I'll Be Right Beside You

Jared

“Hey,” as soon as I walked into the hospital room I could feel the tension in the air. Cam was sitting at Jordan’s bedside, softly rubbing his arm and trying to keep him calm, while looking like she was about to burst into tears herself. I’d called Eric and two minutes after that our coach, who’d granted both of us family leave to come up to Pittsburgh and see Jordan. Cam had been scratched from tonight’s game, and I don’t think she’d left the hospital since coming here with him this morning. I sucked in a deep breath when I saw the bandages covering Jordan’s left arm, as well as the one covering stitches on his forehead. The sleeve of his shirt was gone, looking like it had been cut away, probably to stitch him up. Cam’s head snapped up when she heard me, and I saw her eyes start to water.

“Jared,” she breathed, and was in my arms in an instant. I could feel her shaking, and I knew she was just about ready to fall apart. I’d asked Eric to wait a minute and let me assess the situation before he came in, so he was just around the corner.

“How you holding up?” I asked, combing some of Cam’s hair off of her face. She shrugged, and rested her head against my chest for another moment. I caught Jordan’s gaze, and saw that he was unsure about her reaction to seeing me, so I pulled away. Just like before, when he’d accused me of constantly hitting on her, that same look was on his face, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. If he had any idea… he’d shoot me.

“It’s been a while, eh?” I asked her, and while she seemed a little confused nodded. I put my hand on the small of her back and gently guided her back to Jordan’s bedside.

“How you doing Jord?” I asked, and he shrugged.

“Okay, I guess. Did you have a growth spurt or something?” he asked, and I floundered for an answer. I guess if he didn’t remember the last seven or so years I was still in school.

“Yeah, duh,” I replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. I didn’t want to cause him any more stress over not remembering stuff. Not until mom and dad and everyone were here to explain it all to him and keep him calm.

“I should uh, let you guys have a minute. Jord, are you hungry?” Cam stuttered. Jordan shook his head, and I quickly voiced that I could use a bottle of water or something, and as she was nearly out the door Eric walked in.

“Hey Cam,” he greeted her with a hug, which she gladly returned before continuing on her way.

“Hey Rick,” Jordan gave him a smile, and Eric managed a small one in response.

“So, you got pretty scraped up, didn’t you?” he asked, trying to be lighthearted.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he allowed, and Eric sat down gingerly on the edge of the bed. We were quiet for a few minutes, and finally Jordan spoke up.

“Um… are mom and dad not coming?” he asked, and Eric’s eyes widened for a moment.

“What makes you think that?” he asked.

“Because you got here all the way from Carolina first, and how else did Jay get here?” he asked, and I looked to Eric for an answer.

“Mom and dad are at the airport waiting for Marc; I got here first so I went to the farm and got Jared before coming here,” he quickly fibbed, and Jordan nodded, accepting this answer without question. It wasn’t completely untrue, but we didn’t know what to do – telling him the truth could very well set him off, and we didn’t have our parents to help try to calm him down. The nursing staff had warned us that dumping all the truth on him wouldn't be good for him right now.

“Okay, I was just wondering. I figured dad would have brought me in if I got hurt out at the farm,”

“Dad wasn’t there with you – Cam was,” I fibbed.

“Shit, I never even asked if anything had happened to her,” his eyes lit up with worry, and I struggled for an answer for him.

“N-no, she’s fine, honest,” I insisted, and Eric nodded.

“Okay, shit I’d never even thought…” he grimaced, and it hurt knowing that Cam was trying to deal with Jordan acting like this over her own broken heart.

“She’s all right Jord, don’t worry,” I repeated, patting his shoulder gently.

“Hey, I’m back,” Cam knocked, pasting a small smile on her face as she handed Eric and I each a bottle of water, one left in her grip for Jordan and another for herself.

“You need to drink something Jord; we don’t want you getting dehydrated, okay?” her voice softened as she spoke to him, and he nodded slightly, letting her help him to sit up and we could see his frustration when he couldn’t get his hands to co-operate. She insisted that it was fine, but I knew he hated feeling so helpless; she had to hold the water bottle to his lips for him and everything.

“There,” she eased him back down onto the bed, and he let out a yawn.

“Tired?” he nodded again, and she softly finger-combed his hair as his eyelids fluttered and then shut, and soon he was fast asleep. As soon as he was I pulled Cam onto my lap and wrapped my arms around her as she began to cry.

“Shh, it’s okay Cam,” she shook her head, burying her face against my chest in an attempt to keep quiet.

“You’ll be all right Cam; why don’t I take you home, okay?” Eric suggested, but she shook her head.

“No, I need to be here when he wakes up,” she argued, sniffling. Eric sent me a confused look, and all I could do was shrug. I couldn’t tell him what was running through her mind right now.

“Cam, don’t do this to yourself,” he quietly told her, and she took a deep breath, before looking him in the eyes.

“I have to be here Eric; you try explaining to him why I’m not here - he’ll freak out. It’s better for him that I stay,” she explained, and left Eric quiet. We sat there for nearly an hour, Cam dozing on and off curled up on my lap before Marc walked in, mom and dad hot on his heels. Their flights must’ve arrived close enough together that they caught a cab to the hospital together.

“How is he?” worry was evident on all three of their faces, and I saw the tears began to well up as Mom saw Cam on my lap. She was pale and disheveled, and it was obvious that being here with Jordan was taking its toll on her.

“Here,” I didn’t argue, and let Marc pick her up, sitting on a different chair cradling her in his arms. She curled into him, and mumbled something. He just quieted her, softly rubbing her back and soothing her back to sleep.

“The poor thing, I can’t imagine how hard this has been for her,” mom worried, and I nodded as I stood up to give her a hug, following Eric’s lead.

“She’s wearing herself out, but she won’t leave,” I agreed, and dad let out a sigh.

“If these two weren’t so damn stubborn… it’s obvious they both still have feelings for each other,” I nodded, and mom sat down at Jordan’s bedside, pushing his hair off of his face and then holding onto his hand. We’d been fairly lucky as a family – my missing tooth, Marc’s concussion and Jordan’s foot accident had been the most serious things we’d encountered. We hadn’t been plagued by tons of serious injuries, or accidents, so aside from Marc’s concussion mom had never had to worry like this before.

“I’m taking Cam back to her apartment; she needs to get away for a little bit,” Marc decided, standing up.

“I can; you haven’t seen Jordan yet. Just a heads up though… he thinks he’s in Thunder Bay,” I said, and Marc’s expression darkened.

“He started freaking out wondering if Cam got hurt too… and then wondered why you two weren’t here already… so we told him that Cam had just been with him when he got hurt, and that you and dad were picking Marc up at the airport. We didn’t want to get him all freaked out without every body here to help calm him down,” Eric finished for me, and the rest of our family paled.

“I-it’s that bad?” dad asked, and I nodded.

“It could be worse; at least he knows who we are,” I whispered, and Eric put his arm around our mom as tears began to stream down her cheeks.

“That’s true. Although for Cam’s sake I wish he didn’t remember her right now, this is more than she should have to handle,” she added. I nodded, shifting Cam in my arms before heading out of the hospital room.