Sequel: Take a Hit
Status: done. just "take a hit" and move on to the sequel.

Me, You

Ten

“Sophia said he always felt like something was missing from his life,” John said as we walked down the city of Albany on the way to the hospital, “She always assumed he missed Caroline and I guess he did. But, it made a lot of sense when he found out about you.”

It was almost eleven in the morning now, which meant that Liam would begin chemotherapy in fifteen minutes. I had no idea what to expect or what Sophia meant by ‘keeping him busy during treatment’ the night before. And the only thing that pulled me out of bed this morning was John when the digital clock turned to ten. Unprepared was an understatement.

“I mean, Liam didn’t miss her that much if he ended up getting married anyways,” I shrugged.

“He had to move on because Caroline’s mind was set. You know your mom more than I do and even I know she has a one track mind- Do you want one?” John stopped and walked up to a man selling flowers, “Three tulips for five dollars.”

He turned and raised an eyebrow at me, “Um, yeah sure.”

The man handed him three red tulips and in return, John gave him a ten dollar bill. We left the flower man astonished and kept on walking.

“Thank you,” I grinned as he gave me the tulips.

We turned the corner to the Albany Medical Center, which in daylight was a more welcoming building without the street lights casting dark shadows against it. But, the sight of it brought up the doubt I had when Sophia invited us the night before.

Maybe it was my decreased walking pace or increased exhalation, but John could sense my uncertainty. He stopped walking and tugged on my arm, “Are you okay?”

I nodded, “It’s just... was this- did we make the right choice by coming here?”

“Yeah, of course. Sophia wanted you to stop by and keep him company-”

“No, I mean,” I shifted uncomfortably, “Did we make the right choice by leaving my mother to see Liam without her consent? Like, what if there was a reason she kept me from him and kept him from me? Maybe for a reason we don’t see now?”

“You having doubts about this now, Lou? After we’ve met him already?” John’s green eyes widened, “Don’t you think it’s a little too late for this?”

“No, no, no, no- I mean- yes. But, I just think we rushed into this,” My shoulders slouched slightly and my arms fell limp by my sides.

“Lou, you and I were never really ones to plan or follow rules. Not when we were little and not now. You and I can both agree that our best ideas came with the worst amount of planning, right?”

“But, this isn’t like the other things we’ve done in the past. This isn’t sneaking out to a party or breaking into the pool at midnight. We just ran away to meet the man my mom’s kept a secret for most of my life.”

“You’re taking this too seriously-”

“Too seriously?! The man had cancer, John. And I think that we were wrong by inserting ourselves in his life.”

“Okay, I didn’t mean ‘too seriously,’ I mean-like, you’re looking at this entire situation wrong,” John said, “We didn’t run away because we’ll return to Arizona eventually, right?”

“Right, but-”

“Don’t look at this as intruding Liam’s life either, okay?” I nodded, staring down at my feet. John lifted my chin up and pointed to approximately where Liam’s room was in the building, “There’s a man up there who has survived cancer twice and decided to reach out to you. He wanted this too. If you don’t regret anything impulsive you’ve done in the past, then in no way you should regret this.”

John was right. He knew he was and I did too.

When I didn’t respond, he just let out a sigh, “But, if you really think this was a bad idea, I guess we can pack up and go home...”

Just as he was about to walk away, I grabbed his arm, “Fine, you’re right. We should go inside before they wonder where we are.”

A smile spread across John’s face. The sly little shit knew I’d give in. He tugged at my sleeve and I followed him into the hospital.

Inside sat Sophia in the waiting room. She looked up from last month’s People magazine and smiled, “Oh good, for a second there I thought you two wouldn’t show up.”

John gave me a knowing look and I said, “We just had to get a few things sorted.”

“Well, no worries,” Sophia set the magazine down and stood up, “The doctors just hooked him in and his session’s going on right now.”

