The Last HeartBeat

Chapter 18 Finding out this Way

Jake quietly walked through the set of his show, he found his way to his dressing room going to unlock the door, in his mind he couldn't help but think about the Doctor, his medicine and his older brother telling him to "Take it easy"...Take it easy? HA! He had a team to  run, talent to manage, a job to go to, more roles he was waiting on a call back for, social media to keep up, vlogs to film and edited an actual real life to live... All of it seemed so tough now...

"Look what the cat dragged in" Jake heard a rather smarmy voice say, he looked up to see his co-worker, Ethan Wacker, he was sitting on the small red bench like couch in his room a smarmy smile to match that tone. "Ethan!" Jake said with fake excitement, "What're you doing here?" He asked, "Just chillin'" Ethan said tossing a wad of paper up before catching it, "In my room?" Jake questioned him arching an eyebrow, "Is there a crime against it?" Ethan retorted with a snort,
"Yeah, there's actually a "no elf's" allowed policy" Jake informed him, Ethan dropped his paper before frowning at Jake.

"Shut up! I'm still growing!" Ethan shouted, "Bro don't get pressed, most elf's stop growing at age 8, it's fine" Jake said the a nonchalant tone, Ethan jumped up and began flailing his arm giving Jake punch after punch and slap after slap to his face neck and chest,
"Shut up, shut up!" Ethan yelled as he left little red welts on Jake's skin, Jake covered up laughing.

"Bro is that all you got?!" Jake questioned, inwardly he actually wanted Ethan to stop, he was getting tired, he was woozy from the blood loss and pills he took, and honestly was done with the shenanigans, but for the sake of keeping up his status with Ethan, he played it cool.

Jake eventually grabbed Ethan by his wrists stopping him from hitting him, it only made Ethan screech as he started kicking at Jake landing a few hits on his stomach, Jake swallowed roughly, Ethan's hits didn't really affect him before, but now, if it hadn't been for him being on guard, he probably could have thrown up from the hit.

"Okay, your done" Jake said pushing him back, "Oh no I'm not!" Ethan said fixing his ruffled hair and clothes from flailing, Jake chuckled a bit at him, which Ethan took as a invitation to start back, he tried swinging at Jake again, but this time Jake stood , "Okay stop Ethan" Jake said a bit more sternly.

"You scared?!" Ethan questioned laughing out as he continued the assault on Jake's body, "Bro stop it" Jake said pushing him back once more, "And you always call ME a kid!" Ethan mocked him before hurling slaps, punches and scratches at Jake again.

With every hit Ethan landed on him, Jake felt the painful sensation ripple through his entire body, his nerves were on fire from the pain, with every time his hands landed to the stomach it made him feel a body shaking nausea, the hits to his chest near his lungs made them rattle, it made his whole body ache and feel sick.

"ETHAN! Stop!" Jake suddenly shouted at him, he hadn't meant to be that harsh, Ethan was a good friend of his, but he couldn't handle the pain, he was already ill and had trouble just getting to work, being beat up by some teenager while all these problems were happening in his life, wasn't exactly how he planned to spend his morning.

Ethan took a step back blinking a few times in confusion, "Woah... What's wrong with you?" Ethan asked still sounding shocked, "Nothing just...just chill bro" Jake said before sitting back down, "Fine, whatever" Ethan mumbled, he walked away going out Jake's door, Jake tried to speak up to stop him, but he kept right along walking slamming the door behind him.

Jake sighed out, he wasn't feeling well already, he didn't want to fight with any of his friends, there was just so much on his mind, he was stressed out worrying about his whole career and everyone under the team ten contract, what was he gonna do if he didn't get better? All the thoughts swimming in his mind just made him feel even more fatigued.