Thursday, August 6, 2015

The boys, including Luke, and I all sat in the waiting room in silence; Benny and Luke flanked me. Benny and I were holding hands with our fingers interlocked, but all I could think about was Squints.

His parents informed me that morning that the burns weren't too bad, but he had a concussion from the fall, and he would have to stay in the hospital for most of that day. After that, he'd be free to go.

We had been waiting here all morning. I hadn't eaten yet. All I could do was worry. I knew I should have cut myself some slack. Luke was right — if I hadn't went back to save Squints, he might not have survived. But one of my best friends was still hurt, and my thoughts on the sidelines were about Leon. It all built up and, even though Squints was fine, I felt horrible.

"Stop worrying so much," Benny piped up, causing me to flinch from the sudden noise in a completely silent room.

I looked over at him and pursed my lips together slightly. I wansn't really sure how to respond to that. He must have saw that, because he simply leaned over and kissed my cheek.

"He's okay," Benny mumbled. "He'll be fine."

All of a sudden, scaring all of us, a squeaky, unfamiliar female voice asked, "Who's here for Michael Palledorous?"

Considering we were the only ones in the waiting room at the time, every person in the room raised their hand. The blonde nurse's eyes widened.

"All of you?"

"Yes," I breathed, growing tired of waiting with each passing moment.

She looked behind herself, then back at us. "I'm afraid only a few can go in at a time. He just woke up, so —"

Yeah-Yeah was the first to jump up, and he broke in, "I'm going first."

"Me too," Ham said, standing up beside him.

The nurse raised an eyebrow, but said, "Okay, one more can join, but that's it. Then when you guys get back, three more can come."

Smalls stood up, looking paler than usual. "Uh, I-I'll go."

"All right. Follow me."

---

Being the nice person I wad, I allowed all of the boys to go before me. I wanted to be the last person he saw so I didn't have to wait in this hospital again, waiting for the next group to get back. Benny and Luke decided that they would wait with me and we'd all go together.

By the time the final group, excluding me, Benny, and Luke, left the waiting room to see Squints, I felt as if I could pass out in this uncomfortable chair.

"Did you sleep okay last night?" Benny questioned, staring at me with concern.

I nodded, wiping at my eyes with my free hand. "Yeah, I did, actually. But I'm just tired of waiting here. That's all."

"When we leave here, you can get some rest," Benny replied. "I doubt anyone is really feeling up for playing baseball today."

"I'd imagine so," I mumbled, resting my free hand on my forehead. "Can I come to your house?"

"Course you can. You don't even have to ask, you know that," he answered, giving my hand a light squeeze. "But why do you wanna go there?"

"'Cause you've slept in my bed and I haven't slept in yours." I sent him a playful wink and he smiled.

"All right, makes sense," he responded.

I flashed him a weak smile and wiped at my eyes again. When I looked over at Luke, I saw that he was leaned over on the right arm rest, asleep. I laughed lightly.

"Luke's asleep," I informed Benny without taking my eyes off of Luke. "I feel you, man."

All of a sudden, the door opened, and in stepped the last two boys who went to see Squints, followed by the nurse.

As the boys took their seats, the nurse asked, "Anyone else?"

Benny and I immediately stood up. I turned to Luke and shook him a few times, saying his name. When he didn't wake up, I punched his arm as hard as I could. I could just imagine the nurse's funny expression.

Luke jumped up on account of the sudden blow, blinking his eyes a few times. "Huh?"

"Let's go see Squints," I said.

He stood up slowly, wiping the sleep out of his eyes. His right cheek was red because he slept on it. The three of us made our way to the nurse, and she turned and left the the room.

We followed the nurse through the white corridors of the hospital. My heartbeat sped up at the thought of seeing Squints lying helplessly in a hospital bed.

Benny grabbed my hand again as we walked, interlocking our fingers. I kept my gaze set on the nurse's feet in front of us, and Luke must have been a lot more tired than me, because he kept accidentally bumping into me, and even though he kept moving over to prevent it, he still managed to bump into me again.

Finally, we reached our destination. The nurse opened the door for us, and we entered. My eyes immediately set on Squints, who was sitting up in his bed, wearing a hospital gown. When he saw us, a smile grew on his face, and my heart warmed because he looked genuinely happy despite the circumstances we were under.

"Hey, guys," Squints greeted us.

I let go of Benny's hand to approach him first. As soon as I met him, though, he caught me by surprise by standing up and hugging me. When I realized what was happening, I hugged him back, careful not to touch his back.

