The Last HeartBeat

Chapter 24 Take it Chilling

Pam sat staring across the room, her eyes were out of focus, her heart ached, she was having trouble processing what was happening.
Pam must have asked her son's if they were pranking her over ten times, they had been very serious and to the point each time telling her they were telling the truth, the news caught her completely by surprise,
as the reality set in, she finally tried calming herself down, she was the adult and their mother, and she needed to be there for them, and more importantly Jake.

"I'm gonna be on the next flight honey, I'm headed to the airport right now" Pam said into the phone, "That's not necessary mom-" Jake barely got it out before she spoke up again, "Jake! You are sick, I'm not leaving my baby all by himself!" Pam said insisting, "I'll see you when you get here" Jake said giving in, "Make sure you listen to your doctor, take your medicine, and stop working so hard baby! You need time for yourself, you should focus on getting better" Pam told him, "That's what I said mom" Logan commented, "Good, make sure you take care of your little brother" Pam instructed, "I've been trying to!" Logan said, Jake rolled his eyes chuckling a bit.

Jake was still tired and stressed, he didn't feel well at all, but he at least felt better mentally with his family around him.
Pam told them she'd inform Greg of what was going on, and bring him along before she hung up.

"Jake? How do you feel right now?" Logan asked after they were off the phone, "Nauseated, sleepy? I'm not looking forward to seeing our parents that much" Jake said, "Why? You were smiling just a second ago" Logan said confused, Jake laid back on Logan's bed, "I like the support, I just don't want mom to get soft ya know? Like I don't want to see any tears..." Jake told him, "Oh," Logan said nodding, he knew how hard it must be for Jake keeping a smile on his face and trying to balance all this work while getting sicker, the last thing he needed was someone crying over him, it could cause him to break down and with this sort of thing, attitude towards it was everything.

"Well, I'll tell her and dad to be chill when they see you" Logan told him, "I don't want to make her even more stressed trying to pretend things are fine though- like I know they aren't, it just feels better for me to push forward, staying on my grind feels like everything's normal..." Jake said a hint of bittersweetness to his tone, Logan laid back beside him facing Jake who stared at the ceiling.

"Hey, I get what you mean," Logan said getting Jake to shift his eyes to look at him briefly, "It's good to keep your head up, but don't pretend to be "normal" all the time, ya know bro? Take some time to really feel... You're human Jake, you need to allow time to experience emotions too, what's the use of working so hard if you can't enjoy the fruits of your labor in the end? You aren't a robot" Logan told him, there was silence in the room for a while, Jake had his gaze back at the ceiling stuck in thought, Logan put his stare to the ceiling as well.

Minutes ticked by before Jake finally chuckled dryly, "Thanks, philosopher Logan" Jake said, Logan smirked a bit, "This is your fault" He said, "What is?" Jake asked, "You're messing me up Paul!" Logan accused him, "How?" Jake asked laughing, "You're making me feel things, and care! You're turning the Maverick into a Hen!" Logan complained dramatically, "What the heck are you even talking about you moron?" Jake asked laughing harder, "Shut up!" Logan said putting a pillow over his face, Jake was laughing too much to try and move it.

"How did I turn you into a frickin' chicken though!?" Jake shouted although it was muffled under the pillow, Logan bursted out laughing too, releasing the pillow, he fell back over on his back laughing with Jake, "LOGAN, WHY ARE YOU A CHICKEN!?" Jake shouted at him again trying to get answers out of Logan, it only made Logan's face red from laughing so hard trying to catch his breath, Jake was laughing along with him until his laughter started mixing with coughing.

Logan started looking at Jake, he was still laughing but started focusing on his brother more now, when Jake's laughter started turning into just coughing, Logan's smile quickly turned into a frown, he immediately sat up patting Jake's back when that didn't work he got up getting some water, he sat back on the bed in front of Jake and gave him his water trying to get him to drink.