Note: Miley is not famous in this story. Nick is though.
There's something about a hospital waiting room that makes my leg shake uncontrollably and my heart nearly pound out of my chest. My mom insists that it's normal, and I wouldn't be normal if I didn't get nervous in hospitals. But I don't know how to tell her this: I'm no where near normal.
"Nicholas," one of the doctors said and I looked up at her. "Come with me." She said and my parents and I got up to follow her. I knew her pretty well, Dr. Levitt, from the children's wing. It made me nervous that she was from the children's wing to begin with, but I wasn't about to get picky.
"Anything?" My dad asked as we followed her through the halls with the walls painted like a zoo.
"Well, the bad news is that neither Kevin nor Joe were perfect matches for Nick," She said and my parents both let out a load and overly dramatic sigh, as we stopped in her office. "But the good news is," she said and you could see all the color return to their faces, "We did a little name dropping. More people want to give up their kidney if they know they are giving it to Nick Jonas."
"So, you found someone?" My mom beamed.
"Yeah, Miley Cyrus." Dr. Levitt said with enthusiasm. "C'mon, we need to go to the children's wing."
"Children's wing," I repeated and she nodded. "So, I'm getting a kidney from some little kid?"
"Um, not quite," Dr. Levitt reassured me as she opened to the door to room 703.
Miley Cyrus was standing there; long, straight brown hair, deep blue eyes, at least 5'6".
"Nick, Miley. Miley, Nick." Dr. Levitt said and turned to my parents, who looked completely ecstatic.
"I never thought I would be giving a kidney to Nick Jonas," she said. "Well, I didn't really think I'd be giving any of my body to anyone."
"Oh," I said and bit down on my lower lip; I knew I couldn't exactly be picky about who I was getting this kidney from, especially when it was a beautiful girl, but I just hope she wasn't giving up a kidney simply because I was a Jonas Brother.
"Miley, why don't you tell Nick about yourself," Dr. Levitt suggested as she escorted my parents out the room and towards a huge stack of paperwork.
"Not going to lie, you weren't what I was expecting." I said.
"Yeah, I get that a lot," she said with the hugest smile.
"So, why are doing this exactly?" I asked; I knew it was rude and completely inappropriate, but I couldn't resist.
"I can totally keep it, ya know, if you don't want it…" She said sarcastically and flashed that giant smile again.
"No, I didn't mean it like that."
"Okay, well, I never really considered myself a candidate for organ donation, especially at 16," she began to explain. I wanted to stop listening; I wanted to tell her that it was sweet and endearing but befriending my brothers and I was not worth a kidney. "But a few years back, when I was 14 and my brother was 8, he was diagnosed with leukemia. And it was the bone marrow donations that saved his life."
Then I realized, she wasn't doing this for me and my brothers. She was doing it for her own brother.
"Wow, I'm sorry about your brother." I said, because I didn't know what else to say. I couldn't possibly imagine having to watch Frankie going through anything like that.
"He's okay now, but thanks." She said with a very serious overtone. "Hey, can you do me a favor?"
"What's in it for me?" I smiled back at her.
"I don't know, a kidney?" Miley seemed to possess the perfect amount of sarcasm and charm. "Just lift up your shirt."
"On the first date?" I blushed, but lifted my shirt to reveal my abdominal anyway.
"Okay, looks like a good home." She smiled, "For my kidney, that is."
"Right."
I thought that all I was going to get from this long and painful process was a kidney, I never imagined I'd be getting an amazing friend.
Two Weeks To Surgery
It's hard to believe it's only been a week since Miley and I met. I've been lucky enough to meet a lot of really cool people in my life, but I've never met someone like her before.
I mean, how many people do you meet that you can immediately open up to within the first week of meeting them? How many people can you call a best friend within a week of meeting them?
For me, there's just one person like that.
"Okay, we need to do a little blood work," Dr. Levitt said as she called in a nurse to do my blood test.
"Crap," I heard Miley mutter under her breath, as Dr. Levitt prepped the needles and cleaned her arm.
"What," I asked.
"I just don't like needles. I probably sound like such a baby. I shouldn't be complaining, this is like nothing. It's not like I have to do this several times a day..." Her voice began to trail off. She picked up the dog tag that I had never noticed resting on her chest, and she slid it across the ball chain it was resting on.
"What's that for," I said as I pulled my own out of my shirt.
"I have hypoglycemia and I'm pretty much allergic to everything..." She said as she dropped it.
"Oh," I said as the nurse punctured the crease in my elbow.
"M-mmhmm," She said as she closed her eyes and got physically uncomfortable.
"Here," I said as I reached my hand out to her.
"Thanks," She said and smiled, as if there wasn't still a needle poking into her skin. "It seriously means a lot to me."
