The Middle

The next morning, I woke up with quite a stir. I looked at the time and figured that Pat would be at practice already, so I hopped out of bed. I didn’t know what I would say to him if I saw him. I was still mad at him for bringing up Jordan the night before. That was low and uncalled for.

I walked out of my room and heard a noise coming from the kitchen. I rolled my eyes and thought that pat should’ve told me that his sister was visiting again. I looked down at my outfit and was happy that it didn’t look slutty, I didn’t want Erica to get the wrong idea. Walking into the kitchen, I had a smirk on my face. “Hey, Erica there’s not mu----“

I stopped mid-sentence. It wasn’t Erica in the kitchen.

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Pat’s POV

When I woke up, I sprung out of bed. I told myself I had a morning skate, so I texted Tazer to tell him when I would be ready. I was half-way to the bathroom when I heard my phone go off. I walked back to my bedside table to pick it up. It was a text message from Tazer.

No morn skate. Coach giving us day off.

I gave my phone a confused look. Why would we have a day off, when we have a game tomorrow? I thought to myself. I shrugged it off and walked back towards the bathroom. Since I was up, I figured I would get a shower in.

After my shower, I quickly got dressed and walked into the kitchen to make myself some breakfast. I didn’t hear anything coming from Claire’s room, so I figured she had gone to see Ryan. A part of me was glad that she wasn’t home.I didn’t want to fight with her first thing in the morning.

I decided to make scrambled eggs and bacon. I put my iPod on lightly and began to nod my head along to the music of Drake. A song I didn’t really want to hear at that moment came on and I reached over to switch to the next one. While doing that, I dropped the spatula on the floor. I picked it up and heard a voice come from the hallway.

“Hey Erica, there’s not muc---“

Her voice stopped and I looked up and saw Claire staring at me with wide-eyes. I swallowed hard before speaking.

“Umm…” I began to scratch the back of my neck. “I thought you were visiting Ryan.”

She looked at the floor and began to shuffle her feet. “Well, I thought you were at your morning skate. I thought you were Erica, to be honest.”

I sighed. I didn’t want to get into another fight, but I didn’t want to suffer through this awkward silence anymore.

“Okay, can we just start over?”

She ran her hand through her hair and put her hands on her hips. “Start over? You think that after everything we can just start over?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Well, I don’t really know what exactly happened last night. All I know is that it made you upset. I don’t like when you’re upset, especially when I cause it.”

She scoffed. “So, you think it would be better for you if we just start over?”

Again, I shrugged my shoulders. “Well, not just for me. Wouldn’t you like to forget last night?”

She shook her head. “No, not really, I would like you to realize exactly what made me upset last night.”

I sighed and ran my hand through my hair.

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Claire’s POV

I wasn’t going to just come out and tell Pat what made my upset. He should’ve known. He leaned against the counter and looked over at me.

“Can’t you just tell me what I did wrong?”

I rolled my eyes and placed my hands on my hips again. “No, Pat, I can’t just tell you.” I looked over at the stove. I pointed at Pat then back at the stove. “You might want to take care of that before it burns.”

I left the kitchen and made my way back to my room. Just before I opened my door, I heard a smash and Pat groan from the kitchen. As much as I wanted to run back and see if he was okay, I didn’t want to put my guard down.

I walked into my room and began to get dressed. I was scheduled for work later in the day, but I needed to see if Ryan was okay. I found an outfit to change into and was about to change when I heard Pat scream my name. I burst out of my room and stood in front of my door for a minute. I thought to myself for a moment. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to give in. I shrugged my shoulders and walked back into my room and began to change. I needed to get to the hospital as quickly as I could. I had everything changed but my top before my bedroom door burst open. I jumped at the sudden sound and saw Pat with a surprised look on his face.

“Didn’t you hear me yell your name?”

I looked over at Pat and quickly tried to cover my chest as I looked at Pat with wide eyes.

