Rarity (13 page)

“The stress of the high blood pressure through my arteries can cause an aneurysm to form.  Rollercoasters increase blood pressure.”

“Well, what about the cannonballs?  They don’t increase your blood pressure, do they?”

“Nah, no cannonballs for the same reason no contact sports: chance of rupturing organs from the impact.”

“Holy crap.”  He nodded.  “And no surgery?”

“Only if it’s to save my life - and they have to be prepared for anything going into it.  I guess a lot of people with it have died during surgery because their body freaks out and turns the tissues to mush.  The doctors weren’t prepared for that.”

“I guess knowing you have VEDS helps prevent that from happening.  The doctors can be prepared.”

“It still takes someone knowledgeable though, it seems safer to just avoid it.”  He threw a rock hard and it landed with a big plop.

“Have you heard from your dad?”  He shook his head.  “He probably just needs time to figure it out.”  I kept my head on his shoulder and felt the warmth of the late afternoon sun on my face.  I felt calm and happy; Jay had that effect on me.  Jay kissed my head and then pulled away enough to look at me.  He stared for a few moments and then a smile spread across his face.

“What?” 

“You look …,”  he studied me for a long moment.   “Nah, nevermind.”  My eyes popped wide open.  I anticipated some form of compliment to come out of him,  “you look...beautiful, sexy, sweet, intelligent, peaceful...etc”  But leaving me hanging was torture. I wanted to know how he was going to complete that sentence. 

“I don’t know what I looked like a minute ago, but I MUST look infuriated right now.”  I said with a giggle.  Jay followed suit and laughed.  I tickled his side to try and torture the word out of him.  “Tell me!”

“I’ll never tell,” he gasped between laughs.  “Good god, stop, I’ll pee my pants.”  But I continued my assault.  Jay grabbed my hand and pulled me so I couldn’t reach his side anymore.  I lost my balance and fell onto his forearm.  “Crap!”  He sat up and made a “T”  for timeout.

“Ooo, sorry.  Are you ok?”  We both looked at his arm - no blood, but it seemed to hurt.

“Yeah, guess I shouldn’t try to evade your attacks.  Listen, wanna’ head back?”  Jay stood and extended his hand to help me up.  We brushed off our pants and headed up to the trail that led to our part of town.  “So, thanks for coming out with me today.  Great day.”

“Yeah, it was pretty great.”  Our walk home seemed to take half as long as it did on the way out.  The banter between us came so easily and time flew by.  Jay stopped before we got to the front steps to my house.  He reached up to grab my face for a kiss.  I felt the butterflies take flight in my belly and then I saw a blue and purple collage out of the corner of my eye.  I pulled back and grabbed Jay’s arm.  “Holy crap! Did I do this to you?”  Jay looked at his arm in disgust.  “How did it get this bad in 10 minutes?”

“Don’t worry about it.  I’m fine.”  He said trying to change the subject.

“Do you want an ice pack or...Jeez, I feel awful for…”

Jay looked mad, “Would you stop.  I’m fine.”  He took a deep breath, “Listen, I gotta’ go.”  He turned and walked away.

“Jay.  I’m sorry.”  I felt bad for making a big deal out of it, but I hurt him and I wanted to care for him.  “Jay!”  He did not look back, he just kept walking.

“Is everything ok?”  Mom peeked her head out the front door.

“I don’t know.  I think I just made Jay mad.”  Mom gave me a curious look.  “I fell against him and he got this huge bruise.  I just wanted to help, get him an ice pack or something to make it better.”  Mom came out and we both stared after Jay’s fading figure as he walked home. 

“It must be hard for Jay to be a man and be so fragile.  He probably feels self-conscious about it.  Just give him some time,”  she suggested.

*********

Time...The next week at school sucked.  Jay did not sit by me at lunch.  In the halls he acknowledged me, but in the most minimal way, as if I were an acquaintance.  I tried to give him space, tried not to be overbearing.  I sent him a single text at the end of each day that read “thinking about you”.  He never replied.  As the week went on, I felt like Jay would never come around.  I was sad and miserable without him.  I confided in Meg and she comforted me.  “This weekend I got lawn seats to the concert festival.  It’s gonna’ be amazing.”  I liked at least half the bands playing so it promised to be a good time.  Friday night I didn’t text Jay.  My sadness turned to anger.  I was done coming his way.  What crime had I committed against him?  I cared too much?  Done.

Saturday morning I got ready for the festival.  It was an all day event in the next town over. Meg picked me up in her new used car.  It wasn’t the prettiest set of wheels, but it worked and was clean.  The day was beautiful, 80F and sunny.  I wore my cut offs and a black fitted tee.  Meg wore her tight shorts and a tank.  We slathered on suntan lotion and walked toward the gates.  Music was already blaring through the speakers and the amount of people attending was insane.  We found a spot high on the hill, caring more about a decent crop of grass than the best view.  We also wanted a fair enough distance between us and the mosh pit.  Today was a day for sunning with a friend with some great live music, not dodging fists full of mud. 

After the first five bands we decided to grab some grub.  Meg went to get us some hotdogs and chips.  I stayed and saved our perfect spot on the lawn.  The sun was sinking in the sky and the air would cool off soon. 

“Please, just ignore her.”  I heard a girl say nearby.  It was a familiar voice.  I turned to see Becca walking up the hill nearby with Soren looking back at me being dragged along.  We met eyes.  He waved and I returned the wave. What were the chances of bumping into them in a sea of people? I glanced around but did not see Jay. I lay back down on our blanket.  I felt the blanket tug slightly from someone situating themselves on it.

“Long line?  I hope you remembered the ketchup and relish.”

“Sorry, I didn’t.” It was Jay.  My eyes popped open and I sat up. 