The hug lasted for a while, maybe half a minute. Right before we let go of each other, Squints said, "Thank you. You saved my life."

A smile formed on my lips as we pulled away, and I replied, "Don't mention it, man."

"No, that's a big deal, Makayla," he pressed on, shaking his head. "I left that tree house with minor injuries when I was that close to death. If you didn't come for me and do what you did, I would be dead right now. So I'll mention it every chance I get. Thank you so much. I owe you everything."

I crossed my arms and continued to smile at him. "You're welcome, Squints. But you should really be thanking God. Thank me all you want, but He deserves credit too. He gave me the strength and the bravery, 'cause honestly, I'm terrified of fire. So thank Him too. Okay?"

Squints noddrd, a bright smile plastered across his face. "Okay. I will."

Benny and Luke stepped forward, and I let them both greet him.

"How you feelin', man?" Benny asked.

"It hurts a little bit, but I'm okay," he answered. "It's not as bad as I thought it would be, because catching on fire doesn't feel good at all, even if it was just my shirt. Makayla, you ripped that off of me like it was paper. How did you do that?"

With a smile, I simply pointed up in response.

---

Luke pulled into the driveway of our house, and after saying our goodbyes to him, Benny and I made our way to his house.

Lynn sat on a rocking chair on their porch. When she saw us, a smile grew on her face. As we mounted the steps, she stood up.

"How's he doing?" she questioned in a soft tone.

"He's doing all right, Mom," Benny answered. "He'll be completely fine. He gets to come home later today."

She nodded, placing her hands on her hips. "That's good. But you two look worn out."

"We are," he replied with a chuckle. "We're gonna go watch a movie or something."

Lynn's facial expression changed slightly, and I automatically knew what went through her mind. Finally, she laughed, nodding.

"Okay. I'll make you guys something to eat."

"Thanks, Mom," Benny responded, kissing her cheek.

"Yeah, thank you, Lynn," I added, sending her a smile. "I haven't eaten all day."

She flashed us a smile. "You guys don't have to thank me. Go do your thing."

As we walked to the door, Benny looked back and said, "Movie, mom. Just a movie."

Lynn laughed and waved us off. I shook my head with an embarrassed smile, and Benny opened the door before he and I made our way upstairs and into his room.

The first thing I did was fall onto his bed face first. He chuckled and went to find a movie.

"What do you wanna watch? Or just listen to while you go to sleep," Benny inquired with a chuckle.

"What do you got?" I asked, my voice muffled.

"Bunch of stuff," he replied.

I rolled onto my back and said, "Surprise me, then."

Benny ended up putting Ferris Bueller's Day Off into the DVD player. When he settled down next to me and I realized what was on, I groaned.

"What, you don't like this movie?"

I opened my eyes and looked over at him. "No, I love it. That's the problem."

Benny laughed. "Want me to put in something else?"

"No," I answered, sending him a wink. "I like hearing Ferris Bueller's voice. He's a cutie."

"Too bad he's old now," he responded with a laugh.

"Truly," I giggled. "It really is too bad."

Benny chuckled. "Go to sleep, dork. You're making me feel insecure."

I cracked up and leaned over to peck his lips. "Even if Ferris Bueller was young now, I would still pick you over him. Besides, he was twenty-four in the movie anyway."

Benny frowned. "Nuh uh."

I lie back down on my side so I could look at him without turning my head. "Oh, yeah, he was. And Cameron was thirty. Well, the actor anyway."

"I don't believe you."

"Look it up," I responded, chuckling. "I did the math a long time ago. I couldn't believe it either. Anyways, watch the movie. I'm gonna try to sleep now."

L U K E
point of view.

I lie on my bed, music playing in my ears. Skylar was spending time with her family, and today was my day off, so I had nothing to do. Perfect.

For about fifteen minutes, I did nothing. I was tired at the hospital, but just when I really had nothing to do, I was wide awake.

All of a sudden, a thought popped into my mind. Elizabeth and I both had the same days off. With that thought in mind, I texted Elizabeth, receiving a reply a couple minutes later.

Luke: Hey are you doing anything? If not, I really need something to do and I was wondering if you wanted to hang out or something

Elizabeth: No, I'm just taking care of my mom's grocery list right now. When I'm back I'll come over if you want.

Luke: Actually... stay where you are. I'll be on my way. I'll help you 😂 I need to pick up some things anyway

Elizabeth: You sure? 😂 shouldn't take me too long.

