Not Afraid to Die

"I'm going to call dad," Dante said, fishing his phone from his pocket.

"Does that mean you forfeit?" Lolita asked, looking up from the cards in her hands.

"I forfeited a long time ago, love."

Go Fish, a simplistic card game that even a preschooler could play with some accuracy. It was supposed to be fun. Something to pass the time till the nurse came in to check up on her, and Dante and Rian could get food. Nothing was ever simple with Lolita, though, Go Fish included. Somehow, she managed to twist the rules of the game to the point that the game made absolutely no sense.

"That's no fun," Lolita commented.

"Rian still hasn't forfeited."

"Rian is about to lose."

"Why am I about to lose?" Rian asked.

"Because I stole all of Dante's cards while he was closing his eyes counting to ten. I have more matches than you."

"Why did he have to do that again?"

"Because he pulled a one or seven when he had to go fish."

A thoughtful noise rang from the confines of Rian's throat. Dante shook his head, pressing buttons on his phone. Rian was never going to understand this game. Ever. There was no way to understand the game anymore.

Dante had to give Rian props. He was actually trying to play the game by Lolita's rules. That was admirable.

Lolita busied herself, arranging her stacks of cards and deciding which needed matches, watching her brother from the corner of her eyes. She hadn't heard from their father since she was admitted, but Dante had called him while she was being whisked away to get a blood transfusion. It was time for their father to find out she had a life threatening illness, one she would likely die from if the medications didn't work. Hopefully, he wouldn't call off his book tour to stay with her. She loved him and wanted him to be there, but she couldn't pull him away from his work.

If Dante had still been recording, she would have forced him to return the studio.

"Hey, dad," Dante mumbled.

Lolita could vaguely make out the sounds of her father's voice, a deep rumble that brought her comfort.

"She has this blood infection called sepsis."

Nearly holding her breath, Lolita turned her attention away from the cards to watch her brother. The bad news was coming.

"Pretty high. But Doctor Cart is giving her some medicine that should help get rid of it."

Frantic mumbles came from the phone speakers.

"I wouldn't call it off yet. She's seems to have bounced back pretty well. I don't see this as ending up being fatal. The nurse still has to come in and take her vitals, so we'll see then." He paused, listening to his father's response. "Yeah, I'll stay with her. I finished recording my parts today, so it won't be a problem. Rian will stay with her if I need to overwrite anything."

Rian smiled. He was honored that Dante had faith in him to take care of Lolita. It was a huge responsibility. Not because of her HIV. That was easy to take care of. It was her occasional eccentric behavior that could be difficult to handle. Overcoming the pout had been the hardest thing for Rian, and he could only do that sometimes.

He was pretty sure Dante couldn't do that.

"It's been fine. Arpeggio and I are done with our parts, so the rest of the band needs to get their stuff in soon. Our deadline is in a few weeks." Pause. "No, I don't need to be there while everyone else is recording. The band will bring some recordings here for me to listen to." Another pause. "She's conscious. Do you want to talk to her?"

Dante held the phone towards his sibling. Bright smile on her face, she snatched the phone from Dante's hand and pressed it to her ear.

"Daddy," she squealed, hopping slightly.

She really didn't have the energy to perform huge jumps in the bed.

Her father's deep chuckle met her ear, "Hi, honey. How are you?"

"I've been asked that a thousand times today. You're a writer, can't you ask me something new?"

"How much caffeine have you had today?"

Lolita pouted, "None. I passed out before I could drink my root beer. Obstacles keep standing in the way of my ability to finish my root beer. I feel like Homer in the Iliad."

"Homer is attributed with writing the Iliad. Did you look over the sheet I gave you?"

"What sheet?"

"The one you were supposed to look at before reading the Iliad during the holiday."

"I was supposed to read the Iliad? That explains where I got that book name from."

She had already read her reading assignment for the holiday. It hadn't been hard for her to get through the Iliad. Her father had prepped her for the reading and left her various documents on her USB that held summaries and other aids. The sheet he had given her told her what files she should look at before beginning her reading, while she read, and after she read. She had a feeling this would be her next paper assignment.

But she enjoyed playing with her father.

"You don't have to worry about it right now, honey. I just want you to work on getting better."

"I'll be fine, daddy. I promise. In six days, I'll skip out of here, back to wreaking havoc on unsuspecting bystanders."

"I'll hold you to it. What have you been up to?"

"Playing Go Fish with Rian and Dante. Dante forfeited, and Rian's losing."

"Sounds fun. I'll let you get back to your game."

"Okay, daddy. I love you."

"I love you, too. Give the phone to Dante."

"Okay," Lolita chirped. She held the phone towards her sibling, who took it from her and fused it to his ear again. Instead of watching him while he talked, she glanced at the table where her card piles were supposed to be neatly seated. "Where are my cards?"

Did they magically disappear while she was conversing with her father?

That didn't seem very plausible.

She looked at Rian's side of the table. All of the cards were sectioned off in tiny piles in front of him. Her jaw dropped, her gaze shifting to Rian's smirking face.

"You stole my cards," she accused.

"I'm playing the game according to your rules," Rian returned.

"You can't steal my cards."

"I do believe I can. After all, you did the same thing to me while I was texting Alex."

"But... but..."

"I win."

Oh, Rian was good. Lolita's appreciation for him rose considerably in that moment. He beat her using her own rules that had been designed to help her win. He officially attained a whole new level of respect.

And her crush, well, that was becoming something much more serious.

Before Lolita could respond, the hospital room door opened. A young man, who looked to be fresh out of medical school, walked in, smile wide on his face, a chart under his arm. Lolita could see her brother's jaw hang slightly open, his eyes darting over the man.

The man seemed to hesitate when he realized who was in the room with his patient but didn't let it faze him for long. "Hello, I'm Blaine. I'll be your nurse during the day. Another nurse will be taking care of you over the course of the night."

"Hi, I'm Lolita. I'll be your patient during the day. Another patient will take my spot over the course of the night," Lolita chirped.

He laughed, "Well, it's nice to meet you, Lolita. I'm going to do a quick check of you vitals. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. If you need me when I leave, you can press the button on the side of your bed. It'll buzz the nurse's station. Ask for me and I'll be here."

"Dude, you shouldn't have done that," Rian mumbled.

Giving Lolita the freedom to ask questions and ask for him when he left was suicide. It may have been protocol, but Lolita would find a way to run the poor man ragged.

"Why?" Blaine asked.

"You'll see," Dante responded.

Lolita made note that her sibling's voice sounded a bit distant. Her ears certainly were not malfunctioning. Dante was distracted by the male nurse. She wasn't sure he knew that his vocal cords and mouth had just created a response to Blaine's question. His response regarding his sister's behavior had been subconscious.

She wasn't too sure how she was supposed feel about that.

Rian stood from his seat next to Lolita's bed. "Let's go get dinner while he does this."

"Yeah, okay."

As they left, Dante's eyes remained on the nurse getting ready to start collecting information.

Her sibling had a crush, Lolita was clear on that. He wasn't likely to act on it with her in the hospital. He would be too worried about the possibility of her death to do anything about it.

But that didn't mean Lolita wouldn't add a little fuel to the flame.