"Morning." Aly greeted her best friend as she exited the bathroom.
"Morning." Stacy responded back as she entered into the bathroom next to brush her teeth.
As Aly was getting ready for their next big day in NYC, she leisurely turned on her phone and continued rummaging through her suitcase for her outfit. "Wake up Morgan!" She shouted as she saw Morgan slowly fidgeting around in the bed.
"It's too early!" Morgan complained as she covered her head with the sheets.
Aly just laughed as she glanced down at her phone which read that she had six missed calls and two texts. "Hmm that's odd." She thought out loud as she looked at whom the calls and texts were from.
"What's odd?" Morgan inquired as she uncovered her face from under the white cotton sheets.
"Grant called me three times, Randy called me twice, Torrie called me once and I got two texts from Grant saying 'text me' with an exclamation point. What the hell did they want last night? They were probably all drunk that's what." She thought as they both slightly laughed at their friends.
"Well call Grant back and see what's up. He probably has a real bad hangover but who cares." Morgan said as she rolled out of the bed and walked into the bathroom where she greeted Stacy.
Meanwhile, Aly waited patiently as she called her boyfriend to find out why the hell everybody had called her last night. As she was grabbing her dark blue dress out of her bag he finally answered. "Hello?"
"Hey babe. How are you? I saw that you, Tor, and Randy called me last night and I wanted to see what the hell is up. What, were you guys drunk or something?" She giggled as she awaited his answer.
But to her surprise, no chuckle came from the other end. "Aly….something happened last night. Is Stace there with you right now?"
"Well she's in the bathroom. Why, what happened?" Aly inquired confusedly.
"Well um…we tried calling you guys a thousand times but all of your phones were off so…" Grant began as he took a deep breath. "Randy left at around 2 o'clock this morning."
Aly furrowed her brows, wondering what in the world was going on. "What do you mean he left? Where'd he go?"
By then Stacy had made her way out of the bathroom and began putting on a dark grey dress, another stunning number that showed off all of her delicious curves. But as Stacy looked over in the direction of her friend who was currently on the phone, she was taken back for a moment. Aly had a shocked and bewildered expression on her face; a face that Stacy had never seen her friend make before.
Morgan had finally made her way out of the bathroom and stared intently at her stunned brunette friend who was sitting on the bed. "What's going on?" Morgan asked Stacy as she stood right beside her.
"I don't know. I think she's talking to Grant right now." Stacy answered as her friend's expression was beginning to scare her. "What's going on Aly?"
Aly just looked over at Stacy with sympathetic eyes, appearing as though the wind had just been knocked out of her. "Grant….can I….can I just call you back?" She asked as she slowly ended the call and looked up at Stacy, swallowing hard before speaking.
"Aly, what's wrong? What happened?" Morgan pried as she and Stacy sat next to Aly on the bed.
"Stace…" She began to say as she turned to face her blond friend. "Randy um…he…Randy left last night."
Stacy looked confusedly back at her friend, beginning to grow worried and ultimately petrified. "What do you mean he left last night? Where'd he go?"
"He um…he got on a red eye last night and flew back home to California." She responded, not wanting to tell her friend the rest since she knew it would just bring heartache and pain to her friend's conscience.
"What? Why? Why'd he fly back home?" Stacy fearfully inquired as she stared into Aly's clearly stunned eyes.
"Because……..because Randy's dad had emergency surgery last night. They discovered that he has two malignant brain tumors and…they don't know if he's gonna make it." She said as the tears that had wanted to escape finally cascaded down her cheeks.
Stacy immediately covered her mouth and tightly closed her eyes, feeling a rush of sorrow, pain, and horror envelop her heart as her body began to shake from frightened tears. "Oh my god I can't believe this is happening." She cried as Morgan and Aly both hugged her and began to weep themselves.
Stacy couldn't help but let her tears flow as her heart seemed to crack with fear and anguish. A wave of questions soon flooded her mind as her main concern quickly turned to her boyfriend. "Oh my god, Randy. He must be hurting so badly right now…(sniffle)….he must be so scared and I can't even help him." She cried as she buried her face into Morgan's shoulder, fearing for the hurt that her boyfriend must be feeling right at that moment.
Jefferson County Hospital
He sat there with his head in his hands, hiding the panic and terror that consumed him. He felt like he was stuck back in his coma; unable to move and unable to speak. He felt useless inside as he waited patiently in the waiting room with his mother beside him.
His mother was shaking with fear as she tried to calm herself for the umpteenth time that night. Her eyes were puffy and red from all the crying she had done as she sat nervously for the surgeons to walk out of the doors and report upon her husband's condition.