"Yeah, well, us tagged kids," I said as I picked up my own necklace. "We need to stick together."
"Yeah," She giggled.
We knew then that we needed to stick together, but we never could've guessed how close we would be.
One Week To Surgery
"Nick, can I tell you something?" Miley said as I lowered the volume on the Grey's Anatomy marathon she prompted in order to prepare ourselves for the surgery.
"Anything." I reassured.
"I'm nervous," she said as she looked down at her bare fingernails, she had already picked off all of the polish.
"Nervous for what," I asked.
"The surgery," Miley said as she raised her thumb to her mouth, and began to bite on her nail.
"You don't have to go through with it," I said. "There'll be another kidney, eventually."
"No. What if there isn't? And just because I'm nervous, doesn't mean I don't want to do it." She said softly.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Yeah," She said as he looked me right in the eye. "Nick, want to know a secret?"
"Of course."
"There isn't anyone else that I would rather give my body to." She told me, and suddenly turned bright red. "I-I mean, my body parts." She finished awkwardly.
"I know what you mean," I smiled at her. Then I leaned in, and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. I felt her hands in my hair, and I put my arms around her slim body.
"No." She exclaimed, as she pulled back from me.
"What?"
"It's just," Her voice was shaking as she struggled to keep the tears in, and get the words out. "It's just that I'm having a hard enough time giving you my kidney. You can't expect to take my heart too."
And leaving me with that, she walked out of my living room and straight to her car.
One Day to Surgery
Miley and I barely got to spend anytime together today, being that we both had a bunch of pre-op exams that we needed to do. In fact, these tests took so long that Miley and I barely saw each other the entire day.
The first time we saw each other was when we were both waiting for tests to come back, and we were both sentenced to the waiting room. Only, moments after she arrived I was called back in by the doctor.
"Nick," She said and I turned around. She wiped her eyes and got up to give me a hug. "Good luck tomorrow."
"You too," I said as I closed my eyes tightly.
"And if anything happens, just know that I really love you." She was still nervous about the surgery, the stupid surgery she was going through for me.
"Nothing's gonna happen," I whispered in her ear to reassure her. "And I love you, without the circumstances."
She walked back to her chair in the waiting room and I walked back to the room with the doctor, trying to fight the tears that were obviously swelling in my eyes.
One Day Post-Surgery
I felt the sun pounding on my skin and finally decided to crack open my eyes, only to find my room was completely empty--with the exception of Kevin and Joe talking in the corner.
"Would someone mind closing the blinds?" I said as I rolled onto my stomach and pulled the pillow over my head.
"Nicholas!" Kevin said as he walked over to my bedside.
"Dude, you're up!" Joe said. "Good morning, buddy!" Not only was he talking to me like a baby--or, more accurately, a dog--he was petting me too.
"Stop that," I said as I swatted my hand at Joe's. "Listen, can I go visit Miles?"
"Hey Ma," Kevin said into the hospital phone. "Nick's up...he's looking for you."
"No, I'm not." I said as I opened the drawer of the hospital night stand. It was almost embarrassing that I kept stuff in that drawer; it made it seem like this hospital was my home. "I'm asking for Miley."
"Seriously, chill dude," Joe said. "You can see your girlfriend, now." And with that devil like grin on his face, he whipped a wheelchair in front of him.
"First of all, she's not my girlfriend." I said as I folded my arms. "Second of all, what in the world are you doing with that wheelchair?"
"I just told you, I'm taking you too see your girlfriend. You in or not?"
"She's not my girlfriend," I said. "But, I'm in."
I sat down in the wheelchair, and Joe started pushing me down the hallway. He was making sharp turns, as we walked down the hallway where all pediatric recover.
"Miles?" I said as Joe pushed me into room 718, where Miley was watching TV in her pajama's. Her surgery was, obviously, before mine and she's been recovering for the past few days.
"Nick!" She said as she placed whatever she was eating on the tray situated on her bed. "How are you?"
"I'm good, how are you?" I said as I embraced her in a hug.
"I'm good," She told me. "But I'm better, now that I know you're good, too."
"Surgery went well, and everything?" I asked as we stayed in our hug.
"Yeah," She said and finally pulled out of my arms and climbed back into her bed and continued her lunch. "I mean, we're both here, right?"
"Right." I said as I sat down on the end of her bed. "Hey, I got you something!"
"Really, what?"
I reached into the pocket of my hooded sweatshirt, grinning like a huge a dork, only I couldn't find the present I wanted to give her. "I forgot it in my room." I told her.
"Aw, you can give it to me later."
"No," I told her as I stood up. "Where's Joe to wheel me back?"
