Sugar Baby Beautiful(88)

Felicity


Theo slept on the couch they had put in the suite-styled room they moved me into. He had all but threatened the nurses to let him stay. Seeing him curled up into a ball, I couldn’t help but think how lucky I was to have him.

“I mean he’s okay, but don’t go overboard.” Cleo grinned, her tone sarcastic, leaning against the wall opposite me with Mark beside her.

Mark smacked her. “Don’t mind her. She just has to get the last word.”

“You were both trying to warn me about the tumor,” I whispered, and they smiled. “I don’t get it. Why didn’t you just say it?”

“Because, Felicity, we aren’t real. We say what you think and you never considered the tumor, so we couldn’t say anything about it.”

“So once it’s gone, you’re gone too.” I frowned, missing them already.

“How egotistical? You’re going to miss yourself?” Cleo laughed.

Mark once again smacked her, and she pushed off the wall, glaring at him. He walked over to me. “Just know, tumor or no tumor, you still have issues, Felicity. Except now it’s the same as everyone else. Try not to have too many regrets, okay?”

“Prends soin de toi.” Cleo waved. Of course her last words would be take care of myself. To the very end, they played their roles. Mark was fun and Cleo was reasonable.

There was a bright light, and I turned my head and opened my eyes to see Dr. Knight checking my pulse.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I was asleep?”

She nodded. “Don’t worry, you’ll be out of it for a few more days.”

“When do I get surgery?”

“It could be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. There are still a few more tests we need to run.” She squeezed my hand. “But with these new meds, everything will start looking better in the morning.”

I lay back against the pillow, staring at Theo. Part of me was nervous, but mostly I was excited.





CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Rock Bottom Has A Basement





Theo


Friday

For the last week, I had spent my time basically living out of Felicity’s hospital room. I hadn’t spoken to my family for the most part, other than Walt and Tori. I just couldn’t deal with them. No one knew of Felicity’s condition, and she wanted to keep it that way until after surgery, which hopefully would happen over the weekend.

Just two more days. Two more days and we could put this part of our lives behind us. I knew she was scared. On the first day she found out about the tumor, she seemed to take it all in; however, as the days went by, the gravity of everything sort of hit one by one. Not having friends. All the conversations she’d had with herself in public and in private. She was doing her best not to piece together what were her own memories and what were her hallucinations.

Feeling my phone buzz in my pocket as I headed down the hall to Felicity’s room, I answered without even looking.

“Darcy—”

“Theo, where are you!” I winced when Walt yelled on the other side of the phone.

“What do you mean, where am I? I told you I’d be at the hospital until—”

“Reagan Medical, right?” He cut me off.

“Walt, what’s going on—”

“Arty overdosed on whatever drugs he’s on. We’re in the E.R.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” I yelled, startling the nurses at their stations as I turned and ran in the opposite direction, hanging up on Walt in the process.

Again?

This was happening again?

Felicity I could excuse. Arty. Goddamn it, Arty. No matter how hard we tried to get him off heroin, he just went right back to it. Over and over, it felt like he was stabbing us in the heart. This was the third time! Part of me didn’t even want to go, but…urgh goddamn him.

“Theo!” Walt stood up from the waiting room at the E.R. Beside him stood my aunt and uncle, both of them barely even dressed for the day. For the first time, I saw my aunt dressed in jeans and just a shirt. Arthur wasn’t much better, his black-and-gray hair a mess on his head.

Shit. I inhaled deeply. I never wanted them to be in this situation. I had covered up Arty’s prior visits here just so they could have peace of mind. I was the emergency contact for Arty, but since I hadn’t been answering calls, his parents must have been notified instead.

“Look who finally wants to be part of this family again,” my aunt retorted, her eyes and cheeks red as she crossed her arms, like she was doing what she could to hold herself together.

“Lorelai,” my uncle said sternly, shaking his head and not bothering to look at me. “Not now.”