I was putting my sneakers on when Ari busted through the door again. She was already dressed.
“What’s going on Ells?” Ari said with tears in her eyes.
“I’m not sure…..I mean I was talking to Gunner and he mentioned that he was at the gym. Jefferson must have been there with him….I heard all this yelling in the background, Gunner seemed to be distracted when he was talking to me……. and then Gunner just started swearing and said something like he knew this was going to happen. Um…something about Jefferson had been sparing ever since the morning after the party and he just got knocked out! Oh my god Ari…if anything happens to him…..” I broke down and cried hysterically.
Ari took me in her arms. I saw her wiping away tears from her face as she rocked me back and forth.
“It’s okay sweets…..don’t worry. Gunner would never let anything bad happen to Jeff and besides Jeff is huge! Even if he was boxing with someone he would for sure kick their ass! I’m sure it is going to be fine…..shhh…don’t worry Ells…..” I think Ari was trying to calm herself down more than she was me. I could tell she was just as worried as I was.
My cell phone rang.
“Gunner, please tell me he is okay!” I practically screamed into the phone.
“Ellie sweetheart, he is awake now but he is really confused. He has a big gash in his forehead and he is going to need stitches. I’m taking him to the ER right now.” Gunner said in such a calm voice.
“What do you mean he’s confused? Which hospital are you taking him to?” I saw Ari’s face when I mentioned hospital.
“Seton main, but please be careful driving here Ellie okay sweetheart. Why don’t you make sure Ari drives okay? I have to go so I can drive.”
“OKAY! Please get him there fast Gunner and please be careful driving. I will get there as soon as I can.” I jumped up and grabbed my purse. Ari was still sitting on the bed…..
“ARI! We need to get to the hospital now!” I shouted at her.
She jumped up and ran down the stairs. We both ran right into Ari’s dad.
“Hey….whoa what is going on girls? Why are you in such a rush and why the hell are both of you crying?” Mark asked.
“Jefferson! He’s been hurt and Gunner is taking him to Seton we need to get there!” I could not believe I managed to get it out my voice was shaking so bad. Ari just stood there…not saying a word.
Mark pulled out his cell phone. “Okay….well there is no way either one of you is going to drive this upset. Let me get Brian to pull the car up and he’ll take you both.”
Next thing I knew, we were heading to the hospital and Ari was just sitting in the back seat with me staring out the window. I managed to stop crying when I got a text message from Gunner saying that they were at the hospital and they had taken Jefferson back.
My heart was beating so fast. I had not talked to Jefferson since Sunday morning and I never even said goodbye to him when I left. The last thing we did was yell at each other. Oh my god…please….please dear God I will do anything……Please just let him be okay.
We pulled up at the ER and I jumped out of the car. I turned around and Ari was just sitting in the back seat still. “Ari? Are you coming honey? Did you change your mind about coming with me?” I asked as she turned to look at me. The tears where just pouring down her face…..she shook her head no and started to slide out of the car. I thanked Brian and told him we had a ride home.
I rushed into the ER and the first thing I saw was Gunner sitting in a chair. He stood up as soon as he saw us walk in. I flew into his arms so hard he lost his balance for a second. I lost it and started to cry again.
“Shhh…Ellie sweetheart it’s going to be okay. Don’t cry baby……please don’t cry.” Gunner said has he stroked my hair with his hand. I grabbed onto his shirt and almost let out a yell, my hand was still hurting.
“What’s going on? How is he?” I said between sobs.
“Honey they won’t tell me anything because I’m not family so I don’t know what’s going on. Let’s head over to the nurse and let her know you are here okay?” Gunner said has he wiped the tears off my face.
I looked at Ari and she was sitting down. She had stopped crying and had wiped her face clear of any evidence that she was ever crying. You could tell she had been crying though because her eyes were red. I smiled at her and she smiled a weak smile back at me.
“I will just sit here and wait if that’s okay?” Ari said so quietly I almost had to strain to hear her.
I saw her take her iPod out of her purse and put her head phones in. I heard Colbie Caillat’s “Realize” start up and my heart broke…….shit……Ari must be feeling even worse than me. How did I not even think about how this was affecting her?
Gunner took my left hand into his hand and guided me over to the nurses’ station. I looked back at Ari one more time and she just looked so scared and lost.
The nurse told us that Jefferson had a mild concussion and that he was confused about what had happened. He didn’t seem to have any memory loss that they could tell but because he was a football player the doctor wanted to do a CT scan. He also had a pretty big cut above his eye that they were putting stitches in.
I asked if they needed me to fill out any paper work but she told me Gunner had filled out most of the paper work and I just needed to sign a few papers. I looked up at Gunner who just gave me that crooked smile and my heart melted again…..how will I ever survive without him in my life now?
