The Icey New Boy

Éclair

Cole's POV: We reach the hospital and head into our room with gifts. I'm a little worried for Jay. "Hello, is Jay Walker able to have visitors right now?" I ask. The doctor nods. "He's in stable condition, he's already got three visitors though, so you may have to wait, whether he feels comfortable in the room with seven people or not." 

The nurse walks in before letting us in. "Uhm, Jay, you have 4 people here to visit, do you feel comfortable with all of them coming in? Oh, well the black man from earlier has come back with three others. Alright, sweetie." She pauses. "All four of you may go in." 

I'm not surprised that Ed and Edna are both there. They've been worried about Jay. Who I am surprised to see is my father. "Well, it was nice catching up with you Jay, I'll take my leave now." He says, leaving the room after I enter. "What was that about?" I ask. "My parents told your dad." He replies.  

Jay's POV: I see all of the boys I love in the same room. "Oh, Cole, deary, they're pretty sure they know what's wrong with Jay." "WHAT IS IT!?" He asks. "They think it was a seizure cluster because of how much longer and frequent they were. His powers 100% helped him, he likely would have died if it wasn't for them." "His rescue meds worked?" He asks. They nod. 

"Jay, you have something you wanna tell your parents." Kai asks me. "No?" I respond. I'm genuine. I don't know what Kai's talking about. "Remember when we were in the asylum what we found out?" He asks. "Oh, deary, maybe don't use the word 'asylum.'" My parents say. 

Cole looks down. "Did you... forget....?" He asks me. "What, of course not. I remember being there with Kai. We spent over 80 days there." I watch Ed and Edna look down. My mother stands up and walks over to the bed. "Jay, you, uhm..." My dad starts. Edna sits down next to me. "You've had partial onset seizures since you were little. These happen in the temporal lobe, and affect both speech and, well." 

"Memory." Cole says. "Wait, no, that can be right!" I say. I don't find this funny, but I get the feeling they're not joking. My parents, who never talk, can't find the words. 

"We're sorry, relámpago." Cole's dad, says, coming back in the room. "They start on the left side, and that's where the-" "The temporal lobe." I interrupt. 

"Lily called me that name." I continue getting off topic. "Relámpago. Lightning in Spanish, right?" I pause. "Well, Lily was Nicaraguan." Cole shakes his head in amusement. "I miss the woman. I miss her food. That's something Cole didn't get from his mom. He didn't get that ability to cook. AH! I miss her buñuelos, her soups, the sopa de leche! No one can make food like Lily could!" I lay down. 

Cole's POV: Oh, Jay! That idiot. I smile. He just rambled about food getting really off topic from the seizure problem. He's always been like that. "Cole, can I talk to you in private?" My Dad asks me. "Oh, sure" I nod, following him out. 

"So, I saw the schedules. Éclair is in the same section as you." "Jay, but yes. HE is." "No, Cole, can I show you something?" I look at the paper he pulls out. "Éclair Gordon?" "I don't see Jay Walker anywhere. I figured something was going on." "That would make sense. Jay's adopted. His birth parents already paid all the tuition." "That means Libby- oh. Well no wonder you two are so close." My dad says. "Who the fuck is Libby?" I ask. "1. Language, 2. Libber Gordon, wife of Cliff Gordon, your mother's best friend." "What happened to her?" "She disappeared one day, few years later, we met Ed, Edna, and their child who has his mother's smile." I smile at that. 

"Éclair does fit better than Jay though." My dad says shrugging. "How?" I ask. "They're a French pastry." "Éclair means flash of lightning, and they're eaten 'in a flash'" He says, cringing and doing fingers. "others say the way the frosting resembles lightning." 

"Jay means... wait, what does it mean...." He starts. I open my dictionary app on my phone and search the definition. "OMG! It means a person who chatters impertinently!" I tell him laughing. 

We walk back in. "Cole, why were you talking about Éclairs?" He signs. "My dad and I were talking about pastries." I sign back. "Ok then." 

Jay's POV: They were speaking French, most likely because they didn't want me to hear anything. Cole's dad was part of the 6% of people in Rwanda who speaks French. I hate that I can't understand it. All I know was they were saying my dead name. French is just one of those languages that makes 0% of sense to me. Ballet and foods are all I understand in French. 

I haven't heard that name in a while. Éclair. Not since the first day of school. Ugh! It's always awful to see that name, and since éclairs are Kai's favorite pastries, I see it too much. 

"Éclair."