𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲; byler

- 𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓇𝓎 4 -

𝐵𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 I enter the cafeteria my mom is already sitting at a small table.

I'm not actually that late- just three minutes- but my mom is even more strict about times than I am. At least when it comes to our time in the hospital together- I know we only have a few minutes before she has to go back to work.

She sees me approaching, and gets up from her seat, basically running to me. She gives me the tightest hug ever, but I don't mind. I return it eagerly, and although I can't really breathe I wish she'll never let go. I take in the familiar smell of her coconut shampoo mixed with our laundry detergent and a hint of the smoke from the cigarette I know she smoked outside just a moment ago.

The smell of home.

"I missed you so much, baby," She says into my ear, and I hug her even tighter.

We pull back, and walk back to the table. I see she brought me a burger, like I like with nothing but cheese and tomatoes, and some sweet potato fries. Hey, don't judge me! I loveee sweet potato fries.

She sits across from me, and I immediately start ravishing the burger. The gym left me famished.
"How are you feeling?" she asks, and I see the worried glimmer in her eyes, "You look so skinny..." 

"I'm fine, mom. Really, I am!" I say when I see her unbelieving gaze. She still doesn't look convinced, but at least she starts unwrapping her turkey burger. 
"How's work? Jonathan?" I ask.
"Work's exactly the same. I bet you heard more from Jonathan than I have, he's so busy with his new job we barely get to talk." I feel so guilty, imagining her coming home everyday after her 5 shifts and having no one to talk to. More than anything I wish I could be waiting for at home everyday.

I smile in response and then we just kind of eat silently. But it's not awkward silence, not at all. I'm actually not a very talkative person, and my mom knows it. She knows not to pry. It's enough to just be in her presence to get me more upbeat and cheerful.

"Oh, before I forget, Nurse Nicole told me you should come talk to her after lunch," I say in between bites of sweet potato fries, after a while had passed.
My mom looks up in alarm- "Why? Is something wrong? did my payment bounce? did something happen to you? did-"

"No, no! she just wants to say hi," I say. My mom is... yeah. I love her more than anything in the world, but she worries so much.

It's not like I can say I blame her, but these reactions make me stressed out. I feel babied, and I don't like it.

"Oh," she says in embarrassment. She immediately starts telling me a story about a semi-famous actress who stopped at the supermarket where she works and attracted a huge crowd of people but before she can finish, her phone beeps.

She takes it out of her pocket, and the minute she reads the text her face falls and I know exactly what happened.

"Will, I'm so sorry it's work, I-" she starts, but I cut her off.
"It's okay. I know you have to go," I smile at her. I'm not mad, or even upset: after all, she's working so I get to be here.

She smiles back, but I can see she's about to burst in tears. I know she thinks I'm mad, and nothing I'll do will convince her otherwise.
"I love you, sweetie. I'll come back soon as I can," she gets up, and I follow. I come to her side and give her another tight hug, taking in the last breaths of home. 
"I love you, mom. Thank you for everything," I say as I let go, and although she's smiling her eyes are starting to water.

"Stay strong baby. I love you," She repeats, a kiss on the forehead and she's gone.

I glance down at my watch: we had around 25 minutes. Not bad at all.
I start walking down the hall towards my room, hoping to get a quick nap in before I need to do some breathing therapies. 

The thing is, as happy as I am about seeing my mom I feel so guilty it's actually painful. She has to work so much just to keep me here. It's hard to see how hard this whole thing is on her.

                                                                                ✏ - - - - -  - - - - - - - -

By the time I get back to my room I'm pretty down. Every cheerfulness I had from seeing my mom or the gym is swallowed completely under a wave of guilt. I lay down on my bed and stare at the ceiling, trying to shake the painful thoughts from my head.

Suddenly, I hear my computer chirping with a sound I know very well. I scoot closer to it and open the screen to see what I knew I would- incoming video call from MadMax.

I quickly accept it, rising to half sitting position and clearing the tears that started forming in the corner of my eyes.
"How you doing, Mad Max?" I ask as her smiling face appears on my computer screen, hurrying to plaster on a cheerful smile.
"She's amazing. Like, truly amazing," she starts gushing, and I laugh.
"I'm serious. She brought popcorn and we watched Brooklyn 99 and basically talked over it and then we kissed a bunch and she's coming over again tomorrow and I literally can't wait-"  I nod and laugh even harder, and we spend the next 40 minutes going over every second of their date.

Max is so sweet when she's excited.

"Anyway, now we just have to find you a cute boy." She finally says, and I blush so deep it's embarrassing. Sure enough, she laughs.

"Come on, Will the wise. We don't want you to die a virgin," she says.
"Max!" I exclaim, and I don't think I could get more red if I wanted to. I love how she's ignoring the fact that I haven't even kissed anyone before.

"What? we don't!" she feigns innocence, and I can't help laughing a little more. I can always count on Max to make me feel happier.
"Not everyone can find a date while stuck in the hospital!" I say. except, maybe I did. Did unbelievably cute black haired Mike count? I can't help a tiny smile, a smile she doesn't miss.

"Oh my god. Who is it? spill. right. now," she reads right through me. I groan and put a pillow over my face.
"I'll just guess if you don't tell me," she says. I don't respond. 

"Okay. Brad from eating disorder? Lydia's brother, what's his name- Dylan?" 
"Isn't he like 27?" I ask through my pillow, and she sighs.

"Fine, be an ass. I'll find out eventually, Byers. You know I will." 
"Bye, Max!" I say and close the lid of my laptop.

"ASSHOLE!" I hear her voice call loudly from her room across the hall, and I smile. 

I lay my head back on my pillow, and my mind drifts back to Mike. to the cute brown eyes, the annoying grin and the condescending tone. I literally can not decipher what I think about him.

As if on cue, my phone dings. I pick it up, and it's something from Instagram. I click the notification. I use my Instagram about once in a million years and even then it's just a photo of one of my drawings- Max had made me install it.

(_ThatByersKid2_): Mike ( @ 1Mike_wheeler1) wants to send you a message.

I click accept,  and my heart is kind of beating at my chest. 3 messages.

Hey stalker Boy.

you should be proud,

and the two messages are followed by a selfie of him wearing his afflo vest and smiling a goofy grin.

As I'm staring at the picture kind of blushing, another message comes in. 

After all this trouble I better be getting my lunch.

I stare at my screen a little more, but can't come up with a decent reply, one that won't make me seem weird. After a few seconds I sigh and toss my phone across the bed.

Because that's just how I awkward I am when it comes to cute black haired boys.

                                                                                                                         - 𝒲𝒾𝓁𝓁