Chapter 10
Josh reached for a pair of Jeans from inside his drawer. He rolled it into a ball and then threw it, aiming for the open suitcase he had put on his bed. He missed.
"Nice shot," Lori commented as she passed by his room. She stopped and leaned against his doorframe. "You going somewhere?"
He shrugged. "The hospital after school."
"Wow, can we say double standard."
"What are you talking about?" He asked, pulling out a T-Shirt from his closet.
"If I asked mom and dad if I could stay at Declan's, dad would put bars on my windows to keep me from getting out. But with you…mom and dad basically gave you permission to sleep at you girlfriend's."
"I don't think Andy and I are the same as you and Declan."
"Oh, why's that?"
Josh glared at her and threw the T-Shirt onto the bed. It landed a few inches from the pair of Jeans.
"Alright, so maybe she's sick and you're not having sex, but it still isn't fair."
Josh scooped up a pair of shorts from the floor and threw them towards her. They hit her in the stomach.
"I was just kidding," she said, leaving the shorts where they fell.
She walked into the room and took a seat on his bed.
"Let me give you a piece of advice. You're never going to have sex if you start looking like a homeless person." She held up his wrinkled shirt. "I suggest you stop rolling and start folding." She began to fold it.
"Leave it alone!" He yelled.
He yanked the T-Shirt out of her hand and threw it into the suitcase.
"Why are you packing a bag anyway?" She asked, ignoring his rudeness. "You spent last night at the hospital and the night before that and you didn't pack a bag."
"It's none of your business."
"You really like her, don't you?"
"What?"
"Any other guy your age would run as far from that hospital as they could, but you didn't. You stayed."
"She needs me." He could feel the tears stinging his eyes. He hadn't stopped thinking about how her cancer might have spread. He wondered how much more she could take. He wondered how much more he could take.
"You still could have walked away." He grabbed a few items from his dresser and walked over to the bed. "You're a good person, Josh."
"Could we leave the touching brother sister moments for Oprah, please?" He snapped.
"Fine," she said, standing to leave.
He sat on the bed and looked down at the floor. She made her way to the door and he took a deep breath.
"Lori, look, I'm sorry, I'm just…this is hard."
She turned back towards him.
"No one said loving someone was easy."
He looked up at her.
"How did you know?"
"What? That you loved her? Josh, come on, I'm not blind. I've never seen anyone look at another person the way that you look at Andy. You two were meant to be together. I mean, you may bicker and have stupid things in common like playing video games, but it's just…"
"Our thing," he finished.
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He rode up the elevator, holding his suitcase in one hand and his backpack in the other. He had packed the bag to show her he was committed. He wanted to spend each and every night with her and he wanted to be prepared. That, and he didn't want to wake up extra early to run home to change his clothes before going to school.
He shifted, trying to hold on to the courage that Lori helped him to gain. The doors opened and he all but ran out of the metal box towards her room. He stopped outside her room and took a deep breath.
"Hey, Andy," he said, walking in. With a big smile on his face, he pushed the curtain that surrounded her bed aside, but she wasn't there. Her bed was neatly made and had been pushed back, away from the windows. He looked to the window sill and saw that everything, including the fresh batch of wildflowers that he brought her every time the ones before grew wilted, were gone.
"Andy!" He yelled, dropping his bags and running into the hallway. A nurse he didn't recognize walked by him. "Please, I'm looking for Andy Jensen, can you tell me where she is?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know," the nurse apologized as she continued on her way.
"But she's in this room. Room 1013. She was right here yesterday. Where is she?"
"I'm sorry…"
Josh grabbed her arm.
"Let me go!" The nurse shouted. Josh immediately let go.
"Please…I have to know where she is," he begged. Thoughts of what could have happened to her ran through his mind like a person changing the channels on a TV. What if she was just out receiving treatment? What if she was just out getting more tests? What if they moved her to a different room? What if she had grown ill in the middle of the day and he wasn't there for her? What if she was gone?
"Please," he whispered as the tears began to stream down his face.
"I'll see what I can find out," the nurse said.
As the nurse disappeared, Josh ran back into the room. He rifled through is bag until he found his cell-phone. He quickly turned it on and pressed down the number two. Number two was speed dial for Andy. The phone went right to voice mail.
"Hey, this is Andy, sorry you missed me, but I'm not. Leave a message."
Josh slammed the phone shut. He looked at his list of contacts and dialed Andy's house number. It rang four times.
"Hello…"
"This is Josh Tre…"
"You've reached Trish, Terry, and Andy," the answering machine continued. Each of their voices spoke on the phone as they said their name. "Leave us a message and we'll get back to you," they said altogether.
Josh closed his phone, not bothering to leave a message. He fell to the floor and wept.
Author's Note:
This was a shorter one, but a fun one to write because I've always really liked the relationship between Josh and Lori. Please comment!