The Truth About Hollywood

"Claire," Danny called down the hallway. My eyes were zeroed on the door, the only thought running through my mind was saying that I had to get there. "C'mon, Claire. Stop!"

He stepped in front of me, putting his hands on my shoulders. "You're going to regret it if you walk out that door."

It was strange. I'd never seen him so serious. He almost looked angry. Letting out a breath, I shot at him, "And why would that be? He doesn't love me. He doesn't care about me. He was willing to kill himself and leave me all alone. Who knows where the hell I would have gone?"

"He does love you. He has depression. He's not being rational."

"You don't know that," I grumbled, even though I knew he was right.

"Yeah, I do," he snapped at me.

My stomach sank as his eyes widened, realizing that he'd said something too much. "What?"

"Just...don't treat your dad like that, okay? He may have tried to do something stupid and not-so-well-thought-out, but he does love you, and you're lucky to have him."

The look on his face acted like a hand to turn on a light switch inside of me. "Danny," I whispered, "why does this affect you so much?"

"That's none of your business," he hissed. I was taken aback, stumbling slightly. "Now go back to that room and tell your dad that you're sorry and you didn't mean what you said."

I nodded, more shocked than anything at how he was basically ordering me around. Despite that, I turned around and started back for the room, Danny walking behind me.

But when I peeked my head into the room, I lost my courage. Dad was sitting in his bed, watching the TV...and I could hear him sobbing, though it was obvious that he was trying to hide it.

"I can't do it," I whispered, sinking to the floor in the hallway and putting my face in my hands. "I can't face him when he's crying."

"Get up and face him," he demanded. "Or else you're going to be sorry. You're going to regret it."

"I love that you're here and everything, but what I need right now is your support. I don't need you yelling at me." My eyes started to fill with tears, but I wiped them away before they could fall.

"I'm not going to support you for running away from your father. You just almost lost him, and yet you darted out of the room after yelling at him. Do you realize how wrong it is? You're damn lucky that he's alive right now!"

My heart sank. I knew that he was right, but I wasn't ready to face my dad. It hurt viciously, the fact that he was willing to abandon me in a time that I needed him most. Eventually, I was going to break. There was no way that I was going to be able to support him without his help forever, but that didn't matter to me. I still needed my daddy.

"Come on, Claire. Get up and go apologize!" I was shocked when Danny reached down and pulled me to my feet harshly.

"What the hell?" I snapped at him, ripping my arm back. "Don't do that!"

"You need to go apologize to him. Right now! You don't know what minute's going to be your last. You have to go...you have to go say you're sorry. He could be gone in a minute, without any warning. Without saying goodbye." Danny's voice was rushed and it started to get wavery as his eyes filled with tears.

"Are you okay?" I whispered, putting my hand on his shoulder.

He brushed it off and walked down the hallway without saying another word. Shocked beyond belief, I stared after him, wondering what in the world had just happened.

However, I barely thought about it before getting to my feet and walking into the hospital room.

When Dad saw me, he immediately started wiping his eyes and taking deep breaths to calm himself, to act as if there had never been anything wrong. But he wasn't fooling me. I knew that everything was wrong.

"Dad," I started, my voice cutting off with tears. "I'm sorry that I yelled at you. This whole thing is out of your control." I sat down at the edge of his bed, putting my hand on top of his.

Either he didn't know what to say, or he just didn't want to talk, but he didn't answer me, instead just looking at me with intense eyes.

"Just...don't try to leave me again, okay?" The tears were falling by then, and I took shuddered breaths, trying to calm myself.

"I won't," he promised, sounding a little choked up himself.

It took about ten minutes for me to calm down completely, and part of that was probably the nurse entering to take Dad's vitals. I had to get out of the way, so I figured it was just as good a time as any to go find Danny.

"Dad, I'll be back." With that, I exited the room and started down the hallway, keeping my eyes peeled.

Eventually, I found Danny sitting in his car, his forehead on the steering wheel. By the way his shoulders were bobbing up and down, I could tell that he was crying. God, everyone was crying...it was like a contagious disease.

Without saying a word, I climbed into the passenger's seat of the car and waited for Danny to look at me. The radio was playing a poppy song that I didn't recognize. I turned it off, realizing that it was completely inappropriate for the situation at hand.

A while later, Danny put his hands on the wheel and stared through the front windshield. "I'm sorry," he told me, his voice throaty from all the sobbing.

"Don't be. You've seen me cry enough times." There was a silence for a second before I realized that he meant he was sorry for screaming at me. "Oh. Um. I mean, yeah, you should be sorry for telling me what to do, but it's okay. You want to tell me what's wrong?"

"It just annoys me that you're not cherishing every moment that you have your dad. I figured that you'd appreciate your parents' lives once you already lost one of them."

"I do, but...he almost took himself away from me. Don't you understand me getting upset about that?"

"I guess," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"But why did it freak you out so much? It was just a spat between family members. It happens all the time."

"Because..." He stopped and took a deep breath. Finally, he turned to face me, his eyes incredibly upset. "Did you know that I live here with my older brother?"

"No," I responded, not knowing what that really had to do with anything.

"Well, my dad left when I was young, so there's the first factor. You should cherish your dad because you're lucky enough to have one. I never got that chance. And Claire...my mom committed suicide. And unlike your dad, she was actually successful."