Straight Boys - Chapter 23: Chapter 23
You are reading Straight Boys, Chapter 23: Chapter 23. Read more chapters of Straight Boys.
Zachary's POV
He was so fidgety. Andrew Parsley, one of the stillest guys you'll ever meet, sat in the passenger side of his car, leg bouncing up and down at maybe lightning speed. He was leaning against the door, head peering out the window to watch each street sign pass by, willing the Hospital sign to come into view. He leant against the door, elbow propped by the handle and his head resting in the grasp of his white knuckles. His mouth knawed at his nails, his eyes darted over and over and over each moving object, and his shoulders were tensed from what I could see. By the way he held onto his bouncing knee like it was his very life support, and the way his spine stood straight against the front of the seat, you could just tell there was something on his mind. That there was something needing to be released from his thoughts, yet the only way to let go of them was to have every joint popping and muscle moving.
I couldn't take it.
It had only been five minutes; five whole minutes since he had agreed to let me drive him to the hospital, which was at a whopping ten minutes from the high school. In these past five minutes, I had shot Taylor a quick text telling her to not wait up and don't worry about us. I had told Andrew that everything was doing good, things were getting better, and that there really was a rainbow at the end of the pot of gold.
In these past five minutes, well maybe two weeks - I could hardly tell when - I had realized that there was something about Andrew Parsley.
I may have subconsciously started thinking about it, but I didn't want to mention it. Not to him. Not anyone. Hell, not even to myself. I didn't want to have to face the truth that there was something about Andrew, the way that he held himself and the fact that he didn't. He didn't hold himself to any standard besides being himself, nor did he really have a standard of himself to reach to. He was just a person, there, living, being and that was the greatest thing in the world. He didn't have to put on a mask, and he never seemed to want to. He could be himself, yet you wouldn't really see him because there were different parts. Like pieces of a puzzle, Parsley was a masterpiece waiting to be created just from figuring out every twist and turn to his mind. It was in the way he could be so bland, so critical and cliche, but then do a 180 degree turn and become something so raw, so there in the world that people would kill to study him in the future. There was just something about him, and it was making me go crazy.
It was driving me to the brink of insanity, when deep down, I knew it shouldn't have been. It would only bring trouble. Yet, I chose to ignore myself and pursue, if only from the four corners of my mind, the thought of Andrew.
It was driving me to the brink of insanity the way he wouldn't quit shaking his leg. I was going to make a joke about it, yet I didn't feel like it was needed, nor wanted; and I don't think I would have been able to stomach the bitter taste of a stupid joke in these few minutes. So I opted for a different option.
Swiping a tentative thumb over my bruising jaw, I thought it through and decided to Hell with it, before I settled my shaking hand firmly against his knee, milimeters from his hand. We were stopped at an intersection, and the red light from the stoplight casted a faint hue of a bright red over the two of us. The color made his eyes seem almost dark violet.
I tightened my fingers around the space just above his knee, letting each digit feel how shaky he was from under his jeans. I mustered the most sincere look I could, while also holding agitation just around the corner and spoke gently, "Calm down. We're almost to the Hospital. Your sister is gonna be fine. Just hold on." He breathed in heavily, the action causing his eyelids to flutter closed, and then back open.
"I know... I know." His voice was coarse around the edges, and it triggered a reaction I hadn't felt in forever. It caused the hairs on my arms to stand on end. I shouldn't have been feeling this way. I had a girlfriend for God's sake, yet... I couldn't help it.
It was so easy to get caught in Andrew's grasp, and I suddenly knew why all of the cheer squad had wanted to or have had sex with him, why they all just liked him without cause; because if they had a reason to swoon after him besides his freakishly plump lips and strong form, a reason... say the way he slowly would warm up to you when you started to get to know him or be himself without even trying, then he would surely have flocks of girls begging at his feet. He could probably have anyone he wanted if he tried hard enough.
He could have Taylor, even.
Although he'd have to go through me because I did truly love her. I did. I've loved her for as long as I can remember. I did.
Except Andrew hadn't been in my life for too long, and he was already so prominently situated that he wouldn't be able to leave if he had a passport and twenty thousand dollars.
And that's why I wouldn't let it be known that I had realized that I had actually liked Andrew. It could have been something more, but I didn't want to ponder that because I always had a knack for liking things I shouldn't.
Bad jokes.