“I did hear you! But I need to go see Ryan, so if you don’t mind…”

He rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on, Claire! You’re being ridiculous. Just tell me what I did!!”

I walked over to him and began to push him out the door. “I am not being ridiculous, and no, I will not tell you what made me upset. It may not even be something you did, but I’m not going to tell you that. Honestly Pat, if you can’t figure it out on your own, then just forget about it right now. I just want to go visit my brother, so please, leave me to change in peace.”

He scoffed and back away from me. “Well, I was yelling your name when the hospital phoned, but I guess you can figure it out when you get there.”

My eyes got even more wide, if that was even possible, and my jaw dropped. “Okay, so you’re gonna try and keep information for about my brother from me unless I tell you what happened last night?!” He shrugged his shoulders. I scoffed and slammed my bedroom door in his face.

Pat pounded on my door. “Claire! Claire, please. I don’t want us to be like this. Ryan needs both of us right now. I’m coming with you to the hospital.”

My ears perked up and I opened my door, now having my new shirt on. I raised my eyebrow at Pat. “What do you mean Ryan needs us both right now? What is going on, Pat?”

He tried to show a small smirk but it fell as his face became serious quite fast.

“Nat called asking when you were going to see Ryan, she has something urgent to tell you.”

I nodded and once again raised my eyebrow at him. “Okay, but I don’t see what that has to do with you.”

He scoffed and threw his arms in the air. “Oh come on, Claire. You know I want to be there for you. I’m sorry for last night, just please let me come with you. I don’t want to be out of the loop any more than I already am.”

I let out a soft sigh. “Okay, you can come with me. By the way, have you figured out what you’ve apologized for yet?”

He rolled his eyes and pulled me out of my room. “No, I haven’t, but can we just go to the hospital already? I want to know what’s going on with Ryan.”

I followed Pat out of the apartment, rolling my eyes. I wasn’t going to cave into him, but I did want to see Ryan before I went into work and the phone call from Nat made me want to be there that much more.

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Pat’s POV

When Claire and I got to the hospital, she walked right up to Nat’s desk. I walked to the room that Ryan was in before he left for Pittsburgh. I opened the door, but noticed that another patient was in there. I looked back to Claire talking to Nat. I could see that the conversation was getting a little intense, so I stood back and waited for Claire to come over to me to tell me where Ryan was. She walked over seconds later with Nat. The look on Claire’s face told me that I wasn’t about to hear very good news.

“Ryan’s in intensive care. I’m going to him now. Stay here with Nat.”

I reached out and grabbed Claire’s arm. She turned around and looked at me with tears in her eyes. “Please, Pat,” she whispered, “I need to do this alone.”

I let her go and looked back at Nat. “What’s going on?”

She put a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll let Claire tell you, but I’ll tell you this, it’s not good.”

I gave her a confused look, “but I thought bringing him back here was the best thing for him?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “It might have been. But no one can really tell with these treatments.”

Nat turned and walked back to her desk. I was beginning to get really frustrated. I didn’t know what the hell I did the night before I make Claire so upset. I sat down on a bench and began to think about all the things I said to her. I remembered her blaming me for bringing Ryan back here and me saying….. OH fuck!

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Claire’s POV

I walked into the intensive care unit and walked right back out. I wasn’t ready for what was coming. My deepest fear was coming true. I began to retrace my steps and was in the direction of walking back to get Pat when I remembered that I told him I had to do this alone.

I turned back around and walked through the door, ready to face the fire. I walked up to the desk in the unit and the lady looked up at me with a small smile.

“Can I help you?”

I nodded slightly. “Yes, I’m here to see Ryan Davis.”

She nodded and got out from behind the desk and gestured me to follow her. I followed her to a door. She stopped and turned to me.

“I don’t know if you were warned, but brace yourself. “

I felt my heart sink a little as I nodded and opened the door. Looking at the body on the bed, I brought my hand up to my chest. I could feel the tears well up in my eyes as I whispered.

“Oh, Ryan.”