyes in contrast to their blue ones and dark brown hair as opposed to their blond.

  “Nice to meet you, Mr. Jacobs,” Danni said, hoping he wouldn’t hug her as well.

  “Why aren’t you in school, young lady?” Gerald asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

  “Dad,” Darren groaned again.

  “Goodness, it is a school day, isn’t it?” Ann remembered.

  “I need to talk to Danni alone,” Darren told his parents.

  “Of course. We’ll just run down to the cafeteria for some coffee,” Gerald said, glancing at Danni. “Would you care for anything?”

  “Um, no thank you,” Danni said, and he smiled.

  Ann leaned down to plant a kiss on her son’s forehead. “We won’t be long.”

  Darren waited until his parents left the room before speaking again. “Come sit with me, Danni. I need to talk to you about this.”

  “What’s going on?” Danni asked as she sat on his bed and took his hand.

  “The infection is pretty bad. The doctors are saying we have two options, surgery or antibiotics,” Darren explained.

  “Why not try antibiotics?”

  “If I wait and try to fix this thing with antibiotics, it could get worse,” Darren said. “If I have surgery now, they might only need to take half of what’s left.”

  “They might take half?”

  “They’re not sure how far the infection has spread. If it’s too bad they might have to take the rest anyway.”

  This didn’t make any sense. How did he end up with an infection in a hospital? People went to hospitals to get well, not to end up worse. It wasn’t fair. Someone should have seen this coming and done something to stop it. Sally said every nurse on the floor loved Darren, so why hadn’t they loved him enough to notice the infection sooner?

  “What are you going to do?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” Darren admitted. “I’m scared of letting them do surgery in case the antibiotics work, but I’m more scared of waiting and things getting worse.”

  “What do your parents think?”

  “They’re saying it’s my choice, but I think they want me to have the surgery.”

  Danni could not picture her mom allowing her to make that kind of decision. Then again, her mom would have to be around in order to give her the choice.

  “Danni, if they do the surgery and I end up losing the rest of my arm, will you still want to be my girlfriend?”

  “Of course I will.”

  “And do you think you’d ever be okay…”

  “Okay what?”

  “Would you ever be okay being around me with my shirt off?”

  Danni’s eyes widened. “When would you have your shirt off?”

  “Like if we went swimming.”

  “It’s October. Summer is a long way off,” Danni pointed out. “We could break up before then.”

  “No way.” Darren pulled her toward him. “This thing with you and me is real. It’s the most real thing I’ve ever felt, and I don’t think I could handle giving it up.”

  “You realize what that sounds like, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, that’s why I called you today.”

  “Okay, then we need to make a decision.”

  “We already did,” Darren replied.

  Danni frowned at him. “What did we decide?”

  “We decided I’ll have the surgery,” he said, giving her a kiss.

  “You’re hot,” Danni said.

  “Thanks,” Darren said, offering her a crazy grin.

  Danni laughed. “I mean your skin is hot from your fever.”

  “Is it safe to come in?”

  Darren and Danni turned around to see Gerald and Ann standing in the doorway. Their expressions were identical to the ones they’d given Danni when she first arrived.

  “Yes,” Darren muttered, his face turning bright red.

  A man in a white coat stepped into the room. “Oh, good, everyone’s here, and I see we have a new face.”

  “This is my girlfriend Danni,” Darren said. “Danni, this is my doctor, Dr. Forbes.”

  “Nice to meet you, Danni.” Dr. Forbes nodded to her. “Now, what did we decide? Is it surgery or antibiotics first?”

  Darren’s parents turned to face him, and Danni gave his hand an encouraging squeeze. When he said the word surgery, Ann’s heavy sigh filled the room. It sounded like a balloon being deflated or a train just pulling into the station.

  “Great, I think you made the best choice, Darren,” Dr. Forbes said, licking his lips as he spoke. “I just need to make sure you understand there’s still a possibility you’ll lose the rest of your arm.”

  “I understand,” Darren replied, though he couldn’t meet the doctor’s eyes.

  “Good, then I’ll go ahead and get you scheduled for surgery. We’ll do it first thing in the morning,” Dr. Forbes said.

  “Can we afford to wait that long?” Ann asked.

  “Mom, I’m sure Dr. Forbes knows what he’s doing,” Darren said.