And I mean bad jokes.
Britney Spears.
I could like Drake or maybe Kendrick Lamar, but nope.
Puns.
And they weren't the smooth kind of puns.
Getting into trouble.
It was fun, yet it pissed my dad off so much... not to mention a lot of other people.
Pissing people off.
Which was why I liked getting into trouble.
Boys.
And this fondness didn't stem from platonic views. Not always anyway.
"It's just that..." His melancholy anxiety gripped me back to reality and caused me to lessen my grasp just as the light turned green. I didn't lift my hand up, though. If anything, I shifted it to a more comfortable position.
"It's just that I haven't talked to my sister in weeks. Practically a month. I don't know if she remembers me, if she can talk or if she's fucking actually awake. I don't know and that kills me right now."
I sighed.
Just like in the office, the day that started this whole idea of friendship I had wanted to create with him, I felt like I was being hit in the face with a brick of emotions from him. They were something I couldn't stand because they were everything except happiness. My mom always told me to be happy, even when she was crying on her death bed watching me beg her not leave, she told me, "Oh Zach, please, give me a smile. Let me go happily. I don't wanna leave you on a bad note. Please, Zach, give your mommy a smile and I'll tell daddy to buy you whatever you want." Granted the morphine the doctors had given her was making her hallucinate with the drug being very potent and a very large amount. I was around fourteen or fifteen, and I didn't want a new toy. I wanted her to stay, but she didn't, not even after I found the biggest smile I could and had given it to her. She left anyway, but I didn't let the smile go with her. It was her wish after all, for me to be happy, and to probably make others happy.
That's what I was trying to do: make Andrew happy.
But like in the office, he wasn't happy. He wasn't smiling. He wasn't crying either; and I don't know what I would have done if he did start to cry, but it made me open my eyes. It made me really think. Before all of this, I had just thought Andrew was just some sociopathic nobody that was fun to piss off - he had one emotion and it was anger, yet he didn't. He had so many more, and I was lucky enough to bring them out of him. It was making me think that he was more than just Andrew Parsley. He was a boy. A human being. I wanted to make him happy. I wanted him to be okay. It was my main goal.
It was a tough job, and it was getting a bit out of control, but I would see it through to the end, even if it self-destructed.
It didn't take too much longer before we finally got to the hospital. As soon as I let go of his knee to shift the gear into park, Andrew was out of there and basically sprinting towards the entrance. "God damnit he's fast," I cursed under my breath as I struggled to unbuckled my belt and catch up to him.
The hospital was unusually packed tonight, surpringly, being that it was like one o'clock in the morning. This meant that I didn't go unnoticed, as I was wearing a full suit and tie. All kinds of eyes were on me, but I kept mine on Andrew. He clumsily dodged each person, as I swiftly followed, and soon we were on the second floor. There were less people up here, so it seemed almost dead.
Maybe that wasn't the best description, but as we quickly walked by a couple huddled on the chairs posted outside each door, I couldn't help but study the way they looked. They had bags under their eyes and looked overall rough.
"Am I too late? Can I see her?" Andrew had lead us to a desk situated in the middle of a cross in halls. Behind the desk sat a woman I'd remember even if I was seventy and had Alzheimer's.
"Mr. Parsley, just in time." Her voice was as soothing as the last time I remembered it. She hadn't noticed me yet, so it gave me time to see how she looked after three years of distance.
Her blonde hair had streaks of grey running through them, more so than those few years ago, and the crows feet on either side of her green eyes were larger. Like in the past, she had painted her lips a calming pink and her cheeks matched. Her uniform, however, was different from the usual cookie cutter patterned scrubs she usually wore. Instead, she had on pastel pink scrubs, but, what hadn't changed was the name tag sitting just above her heart; the same name tag that had a star scratched into one of the corners that read Marie.
I found myself smiling sadly at the sight of her. The last time I had seen her was when she told me my mom was passing away. She was the nurse that lead me out of the room when I had had a bad reaction to my mother's death.
"I advice you to approach with caution. It is one in the morning and visiting hours are over, so the patients that have recently woken up, are asleep." She didn't get to finish her sentence before he was stealthily running through the doors that led to the ICU. I didn't immediately follow him this time.
"Marie Baker." The older woman perked up at someone calling her name. Her eyes almost instantly found mine and her face brightened up to an almost LED frequency. "Zachary Rogers."
