It was the following Friday, November 10, not that the date really matters, but there it is just the same.
“So you’re both on probation?” Rene asked as he sat down on the couch with a beer. They were staying in this Friday
“After forcibly trying to take me off the premises, you should be.”
“Whatever you say, sex offender,” Dana said before Adrian went into a coughing fit. They couldn’t fit him in until Saturday for surgery. He wiped a trickle of blood off his mouth with his finger and off the arm he had used to shield the cough when he bent over. Dana would’ve helped, but Adrian was persistent in declaring that he was fine. He went to the kitchen to get some water, and before making it to the tap, he collapsed. Hearing the fall, the others ran to him and then sped him to the hospital, not even thinking to call an ambulance or considering the fact they could get pulled over.
The doctor came out a few minutes after Adrian had been rushed into emergency. It was officially Labor Day by then, and Dana was distraught. He just couldn’t deal with knowing that there was a chance someone would have to pull the plug on Adrian at some point. The prospects of Adrian coming out of the coma were grim. Very grim. Dana moped around all Labor Day morning and refused to go in to see Adrian. Nicole arrived around ten and came up with a solution.
“You can’t be serious,” Raul said to the master plan. Nicole gave them all one evil look that none of them had the nerve to oppose and went straight to action. Following orders, the four of them, Marco, Rene, Raul and Jason picked up Dana and dragged him into the room. Then together they guarded the door to ensure he wouldn’t leave. In his state Dana might have just banged down the door, so merely locking him in wasn’t good enough.
Dana finally stopped trying to escape and walked slowly over towards Adrian. He cried, smiled, and then eventually calmed down. Adrian actually looked calm, peaceful. Dana chose to believe that he must’ve been having a pleasurable dream—happy thoughts to give him strength to wake up. Then he talked and told him about the rush to the hospital, laughing a little as he recounted his own abduction into the room. Finally, when he figured he had exhausted the entire day’s events and he too was exhausted, he headed home, but only to pick up some clothes and come right back. He was positive that Adrian would wake up by Monday.
It was a rough weekend for Dana. He lived in the hospital and only left to shower and come back. He just knew Adrian would wake up any moment and didn’t want to miss it. He was so sure, in fact, that he dreamt his awakening in his sleep and was even hallucinating as to movements and signs of life while he was awake. Another couple of hours camping out by Adrian’s side and Dana would surely lose his attachment to the real world.
It was late Sunday night, and Dana was still staring at Adrian, holding his hand when he heard an unfamiliar voice.
“So you must be Dana. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
Dana turned and immediately stood up to greet the oncoming person. “Mr. Montgomery. You’re—”
“Tall, I know. He gets the short genes from his mom. My name’s Adrian.”
“He didn’t tell me he was a junior.”
“Well, he doesn’t say a lot of things. Besides, did you ask?”
“No.”
“Well, that explains that.” Mr. Montgomery was almost Dana’s height, with a shaved head, salt and pepper goatee, and dark skin that was a contrast to Adrian’s slightly off-from-olive complexion. He knew Adrian’s mom was Asian, but considering how light Adrian was, he just assumed his father would be more milk chocolate as opposed to dark chocolate.
“Are you checking me out there, Mr. Saparo?”
Dana’s golden skin turned red instantly, showing his embarrassment. “I’m sorry, it’s just that—”
“It’s okay. You aren’t the first guy to look at me that way.”
“You aren’t gonna tell him, are you?”
“Do I look like the type of man that would do that?”
“Do you really want me to answer?”
“Depends. I could turn around so you can see my ass as well. If you’re gonna think naughty thoughts you might as well have the full scope.”
Dana cracked a smile. He didn’t know what else to do with a comment like that.
“Well, it’s about time. He’s been a zombie all weekend,” Nicole said as she walked into the room. “And why you all blushing and shit?”
“He was checking me out.” Dana’s embarrassment got much worse. Technically, he said he wouldn’t tell Adrian, but he never mentioned not telling his daughter.
“Damn. Well, my dad is one handsome man.”
“Yup, and apparently I’ve still got it at my age.”
“This is starting to get a little weird,” Dana said.
“Oh come off it. You mean to tell me you never used to check out your friends’ parents in high school?” Nicole asked. Dana didn’t have a retort for that. Of course he and his friends did. It was the equivalent of crushing on a teacher. Everybody does it.
“Okay, you got me there. But how old are you?”
“I just went thirty-three. Dad’s got to be like fifty-six?”
“Yeah I am, and clearly I am still hot shit.”
“Don’t let it get to your head.” Dana loved how Nicole’s southern accent started to come back as she got deeper into conversation. Watching the two of them go at it was making him feel a whole lot better. Plus it was entertaining, and he needed a good laugh.
