Chapter Thirty-Six

      “And then, Adam decided that he would try to be cool, and literally push me into the pool!” I said, recalling one the more amusing stories I have in my memory of my dear brother and I.

      “So, he pushed you into the pool?” Chase asked, placing his arm over the back of the leather couch that we were sitting on.

      “Yeah, but I grabbed onto his hand, and he ended up coming right down with me!” I said, laughing at my brother’s stupidity. Yeah, I’m not one to be messed with.

      “Ha! Once, Talia and I were playing outside and she thought it would be funny to tell me that footballs were made out of unicorn intestines.” I let out a laugh at how bizarre that sounded. Well, I suppose unicorns do have intestines, it’s just strange. He smiled at me, and continued, “Yeah, I didn’t play football for an entire month. My parents were pissed at her.”

      “When’d you start playing?” I asked out of curiosity.

      “Since I was born,” he replied, as a sense of pride spread throughout his face.

      “And why football?”

      “My dad actually used to be a quarterback in college, and made it into the NFL for a few years-”

      “Wait, really?! Your dad was in the NFL?” I said in disbelief. I had met Chase’s dad, and sure he had a broad, muscular build, but I would never have imagined him in a million years playing football for the NFL. That’s pretty epic!

      “Yeah,” he said, cracking his neck to produce an unpleasing sound that I coudn’t stand. “When he had us, he didn’t care if we were smart, or had any useful talents; as long as we were good at football, he was happy.”

      “How many concussions have you gotten over the years?”

      “Too many to count,” he answered, smirking.

      I nodded, tapping my finger on my knee instinctively, before asking another question that appeared in my mind, “So, how many siblings do you have besides Talia?”

      He opened his mouth, about to respond, when the shrill sound of, “CHASE! JULES!” was heard echoing down the hall. He locked eyes with me, and we shared a puzzled look.

      “What?” he called back.

      “Get your asses off the couch, we have to go to the hospital! Now!” Talia yelled, emerging into the room.

      “Is everyone okay?” Chase questioned, his words drenched in concern.

      “Michael’s having a baby!” she cried, as I scrunched my face, her words sounding odd to me.

      “Oh shit! Is Gloria okay?” Chase asked, jumping up from the couch, as I sat there, perplexed.

      “Why the hell do you think we’re going to the hospital? We’re going to check on her, idiot!” Talia said frantically. “Come on!”

      I hopped up off of the comfortable piece of furniture, and followed the two siblings out of the room. “Who’s Michael and who’s Gloria?” I asked, as we sprinted through the empty house.

      “We’ll explain in the car, but right now, the most important thing is getting to the hospital quickly!” Talia said a few feet in front of us. We ran to the front door, and zipped through it, as Talia stayed behind to set the alarm.

      Darting over the freshly cut grass, we went all the way over to Talia’s sloppily parked car. From a distance, she pressed a button on her keys, and unlocked the car for us. We climbed into the car that looked close to brand new, and waited for the driver to join us. After about twelve seconds of waiting, Talia came into the front seat, and slammed the door behind her. Shoving the key aggressively into the ignition, she started up the car, and sped out of the driveway. Her driving was bordering on falling into Adam’s category… on a good day.

      “Michael is our eldest brother,” Chase clarified, once the atmosphere was more on the calmer side.

      “Uh huh,” I said, urging him to continue.

      “Gloria is his girlfriend,” Talia added.

      “And she was pregnant?” I asked, not totally following the story.

      “Apparently,” Talia said dully. “We need to get there and see what’s really happening.”

      “Oh,” I said plainly.

      “We didn’t know she was pregnant,” Chase said, explaining the verge of hostility that was in his sister’s voice. I nodded, understanding the situation.

      “How old are they?” I asked.

      “Michael is twenty-three now… I think,” Talia said, continuing to forcefully drive.

      “No, because isn’t Brett twenty?” Chase questioned, contradicting his sister’s statement.

      “Who’s Brett?” I inquired, feeling slightly out of touch with the context being mentioned in the conversation.

      “Okay, so in our family,” Talia began, “there are four kids. Michael is the eldest, then Brett, me, and then our little baby brother, Chase.”

      “I’m not a baby,” Chase said, sticking his tongue out, though by the way Talia was driving, she probably didn’t see it in her mirror.