It had been years since I hugged Marie. The last time she wrapped her warm arms around me in a bear hug was when she found me breaking down in the middle of the hallway just outside my mother's room. This time was different, however. We were a few years older, I definitely a few years wiser and she a few years more compassionate.
When Marie let her arms fall from around my shoulders, she gave me the biggest confused smile I'd ever seen her make. "What the heck are you doing here?" Her eyes, only for a brief second, traveled down to see how much I've change, yet they widened when they came back up. "And what are you wearing?" I chuckled.
"It's homecoming tonight. Taylor wanted me to go all fancy or whatever with her." Marie shook her head with amusement. She had always told me that Taylor was a little bit extra when it came down to it all. She wasn't wrong.
I smiled at her usual self, taking a step back so she could sit back down behind her desk. My mind was preoccupied with the thought of how Andrew was doing, what was happening, so I didn't have a lot of time to catch up with Maire. Though she was like a second mother to me, and I wouldn't want to miss an opportunity like this. So, I replied to her first question. "I uh drove a friend, Andrew to see his sister."
Marie suddenly had this look written onto her face like she'd just heard Trump speaking fluent intelligence. "I didn't know you hung out with boys like Andrew?" I sighed.
I knew what she meant when she asked that question, but I didn't know how to answer her. She was asking me how I wound up in the life of a kid who was suffering unmeasurable amounts of pain right now, who was nothing like Walker, Ashton or Corbett. And when I say nothing, I mean nothing. He wasn't boisterous, arrogant, or even rebellious. He was just some lost boy trying to find his way through life. He didn't seem to like to socialise all that much in the past, and he had a hot head, and that's why I was quick to judge him. I wanted to piss him off and get him to talk so I could have a little fun; like poking a bear with a stick. It also helped that he was a bit of a nerd when it came to space science.
But when it all came down to it, to that fine line between being just another person or something more, Andrew was right there; and I hadn't seen it before. I hadn't even noticed it in the past few years, at least not until these past few weeks. He was nothing like all my other friends, and that was a good thing.
He wasn't some charity case, either. It was never about that. I did want to help him, but I also wanted to stay with him now. At first I thought I was just looking out for another human being, someone turning into a shell of themselves like I did. Now, though, now I could do with being his best friend.
I would get over these other feelings. He was a good guy. I couldn't lose him.
Because he was different, I didn't want to drop him like I did Corbett. And that wouldn't have been a good thing to say to Marie. So yeah, I didn't know how to answer her.
The only thing I could do was shrug.
"Well..." Marie had a thoughtful expression strewn out onto her features. "He's a good kid. So sad, but better than that Corbett kid you hang out with." The mention of him made my jaw hurt.
Marie noticed my wince and finally caught sight of the red mark against the left side of my face. "Oh my lord what happened to your face, Zachary Rogers?" I sighed again.
I didn't have time for this.
"I got into a fight, s'all."
"With who?!"
"Corbett."
"See! Total numbskull! I don't know why you're his friend."
I didn't either.
The next thirty seconds consisted of me hugging Marie one last time before I told her I needed to go see Andrew. She nodded, and then I bounded for the ICU.
I didn't actually know what room number his mom and sister were in, so I only hoped for the best.
As I walked down the long hallway, I could see a billion intricate machines everywhere. It was silent, so I listened for the one voice I would know. I heard it, then, about three rooms ahead of me. He sounded frantic, rushed, almost joyously sad in a way.
Then I was bounding into the ICU room cautiously.
Stood there, so close to the far bed, was a tall, blonde man with glasses. He looked like Hell. Next to him, sitting down in the hospital chair was Andrew. He was crying.
I'd never seen him crying before today, but these seemed to be tears of joy. And as my eyes followed the length of his arm to find it connected to a small, frail hand, I knew why.
She was actually awake. His sister was awake.
This was my first time seeing his sister. It wasn't the best of times, nor under any circumstance that I could have hoped for. She had blonde hair, or I thought she did. Her hair was cut a sloppy kind of short, seemingly a rushed haircut. Her eyes, half open, were a mixture if blue and brown, if it seemed possible. They were full, though, with so much emotion. Most of it was sadness, hurt and in pain, like the physical kind of pain, or both. And her small body was wrapped as tightly as a mummy's, from what I could see sticking out of the blanket. I only assumed the rest of her was wrapped up from the way the bandages swam beneath the blanket and out of view. The one thing that stood out to me the most, however, was the way her right arm hung from suspenders from the ceiling and encased in a cast. The whole arm, from the outside of the outline her diaphragm to her fingers, was a cast.
