Saturn- Brallon

41 | b r e n d o n

Dallon hangs up the phone before jumping right up and grabbing clothes. He's so energetic. "Ryan is getting a heart!" He yells suddenly, a huge grin plastered on his face.

"What?"

"He's getting a heart! Get dressed we gotta go!"

Dallon runs out of the room and I hear the bathroom door close. I know for a fact that visiting hours are from 8 am to 9 pm. It's far beyond that.

He's even more excited about this than he was just minutes before.

I take this time to finally breathe. It feels like I haven't in so long. I was just really hoping to hangout for a while. Considering the days events earlier, that's all I want. It's the middle of the night, and of all things we're up to go see Ryan. Not to get up to some late night shenanigans. No, we're going to see Ryan.

Okay, I admit, I am a bit bitter. But you can't blame me. I was there earlier today. Why do I need to go back?

Well, because it's Ryan.

So I stand up and get dressed.

Dallon barges into his room and grabs all his essentials before dragging me out the door and to his car. He doesn't bother letting the cool air blow for a few minutes before he's backing out of the stall and driving toward the hospital.

"So Ryan is going to not be heartless anymore? That's good, he was getting a bit cold."

"It's exciting. He survived long enough to get a new healthy heart."

He reaches over and grabs my hand from my lap and smiles widely before kissing and squeezing it tightly. He's so immensely happy right now. I feel like nothing could stop it. He even blurts out going on and on about a firework show one of Geoff's friends is putting on tomorrow and how we're definitely going. He doesn't stop talking about it and says that there's this really nice place we could sit and watch.

We get into the hospital and one of Dallon's coworkers greet him and guide us to the waiting room. It's unnecessary at best. Dr. Williams probably let them know we were coming before she went to the OR.

We sit down in the chairs closest to the door for easy exit. We can also see when Dr. Williams is on her way. It's the perfect spot.

It's not long until Awsten shows up with a text from Dallon saying the obvious "Ryan is getting a heart!" And Hayley pops by because her mom happened to tell her as well. So we have the whole gang here, all tired, and all bored. It's apparently a long surgery. Now I know what it's like to be them waiting on me to get better.

The first while Hayley sits beside me and we play a board game. Most of the pieces are missing from kids who have to touch everything, so evidently it's just not enough to go off of. Awsten is quiet for the most part until it's more morning than it is night. He sits like he's waiting for someone.

When the summer sun shines in through the window is when I finally feel sleepy tired. Dallon lets me rest on his shoulder while he yawns every two minutes. My hand is in his and all I'm paying attention to is the even breaths he makes. Hayley and Awsten are cuddled up on chairs across from us. Hayley's showing him pictures of memes to pass the time, and Awsten is enjoying every moment of it. The only thing missing in this second is Ryan. Though we're all here for him, we just can't wait to see him.

Geoff arrives before I take a nap. I rest my head on a pillow on Dallon's leg as he leans against the wall trying to stay up and every so often a scrub nurse comes in to tell us how he's doing. It's been a different person every time, but we had a sweet girl come by a second time. Dallon calls her Breezy. As his hands absentmindedly play with my hair i find myself sinking deeper into sleep for a while.

"You know," Hayley starts, holding a card to her chin and thinking. I can't see much because my eyes are full of sleep, but I make out the shape. "It's weird that Ryan was living without a heart."

I blink away the tiredness and move to get comfortable. Dallon's hands are no longer in my hair which makes me only a tiny bit sad. "That was my idea." He says slowly. I think he almost regrets it. "It was either him living safely off a machine or with his botched up heart. It wasn't doing him any good."

Awsten nods his head in agreement with him before throwing down a card and inevitably winning the card game. Hayley smacks down her last card and almost makes a noise of struggle until a nurse shows up.

The last time a nurse was here, she told us the surgery was almost done. Before we even got to the waiting room Dallon assured me— and himself— that there could be complications but to hope for the best anyway. So we did.

It's Hannah, the nurse I had before Dallon was permanently stuck with me. Nobody else is in the waiting room besides us, but she feels the need to make sure we're all paying attention to her.

She immediately turns to Dallon, making a confused face at the sight of me, but then begins to talk.

"The surgery went well. There was a minor complication, but everything is going smooth. He'll be in recovery. This surgery was a long one, so we will be monitoring him for the next 48 or so hours." She informs us, but we're already so excited to see him that she has to pause to let us gain composure. "You can see Mr. Ross in an hour or so. He's being settled in but we will let you know as soon as he can have visitors." Hannah drops her clip board and after looking around at all of us, she looks at Dallon. "He's lucky to have such good friends who waited here all night."

Dallon smiles wider than ever.

You see, Dallon's been with Ryan through his entire experience. If I'm not mistaken, Ryan is Dallon's best friend. And Dallon is Ryan's.

From what I remember during my time with Ryan, his parents were never around. Ryan never talked about it so I can only assume that there's bad blood between them. I remember he was staying at a friends during high school. Every time I brought up meeting his parents, he got defensive.

So, it seems that Dallon had to be there for Ryan. Because, frankly, nobody else was. Dallon probably held his hand with every injection he needed. With every breath test Ryan had to take. Before every surgery. That's why he jumped at the mere thought of Ryan getting better.

And Ryan probably heard every one of Dallon's problems. Every worry he had.

It may not seem like it with the way they argue sometimes, but they really are each other's soulmates. Best friends.

I'm glad Dallon has that.

Because I suck.

-

I hate that while rereading this I read "Geoff" as "Gee-off"

Anyway I'm sorry for the very late update. I wasn't happy (and still ain't but it's okay) with how this chapter turned out. Just the beginning really but now it's okay.

-jj