You're the Direction I Follow

I didn’t know what to do. I was sitting in the hospital waiting room, waiting for the doctors to come out, for someone to tell me how he was. The events of the last few hours ran hot in my mind. My own screams had echoed through the night until everything had gone black. I woke up in a hospital bed, and was brought out here when they knew I was okay. I must have been sedated, I reasoned. It had all been my fault. Nick was in this damn hospital because of me.

“Mackenzie,” someone’s voice broke me from my thoughts. For a moment, my hopes flared as I thought it was Nick, woken and safe. And my heart fell as I saw the Jonas family running towards me.

I stood and hugged each of them, well all of them except Kevin. He just looked at me. I hadn’t seen much of him as of late, but I remembered how we had never really gotten along as kids when Nick, Joe, and I were on Broadway. I guess that hatred never really went away. “Hey guys,” I tried to smile.

Joe put his arm around me protectively. I smiled lightly, glad of the comfort. “How’s he doing?” he asked.

“They haven’t said anything yet,” I told them. “I’ve been waiting for an hour.”

“My baby,” Denise sobbed. Paul wrapped his arms around her.

“How did the car hit him again?” Kevin asked, his tone bitter.

I wanted to punch him in the face, and would have if we were in a different time and place. God, I gave him bad chicken once, and it was a fucking accident. He was such a girl, holding grudges. I settled on glaring at him. “He pushed me out of the way,” I said. “It was going to hit me.”

“Oh my baby’s a hero,” Denise cried harder.

Joe rolled his eyes at me, smirking slightly. “He’ll be okay,” he assured us all.

I really hoped so. I would never forgive myself if something happened to Nick.

We all sat down and awaited news. The whole time, Joe was sitting right next to me, reassuring me with hopeful promises that Nick would be okay. Somehow, it made me feel better that he was there.

Finally, what seemed like hours later, the doctor came out. We all stood to talk to him. “He’s fine,” he smiled. “We had sedated him, but he’s up now. He broke his ankle and arm, so it’s going to be a little difficult for the next few weeks, but luckily it wasn’t his neck or anything.”

We all let out a breath. Nick was going to be okay. “Can we see him?” Joe asked.

“Of course,” he said. “Two at a time please.”

We nodded and he left us alone. Immediately, we pushed Denise and Paul to the room. He was their son. Joe grinned at me. “Told you,” he said.

I grinned too. “I’m so glad,” I said. “I was so worried. I can’t believe you weren’t.”

“Nah,” Joe waved it off. “This is Nick, the kid who ate 8 hot dogs, went on two roller coasters, and still didn’t puke.”

I laughed. That situation and this had nothing to go with each other, but it was nice to be able to laugh again. It seemed like for hours I had been terrified of nothing. Denise and Paul came out. “Joe, Mackenzie,” they said. “He wants to see you.”

“Maybe Kevin should go first with Joe,” I said, feeling Kevin seething near me. I always felt uneasy near him, and having to get to see his almost dead little brother before him? I didn’t want him to hate me anymore.

“I’ll go alone,” Kevin grumbled and walked in. He came out a few minutes later during which time Joe had been making faces at the nurses, and then we went in.

“Hey,” I went to his side, and took his hand. It felt warm, and nice to be able to feel him so safe next to me. “How are you?”

“I’ve been better,” Nick smirked, shrugging. “But at least now I can use the sympathy card to kiss you more often.”

I smiled, flushing as I leaned in to kiss him lightly. I didn’t want to hurt him so I was gentle, gentler than I really wanted to be. He was okay.

“Dude you look bad,” Joe said once we were done. “Does it hurt?”

“Like hell,” Nick sighed. “But I mean, they have me pretty morphined up so it’s not so bad.”

I sat on the side of his bed, my hand still holding his. I wasn’t ready to let go just yet.

“But it looks like I won’t be able to film the rest of the movie,” he continued. “Looks like you have to step up understudy.”

“What me?” Joe asked, stunned. “But they could wait till you’re better.”

“They can’t,” Nick sighed, squeezing my hand. “They have that whole deadline. Besides, you’ll be great. I’ve taught you everything I know.”

Joe rolled his eyes. “You mean the only thing you know?”

“Well no, I can’t teach you how to love Mackenzie,” Nick said. I smiled, and kissed his hand lightly. Joe just had a blank stare. That was… weird. “Seriously, you’ll be great.” He turned to me. “Think you can go on without me?”

I sighed, shaking my head. “I guess I’ll have to try. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

He smiled and leaned back, his eyes closing. “Yes, the show must go on.” He started to fall asleep, so I kissed his cheek and we let him be.

Joe sighed as we stepped out of the room. “This should be interesting,” he said.

I laughed lightly. “Just don’t suck and it’ll be awesome,” I joked.