      “Yeah, you are,” she said, as her arms quickly rotated the steering wheel, and we turned down another street. “Brett is in college, and Michael’s in grad school.”

      “Brett’s the jerk, and Michael’s the one our parents compare us to,” Chase elaborated.

      “Oh,” replied.

      “Gloria’s Michael’s girlfriend, and has been since high school. She’s a sweetheart, but we barely ever see them. I didn’t even know they were in town…” Talia said, starting to ascend up the side of a steep hill. When we got to the top, a large white building came into view. A billion cars were buzzing about, and I quickly put the pieces together to conclude that we were at the hospital.

      Talia turned into the full parking lot, and, after driving around for a good minute, she went back over to the entrance of the building, stopping the car. “You guys go in, I’ll join you once I find parking,” she addressed us.

      The two of us got out of the car, and hopped onto the sidewalk. Talia sped away, returning to the sea of cars we had just passed through. Chase linked our hands together, and we walked over to the entry. Two automatic doors whooshed open, separating as we passed through. Without hesitation, Chase led us up to the front desk, to a lady on the phone.

      “Excuse me, can you direct us to the maternity ward?” Chase requested politely. The woman held a finger up, signaling the wait of a minute.

      “Of course. Let me switch that right now,” she said into the phone, which was nestled between her ear and neck. “Absolutely. Hope to see you soon!” She put the phone down, and jotted something on a notepad.

      “The maternity ward,” Chase said frantically.

      “Are you expecting?” she asked, glancing at me. My cheeks reddened at the thought that had crossed her mind. I sure as hell did not look pregnant.

      “No,” Chase said powerfully, “my sister’s in labor.”

      “What’s her name?” the lady asked, clicking someone with the use of her mouse on the computer in front of her.

      “Gloria Torres,” Chase answered almost automatically.

      “And your name?”

      “Chase Torres,” he lied.

      “And you, Miss?” she asked, regarding me.

      “Oh, I-I’m,” I fumbled, before Chase picked up for me.

      “Julia Torres, our other sister,” he said. The lady looked at us skeptically, before sighing.

      “She’s in room 512, down the East Hallway, you two can wait in the waiting room, unless she requests your presence,” the woman said, pointing us in the direction of where we needed to go.

      “Okay, thank you,” Chase said, walking away as I followed closely behind.

      “So, Mr. Torres,” I said, “why the sudden change in names?”

      “At a hospital, they only allow family members to visit,” he said logically, as we trotted down a long, bleak hallway. My eyes scanned over the variety of rooms and medic related people in scrubs. I don’t like hospitals. They’re too barren, and there’s no personality in them.

      When I was five, I was playing in my backyard with Adam, and we were playing on a swing set. I didn’t know how to pump my legs, so Adam, being the courteous gentleman he was, had to push me. After a few minutes of coexisting peacefully, neither of us complaining of the other’s existence, he had to screw it up. He pushed me too hard. I fell off the swing. I began to cry. He said it was a joke, and I then ran inside, and told my mom.

      Seven stiches on my face later, I concluded that hospitals sucked. Majorly. I was scared of the doctors who I didn’t know, and the strange things they used to cure me. After that small detour in my childhood, I tried to stay clear of all injuries and situations that had the potential to cause an injury to keep away from that dreadful place. I failed.

      My younger years were full of screw-ups and journeys to the hospital. I would trip, fall, or somehow manage to break three bones in my body at once. Most don’t know, but when I was little, I was a total klutz. I was like a walking disaster. But, as I grew up I somehow managed to grow out of the unfortunate habit of knowing the emergency room staff by first name. I’ve always held a deep aversion to hospitals.

      “Does Gloria have any siblings that we could’ve passed for?” I asked.

      “She’s an only child, but the lady at the front desk didn’t really care who we were,” Chase replied, as we reached the end of a corridor. We came into a waiting room area, and I saw three people anxiously doing the action that the room was meant for (meaning, waiting).