I looked at John with uneasiness and he motioned me to follow. She walked us past Liam’s hospital room and to a room referred as ‘the bay.’ Inside, there were three patients, including Liam, hooked up to machines. He sat in the corner of the room next to a window.

“Hi Liam,” I said quietly when we got closer.

He looked up at us and smiled, “I’m glad you two could make it.”

The four of us stood silently, letting Liam’s words hang in the air. John and Sophia shifted uncomfortably in their spots and I was staring anywhere except Liam.

Sophia patted John’s back, “Come on, John. You must be starving, let’s head on down to the hospital cafeteria.”

Just like that, my so-called best friend and step mother scrambled out of the room, leaving me with Liam. It wasn’t like he could hurt me. He wouldn’t. But Christ, did I need John’s support right now.

Liam beamed at me and said, “Take a seat, Louise.”

I pulled up a stool next to him.

“So, last night, I stayed up, trying to figure out about you and your life in Arizona. At first, I thought asking you some questions would be a good idea, but then realized how weird it’d be. So I guess maybe I should tell you about myself. More than what I told you last night and in my letter.”

Liam wasn’t one to beat around the bush. Slightly taken aback, I nodded, “Go ahead.”

“Well, for starters, my parents are Mrs. and Mr. Watkins of Mountain Pointe High School. My mom is the English teacher and my dad is the AP biology teacher,”

“Really?” My eyes widened. Then it all made sense, “I’m a Mountain Pointe alumni...”

“You didn’t graduate from Corona Del Sol like your mother and I...?”

“Corona was overcrowded so they rezoned boundaries back in 2000. John and I went to Mountain Pointe instead,” Without my knowledge, I had met my paternal grandparents before my own father, “We had both of them.”

“Jesus,” was all Liam could say. But again, what else could he have said?

“I guess that’ll explained why Mom never went to parent teacher conferences,” I chuckled.

That seemed to ease things between us and conversation began to flow.

One part of the story I was very familiar with was Jenny and my mother’s relationship. Knowing each other since they were around four, they grew up together like how John and I did. Liam came into the picture during middle school, befriending Jenny and eventually dating her. Once their short lived middle school relationship ended and high school started, Jenny introduced him to Caroline Collins at a party.

“I was always the quiet kid. Not the weird one in the corner talking to himself, just one that didn’t like going to parties. Jenny dragged me along that night and I am forever in debt of her,” Liam grinned, “Even only being sixteen, your mom was a prospective feminist. When Jenny introduced me to her, she was telling off a couple of boys for their ‘sexist and misogynist ways.’”

“Sounds about right,” I chuckled.

“It was a different time and nobody else really understood what she meant. But, I did and maybe that’s why our relationship worked.”

“You guys hit it off right away?”

“No, of course not,” He laughed, “Like I said, it was a different time. I was only a teenage boy and my scarce knowledge on women’s rights wasn’t going to cut it for a girl like Caroline. I wanted to learn though; she could sense that. Maybe that’s why I lasted much longer with her than the other guys.”

“You two were very serious, huh?”

He smiled, “Your mom wasn’t one to date around, if she was going to invest some feelings into someone, it was going to be serious or nothing at all.”

I knew if John was in the room, he would have snickered and said something along the lines of, “You could learn a thing or two about serious high school relationships, Miss I’ll-date-whoever-and-whenever-I-want-to.”

“After graduation, we got an apartment with Jenny and Jay, moved out and got a real house, graduated from ASU and I think you know the rest of that story. So, to answer your question, I think we were serious. Serious enough to almost move across the country together.”

“And I guess that’s why she never dated after you too.”

I knew I caught him off guard when he began rapidly blinking at me.

“-What?”

“I’m almost positive that my mom has never looked at another man for all of my life. She was always either at work, home or with Jenny, never on a date.”

Liam’s cheeks turned into a deep shade of red, “I’m very sorry to hear that.”

“Well, I don’t think she’s is,” I shrugged, “She’s doing fine.”

