School Comes First But Where's A Future Without Him

I slowly walked over to Rachel, careful not to startle her. Poor girl was soaking Nick's shirt with tears. I highly doubt he even cares.

Joe let go of me and I wobbled a bit further over to them. Nick looked up at me from the bed. His eyes were bloodshot. As soon as Nick looked up, Rachel brought herself away from his chest and looked at me. She looked terrible. Her hair was a mess, her eyes were red and puffy, and her cheeks were flushed.

I walked right up to the bed. "Rachel, I'm so sorry." I bent down and hugged her. She started crying on my shoulder. I just let her cry. She's been through a lot.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see tears streaming down Nick's face. Joe came over and pulled his brother up off the bed. Then he pulled him in for a nice brotherly hug. Nick also cried helplessly onto Joe's shoulder. This made me feel bad about my baby. I mean, mine survived and theirs didn't. I don't know how to tell them that I'm pregnant.

Just then Kevin and Kristen walked in the room. Hand in hand. Once they saw us in this state, they stopped dead in their tracks. "We heard." Kevin said. Nick pulled away from Joe while Rachel just stayed hugging me. She wasn't even crying anymore.

"Now you decided to come? Dude, we've been here for a few days. You could have at least called or something to let us know you were going to be late. But no. You just decided to have your privacy, doing God knows what, and forget about us and the fact that they were in an accident. How dare you. What kind of brother are you?"

By this time Rachel let go and was staring at Nick. She looked startled at his breakout.

"Nick, I'm really sorry-"

"Don't tell me you're sorry! I'm not the one who has been hospitalized. I'm not the one who now only has one beating heart instead of two." Nick spat back.

Kevin backed up, also startled at his burst. Joe just kept his space, not joining in the harsh conversation. Nick was right, though. Kevin and Kristen should have been here. But maybe they just forgot to call or something. It's not that bad. At least they're here now.

"Uh... I'm- I..." Kevin stuttered.

"Just forget it!" Then Nick stormed out of the room, leaving the most awkward silence I have ever encountered.

"He must be really hungry." Joe said. I wanted to laugh, remembering what happened to Joe that one time when he took Nick's food. He's probably right. Nick's only cranky when he's hungry.

Just like me, nobody laughed. Another awkward silence followed.

"You know what, screw Nick. Let him get his food and later he'll apologize. Let's just enjoy the moment." Joe said.

Kristen then came over to me and Rachel and said, "Hey I'm really sorry I wasn't here before. I should have called, but things were pretty busy at home." She tilted her head downwards. I don't really know if it was for sorrow or if it was for sadness. Maybe something else... I don't know. Whatever.

"Don't worry about it. Nick's just overreacting. Joe's right, let' just enjoy the moment." Rachel said. And we did just that.