"Whoa there, just sit down. You can get it later, I don't want you to go yet. Not before they realize you're gone and come back for you." She gave me the cutest puppy dog face I've ever seen.
"Fine," I said and I folded my arms, frustrated.
"What was it anyway?"
"Not telling, that'll ruin the surprise."
"Aw, please?"
I debated for a moment if I should tell her; as much as I didn't want to ruin the surprise, I was really proud of my present. "It's a friendship necklace." I told her. "Well, it's a friendship charm. To wear with our medical ID tag's."
"We don't need a friendship charm," She said as she she lifted her shirt a little bit, revealing the bandages from the surgery. "I'm pretty sure we'll have friendship scars everywhere we go." Miley lifted the bandages that were placed so delicately and traced her fingers along the stitches.
"Stop," I said. "You shouldn't touch that."
"Big deal," Miley said to me as she placed the gauze back over the wound. "Not all of us are goody two-shoes, like you Nicholas Jonas."
"Goody two-shoes don't break the rules and leave their rooms," A nurse said as she waited in the entrance of Miley's room.
"Sorry, I-I just wanted to ask Miley how she's feeling."
"And how is she feeling?" The nurse asked as she firmly placed her hands on her hips.
"I'm feeling," She muttered as she climbed back into her bed and let out a huge yawn. "Like a part of me is missing, but...I know it's in a much better place now."
"Okay, that's all I needed to hear," I said as I sat down in the wheelchair the nurse had waiting for me.
"Nick, wait." She said as she jumped out of her bed. "Here." She said as she dropped her necklace in my hand. "Bring it back later with the charm, k?"
When the nurse wheeled me back into my room and made sure I got back into my bed, I immediately opened my drawer and realized the small jewelry box was still waiting there. I opened the box and took out the silver dog tag with a band-aid on it, and strung it Miley's chain.
"Nicholas!" My mother said as she walked into my room. "You look wonderful." She was now smothering me in kisses, and I was being strangled from her hugs.
"I'm happy to see you, too." I said as I shook my head to try to break free from her grip.
"The doctor's going to be in here a little bit later, just to check on you." She explain as I pulled the blanket up to my chin.
"Okay, I'm just really tired." I said and I let my eyes close. "I think I'm just going to go to sleep, okay?"
"I'm not telling him," Kevin said to my parents. "Seriously, that's not my job. I didn't sign up for that when I became big brother."
"We didn't exactly sign up for this gig," Joe smirked.
"Well, someone's gonna have to tell him."My dad said as he rubbed his temples.
"Tell me what," I said as I shot them a dirty look from my bed to where they were standing across the room.
"Nicholas," My mom said as she slid her sunglasses over her puffy eyes. "Your dad needs to talk to you."
"Nick, I don't know how to tell you this..." My dad said as he approached my bed.
"Well, you can start by telling me what's up."
"It's about Miley," He said. "She didn't make it."
"What do you mean, 'she didn't make it,' I was with her this afternoon! She was perfectly fine!" I was shouting at my father, who was still shockingly calm.
"I know that, but her stitches were fresh and she was exposed to...something. They aren't exactly sure what, but she got a really bad infection. When they tried to treat her, with Penicillin through her IV, she had a reaction..." My father tried his best to explain, but his voice was slowly fading. "I'm sorry Nicholas, I really am."
"I j-just, want to be alone right now, okay?"
"But the doc--" My mom cut into the conversation.
"I don't care about the doctor! Just leave, okay?" I asked them as I buried my face in my pillow.
My dad nodded as he escorted my mom out of the room.
One week after surgery
My family and I walked into the church, and we could barely move it was so crowded; it's not surprising, really, that Miley would have this many people at her funeral. It didn't take much to love her, and she seemed to affect every person she encountered in her life.
"You okay, man?" Joe asked as he reassuringly patted my back.
"Yeah," I said as I covered my face with my hands, praying that no one would see me crying.
"How do you feel?" My mom asked me, trying not to be too invasive.
"I feel..." I said I was tried to speak clearly, but obviously failed. "I feel like there's a part of me that's missing, but I know that she--it's in a much better place now."
My family didn't say anything as we took a seat in what seemed like the most crowded row of the most crowded church.
I could feel my heart nearly pounding out of my chest, and my entire world was shaking when I decided to stop fighting the tears. I completely lost it, inviting the entire church, and soon enough the entire world, to see Nick Jonas cry.
I squeezed the cold piece of metal in my hand until it started to dig into my sweaty palm.
My mom rubbed my back and kissed my forehead; she assured me that it was completely normal, and I wouldn't be normal if I didn't cry at a funeral. I don't know how to tell my mom but, I'm so far from normal. And after meeting an amazing person, like Miley, I knew that my life would never be the same again. Even the abnormal life that was once my normal life.