"We were so worried, Lola. I was so worried. You're alright now, though. You're okay. You'll get out of this mess soon, and we can talk about whatever you want from now on. I swear on it." The tears in Andrew's words were pushing me out of the room, compelling me to leave. I had stared for too long. This was a private moment and I regretted ever leaving Marie. I shouldn't have left his car.
Turning around, I kept my head down and tried stepping back out, to give them privacy. This was a family affair and I felt like I didn't need to be there.
I really left because Andrew needed time with his family, which I wasn't apart of.
"Who are you?" I froze.
Slowly turning back around, I was met with the brown eyes of Mr. Parsley.
I inwardly smirked, picturing Parsley like the seasoning, but then I shut it down. It wasn't time for jokes, seriously Zachary.
Clearing my throat, I made to answer, but Andrew beat me to it. "This is Zachary, dad." Mr. Parsley raised an eyebrow in question. "Zachary?"
Andrew picked up his hand to scratch at his head, searching for a good answer to give to his dad. "Uh.. he's a.. friend." I smiled even though part of me was frowning at the word friend.
He's your friend, nothing more. Shut up already.
"Well what is he doing here? I thought you were studying at the library. And what is he wearing?"
"I think he looks like Prince Charming." All three of us shot our heads in the direction of the tiny voice. It was Lola, Andrew's sister. She was squinting at me, but had a smile lifting her pale cheeks.
It made my own cheeks warm up.
"Uh.. ha. I-I - Thank you..?" I didn't really know how to respond to that. I didn't really know how to respond to anything as of late. Maybe becoming friends with Andrew was making me change? I always had an answer for everything, but now I didn't know what the Hell was going on when it came to Andrew Parsley and all he stood for.
Lola, dropping her smile only slightly, glanced to the left of me before saying, "Mommy would have thought that."
I didn't want to, but I couldn't not look at Mrs. Parsley. It was instinct to look at a person people referred to. It only happened because she was mentioned because if she hadn't been, I don't know if I would have ever given in to the urge to see how bad everything truly was. But I did, and it knocked the air out of me.
Mrs. Parsley looked dead. I had to be brutally honest with myself, and not sugarcoat a thing. She was too pale, like she was supposed to be naturally tan, yet became paper overnight. Her hair was completely shaven off, now only brown stubble that peeked out from the bandage. A feeding tube ran through her and an IV dripped steadily on either arm. She looked worse than my mom did on her dying bed.
I gulped.
"Lola, honey, look at daddy." Andrew's sister turned to look at her father. "Mommy is going to be alright. She's going to wake up soon and she'll be able to tell you what she thinks of this..." He sideways glanced at me, "Zachary fellow." His brown eyes then pointedly glared at Andrew, almost telepathically yelling through them at him. "Just go back to sleep, honey. Andrew and I will be right here when you wake up."
The blonde child nodded, laid back down and proceeded to fall back asleep in record time.
All the while, I stood there shuffling on my feet as the father and son before me dueled through their eyes.
This was going to be so much fun.
◇
Ha. Another long chapter.
I'm on a role, aren't I? And this time, it's not as late as some of them usually are!
Wow.
But hey, I hope you liked another Zachary pov. Some juicy things happened with his internal self, don't you think? Maybe a little bit of bumpy character development I'd say. Shady almost.
But again, not edited. Probably won't be till I'm completely done with this book. Still feel free to grammar check me however. You know spelling, weird mistakes, the works. Although if I mispell an easy wors, it's probably on purpose.
Anyway, VOTE and COMMENT because you guys know that's what gets me through this book. Honestly it's what makes my days.
And, questions? Anything?
What do you think will happen with Lola?
Zachary, seriously? I mean wow what a secret!? (More of it needs to be shared, doesn't it? Hmmmm...)
Any other questions you have or want to ask I mean do so. Seriously guys. I'd be happy to answer them.
Although I can't answer why my updating schedule is so hectic so don't ask me. I mean I do, it's very obvious but still hahaha.
Well, thanks for sticking around you lovely people!
