Quote of the day:

(NoV and Rachael are watching the 2004 version of A Separate Peace)

Rachael: Just so you know, if you ever push me out of a tree, I won't be coming around you anymore.

NoV: (pouts)

Rachael: ……trapezes don't count.

NoV: (smiles)

--

On the ride to the hospital, Brinker was the privileged one who got to sit up front next to the driver, who was a small, balding man. That left me sandwiched in between Leper and Ollie in the backseat.

I felt trapped. Why did Brinker automatically get to sit up front? He was such a jerk. If not for him interrupting with his stupid Q&A, I would have been able to tell Finny that I loved him back. In fact, if not for the Brinker Inquisition, Finny wouldn't have gotten upset and had a wreck. Brinker always had to say something smart like he knew everything.

I stopped myself, thinking, Oh great, Gene. What are you going to do now? Break Brinker's leg?

Why was I so quick to judge? Why did I constantly compete with everyone? I knew that it was my fault for not telling Finny how I felt earlier. I knew that I should have told him about the accident right when it happened. Heck, I should have left well enough alone and never pushed him at all. Yet there I was trying to blame it all on Brinker, who, while he was a bit of a jerk and a definite smart aleck, was very much innocent.

--

The receptionist at the hospital politely directed us to a room. We followed a maze of hallways until we arrived at what was defined as Finny's room. Just as Ollie was about to knock, the door opened and a plump, graying doctor exited the room.

Looking at us, he wondered, "Friends and family of Phineas Pell?"

I nodded. "Friends," I replied.

"He's going into surgery in half an hour," the doctor told us. "You may go in to see him, but only one at a time." He walked across the hallway to see another patient, I assumed.

"So, who's going first?" Brinker asked.

I could tell that he intended to be the first. I was about to let him when Leper piped up, "Let Gene go first. He was there when it happened and Finny will probably want to see him."

Brinker shrugged. "If he's even awake," he said.

I nodded to Leper, thanking him, and entered the room. I closed the door behind me. The walls in the room were extraordinarily white, heightened moreso by the sunlight coming through the window and the fluorescent lights overhead. Phineas lay motionless in the bed, covered to his navel in a white cotton sheet and covered to his neck in a hospital gown. A bandaged foot stuck out of the blanket.

As I neared my friend, I saw that he was staring intently at the ceiling. Standing over him, I noticed that he wasn't blinking. I thought for a moment that he might be drugged, but then decided that he was just mad at me.

"Finny," I said quietly. Then, knowing nothing else to say, I weakly muttered, "How do you feel?"

Without moving his body or his eyes, he said, "Oh, just fine. There's a piece of glass that broke off into my leg. It's about an inch long and they have to surgically remove that. My foot is crushed. My arm," which he lifted to show me, "is fractured. I have a concussion." Then he turned to glare at me. "Would you care to damage something else in me?"

I sighed. Somehow I had done this to him. I had been the one to turn Mr. Personality, my best friend, Finny, bitter. I would rectify this at any cost.

"Finny," I said woefully. "I don't want to do anything except confess and apologize." I waited for him to make a comeback, but instead he remained silent. "The truth is I did knock you down that night at the skating rink."

He stopped me. "Why?"

"I don't know," I said honestly. "Something crazy inside me…..some kind of insane feeling."

He sat up. "Like an impulse," he said, defining it in his own terms.

"Yeah, just a crazy impulse," I agreed.

He looked softly at me. "So it's not because you hate me?" he asked.

"No," I answered. "I could never hate you." I gathered up my courage and said, "I love you, Finny."

"As a best friend?" he wondered, looking at his hands.

"No," I responded, smiling. "I love you like you love me." He looked at me with a smile, his eyes watering. "I love you more than I love to breathe," I went on. "More than I love to see color and paint it onto a canvas."

"More than I love to sing," he sad.

"More than I love to make good grades."

"More than I love to drive."

"More than I could ever love another person," I finished.

He rolled his eyes and laughed. "That's what I always tell people about Gene Forrester," he said. "He's so competitive. Always has to get the last word."

I laughed. "Well, naturally."

We both awkwardly laughed for a moment. In the following silence, I felt myself drawing close to his face, and he drew closer to mine. We shared our very first, very awkward short kiss. Afterward, I blushed but he just smiled.

I took his hand in mine and said, "I'll see you after the surgery."

"Okay," he replied.

I exited the room, not caring if the other guys noticed the silly grin on my face.

"So he's doing all right?" Brinker wondered, with a knowing expression.

I cleared my throat and said, "Yeah, he's in good spirits."

"I'll bet he is," Ollie quipped. "Especially since he knows that you love him so much."

My eyes grew three-fold in shock. "You could hear—" I began.

"Every word," Leper finished.

I stood maladroit before my three comrades, knowing that I was in for a lifetime of teasing and cruelty. But for once in my life, I didn't care. It was all okay. If I had Finny, nothing else mattered. Nothing could overcome our love.

Brinker scoffed. "Guess I'm next." He looked at me, smirking. "Hope I don't confess my love for him too. Imagine how embarrassing that would be for Finny."

But before he could go into the room, two nurses showed up, pulling a stretcher.

"Sorry guys," the younger nurse said. "Visiting's over. We've gotta prep this kid for surgery."

"They're gonna shave him," Ollie joked.

The oldest nurse apparently didn't care for that witticism because she snapped, "You may all wait in the waiting room. He should be coming out of the anesthesia at about five o'clock, so you may visit him at that time."

They took the stretcher into the room. I shrugged at the other guys and we went into the waiting room down the hall.

--

NoV: Oh, lord, I can't believe what I have to write in the next chapter! (cries)

Anyway, guess what! I stepped on a piece of glass yesterday. It went through my shoe and I went to the doctor, but fortunately none of it broke off and remained in there. That's where I found inspiration for the glass that broke off in Finny's leg. Poor Finny!

Anyway, then I was crutching my way downstairs last night with my hurt foot and I made a wrong step and fell halfway down the stairs! I really hurt my back and I barely made it over to the computer to type this up. I hope my roommate comes home soon to drive me to the doctor. :(

Pell was the last name given to Phineas in the 2004 movie. (I think .)