They sat mutely in their chairs; a million thoughts racing through their minds simultaneously. They had become accustomed to the awkward silence of the vacant waiting room; a room that Elaine Orton had surely seen enough of over the years. But although it was a time of despair and misery, Elaine Orton couldn't help but briefly smile at a precious memory that soon reappeared in her mind.
"April 1st, one of the happiest days of my life…" She began to say as she looked over at her silent son. "…the day you were born Randy…..I remember how excited I was when I saw your face for the first time. I thought to myself, 'Elaine. God has blessed you with a truly remarkable gift; a gift that will change the rest of your life whether you want it to or not.' And you did. But you didn't just change my life for the better….you turned your father's whole world upside down. I remember the expression on his face when he held you in his arms. I don't think he's ever been more proud of anything in his entire life than having you as his son. To this day he still tells me how proud he is of you Randy. I just wanted you to know that."
Randy sat still in the same position; his statue-like movements coincided with his alarm-like speech. Continuous waves of apprehension and distress invaded his body like an unwanted plague. He felt like a stranger in that dull waiting room, although he was practically a well-known guest in the E.R. For once he was the one worrying about the results or conditions of a patient, rather than typically being the patient himself.
"Mrs. Orton?" A voice inquired as two men in light green scrubs approached the only two people in the waiting room.
"Yes?" She answered with worried eyes as she stood up from her seat. Randy stood up beside her as he waited for the doctors to speak.
"Your husband made it through the surgery but…he's in critical condition. The next few hours are extremely critical in his recovery but we're confident that he should pull through. We removed one of the tumors completely from his temporal lobe however we were only able to remove a fraction of the other one since it is so deeply imbedded in your husband's frontal lobe. With some time and possible radiation or chemotherapy, we may be able to remove or reduce the size of the other tumor but…the odds are very slim. But we'll let you know as soon as possible when you can go in and visit with him."
A collection of positive and negative emotions filled Randy's head as he absorbed all of the information the doctors had provided. Knowing that his father had survived the rigorous surgery led him to believe that there was some hope, but when they stated that the other tumor still loomed caused unwanted doubts to fill his mind.
"Thank you doctors. Thank you for everything." Mrs. Orton responded.
"We suggest that you should maybe go home and get some rest. You won't be able to see your husband for a couple more hours but we'll call if anything changes." The other doctor assured them.
"Well I'm not going anywhere. My sister and her husband are on their way down from San Francisco and…I just can't leave my husband's side." Mrs. Orton declared as she looked back at the doctors with a determined face.
"Alright ma'am. That's just fine. We'll make sure that either one of ourselves or a nurse will update you every hour, on the hour okay?"
"Yes. That would be wonderful. Thank you doctors." Elaine Orton gratefully said as the doctors turned on their heels and walked down the hall. "Randy, you should go home and get some rest sweetheart. Aunt Julie and Uncle Frank should be here shortly, I'll be okay by myself for a few minutes."
Randy just shook his head. "I'm not just gonna leave you here all by yourself. And I'm not just gonna leave Dad's side either."
"Randy, both he and I will be okay, I promise. There's nothing neither you nor I can do at this point so…we just need to build our strength and stay strong for him alright?" His mother said with complete positivity. "Besides, have you even talked to Stacy since you left? She's probably worried sick about you."
Randy disappointedly shook his head. Although the thought of his girlfriend had crossed his mind numerous times that day, the grief for his father that he currently possessed had been his one main focus, pushing aside the reoccurring thoughts of his true love.
"Go home Randy. Everything will be okay. You need the rest." His mother pushed as he finally caved in to her submissive pleas.
"Alright, I love you Mom." He quietly said in his masculine voice as he gave his mother a hug. "Call me as soon as you hear anything alright? I mean anything."
"Okay I will Randy. I will." She assured him as he leisurely began towards the elevator and walked out of the hospital, driving back towards his currently empty house.
7:24 pm (A few hours later)
He sat calmly outside on his back patio, taking a sudden drag of his freshly rolled blunt and waiting for his girlfriend to pick up his call. "Hello?" Her angelic voice answered as he closed his eyes and envisioned her sitting right beside him.
"Hey Stace." He spoke back, just above a whisper.
"Hi baby, how are you?" She asked while trying to hold back the tears that were currently forming in her eyes. Just from the tone of his voice she could tell he was hurting, resulting in her heart hurting just as much, if not more.