“When can we go back and see him?” I asked the nurse.
“Once he comes back from getting the CT scan I will take you back there. If the scan comes back normal we will start the process of discharging him.” The nurse said with such a sweet smile. Of course I did notice how she kept eyeing up Gunner. I guess that is to be expected with how damn good looking he is.
I thanked the nurse and walked over to where Ari was still sitting. She had her eyes closed and her music was blaring out from her iPod. She was going to end up with a massive headache if she kept listening to the music that loud. I sat down next to her and touched her arm. She jumped and opened her eyes. As soon as she saw me she pulled the ear buds out.
“Well? Is he okay…..will he be alright? Do we know what even happened to him? What did they say?” Ari and her nervous jabber.
“Um….well….he is okay. He has a mild concussion and he is a little confused but they don’t think he suffered any memory loss. He has a really bad cut that they are putting stitches in. They did take him to do a CT scan just because he’s a football player and the doctor just wants to make sure everything is okay before they discharge him.” I saw Ari’s whole body relax just a little and she let out a small sigh.
“So he can go home today?” She asked as she looked up at Gunner and then back down to me.
“Yes, if the scan comes back normal but I’m sure it will. I have seen him take a lot harder shots in the head then what he took today.” Gunner said with a small smile.
“What happened? What is he doing fighting?!” Ari asked Gunner as he took a seat on the other side of us.
“Yeah, what is this all about…has he been sparing every day? I didn’t think Jefferson had boxing as part of his workout routine.” I said as I reached for Ari’s hand.
I pretty much already knew the answer before I asked it. I remembered Jefferson sparing in high school to let out steam. It was always after our mother had gone on one of her drunken escapades. Jefferson took a bad hit once and walked around high school with a black eye the whole week. I asked him to stop doing it and he did. That is until Sunday morning.
“Um…..well…..I guess this is just his way of letting off a little steam. He was pretty upset with himself the day after the party. He stayed in his room almost the whole day until he told me he was going back to the gym to do a little sparing. He’s been doing it at least twice a day. I tried to tell him he was going to get hurt but he told me he needed to do it.” Gunner had been looking everywhere but at Ari and me. Ari squeezed my hand and looked at me.
“Just like when he was in high school.” She said as a tear rolled down her face.
“What do you mean just like in high school?” Gunner asked.
“When my mother use to go on a week, or sometimes more, drunken binge Jefferson would head down to the Y and starting sparing with a few of the guys that were training for fights. He got hit so hard once time that he got knocked out and it caused him to get a black eye. I made him promise me he wouldn’t fight anymore to let off steam. That’s when he took to running.” Just then the nurse walked up to us.
“Miss Johnson? Your brother is back from his scan and he’s asking for you. He can have two visitors at a time.” The nurse smiled a small smile at me and turned to Gunner and gave him a wink before she walked off.
I just rolled my eyes. Gunner didn’t even flinch or give her a smile back; he just kept looking over at me and Ari.
“Do you both want to head on back?” I’ll wait here.”
Ari shook her head no. “No, that’s okay. I’m fine waiting out here for right now. I think the two of you should go on back first.”
I leaned over and gave her a kiss on the head. “Be back in a few minutes sweets.” Ari gave me a weak smile as Gunner and I turned and walked towards the nurse’s desk.
When I walked behind the curtain and got a look at Jefferson my heart jumped in my throat. Oh.My.God. He looked terrible! I let out a gasp and threw my hands up to my mouth.
He opened his eyes and looked at me and then at Gunner. He looked behind us like he was looking for someone else…….he was looking for Ari………
“Hey there little sis, what brings you here today?” He said with a chuckle.
“Dammit Jefferson this is NOT funny! You scared the shit out of us! You promised me you would never do this ever again. Why? Why did you do this?” I asked him trying to bite back the anger I was feeling.
“What do you mean us?” Jefferson asked me.
“What?” Oh God….he is confused.
“You said us….you scared the shit out of us…..who is us?” Jefferson asked me as he kept looking over my shoulder.
“She’s in the waiting room. They only let two come back at the same time so Ari had Gunner and I come back first.” I said, knowing now what he was asking.
“Jeff, do you remember what happened? Do you know why you’re here?” Gunner asked.
“Yeah….I remember why Gun. I remember everything…..I wish I didn’t. I wish I could just forget it all.” Jefferson said with such a lost look in his eyes.
“So all of this Jefferson, all this fighting the last few days was because of what happened Saturday night?” I asked as I took his hand in mine. He closed his eyes for a few seconds. When he opened them a tear rolled down his face and he squeezed my hand. His tear soaked eyes captured mine.