“And what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Are you doing fine?”

“Yeah, of course. I have a roof over my head, a college acceptance letter, a best friend to lean on and now two parents,” I stared out the window, “I honestly couldn’t ask for anything more.”

“What was it like living without me? Growing up?” He turned to look out the window with me.

“Loud. We were always with the O’Callaghans or they were with us. We’d eat with the O’Callaghans, watch hockey with the O’Callaghans... get in trouble with the O’Callaghans...” I chuckled.

“Jenny and Jay were always good people, I have no doubt that their kids are the same.”

“They are,” I said, “Shane, who’s going to be a fifth grader, is a troublemaker like John and I when we were his age. But, his heart is in the right place. They also have an older kid, Ross, who’s getting ready for his junior year. A quiet but sweet kid.”

“What about John?”

“The greatest person alive,” I couldn’t stop the wide grin spreading across my face, “He’s done so much for me, now more than ever.”

“Caroline surrounded you with a lot of good people, didn’t she?” Regret crept up in his voice that made me feel sorry for him.

“I think she tried masking the fact that I was missing something very important in my life. It doesn’t mean I didn’t notice though. I thought about it a lot- why John had two parents while I only had one or why Father's Day consisted of visiting Grandpa before he moved back to California with the rest of the Collins. But, I knew our situation was different from everybody else's, especially the O'Callaghans, and my mom needed me to independent for her.”

"Is that why you're here by yourself without asking your mom?"

"Well, yes and no. Yes because, she knows I’m capable of surviving, especially with John around. That’s how it always was. And no because... this was my decision and I didn’t want to know whether or not she’d approve or disapprove.”

“I’m glad you’re here,” He repeated from our conversation last night.

“I am too,” I said, this time, surer of my answer.

“I never got to ask last night, but what are you going to study at Boston University?”

I grinned, “I’m majoring in political science, eventually getting down to the journalism aspect of it.”

“Oh really, what do you want to do with that?”

“Travel the world,” I said, “I want to write about the people of small Asian towns or the rebuilding of the Middle East. I want to write for some big shot magazine like Time or National Geography. There is just so much out there for me that’s not in the hot canyons of Tempe...”

“I like the way you view at things, you dream big,” Liam nodded in approval.

“Like I said before, Mom wanted me to be independent and that’s what I became.”

“You are strong and very independent and I admire that,” he shifted in his seat, slightly restricted by the tubes that connected him to the machine feeding him chemo, “But, it’s okay to be dependent sometimes.”

I shrugged.

“Louise, I want to tell you that your mother was 100% right. Being independent will let you explore your options and find yourself- and it’s true. But, look what happened when your mother was solely independent- Look what happened to us.”

There was a moment I wanted to be furious at Liam. For ever talking about my mother like that. But, this was Liam I was talking to. A grown adult that was happily married now, not bitter. Someone that knew my mother best, maybe even more than me. My mom’s independent ways were the reasons I was meeting my biological dad eighteen years late and why we weren’t a picture perfect family like the O’Callaghans.

“I guess you’re right.”

“You don’t have to change your ways, being 100% dependent isn’t good either. But, I just want you to know that there will be people in your life that will want to stick around and help you.”

John.

“That’s what you wanted to do for my mom, wasn’t it?”

“Maybe I was just barking up the wrong tree, but yes.”

John and Sophia returned to the bay with brown paper bags for us to take back to the hotel. Liam’s session would be over soon and he needed rest. I rose from my chair and John wrapped a few fingers around my wrist. Before walking away, Liam tugged my arm.

I knelt down and gave him a one armed hug. He whispered into my ear, “I want to be there for you now, Louise- That is, if you want that.”

I stood straight back up and nodded, “I would like that very much.”
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Ahh, I'm back!
Thank you all for the nice comments and being so patient!!
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I have OGTs next week and midterms the week after so we'll see if I'll be able to get anything done.

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03.07.14