He took a deep breath and tried to relax, swallowing hard as he struggled to answer her question. "I'm um….I'm not too good actually….not being with you is killing me right now."
Stacy's tears had begun to fall as she attempted to keep her composure. But her heart felt so weak and her soul felt so empty knowing that the love of her life was in pain and she couldn't do anything to help him. She just wanted so badly to be able to wrap her arms around his broad muscular neck and to embrace him as hard as she could, never to let go for as long as she lived.
"I miss you so much Randy." She said, wiping away the tears that streamed down her face. "I just wish I could be there with you."
"I wish you were here too…..it's so great to hear your voice." He admitted as he took another hit off his blunt, trying to calm his nerves since he had practically been tense all day long.
"How's your dad?" She asked, praying that his answer would be positive.
Randy stoically cleared his throat, trying desperately not to break down and cry. "He um….he made it through the surgery and….they managed to remove one of his tumors but….the other one is too deeply imbedded that he's gonna have to start radiation or chemo pretty soon to try to shrink it so….I won't know anything else for a few more hours but…..hopefully tomorrow I can at least go in and see him."
Stacy couldn't hold them back anymore as her tears dripped silently down her face. She desperately tried to wipe them away but as soon as she did more would follow.
"Stace, don't cry. Please don't cry." Randy pleaded as a wave of sadness overcame him. He hated to hear her cry; he hated to know that his girlfriend was in pain.
She was trying so hard at the moment to be strong for him but her troubled feelings were relentless. "I'm sorry Randy. I just…..I just miss you so much and….I just wanna be there to help you….I can't stand thinking about the fact that you're hurting so badly….(sniffle)…I just wanna hold you."
He slowly leaned back in his chair, gazing up at the clear night sky. He listened intently to her little sniffles on the other end; each moment he spent away from her felt like his heart was being chipped away piece by piece. But on top of missing her like crazy, he was scared to death of losing his father. It seemed like every single thing that could go wrong or cause hurt or anguish had tumbled right down on top of him all at once.
"I just don't understand Stace....you'd think that after busting my knee twice, barely surviving a coma, and almost losing the one most important person in my entire life (Stacy), that life couldn't possibly have anything worse to throw at me but….it does….I just don't know if I can take anymore Stace. It's as if I'm being punished for something but I don't know what…..I just don't know what to do anymore."
To hear him on the verge of tears automatically caused Stacy to cry. She felt weak inside by succumbing to her unyielding sobs; disbelief invading her mind as she stepped back and looked hard at all the things her boyfriends had been through over the last year and a half. If there was anyone in the world that didn't deserve pain like this it was him; he was too good of a person to deserve this kind of torture.
"Listen to me Randy…you have to be strong okay? You have to be strong for…for your dad, and your mom, and all your relatives…..you can't give up Randy. I won't let you….there are too many people that love you and support you to let you give up. I need you to stay strong….for me."
Randy couldn't help but grin at the moment; realizing that he was truly, absolutely, positively, in love with his girlfriend. No matter the situation, good or bad, she always managed to find a way to make him feel better. "I'll try sweetheart but…I can't promise anything. It's only been one day and I'm already a wreck so….I'll just have to wait and see what else is thrown my way."
Stacy just ran her hand through her dirty blond hair, praying to herself that he would be okay. "Don't worry baby….everything will be alright. I promise."
"Yeah." He answered in a low voice as he finished off his blunt and closed his eyes. "I'm just so tired. I haven't slept since…..actually since we last had sex." He admitted with a slight chuckle.
"Randy that's really not good for you, especially when you're under so much stress. You should go and try and sleep for a while; rest your eyes." She suggested which sort of reminded him of his mother who gave him the same advice earlier.
"Yeah I think I just might….too bad I won't have you by my side to keep me company." He flirtatiously commented, trying anything to lighten the darkened mood.
Stacy couldn't help but grin at his playful ways as she softly giggled into the phone. "Go get some rest Randy. I'll call you in the morning okay?"
"Alright, sounds good……I love you Stace." He wholeheartedly said, staring off into the distance.
"I love you too Randy, with all my heart."
"Bye sweetheart."
"Bye." She finally said as he ended the call and walked inside. Not hearing her voice anymore tore his heart apart once again as he agonizingly trekked up the stairs towards his bedroom. He slammed the door behind him in frustration and utter distress as he collapsed onto his bed and deeply sighed. Exhaustion soon followed as his body grew accustomed to the soft mattress beneath him. His mind soon drifted off to insignificant dreams as he finally, without hesitation, fell fast asleep.
PLEASE R&R!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!