Forever With You

Chapter 8 - Present:

(I'm sorry, short chapter!)

Chapter 8 - Present:

I walked down the white hallways, over the white tiles that lined up perfectly. I stopped at the room I'd memorized perfectly, going inside. I blinked. Connor met my gaze, his face stained with tears. He stared at me; fresh tears still spilling down his face as he tried to wipe them away quickly.

"I'm sorry; I didn't know you were here." I informed him, not moving from the doorway as I gave him an apologetic look. He just began crying again. I quickly shut the door and hurried over to him, pulling the smaller boy into a tight hug. His arms were wrapped around my waist, his head buried in my chest as the choked sobbing sounds seemed louder in the smaller room.

"Why won't Mitch wake up?!" Conner demanded, choking on his waterlogged voice as he looked up to me, my shirt soaked and stained with tears.

"I don't know." I answered as tears of my own began building in my eyes. He gently nudged my leg with his foot, sniffling as he placed his head on my shoulder, staring at the wall off to the side.

"You got the cast off." He announced, looking up to me again.

"My legs all better now." I assured with a soft smile. More tears started rolling from his eyes.

"They said Mitch would be awake by the time you got your cast off-." He broke down sobbing again, not able to finish. I pulled him closer, sitting down and holding him on my lap, cradling him like a parent would, though I was doing it as more of a brotherly figure. I've known him all my life basically; I was like another brother to him... But I'd never be as close to him as Mitch was. My eyes drifted to the pale, still boy, who hadn't moved or opened his eyes in 5 weeks. 5... weeks.

"What are you doing here?" I questioned, causing Conner to look up at me. He wiped at his eyes, sniffling again.

"I-I c-came to see M-Mitch." He choked out.

"Right..." I mumbled with a sigh, leaning back in my chair. I made a face. Standing up and setting Conner down in the chair, I placed a hand next to Mitch, leaning over him to fix his hair, which someone messed up- again. Once it was fixed, I sat back down next to Conner, satisfied as he gave me a confused look.

"Did you just kiss him?" Conner questioned, sniffling once more.

"No!" I quickly assured, giving him a worried look. Why would he think that?

"Oh..." Conner sadly sighed. "Right, you're engaged to what's-her-face." He announced.

"Alanna." I corrected. He shrugged, not seeming to care much at all what her name was. I wrapped my arm around his shoulders, Conner's head drifting to rest on my shoulder as we just sat there, staring at Mitch. I leaned down towards Conner's ear, my face in his hair. "Hey, why don't you come over, we could play some video games or something... Lachlan's still at the house too, he'll be moving in for a while." I informed him quietly. He weakly smiled, nodding. "Alright, let's go then... Or do you want to stay-?"

"No." Conner interrupted. "No, we can go now- if you're ready at least." Conner assured, standing. I stood too, looking back to Mitch and giving him a sad smile, though I knew he wouldn't catch it. He never even knows I'm here...

"Bye..." I mumbled, following Conner out. It was quiet, but it wasn't tense or anything. Just blissful. "Oh, we should tell your parents where you'll be." I determined, looking to him with a smile. He nodded, pulling out his phone and speed dialing their number. As we walked into the parking lot, he smiled softly.

"Hey mom... No, I don't need picked up, Jerome came by. We were planning on hanging out, is that alright...? Ok, awesome, I'll let him know... Ok... I love you too... Bye." He jumped into the passenger side of the car, shutting his door as I started the car up. "Mom said I can stay as long as you want me too, she doesn't mind. She also says hello." Conner determined, tapping his foot as he looked around, turning his attention to his window and trying to take in as much of the surrounding area as possible, before once again looking out the windshield. I just tried my best to focus on the road, not on him. I felt my grip start tensing around the steering wheel, swallowing the lump in my throat as I glanced around as well, pulling to a stop at a red light. I let my calves tense and relax over and over again, trying not to tap my foot- like Conner.

I saw Conner look behind us, his arm draped over the back of his seat. Oh god... I took a slow, quiet breath, exhaling in a sigh as the light turned green again. Once more, I focused my full attention on the road.

"Hey Jerome-?"

"Yeah Mitch?" I took in a sharp breath, nothing more being said as I just sat there, gritting my teeth and utterly tense as hell, Conner not replying. A heavy silence filled the small space between us, neither of us saying anything more as I continued to feel Conner's gaze boring into the side of my skull. I swallowed the lump that had reformed in my throat, taking in a shaky breath and letting it out again. "Sorry..." I mumbled, relaxing a bit.

"You're fine..." Conner mumbled, not sounding thrilled, though neither did I.

"Uh... What did you want to ask...?"

"... Do you think Mitch... Do you think he'll wake up?" As I stopped at another red light, I looked to Conner, giving him a confused look. He kept his gaze on his intertwined hands, his thumbs rubbing together gently as his hands rested in his lap calmly. I looked back to the road.

"I don't know."