Luke: I wanna help so I'm already on my way downstairs. Expect me to show up 😉

Elizabeth: If you insist... 😂😂

In no time, I arrived at the local grocery store. I parked my car in front of the building and made my way inside, stuffing my keys into my pocket.

People walked around the store, pushing their shopping carts around. I didn't spot Elizabeth, though. Instead of texting her and asking her where she was, I put my fingers in my mouth and whistled loudly. A dozen pairs of eyes found me, but I ignored them, walking past the aisles.

A mischevious grin found its way onto my face, and I shouted, "Ohhh, Elizabeth! Wherrre aaare youuu?"

In a matter of seconds, before I could even open my mouth to continue, I felt a hand forcefully clamp over my mouth. "Shut up!" Elizabeth whisper-yelled. "You got the whole store's attention."

I turned around as she let her hand drop from my face. My smile returned, and I simply replied, "I couldn't find you."

Elizabeth shook her head, but a smile formed on her lips. "If you're gonna help me, then come on, you dork. Oh, you're so embarrassing."

"Best friends are supposed to embarrass each other, right?" I responded.

"No!" she laughed, shaking her head as she turned to face her cart. "Look, just follow me and stay quiet. People are gonna think you escaped from a mental institute or something."

I sent her a playful wink, though she couldn't see it, and stepped to her side. "What are we looking for now?" I asked, grabbing the piece of paper in the front of the cart.

The entire paper was filled with a list of about twenty items. Beside each item I assumed she already had was a small check mark. Ten of them were checked out so far.

"All right," I muttered, reading through the things we had yet to find, "what we're looking for now is . . . eggs! Yay!"

Elizabeth laughed loudly, slapping my arm. She pulled the paper out of my grasp while saying, "Give me that. I know where the eggs are. I mean, I've lived here all my life, and you probably have no clue where anything is. It's really pointless that you came."

My mouth dropped and I rested my hand over my heart in mock hurt. "Ouch! I was just trying to be friendly and keep you company!"

She laughed again, and I stared down at her. That was when I felt it — the warmth that spread throughout my heart at the sight of her smile and the sound of her laugh, the unsuppressing feeling of wanting to keep her smiling and laughing like that.

I quickly pushed the feelings away. I was sure Skylar didn't have mind reading powers, but I felt bad for even realizing how beautiful Elizabeth really was.

For the rest of the time at the grocery store, though, I continued to make her laugh. It was a good feeling no matter what when I made someone genuinely laugh and happy, at least for the moment. On account of this, though, we spent at least an hour just to get ten different items. I couldn't stop screwing around; I liked Liz's reactions.

Finally, we stood in line to check out. Elizabeth's face was red from laughing so much, and though it was over five minutes ago that I had asked to stroke a man's beard, she still couldn't hold back her giggles. Just like my sister, she would be fine and then, a second later, she'd burst into a fit of laughter.

"It really wasn't that funny," I finally said when Liz covered her mouth to muffle her laughter.

She took one look at me, a ridiculous grin painted across my face, and her eyes squeezed shut. Not even her hand could muffle the loud laughter. By then, a few people were staring at us, wondering what all of the commotion was about, but I couldn't care less. Liz looked so adorable. When she looked at me again and I noticed the tears in her eyes, I started laughing too.

After about five minutes of waiting, we came to the front of the line. Liz had calmed down, and we both piled the groceries onto the black conveyor belt so the woman at the register could scan all of it.

The lady put everything in bags and handed them to me so I could put them back into the cart. Liz waited patiently with the money in her hands. When the total was finally announced, she began to hand the money over, but I quickly pushed her hand back.

"No, I got it," I said, pulling my wallet out of my pocket.

Liz stared at me with a frown. "Luke, what are you doing?"

I pulled out a few twenty-dollar bills, and as I handed them to the cashier, I turned my head to face Liz and replied, "Being generous. A gentleman."

Her cheeks returned to the crimson color they were when she was laughing, and she seemed utterly confused and at a loss for words. My smile remained on my face as the cashier handed me my change back.

"All right, let's go," I said. I pulled the cart from the end until we exited the store, Liz following slowly behind.

I spotted her car and made my way over to it. When I reached it, I turned to ask her to unlock the doors, but she cut me off by getting in my face.

"Luke . . . why did you do that?"

"I told you," I answered. I began to become a bit confused at her behavior. Why did she seem kind of mad?

Liz shook her head and sighed. "What was it, fifty-something? I'll pay you back —"

But as she pulled the money back out of her pocket, I pushed her hand back down and broke in softly, "I don't want it, Liz. Really. I wanted to. You don't owe me anything, okay?"