And btw, next chapter is still going to be in Zach's POV so don't be confused.
He was so fidgety. Andrew Parsley, one of the stillest guys you'll ever meet, sat in the passenger side of his car, leg bouncing up and down at maybe lightning speed. He was leaning against the door, head peering out the window to watch each street sign pass by, willing the Hospital sign to come into view. He leant against the door, elbow propped by the handle and his head resting in the grasp of his white knuckles. His mouth knawed at his nails, his eyes darted over and over and over each moving object, and his shoulders were tensed from what I could see. By the way he held onto his bouncing knee like it was his very life support, and the way his spine stood straight against the front of the seat, you could just tell there was something on his mind. That there was something needing to be released from his thoughts, yet the only way to let go of them was to have every joint popping and muscle moving.
I couldn't take it.
It had only been five minutes; five whole minutes since he had agreed to let me drive him to the hospital, which was at a whopping ten minutes from the high school. In these past five minutes, I had shot Taylor a quick text telling her to not wait up and don't worry about us. I had told Andrew that everything was doing good, things were getting better, and that there really was a rainbow at the end of the pot of gold.
In these past five minutes, well maybe two weeks - I could hardly tell when - I had realized that there was something about Andrew Parsley.
I may have subconsciously started thinking about it, but I didn't want to mention it. Not to him. Not anyone. Hell, not even to myself. I didn't want to have to face the truth that there was something about Andrew, the way that he held himself and the fact that he didn't. He didn't hold himself to any standard besides being himself, nor did he really have a standard of himself to reach to. He was just a person, there, living, being and that was the greatest thing in the world. He didn't have to put on a mask, and he never seemed to want to. He could be himself, yet you wouldn't really see him because there were different parts. Like pieces of a puzzle, Parsley was a masterpiece waiting to be created just from figuring out every twist and turn to his mind. It was in the way he could be so bland, so critical and cliche, but then do a 180 degree turn and become something so raw, so there in the world that people would kill to study him in the future. There was just something about him, and it was making me go crazy.
It was driving me to the brink of insanity, when deep down, I knew it shouldn't have been. It would only bring trouble. Yet, I chose to ignore myself and pursue, if only from the four corners of my mind, the thought of Andrew.
It was driving me to the brink of insanity the way he wouldn't quit shaking his leg. I was going to make a joke about it, yet I didn't feel like it was needed, nor wanted; and I don't think I would have been able to stomach the bitter taste of a stupid joke in these few minutes. So I opted for a different option.
Swiping a tentative thumb over my bruising jaw, I thought it through and decided to Hell with it, before I settled my shaking hand firmly against his knee, milimeters from his hand. We were stopped at an intersection, and the red light from the stoplight casted a faint hue of a bright red over the two of us. The color made his eyes seem almost dark violet.
I tightened my fingers around the space just above his knee, letting each digit feel how shaky he was from under his jeans. I mustered the most sincere look I could, while also holding agitation just around the corner and spoke gently, "Calm down. We're almost to the Hospital. Your sister is gonna be fine. Just hold on." He breathed in heavily, the action causing his eyelids to flutter closed, and then back open.
"I know... I know." His voice was coarse around the edges, and it triggered a reaction I hadn't felt in forever. It caused the hairs on my arms to stand on end. I shouldn't have been feeling this way. I had a girlfriend for God's sake, yet... I couldn't help it.
It was so easy to get caught in Andrew's grasp, and I suddenly knew why all of the cheer squad had wanted to or have had sex with him, why they all just liked him without cause; because if they had a reason to swoon after him besides his freakishly plump lips and strong form, a reason... say the way he slowly would warm up to you when you started to get to know him or be himself without even trying, then he would surely have flocks of girls begging at his feet. He could probably have anyone he wanted if he tried hard enough.
He could have Taylor, even.
Although he'd have to go through me because I did truly love her. I did. I've loved her for as long as I can remember. I did.
Except Andrew hadn't been in my life for too long, and he was already so prominently situated that he wouldn't be able to leave if he had a passport and twenty thousand dollars.
And that's why I wouldn't let it be known that I had realized that I had actually liked Andrew. It could have been something more, but I didn't want to ponder that because I always had a knack for liking things I shouldn't.
Bad jokes.
And I mean bad jokes.
Britney Spears.
I could like Drake or maybe Kendrick Lamar, but nope.
Puns.