“What do you want?”   I didn’t mean to sound so cruel and cold, but I didn’t know where we stood.  How random of him to plop down next to me when he avoided me all week.

“To say hi,”  he looked forward toward the stage, “and sorry for being an idiot.  I was so embarrassed by that bruise - I mean, it’s not like you tackled me - but my arm looked awful.  I didn’t know what to do - I just.. ran.”  He looked at me but my face was unreadable - blank and listening.  “Can we try again?  Life kinda sucks without you.”

“I need to know, are you gonna’ run and shutdown every time something gets hard?  Because I can’t be in that kind of relationship.  It hurts too much.  I have feelings too, you know?  I felt terrible when I saw that bruise and I just wanted to make it better.  All you had to say was “no thanks, I’m really ok.”  Instead you treat me like...like I’m your enemy. “  He was quiet, taking my verbal attack.

“I’m really sorry.  I can’t take it back but I wish I could.”  He sighed, “I don’t want to do it again but I can’t guarantee I won’t make another stupid mistake in the future.”  He was so sincere. Life did suck without Jay.  I leaned forward and kissed him gently and he let me.

“Okay, we can try again.”  He smiled and kissed me again.

Meg cleared her throat to get our attention, “Hotdog anyone?”

.

“Hey Meg, I’ll let you both enjoy the night “  He stood and brushed off his jeans.  “Soren’s gonna’ send a search party if I don’t get back soon.”  Meg handed me my food and drink.

“Geez, I leave you alone for a few minutes and you reconnect with your man!”

“I know!  I was shocked to see him.  He said sorry for running away from me.”

“Well, I’m glad he was not too prideful that he couldn’t apologize - that’s a good guy there.  I’m surprised you didn’t invite Jay and Soren to hang with us.”

“One word...Becca.”  Meg’s mouth dropped open.

“Of course.  Boy, Becca doesn’t waste anytime moving in for the kill.  Too bad, I thought Soren was kinda cute.” That was the first I had ever heard Meg mention Soren and cute in the same sentence.  Meg and I enjoyed our festival food and the last few bands.  We ducked out early in the last set to avoid the crowds. 

“Ugh, I need a shower,”  I moaned.  “And a soft bed and clean pjs.” 

Meg laughed and added,  “And water...lots of water.  Thanks for going with me Brogen.  Loved seeing my bands with my girl.”  I smiled and patted her knee before exiting the car.  I took out my keys and went in through the front.  Mom must have already been asleep because the downstairs was dark.  I took off my dirty sandals and headed to the kitchen for some serious rehydration.  After 3 big cupfuls, I headed to the bathroom for a shower.  I shoved my dirty clothes down the laundry shoot and turned the water as hot as it would go.  And then I got in so the water could relax me and melt the day away.

Sunday was shopping day. Mom and I stocked up on groceries for the week and bought a few plants for the yard.  After helping put away the food, I headed out back to put the plants in the ground.  Mom began assembling ingredients for tonight’s dinner.  I watered the new additions to our garden and threw away the empty containers.  As I was storing the tools in the shed, I heard my phone chime.

              -
Brogen, this is Soren, Jay is in the hospital.  Call me when you can.

My heart began to race.  I clicked on Jay’s number.  After several rings, Soren picked up.

“Brogen?”

I wanted to skip the intros…”Yeah, what’s going on?  Is he ok?”

“We don’t know yet.  He’s having terrible stomach pains.  My mom is having a hard time convincing the nurses and doctors to check him for the VEDS stuff.  They’re convinced it’s just bad gas or constipation….but I’ve never seen him like this.  He’s throwing up and he’s pale.”

“Can I come up there?”  I didn’t want to intrude on family stuff but I honestly wanted to be there for Jay.

“I think that’s fine. I’m actually going to swing by the house and pick up the paperwork we got from the genetics office.  I can give you a ride.”

“Ok, thanks.  See you in a few.”  I hung up and then ran inside.

“Mom, Jay’s in the hospital.  Soren is going to drive me there in a few minutes.”  I bolted up the stairs to change clothes and grab a few items to shove in my backpack in case I was there awhile.  Mom appeared at my door mid-packing.

“What happened?”  She asked nervously.

“I don’t know yet.  He is having terrible stomach pains, puking.  They are trying to convince the hospital staff to see if it’s related to the VEDS stuff.  They not listening and think it’s the other kind of EDS, the one that has lots of arthritis.”  Mom rolled her eyes. 

“He needs to get scanned for internal bleeding.  Make sure they do that.  And give Jay a hug from me,”  I nodded.  “I’ll try to get up there soon.”  Soren beeped his horn and I gave my mom a quick kiss before bounding out the door.

In the car, Soren’s leg was bouncing a mile a minute.  “Hey Brogen, ready?”  I nodded.  “My mom just called.  They took Jay back into surgery.  Something about a tear in his colon.”  Soren loved Jay like a brother, there was so much concern in his voice.  I was glad Jay had family that had not abandoned him when his life got complicated.

“Surgery?  Jay said they only did that as a last resort, and many don’t survive surgery.  What happened?”  I couldn’t look at Soren, I was trying hard not to cry.  I was so worried for Jay and if I looked his way, I knew the tears would fall. 

“He woke up around six this morning and was in so much pain.  We were trying different things at home in case it was just gas.  But it seemed to be getting worse. Then he started puking, so we headed to the hospital.”  All I could envision was Jay in the operating room, laying helpless with tubes coming out from all over.  I tried to erase it with thoughts of us tossing rocks into the water and laughing that one afternoon..but the image of Jay on the operating table was stronger.  I hadn’t realized we arrived at the hospital OR waiting room because I was so lost in my thoughts.