Pushing Forward (Sequel to An Unlikely Duo)

Chapter 11: Never Liked Hospitals

Jake's POV

It was a dream. It had to be a dream. Everything went crazy in the past forty eight hours.

A disaster date, two fights with my ex, and an unconscious father.

There in that hospital room was the most time I ever spent with my father without an argument breaking out.

We never got along, and it was all because of football. He wanted, no expected, me to play at Boston College, and let's just say saying no to Steve Mitchells doesn't go over well.

He was a yeller, by nature, and more than anything he loved yelling at me.

Bad game, he yelled. Good game, he yelled because something wasn't up to his standards. Nothing was ever up to his standards. I was never up to his standards.

God forbid I wanted to pick my own college, he yelled. Big time.

Duke beats Boston College, he yells.

Finally he stops yelling, and why does he finally stop yelling? Because he has a heart attack coupled with a rare heart condition.

I just sat there holding his hand, something I haven't done since I was six years old.

I sat there feeling like I should say something, anything, even though he couldn't hear me, but no words came.

Kayla would know what to say. He liked her after he finally realized she was good for me. He connected with her. After seeing her he would take a break from yelling for a while. It's like he realized that I hadn't messed my life up so bad if I could get a girl like her.

I still don't know how I got a girl like her. A girl that could make me so crazy I couldn't think straight. She drove me insane, but in the best possible way.

And now that we weren't together any more she drove me even more insane. All I wanted to do was forget her, but I couldn't get her out of my head. Not because I saw her everywhere, but because she set up camp in my head and refused to leave.

I tried dating at school, but every girl I met I couldn't help but compare to her. Every single one of them, and none of them came even close.

There wasn't another Kayla Ryans, but that meant there was no one else that could drive me so completely and utterly insane.

One minute I wanted everything back to the way it used to be and the next I couldn't stand to be around her.

She pushed me away like her life depended on it, and sometimes pushing back didn't seem worth it any more.

Mary was nice. She was funny, easy to talk to, and obviously there was the plus of a fresh start with no messed up past.

A nurse walking into the room brought me back to reality.

"Can you please give me some information? Something? Anything?" I begged the nurse.

"I'm very sorry sir, but we don't have any more new information for you at this time" the nurse apologized sympathetically before leaving the room after updating his chart.

"Damn it Dad can't you wake up and start screaming at me? Please. I have never wanted to be yelled at before, and the one time I ask you to you refuse. You have to wake up" I picked up some plastic medical thinga ma bob, turned, and chucked it toward the doorway.

"Jeez you almost took my head off" Kayla ducked just before she got smacked in the face.

"Sorry" I mumbled before turning back around and sitting down.

"Jake I'm sorry about your dad. I don't know why bad things happen to good people, but I know that you have an unbelievable team of doctors here who won't rest until they come up with a solution" I could hear her step toward me, then step back clearly not knowing what to do.

"For so many years I just wanted him to shut up and stop berating me. Is this the universe teaching me a lesson?" I was trying so hard to keep my cool, and not throw something again.

"It's not the universe trying to teach you a lesson. You fought with your dad like every teenager does. Sure you fought with him more than most, but that's more of a reflection on him than on you" she finally decided to step forward, and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I feel like he barely knows me. This can't be it for us" I was trying not to think the worst, but it kept creeping back into my mind.

"He knows you way better than you realize. Remember that Fourth of July the summer before college? When you had to go pick up Tyler because he was running through the park drunk and I stayed back with your parents to watch the fireworks?" she sat down in a chair across the room. Not too close, but still there.

"Tyler's the biggest idiot I've ever met" I laughed for the first time in two days.

"True, but my point is I was probably alone with your parents for a solid forty five minutes, and your dad talked, no bragged about you the whole time. Your mom and I couldn't get a word in edge wise. It's like he was trying to convince us how amazing you are as if the two of us didn't already know it" she stared out the window and smiled that smile that made my chest hurt.

"He loves talking about football" I shrugged.

"He didn't mention your football career the whole time. He kept telling us how you could play volleyball at any school you chose. How the coaches were lucky to have a captain like you. How he wishes he was as driven as you when he was in high school" she kept nodding because she knew this was the first time I was hearing any of that.

"Really? We're talking about Steve Mitchells here?" I hesitated.

"The one and only. He's unbelievably proud of you Jake" Kayla insisted. She looked like she was going to say something else, but Scott walked into the room.

"Kayla Dr. Jones wants us to meet in the conference room in ten minutes. Jake right? You're a friend of Kayla's?" Scott offered me his hand.

"I wouldn't say friends. We went to high school together" I shook his hand and avoided eye contact with Kayla.

"Gotcha. Well I'll meet you in the conference room Kayla. Nice meeting you Jake, and I'm sorry about your dad" Scott gave me a nod before heading out, but I caught the way his eyes lingered on Kayla. My grip tightened around my Dad's hand, but of course he felt no pain.

"We went to high school together? You make us sound like strangers" Kayla muttered.

"We are strangers" I shrugged. I don't know what happened. We were having a perfectly pleasant conversation, and now things were back to the way they usually were. It was all Scott's fault. Stupid Scott. Couldn't he be a complete jerk? That would make hating him a lot easier.

"If that's the way it's going to be then fine" Kayla spat before walking out of the room. I screwed that up, and probably made everything twice as difficult, but she's the one who said we couldn't be friends.

I sat there in that room for hours watching TV with him, and just saying everything I never had the guts to say to his face.

At some point I must have dosed off because when I woke up at 2 am there was a blanket over my shoulders probably put there by some nurse. This was going to be a rough week.

Just when they were getting along :/
Stubborn people.
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