Lyrical Love Letter

Juliette hated hospitals. She detested them. They freaked her out. She had watched her grandfather and one of her aunts die in a hospital, not to mention Declan and Juliette had nearly died in one once. The place made Juliette’s skin crawl and she couldn’t help but constantly move as she paced back and forth around Jonnie’s room, ringing out her hands, waiting for her best friend to awake.

Jonnie would reportedly be fine but she was being held over night for observation and the drugs that had been given to her shortly after her arrival had rendered Jonnie unconscious for several hours.
So Juliette was forced to pace. She rung out her hands, pulled on her earrings (a habit she had yet to break) and bite her lip. Juliette knew that her mind was beginning to wonder to darker times the longer she stayed within the sterilized building but she couldn’t make herself leave—Jonnie needed her.

“Sunny?” The voice was hesitant, uneasy but it was the voice Juliette had hoped for. She turned around to see her twin standing in the doorway, his worried gaze not turned on the patient within the bed but toward his sister. Her twin, her old brother, her protector, he would right this wrong; he would chase the nightmares from her conscious mind.

“They say she can wake up at anytime.” Juliette whispered chancing a glance at her battered friend.

“Come on Sun,” Declan coaxed grabbing her elbow gently. At first Juliette resisted, she did not want to leave her best friend’s side. “You know what hospitals do to you, Sunny.” And as simple as that Juliette allowed herself to be lead away from Jonnie. Declan guided her down the abandoned hallway into the waiting room where Juliette would do more pacing, more worrying. But Juliette Dawson would not be alone.

The waiting room door opened and it was filled with people. The scene temporarily shocking Juliette. She recalled times of New York hospitals, of Jonnie being held captive in them. She remembered that the only people ever supporting Jonnie in those places were Declan and herself. She remembered when she and Declan had been in one, only Jonnie, their mother, and David had been at their sides. But this was not New York, these were different times in a better place.

Alex was there, Logan beside him, both of them bandaged. Missy’s mother sat solemnly beside Logan. Rian and Kara were there, both their parents present, Zack and his mother was there, Jack was there, two people beside him that Juliette did not recognize. Alex’s parents were also there, sitting quietly beside Missy’s mother, trying to console her.

Alex leaped to his feet before Juliette had even braved entering the waiting room he was there. Alex took her into his arms.

“How are you?” He murmured into her ear softly as Declan stepped away and sat beside Rian and Kara.

“Fine.” He pulled away, suddenly skeptical as he gazed at her. Juliette got lost in his worried filled orbs, his oaken colored eyes flecked with amber.

“Don’t lie to me,” He murmured quietly.

“Then don’t ask.”

“It’s okay to not be okay.” He remarked.

“Is it?” She challenged but Alex knew her ways, he knew that she felt helpless and she hated it. She was hurting, vulnerable, and she hated it. So she did what she did best, she tired to spark an argument, reflect the pain. Arguing would make her forget her pain, it would make her feel stronger. But Alex wasn’t about to feed her unhealthy habit.
Wordlessly Alex cupped her cheeks and pecked her on the lips before taking her hand and guiding her to the empty chair beside him.

No body spoke and the silence was suffocating her. Her leg bounced spastically as she tore at her lip. Alex rested a hand on her knee and gave it a squeeze successfully stopping the motion.

Juliette’s eyes darted to the strangers beside Jack. Both appeared only slightly older than Jack, the woman was texting away on her cell phone as the man flipped mindlessly through a magazine in an attempt to look busy. Jack caught her eye and realization flashed across his face.

“Oh, Juliette,” He murmured softly but Juliette’s ears heard the ever subtle crack in his voice and saw the red in his eyes. Even Jack was afraid to shatter the silence. “You haven’t met my older brother and sister have you?” Hearing their respective titles the siblings turned away from the objects they attempted to busy themselves with and gazed at Juliette curiously. “Juliette this is my brother Joe and my sister May.” He gestured vaguely to them both. The man, Joe, nodded,

“Hello.”

May smiled softly, “It’s nice to meet Jackie’s friend.” She stated. “He speaks very fondly of you.”

“May,” Jack whined “stop calling me that.”

“Stop calling you what?” She wondered airly. “It is your name.”

“No my name is Jack. Jackie is a four year old with missing front teeth, Maybird.”

“Children,” Joe chided returning to his magazine. Jack glared at May wordlessly but she just smirked in response before returning to her phone. It became clear to Juliette then that Joe was the eldest amongst the Barakat siblings and apparently the only person able to successfully silence Jack with only one word.

