The Hudson Boys

C H A P T E R 2 7

C H A P T E R 27

Twenty minutes of restless waiting later, a nurse comes towards us and explains the situation.

"He is in a private room now." She explains. She is obviously good at her job and knows how to deal with upset families but the fakeness behind her painted-on sympathy and the tiredness behind her eyes makes everything she says lose weight. "Your friend has most likely sustained a minor concussion and a couple of bruised ribs but he should be back on his feet in a couple of days. Have his parents arrived?"

"His Dad is in a meeting and his mother is on a business trip but they have been notified," Ryan replies solemnly. I can see the underpinned anger toward the situation and towards Noah's parents. Their son is in hospital for a serious accident but of course, work comes first.

"Okay, well you three may visit him now if you wish but try not to be too overbearing. He's still a bit dazed." She smiles at us and MK lets out a deep sigh of relief. "Room 203."

We quickly gather up the rubbish from Ryan's recent trip to the vending machine. Apparently, his stomach couldn't hold up to all the fretting so he resorted to nervous eating.

It takes us about five minutes of back and forth, up and down the corridors before we locate room 203. We knock quietly before entering the room and find Noah half asleep on the hospital bed, an IV drip in his arm and a heart rate monitor attached to his finger.

"Hey." He croaks dryly as he sees us enter the room. His eyes scan over Ryan and myself before coming to rest on MK's worry-filled face.

"Hey." He says again but this greeting is directed only to her.

She stands stock still for a moment before she loses the last of her composure and rushes across the room, throwing her arms around his neck.

"I really hate you right now." She mumbles against the sheets. His arms slowly come around her back as he buries his nose in her hair, which was a total mess from running her finger through it for the past half hour.

"I'm sorry, but what did I do?" Noah laughs.

"You almost died." She growls and she almost sounds displeased with him but I can hear the relief him her words as his voice reaches her ears.

"I thought that would have pleased you." He jokes. His voice is soft and slightly slurred but he also sounds relieved that things didn't go as pear-shaped as they could have.

"So did I, but I was wrong," MK whispers, losing all resentment she may have held towards him. Noah lets out a throaty laugh which turns into a fit of coughing, MK finally releases him of her hold and moves off to find him a glass of water.

Ryan and I then approach the bed and the two boys exchange 'manly conversation' whilst I give Noah a smile which he returns and I give his hand a light squeeze before I look back over at MK, busying herself with trying to locate a cup.

"So, I guess I won't be much used to you this season." Noah jokes.

"Nonsense, we always need more bench warmers plus you can iron my uniform." Ryan returns in the most serious voice he can muster but both boys are smiling at each other.  You could see how close they are just by the thankful expression on Ryan's face and the relaxed one on Noah's, now that they know they are both okay.

Marcia arrives to collect Ryan and I around an hour later. We try offering to give MK a lift home as well but she refuses, saying that she will just go home with her Dad when he finishes his shift.

I give her a knowing smile before following Marcia and Ryan out of the room. It is about time Noah and MK had a proper talk. I just hope that it will fix things.