And they weren't the smooth kind of puns.
Getting into trouble.
It was fun, yet it pissed my dad off so much... not to mention a lot of other people.
Pissing people off.
Which was why I liked getting into trouble.
Boys.
And this fondness didn't stem from platonic views. Not always anyway.
"It's just that..." His melancholy anxiety gripped me back to reality and caused me to lessen my grasp just as the light turned green. I didn't lift my hand up, though. If anything, I shifted it to a more comfortable position.
"It's just that I haven't talked to my sister in weeks. Practically a month. I don't know if she remembers me, if she can talk or if she's fucking actually awake. I don't know and that kills me right now."
I sighed.
Just like in the office, the day that started this whole idea of friendship I had wanted to create with him, I felt like I was being hit in the face with a brick of emotions from him. They were something I couldn't stand because they were everything except happiness. My mom always told me to be happy, even when she was crying on her death bed watching me beg her not leave, she told me, "Oh Zach, please, give me a smile. Let me go happily. I don't wanna leave you on a bad note. Please, Zach, give your mommy a smile and I'll tell daddy to buy you whatever you want." Granted the morphine the doctors had given her was making her hallucinate with the drug being very potent and a very large amount. I was around fourteen or fifteen, and I didn't want a new toy. I wanted her to stay, but she didn't, not even after I found the biggest smile I could and had given it to her. She left anyway, but I didn't let the smile go with her. It was her wish after all, for me to be happy, and to probably make others happy.
That's what I was trying to do: make Andrew happy.
But like in the office, he wasn't happy. He wasn't smiling. He wasn't crying either; and I don't know what I would have done if he did start to cry, but it made me open my eyes. It made me really think. Before all of this, I had just thought Andrew was just some sociopathic nobody that was fun to piss off - he had one emotion and it was anger, yet he didn't. He had so many more, and I was lucky enough to bring them out of him. It was making me think that he was more than just Andrew Parsley. He was a boy. A human being. I wanted to make him happy. I wanted him to be okay. It was my main goal.
It was a tough job, and it was getting a bit out of control, but I would see it through to the end, even if it self-destructed.
It didn't take too much longer before we finally got to the hospital. As soon as I let go of his knee to shift the gear into park, Andrew was out of there and basically sprinting towards the entrance. "God damnit he's fast," I cursed under my breath as I struggled to unbuckled my belt and catch up to him.
The hospital was unusually packed tonight, surpringly, being that it was like one o'clock in the morning. This meant that I didn't go unnoticed, as I was wearing a full suit and tie. All kinds of eyes were on me, but I kept mine on Andrew. He clumsily dodged each person, as I swiftly followed, and soon we were on the second floor. There were less people up here, so it seemed almost dead.
Maybe that wasn't the best description, but as we quickly walked by a couple huddled on the chairs posted outside each door, I couldn't help but study the way they looked. They had bags under their eyes and looked overall rough.
"Am I too late? Can I see her?" Andrew had lead us to a desk situated in the middle of a cross in halls. Behind the desk sat a woman I'd remember even if I was seventy and had Alzheimer's.
"Mr. Parsley, just in time." Her voice was as soothing as the last time I remembered it. She hadn't noticed me yet, so it gave me time to see how she looked after three years of distance.
Her blonde hair had streaks of grey running through them, more so than those few years ago, and the crows feet on either side of her green eyes were larger. Like in the past, she had painted her lips a calming pink and her cheeks matched. Her uniform, however, was different from the usual cookie cutter patterned scrubs she usually wore. Instead, she had on pastel pink scrubs, but, what hadn't changed was the name tag sitting just above her heart; the same name tag that had a star scratched into one of the corners that read Marie.
I found myself smiling sadly at the sight of her. The last time I had seen her was when she told me my mom was passing away. She was the nurse that lead me out of the room when I had had a bad reaction to my mother's death.
"I advice you to approach with caution. It is one in the morning and visiting hours are over, so the patients that have recently woken up, are asleep." She didn't get to finish her sentence before he was stealthily running through the doors that led to the ICU. I didn't immediately follow him this time.
"Marie Baker." The older woman perked up at someone calling her name. Her eyes almost instantly found mine and her face brightened up to an almost LED frequency. "Zachary Rogers."