Juliette gazed around the room, suddenly feeling out of place. Even though they had congregated here for her best friend Juliette suddenly felt lost. Even her boyfriend beside her could not take the edge off of Juliette. She was crumbling and as her eyes landed on her twin she was only mildly surprised to see his eyes on her, seeing the cracks in Juliette. He rose to his feet then and reached for Juliette’s hand. She took it willingly and as all eyes turned to the siblings Declan simply muttered. “Let’s go get some coffee.” He pulled back the heavy oaken door and as soon as it closed softly behind them, the twins’ disposition changed.
“Calm down,” Declan ordered lowly. “You’re cracking.”

“Shut the fuck up Declan,” Her hands were trembling with fear and anger. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

“Don’t do this Sunny,” He warned, “Not here. Not know.”

“Don’t what?”

“Push everyone away.” He growled under his breath. “Stop acting like you are the only one scared and worried right now. For that matter, stop trying to start a fight just to make yourself feel better.”

“This has nothing to do with that and you know it.” Declan eyed her reproachfully and looked away.

“It was a long time ago Sunny just let it go.”

The door behind them opened and Jack moved past them, glancing at them briefly before continuing down the hall and disappearing around a corner.

“Was it? You, me, Jonnie, we’ve been within hospital walls to many times. It’s making my skin crawl. Sorry if I can’t exactly get over the fact that the last time I was within the walls of a hospital I almost died. I can’t help it if I automatically associate hospitals with death.”

“Don’t be over dramatic, you didn’t almost die.”

“Really?” Juliette began heatedly. She was searching for a fight and Declan wasn’t going to give her one. “You’ve got that niche for the medical, tell me, what exactly would you call Increased whatever…”

“Increased intracranial pressure—brain swelling.” Declan backed away from her and glanced down the empty hallway. “Why are you doing this? Why do you insist upon opening old wounds.”

“You knew who hit my car,” She hissed angrily. “You lied to everyone. You’re drug dealer almost killed me during that race. We may go to Juvenile Hall after racing again when we promised we wouldn’t after that particular race because a kid landed in a coma. It wasn’t our fault that kid crashed, it was your dealer’s. He hit my car which propelled mine into that kid’s.” She backed him up against a wall. “He hit my car because you couldn’t pay up the money you owed which is completely bullshit because we actually had money back then. Payment was me getting hurt.”

“What the fuck does this have to do with anything now?”

“I can’t get it out of my head, Declan. Every time I go near a hospital I remember.”
The door opened behind them again but both siblings ignored it, their eyes glaring daggers at the other.

“Is everything okay out here?”

“Everything is fine Alex, don’t worry about it.” She snapped suddenly annoyed by his intrusion, this was between Juliette and Declan—it was none of Alex’s business.

“Juliette,” Declan snapped angrily. “Don’t push him away. Just because you’re looking for a fight doesn’t mean you can make him your punching bag too.” Declan stepped around her and moved back into the waiting room leaving Alex and Juliette alone in their silence.

The silence suffocated Juliette until she couldn’t take it anymore. “I’m sorry,” She sighed turning around to meet patient eyes. “I don’t do this well,” She muttered gesturing to the hospital around them. “I can’t just sit around and hope for the best, it’s not who I am.”

“I know,” He murmured, his voice full of love and care and it made Juliette’s heart swell. Alex took a step toward her, brushing strands of hair away from her face before he cupped her cheek. “It’s just one of the reasons why I love you.”

“You love that I’d rather fight the people I love than sit around in a waiting room with them?” she questioned doubtfully.

“I love that you try to do something about it than to sit around and just wait.” He corrected smiling softly. Juliette wrapped her arms around him, breathing in the scent of his deodorant and Old Spice.

“I have issues,” she mumbled.

“Everyone has issues, babe. My family could be Exhibit A.”

“You’re going to have issues with more than just your family,” She replied softly as she gazed at Jack entering Missy’s hospital bed from over Alex’s shoulder down the hall.

“What?”

“Nothing,” She murmured softly. Medicine might be able to numb Missy’s pain but there wasn’t a medicine that could heal her quite like Jack could. Eventually Alex would discover Missy and Jack’s little after school special but for now Juliette would keep their secret. Juliette knew that Jack’s intentions were (mostly) honorable but that wouldn’t stop Alex from chasing his best friend down the street, swinging a microphone at him. Because no matter what anyone told Alex, Alex knew Jack best and when you know the inner workings of Jack Barakat’s mind suddenly he doesn’t seem like the best option for your younger cousin.

But for now, Jack was just what Missy needed.