      There was a young man; he had rich, brown hair and a tall physique. In a way, his features almost resembled that of Chase’s. He was wearing a burgundy pullover sweater, and was pacing back and forth nervously. Sitting down, there was a stiff looking lady, with platinum blonde hair, and a stern face. She was outfitted in a gray, tailored suit, and black pumps that appeared very uncomfortable to the eye. She looked calm, though the biting of her lip gave away the true emotion coursing through her mind. Seated next to the woman was a hunched over man. His face was buried in his hands, and stress was radiating off of him. His graying hair was all that I could see of his head, though noticed he too was dressed in a suit.

      “Yo! Michael!” Chase called from where we were standing, observing the scene in front of us. The younger guy who had been striding in circles stopped, and peered up at us.

      “Chase,” he said, approaching us, “good to see you.”

      “Yeah, you too, bro,” Chase said, embracing him in a friendly hug. “How’s she doing?”

      “She’s terrified. We all are,” Michael answered, taking a deep breath in.

      “Oh, Michael, this is my girlfriend, Jules,” Chase said, remembering the fact that I was standing beside him.

      “Hi,” I said, waving meekly.

      “Hi…” he replied, quickly looking me over, and giving an approving nod.

      “We were hanging out at the house when Talia came, so we brought her along. I know it’s not the most ideal circumstance to meet her, but it was bound to happen sooner or later,” Chase said, a maturity level sounding in his voice like I had never heard before.

      “It’s fine,” Michael assured him.

      “How are Gloria’s parents?” Chase questioned, looking over to the couple sitting in the two teal chairs.

      “Not happy. They hate me right now, so I would advice staying clear of them. Mom called a few minutes ago, and she’s on her way along with Brett and Dad,” Michael said, tapping his foot in the same manner I tend to on a regular basis.

      “Michael!” someone yelled from behind us. Chase and I spun around, and saw Talia. She was clutching her car keys and her face was tinted a shade of red.

      “Talia,” Michael greeted his sister.

      “Are you okay?” she asked.

      “No,” he answered.

      “Is Gloria? Can I see her? When’s she giving birth? How long did you guys even know?” Talia rambled.

      “No one can see her right now, and as to the other questions, I regretfully will choose to not answer,” he said.

      “Whatever. You met Jules?”

      “Yes.”

      “She’s a good kid. I like her. Jules, I really hope my family doesn’t scare you away,” Talia said, looking me in the eye seriously. I shrugged in response, overwhelmed with what was going on around me.

      I heard a door swing open, and looked over to a nurse with a clipboard in her hands and in purple scrubs. “Mr. and Mrs. Torres?” she read off the clipboard. The well-dressed couple stood up, looking at her anxiously.

      “That is us,” the husband said.

      “Your daughter has just been fully dilated, and everything seems to be going smoothly so far. If you wish to see her, you may,” she told them, gesturing in the direction of the room she had exited. Relived, they went into the room, closing the door behind them. The nurse moved over to where we were standing, and addressed Michael, “Are you the father?”

      “Yes,” Michael said, gulping.

      “Once Mr. and Mrs. Torres leave, Gloria requested that you join her. She wants you there when the baby comes,” she stated. He took a deep breath, and Chase, sensing his uneasiness, patted on his back in an attempt to be comforting.

      “So, do you guys know the gender of the baby?” Talia asked.

      “We wanted it to be a surprise,” Michael said, as the nurse withdrew from us.

      “I’m the J.V. quarterback this year,” Chase said, though I didn’t know what relevance it held in the situation.

      “Nice bro,” Michael said, nodding his head. “I was on the varsity team when I was your age.”

      “Quarterback?” Chase questioned.

      “Eh. I think so,” he shrugged as if it didn’t matter.

      “Okay, I don’t really feel like talking about football at the moment, so Jules, we’re going to go find the hospital gift shop, and get something for Baby Ryan,” Talia said, grabbing my hand, and beginning to pull me away from the two boys.

      “Bye Jules,” Chase said, quickly kissing me on the cheek before Talia had the chance to drag me away.

      “Bye Chase,” I said, blushing.

      “Love you!” he called, holding up his hands to form a heart.

      “I love you too,” I said, blowing him a kiss. He smiled at me, as Talia towed me down a hall, and Chase vanished in my sight. Though I wasn’t entirely sure of what was going on, I was with two people I knew, and felt comfortable with. One I loved, the other my brother loved. Things weren’t ideal, but they could be worse.