Just Between Guys
"Booth!" I yelled, rushing over to my best friend. He wouldn't live, I knew that, but I wouldn't admit it. His leg was bleeding profusely. I felt for the wound and found it easily… too easily. He was becoming faint. "Booth," I encouraged him shakily; "it'll be okay. We're going to get help for you." I began to stand up, my eyes welling with tears.
"D—don't leave me," he spat out.
"But, Boothy…" I could barely speak. How could I have been so greedy? How could I have let Booth take the money to hide in the woods and not have offered to go myself, when I followed him out here to stop him anyway?
Booth's brow furrowed as much as it could. "Don't leave me," he repeated. He sounded desperate and I felt desperate.
"It's going to be okay," I reminded him. "I'll just apply a little pressure… that's a lot of blood…" My hands pushed down onto his leg. The blood spurting from it was hot and coming in large quantities. "Jeez, this blood! Where's it coming from?" I asked. I wouldn't cry yet—I couldn't let Booth see that. I would save him and while he was lying asleep in his hospital bed… that's when I would cry.
Booth couldn't be saved, I reminded myself. Booth was living on borrowed time. Or rather, he was dying on it. From the corner of my eye, I noticed that Booth's head, which he had been raising slightly to watch with all of the strength he had left, was no longer in the air. His eyes closed and his face had turned to the side. "Booth? Booth!" I cried again, picking him up and holding him up to my shoulder. My heart was heavier than he was.
"We're all gonna die together, I bet," Danny laughed, "drinking way too much and trying to pull some prank like we're always doing."
Sully shook his head. "No way, man. I will be the last to go." He laughed and pointed his bottle at me. I pointed at my own chest, smiling and shaking my head.
"Aw, come on, don't point that thing at me. You guys all know I've got to get my company started before any of you let me kick the bucket." I held up his own bottle as well, showing off the 'Sacred Turtle' label. "Right? Right, Booth?" Booth nodded.
Danny smiled at Booth. "Booth. I bet he's got all the girls, he isn't even really seasick like he says. Are you Booth?"
Booth grinned toothily. "Who are you kidding, Danny?"
"Boothy here is gonna outlive all of us. I bet he's even immortal," Sully said. "I'm with you, Danny." The guys and I all drank to Sully's words and Henry walked into the room.
"Alright, Frat boys, listen up. None of you are dying anytime soon. I'm the one who's gonna be there to bail your asses out. Now come on, we've got a wedding to go to. I'll meet you all on the yacht."
I set down Booth's shovel after I finished the heartbreaking job of burying him. "It's okay, Boothy," I said down to the earth. The ground seemed to cry back up at me in despair. I cried with it. "It's okay because you're immortal now, with all the ladies." I laughed weakly and looked down at him. My eyes soon filled with more tears. "You'd better enjoy yourself because as soon as I come up there, you're gonna have competition." I covered my face. There was only one more thing to say. "Okay Booth? This is just between us… okay?"
And then I turned around. I would say goodbye when I could hold my head up straight and when I wasn't carrying a bag of money in my hand.