Take Me as I Am

Summer sat at the airport, waiting for them to announce that she could board the plane. She had talked to Dale who had told her to take as much time off that she needed. She had then gone to get a ticket and found that the next flight to Florida left the following morning. So, here she was, at six in the morning, waiting to get on a flight to Tampa Bay.

She tried to concentrate on the magazine that sat in her lap, but her mind kept wandering to her mom. She was praying that she was okay. She didn’t think that she could stand to lose another parent, after her father had died just a year and a half ago.

She didn’t pay attention as a person sat down next to her. She continued to try to read the magazine, but after realizing that she had just read the same sentence four times, she decided to forget about it, and she closed it.

“Are you okay?” Summer heard the person next to her ask. She knew she had heard that voice before, and as she looked over at the person, her thoughts were confirmed.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Summer asked as she looked Patrick Kane in the eye.

“I’m coming with you,” he said simply, as the flight attendant announced that they would now begin boarding. “Where are you sitting?” Patrick asked her.

Summer pulled her ticket out and showed it to him. “Oh, good,” Patrick said. Summer turned around to look at him. “I’m right next to you,” Patrick said with a smile.

“Great!” Summer said sarcastically as they started to walk towards the plane.

Once they had taken off, Summer turned to look at Patrick. “So, why are you here?” she asked again.

“I told you, I’m here to go with you,” he answered.

“Yes, I know that,” Summer said. “But why?”

“Olivia was worried about you, and she was upset that she couldn’t come with you. Jonathan said that he would come, but he already made plans to go to that children’s hospital. So, I offered to come,” Patrick explained.

“You said Liv’s worried about me. How much did she tell you?” Summer asked.

“Not too much,” he answered truthfully. “Just that you were pretty messed up after your dad died.”

“Can we please not talk about that?” Summer asked looking down at her lap.

“Sure,” Patrick said.

“How’d you get off?”

“Huh?” Patrick asked, confused.

“Of work. How’d you get off of work? Even though you don’t play games this week, you still have practice. Q’s not going to just let you leave,” Summer said, referring to Coach Quinneville.

“Oh,” Patrick said. “I told him my aunt was sick in Tampa Bay.”

“And he believed you?” Summer asked in disbelief.

“Yeah,” Patrick replied. “Why wouldn’t he?”

Summer shook her head. “You know, as much as I don’t like you, I have to admit, a part of me is glad that you’re here,” she said quietly.

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Summer said. She looked over at him. “I honestly don’t know what I’m capable of if this is bad news with my mom,” she said barely above a whisper.

“Well, I’ll be there to make sure you don’t do anything.”

“Thanks,” she said as she laid her head back and found herself drifting off into sleep.

An hour later, Summer jolted awake. She looked over to see Patrick just sitting there listening to his Ipod. He looked over at her and gave her a small smile. Summer laid her head back again and began thinking of all the things she hadn’t done yet. She hadn’t gotten a hotel room or even thought about transportation to get to the hospital. She guessed she could take a cab or something. She put her head in her hands as she kept thinking of everything she needed to do.

“Is everything okay?”

Summer lifted her head and looked at Patrick. “What?” she asked. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I’m just thinking of all the things I haven’t done yet.”

“Like what?”

“I haven’t gotten a hotel room or anything,” she told him.

“I’ve got it covered,” Patrick said.

“Huh?”

“I’ve already got a hotel room,” he told her. She looked over at him, and he added, “Don’t worry, I got you a separate room. I didn’t think you’d like staying in the same room as me.”

“You’re right about that,” Summer muttered. “But, thank you.”

“No problem,” Patrick said as they announced the plane was about ready to land.

Forty-five minutes later, they were on their way to the hospital. As they arrived in front of the building, Patrick paid the cab driver and got out of the cab. As he turned around, he saw that Summer was still in the cab. “Summer, come on,” he called to her.

She slowly got out of the cab, and the driver drove away. Patrick began walking towards the entrance, but turned around when he noticed that Summer wasn’t following him. He went back to where she stood and asked, “Summer, why aren’t you coming?”

“I don’t know if I can do this,” she admitted.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“The last time I was in a hospital, my dad died. I can’t lose my mom,” she said quietly.

“It’s going to be okay. Come on, let’s go find out how your mom is doing,” Patrick told her as he grabbed her hand.

Once she was in the hospital, she finally realized that she had a hold of Patrick’s hand. She instantly released it, not knowing why she had taken it in the first place. Just because he was here, didn’t mean that she was instantly going to like him. He was only here because Olivia had asked him to.

Summer made it to the nurse’s desk and said, “Hi. My name is Summer Livingston. I got a call that my mom, Faith Livingston, is here.”

The nurse looked at the computer and then back up at Summer. “Yes, she’s up on the fifth floor. Room 5189,” she said.

“Thank you,” Summer said, forcing a smile on her face. She walked immediately to the elevator, with Patrick following her. She pushed the button for the fifth floor and tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the elevator to reach the floor.

“Summer, calm down,” Patrick told her.

“Do not tell me how to feel,” Summer snapped. “That is not your mom in there,” she said as the elevator doors opened and she rushed out of them.

Summer looked around and found the sign that said the room she was looking for was to the right. She began rushing down the hallway, with Patrick trying to keep up. As she reached the room, she saw her mother lying in the bed, looking very sickly.

“Mom,” Summer said, walking to the side of the bed. “What’s wrong?”

Faith looked up at her daughter. “They think I have cancer.”