  “Thanks, Darren.” The doctor flashed them a confident smile. “And the answer is yes, we can afford to wait until tomorrow morning to operate.”

  “Isn’t it dangerous to operate on him while he’s got this fever?” Ann pressed.

  “Under normal circumstances, I’d say yes,” Dr. Forbes agreed. “However, in Darren’s case, we don’t want to let the infection spread any further up his arm or we won’t have a chance to save any of it.”

  “Okay,” Ann relented.

  “All right then, I’ll come back later to check on you, Darren,” Dr. Forbes said before leaving the room.

  Any noise in the room disappeared with him. Even though Darren’s parents were smiling at her, Danni couldn’t help feeling that she was intruding on their time with him.

  “I should get back to school,” Danni said.

  “Will you come back later?” Darren asked, releasing his grip on her hand.

  “I always do,” she replied.

  Since Darren’s parents were watching, she avoided kissing him before darting out the door.

  * * *

  On the ride back to school, Danni realized lunchtime was only half an hour away. If she hurried she would be able to make it to the last part of fourth period and only be marked absent for two of her classes.

  The Taco Bell on the horizon changed her mind. She pulled her car into the parking lot to join the growing drive through line. While waiting for her turn to order, Danni fished her cell phone out of her purse and sent a text message to Chelsea and Marcy: Don’t buy lunch. Bringing TB for us. Will explain when I get there. Meet you out front.

  When the driver of the car behind her honked his horn, Danni dropped her phone back into her purse and inched the car forward in the line. For her order, she opted for the ten-pack of tacos, half crunchy and half soft, and three large sodas.

  By the time she made it back to school, the lunch period was already underway. Pulling into a parking space, she spotted Chelsea and Marcy.

  Danni popped her car door open but didn’t get out. “Come help me!”

  Chelsea rushed forward and seized the box of tacos. “Come to, Mama,” she cooed, and Danni and Marcy cracked up.

  With the tacos in safe hands, Danni was able to carry the drinks along with her backpack and pu
rse. The girls took a seat on the grassy area in front of the school and plunged into their rare fast food fare.

  “Not to sound ungrateful, but how’d you pull this off?” Chelsea asked Danni.

  “I stopped on the way back from the hospital,” Danni answered.

  Marcy looked up. “How come you went there?”

  “Darren called and asked me to come,” Danni explained.

  “Is everything okay?” Chelsea asked.

  “Not really,” Danni said. “His arm is infected and the doctor has to do surgery. He might end up losing it.”

  Chelsea frowned. “I thought Darren already lost his arm. Is the other one infected?”

  “He lost his arm just above the elbow,” Danni said. “The wound is infected so they need to do surgery to remove the part that’s bad.”

  “That sounds terrible,” Marcy said.

  Danni nodded. “It is. If the infection spreads too far, Darren might lose what little of his arm he has left.”

  “When’s the surgery?” Chelsea asked.

  “Tomorrow morning so I won’t be here,” Danni answered.

  “Does your mom know that?”

  “No, I guess I better tell her.”

  That was a conversation Danni was already dreading. If her mom thought visiting Darren in the hospital was bad, she was probably going to think skipping school to be there for his surgery was a capital offense.

  * * *

  Before returning to the hospital after school, Danni made a pit stop at home. Any other day, she would have done her homework first so she didn’t have it hanging over her head. Since she didn’t plan on going to school the following day, she dumped her backpack on her bed without giving it a second look. Even though she should have known better, she hoped to catch her mom at home so she could talk to her about missing school. No one was there, not even Nick.

  Danni sighed as she paused to grab a snack from the kitchen. Every other teenager in the world probably would have loved not having their parents around. Most of the time, Danni didn’t mind her mom’s constant absence, but she wished her mom didn’t have to work so hard to provide a good life for the family. It was because she worked so hard that she and Nick had their own cars and a big house and nice things.

  It wasn’t that Danni didn’t appreciate everything they had, but just once it would have been nice to come home and find her mom there. Half the time, Danni didn’t even see her before she went to bed.

  After polishing off a butterscotch pudding cup and half a bottle of water, Danni went upstairs to freshen up. Once her hair was brushed and her lip gloss touched up, she shouldered her purse and was out the door again.