Liz looked down at her feet, backing away from me. "No one's ever done anything like that for me before. That was over fifty dollars, Luke."

I crossed my arms, flashing her a small smile. "I know. Look, you deserved it. Don't worry about it. I did it because I wanted to, and I don't want anything in return."

Liz looked up at me with tears in her eyes. For a few moments, we just stared into each other's eyes in silence. Then, all of a sudden, she threw her arms around my neck in a warm embrace, resting her head on my chest.

"Thank you," she whispered.

I hugged back, my heartbeat beginning to pick up its pace. "You're welcome."

After our moment ended, I helped her put the groceries into the car. I suggested to help her put them away at home, and after a few moments, she accepted. She left in her car and, shortly after, I left in mine.

The next half hour went as planned. I helped Liz put her groceries away, and her mother watched us with a smile from the living room. She insisted on helping us, but Liz and I weren't having it.

Finally, when we finished, we sat down at the table. In that moment, I suddenly smelled something cooking — cookies. I didn't know how I didn't smell it before. Maybe I just wasn't paying any attention.

"Are you making something, Lynn?" I asked, though I knew the answer.

"Yeah, I'm making cookies for Benny and Makayla," she answered. "They're upstairs in his room. They're almost done, though, and you two can have some."

A grin grew on Liz's face. "Yes! She makes the best cookies, I'm not even joking."

B E N N Y
point of view.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off played softly in the background, but my eyes were set on Makayla. It took maybe less than a minute before she was sound asleep. She looked so cute. She lie on her side, her face pressed against my pillow. Her hair fell loosely over her face, and I secured the hair behind her ear gently so she didn't wake up.

"He'll keep calling me . . . He'll keep calling me until I come over. He'll make me feel guilty. This i- — this is ridiculous, okay, I'll go, I'll go, I'll go, I'll go, I'll go with, I'll go. Shit," a voice from the TV said dramtically, causing me to burst out laughing.

Makayla stirred slightly, but didn't wake up. A smile formed on my face and quickly turned into a smirk when an idea popped into my mind.

To get back at her for the other times, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and took a picture of her. Since she always posted the pictures of me on social media, I posted mine on Facebook and Instagram, both with the caption, "This is payback, love. 😉😏🔥"

All of a sudden, just as I put my phone away, the door to my bedroom burst open, causing me to jump. I averted my gaze from my girlfriend to find Elizabeth and Luke standing in my doorway with smiles on their faces.

"Dang it, I was hoping to catch you guys doing something bad," Elizabeth groaned playfully, holding a plate of cookies. "Ferris Bueller!"

Luke jumped at her sudden reaction, but I had already expected it. I laughed, then looked over at Makayla. Elizabeth's yell was loud enough, so now she was wiping at her eyes. When she finally opened them, she blinked a few times.

"I smell cookies," was the first thing she said.

I laughed, nodding. "Luke and Elizabeth just brought some."

Almost as if she never even went to sleep and she wasn't tired at all, she shot up like a bullet. The action earned a giggle from everyone in the room besides her.

"Sorry," she laughed. "I'm suddenly craving cookies. This is why I'm fat."

I playfully smacked her arm. "Don't even say that, you liar."

She laughed loudly, slapping my arm back. "I was joking!" she insisted. "Truly!"

"Everyone has their inner fat kid, even if they're nothing but skin and bones," Elizabeth remarked, earning a great nod from Makayla, followed by Luke's laugh.

Elizabeth sat down on the bed across from me and Makayla, and Luke sat beside her. Without another word, we all started eating, and we all ended up actually watching the movie, too. All of our problems seemed to fade.

The moments all four of us shared convinced me that life was honestly wonderful.

---

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Comments Goal: 310

I was three comments short of the goal, but ohhh wellll. 😂 Thank you to the ones who reacted immediately when I set the goals. You guys made my day. 💕

I don't think I have much to say besides I'm on Spring Break, & in the past three days, I finished the fourth Harry Potter book, & I plan on finishing the entire series soon. I'M IN LOVE, TRULY 😍 (I read the first three last year in my eighth grade year)

Also, I'm extremely scared for Sunday. The final episode is going to play, & I'M SCARED TO DEATH!!! Bc I know someone I love is going to die, & I'm gonna be heartbroken. I'm scared it'll be Glenn like in the comics. Ugh, I'm just scared, but ready to watch it at the same time bc it's my life & all. Anyone share my problems? 😂

Stay gold.