“Okay, Dad, you’re the youngest looking old man I know.”
“That’s not a compliment?”
“It’s as good as it’s gonna get, though. I just came in to say bye to the carrot here.”
“I prefer broccoli,” Dana said to her, and she just smiled.
“And his sense of humour is back. Damn, Dad, if I knew you had such magical powers I’d have flown you out earlier.”
“Remember—I gave you that wit.”
“You gave me my height; I got my wit from mom.”
“You’re leaving?” Dana asked in surprise.
“Yeah, I’ve got clients to defend. Not much we can do till he wakes up. Your mom and your dad called. They said they would be willing to come down for a while if you’d like.”
“Nah. It’s okay. I got enough support without them having to give up time. I’ll call them. Guess I’ve just been a little out of it all weekend.”
“They understand. Mom called too Dad. She won’t come see him, and you know he won’t talk to her, directly. The two of them annoy me. I doubt they are even mad at eachother anymore.”
“Well at least she called, That’s a start to the end of the nonsense,” he replied. “It’s a good thing you or your sister didn’t get her stubbornness. Two of you is enough.”
“Tell me about it. I’m still trying to get him to even leave clothes at my apartment, let alone actually move in.” Dana added. Nicole said goodbye and the two left shortly after. Adrian’s dad wanted to get some food before the cafeteria closed, and Dana decided to tag along. Once settled at the table Mr. Montgomery asked,
“So what’s on your mind?”
“Nothing.”
“I’m gonna be here for a while. Which reminds me, I’m going to need a place to stay while I’m here.”
“You’re welcome at my place. Unless you want to stay at the house? Adrian’s room is going to be empty now.”
“With you is fine.” Dana’s phone rang at that moment. He had only just turned it on. It was his mom and dad. She put Dana on speaker, and he gave them a brief update and assured them he was doing okay, which neither of them believed, but they did their part by pretending they did. Not wanting to keep Adrian’s father waiting at the table too long, he abruptly ended the call when he felt it might go on forever.
“So? What’s really going on with you?”
“You’re a patient man.”
“I’m the calm one in the family.”
“Well, he said some bad shit during that fight we had.”
“I know. He told me.”
“I never accepted his apology. I can’t let him go thinking I’m still mad. He has to wake up if only for me to tell him that it’s okay. I even brought it up the morning this happened. He said something as a joke that reminded me of what he said and I told him. He quickly said he was sorry, to which I said ‘I know.’ He was so hurt I wouldn’t forgive him, but—” Dana just sighed and ate a few more French fries.
“You can’t.”
“I didn’t get to hold him enough or love him enough to melt his pain away—to feel him love me enough to do the same. He got sick before I could heal. If he dies I’ll just have memories of his words and just hate myself for not forgiving him. But also—”
“You can’t deal with that because you want to be there for him now.”
“Exactly. I’ll never get to deal with my pain because all I can think about now is him.”
“Love’s not easy, kid. You can eat.”
“Huh?”
“That’s a lot of food you just ate.”
“I’m a big guy.”
“So am I.”
“You’re just tall.”
“Okay, I’ll give you that. Don’t stress too much over it. It’ll be just fine. Look on the bright side. The emergency surgery was a success. All you have to do is wait for him to wake up.”
“How can you be so calm?”
“I have to be. Ever since the incident, we’ve known that he could be gone at any moment. And him being stubborn and not doing the tests and going in for check-ups—the first year we were all in a constant state of worry. Including his mother. I guess the family just realised that you can’t force someone to want to live, and we decided to mentally prepare ourselves for what might happen instead of stressing over what might happen. So it hurts, but ultimately you just have to have faith that the people you love will realise how loved they are.”
“True. I guess you’re right. I’ve never known that I could just die, so it must be hard for him. I may have been a little insensitive to why he would just want to give up. I just didn’t think about it that way. Maybe in his mind he thinks that his situation puts too much on those around him. That I can understand. Still, I would’ve never thought of him as suicidal. He’s so happy all the time, always the first to look out for or help someone. Heart of gold.”
“That’s what they say about serial killers. Lots of people pretend to be something else so you don’t see what’s really going on. Not too hard for him. He just continued to be the same person he was before he started to change. It was just the last nail in the coffin after his mother had the town trie to exorcise the gay out of him.” Dana thought for a while. This was heavy. After what happened in his past he never thought for a second anything could emotionally weigh him down that much. But this was shaping up to prove him wrong.
“And if he comes out still thinking he’d be better off dead?”
“Then you just accept it and subtly do what you can to give him reason to live. You got him to finally commit to keep his appointments. You never know—you may have already done it, but under the circumstance just didn’t get a chance to see the results.”
“I hope you’re right. I really hope you’re right.”
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