It had been years since I hugged Marie. The last time she wrapped her warm arms around me in a bear hug was when she found me breaking down in the middle of the hallway just outside my mother's room. This time was different, however. We were a few years older, I definitely a few years wiser and she a few years more compassionate.
When Marie let her arms fall from around my shoulders, she gave me the biggest confused smile I'd ever seen her make. "What the heck are you doing here?" Her eyes, only for a brief second, traveled down to see how much I've change, yet they widened when they came back up. "And what are you wearing?" I chuckled.
"It's homecoming tonight. Taylor wanted me to go all fancy or whatever with her." Marie shook her head with amusement. She had always told me that Taylor was a little bit extra when it came down to it all. She wasn't wrong.
I smiled at her usual self, taking a step back so she could sit back down behind her desk. My mind was preoccupied with the thought of how Andrew was doing, what was happening, so I didn't have a lot of time to catch up with Maire. Though she was like a second mother to me, and I wouldn't want to miss an opportunity like this. So, I replied to her first question. "I uh drove a friend, Andrew to see his sister."
Marie suddenly had this look written onto her face like she'd just heard Trump speaking fluent intelligence. "I didn't know you hung out with boys like Andrew?" I sighed.
I knew what she meant when she asked that question, but I didn't know how to answer her. She was asking me how I wound up in the life of a kid who was suffering unmeasurable amounts of pain right now, who was nothing like Walker, Ashton or Corbett. And when I say nothing, I mean nothing. He wasn't boisterous, arrogant, or even rebellious. He was just some lost boy trying to find his way through life. He didn't seem to like to socialise all that much in the past, and he had a hot head, and that's why I was quick to judge him. I wanted to piss him off and get him to talk so I could have a little fun; like poking a bear with a stick. It also helped that he was a bit of a nerd when it came to space science.
But when it all came down to it, to that fine line between being just another person or something more, Andrew was right there; and I hadn't seen it before. I hadn't even noticed it in the past few years, at least not until these past few weeks. He was nothing like all my other friends, and that was a good thing.
He wasn't some charity case, either. It was never about that. I did want to help him, but I also wanted to stay with him now. At first I thought I was just looking out for another human being, someone turning into a shell of themselves like I did. Now, though, now I could do with being his best friend.
I would get over these other feelings. He was a good guy. I couldn't lose him.
Because he was different, I didn't want to drop him like I did Corbett. And that wouldn't have been a good thing to say to Marie. So yeah, I didn't know how to answer her.
The only thing I could do was shrug.
"Well..." Marie had a thoughtful expression strewn out onto her features. "He's a good kid. So sad, but better than that Corbett kid you hang out with." The mention of him made my jaw hurt.
Marie noticed my wince and finally caught sight of the red mark against the left side of my face. "Oh my lord what happened to your face, Zachary Rogers?" I sighed again.
I didn't have time for this.
"I got into a fight, s'all."
"With who?!"
"Corbett."
"See! Total numbskull! I don't know why you're his friend."
I didn't either.
The next thirty seconds consisted of me hugging Marie one last time before I told her I needed to go see Andrew. She nodded, and then I bounded for the ICU.
I didn't actually know what room number his mom and sister were in, so I only hoped for the best.
As I walked down the long hallway, I could see a billion intricate machines everywhere. It was silent, so I listened for the one voice I would know. I heard it, then, about three rooms ahead of me. He sounded frantic, rushed, almost joyously sad in a way.
Then I was bounding into the ICU room cautiously.
Stood there, so close to the far bed, was a tall, blonde man with glasses. He looked like Hell. Next to him, sitting down in the hospital chair was Andrew. He was crying.
I'd never seen him crying before today, but these seemed to be tears of joy. And as my eyes followed the length of his arm to find it connected to a small, frail hand, I knew why.
She was actually awake. His sister was awake.
This was my first time seeing his sister. It wasn't the best of times, nor under any circumstance that I could have hoped for. She had blonde hair, or I thought she did. Her hair was cut a sloppy kind of short, seemingly a rushed haircut. Her eyes, half open, were a mixture if blue and brown, if it seemed possible. They were full, though, with so much emotion. Most of it was sadness, hurt and in pain, like the physical kind of pain, or both. And her small body was wrapped as tightly as a mummy's, from what I could see sticking out of the blanket. I only assumed the rest of her was wrapped up from the way the bandages swam beneath the blanket and out of view. The one thing that stood out to me the most, however, was the way her right arm hung from suspenders from the ceiling and encased in a cast. The whole arm, from the outside of the outline her diaphragm to her fingers, was a cast.
"We were so worried, Lola. I was so worried. You're alright now, though. You're okay. You'll get out of this mess soon, and we can talk about whatever you want from now on. I swear on it." The tears in Andrew's words were pushing me out of the room, compelling me to leave. I had stared for too long. This was a private moment and I regretted ever leaving Marie. I shouldn't have left his car.
Turning around, I kept my head down and tried stepping back out, to give them privacy. This was a family affair and I felt like I didn't need to be there.
I really left because Andrew needed time with his family, which I wasn't apart of.
"Who are you?" I froze.
Slowly turning back around, I was met with the brown eyes of Mr. Parsley.
I inwardly smirked, picturing Parsley like the seasoning, but then I shut it down. It wasn't time for jokes, seriously Zachary.
Clearing my throat, I made to answer, but Andrew beat me to it. "This is Zachary, dad." Mr. Parsley raised an eyebrow in question. "Zachary?"
Andrew picked up his hand to scratch at his head, searching for a good answer to give to his dad. "Uh.. he's a.. friend." I smiled even though part of me was frowning at the word friend.
He's your friend, nothing more. Shut up already.
"Well what is he doing here? I thought you were studying at the library. And what is he wearing?"
"I think he looks like Prince Charming." All three of us shot our heads in the direction of the tiny voice. It was Lola, Andrew's sister. She was squinting at me, but had a smile lifting her pale cheeks.
It made my own cheeks warm up.
"Uh.. ha. I-I - Thank you..?" I didn't really know how to respond to that. I didn't really know how to respond to anything as of late. Maybe becoming friends with Andrew was making me change? I always had an answer for everything, but now I didn't know what the Hell was going on when it came to Andrew Parsley and all he stood for.
Lola, dropping her smile only slightly, glanced to the left of me before saying, "Mommy would have thought that."
I didn't want to, but I couldn't not look at Mrs. Parsley. It was instinct to look at a person people referred to. It only happened because she was mentioned because if she hadn't been, I don't know if I would have ever given in to the urge to see how bad everything truly was. But I did, and it knocked the air out of me.
Mrs. Parsley looked dead. I had to be brutally honest with myself, and not sugarcoat a thing. She was too pale, like she was supposed to be naturally tan, yet became paper overnight. Her hair was completely shaven off, now only brown stubble that peeked out from the bandage. A feeding tube ran through her and an IV dripped steadily on either arm. She looked worse than my mom did on her dying bed.
I gulped.
"Lola, honey, look at daddy." Andrew's sister turned to look at her father. "Mommy is going to be alright. She's going to wake up soon and she'll be able to tell you what she thinks of this..." He sideways glanced at me, "Zachary fellow." His brown eyes then pointedly glared at Andrew, almost telepathically yelling through them at him. "Just go back to sleep, honey. Andrew and I will be right here when you wake up."
The blonde child nodded, laid back down and proceeded to fall back asleep in record time.
All the while, I stood there shuffling on my feet as the father and son before me dueled through their eyes.
This was going to be so much fun.
◇
Ha. Another long chapter.
I'm on a role, aren't I? And this time, it's not as late as some of them usually are!
Wow.
But hey, I hope you liked another Zachary pov. Some juicy things happened with his internal self, don't you think? Maybe a little bit of bumpy character development I'd say. Shady almost.
But again, not edited. Probably won't be till I'm completely done with this book. Still feel free to grammar check me however. You know spelling, weird mistakes, the works. Although if I mispell an easy wors, it's probably on purpose.
Anyway, VOTE and COMMENT because you guys know that's what gets me through this book. Honestly it's what makes my days.
And, questions? Anything?
What do you think will happen with Lola?
Zachary, seriously? I mean wow what a secret!? (More of it needs to be shared, doesn't it? Hmmmm...)
Any other questions you have or want to ask I mean do so. Seriously guys. I'd be happy to answer them.
Although I can't answer why my updating schedule is so hectic so don't ask me. I mean I do, it's very obvious but still hahaha.
Well, thanks for sticking around you lovely people!
And btw, next chapter is still going to be in Zach's POV so don't be confused.
End of Straight Boys Chapter 23. Continue reading Chapter 24 or return to Straight Boys book page.