Chapter 57: Chapter fifty seven

Drayton

Laura opened the door to Jack's hospital room. He was awake and going through something on his phone. He was in regular clothes which means he was about to he discharged.

His eyes widened in surprise as he saw me before hardening. He swept his gaze over me with an angry expression. I simply chuckled. The sound seem to aggravate him more as he scoffed.

“Not a single word.” Laura signed at him. Jack eased back into the bed.

“He came to check on you and Aunt asked me to bring him up. Can the both of you just have a conversation without killing each other?”

“I'll try to be civil, I don't know about him.” Jack scoffed.

Laura arched an eyebrow and he sighed.

“Alright, no fighting.” He said.

“Good, Auntie and I will wait for you in the car. Make it quick.” She signed and left the room.

An uncomfortable silence settled between us that neither of us seem willing to break. Even before we stopped being friends, we rarely engage in deep conversations, and we've definitely never had a fight this big or for this long.

It was weird that it took beating the lights out of each other before we decided to discuss the root of our fight.

“Some nice lodging you got here.” I started, sweeping my gaze around the hospital room.

I had no interest in the room but asking about it seem like a great conversation starter. There were many things I wanted to discuss with him. Like why his mother still thought we were friends. I haven't even apologized for putting him in hospital, which was the main reason for my visit.

“Yeah, five stars. Terrible room service though. Comes with medications and extremely chatty nurses.” He snorted a laugh.

Another wave of silence passed between us. The atmosphere was getting more tensed with each passing second. I needed to approach the topic at some point.

“Listen, I'm sorry for what happened at the gym. I shouldn't have punched you.” I said.

“Nah, it's all good. The fight had been long overdue.” He replied and I nodded in agreement.

He was right about the fight being long overdue. There was too much bad blood between us. Words alone won't settle that, but fists did the job really well.

The problem now was having the conversation that needed to be had, which was proving to be a lot difficult.

“Coach is pretty worried about you. How are you feeling now?” I asked.

“Pretty good, actually. I'm getting discharged today.” he gestured his hand over himself, and he did look okay.

The cuts on his face have been stitched and he didn't look sick, but that doesn't mean he wasn't. Jonathan's words about Jack's medical condition echoed in my mind.

“Should you be let go that fast? You just got admitted yesterday.” I asked with genuine concern

“It's not a big deal. I just passed out yesterday because I was tired. Everyone is making a fuss about nothing.” He shrugged and looked away.

“Your mum still seem to think we're friends.”

I watched as Jack's face pinched at my words. He rubbed his neck, a clear sign that something was bothering him or he was nervous.

“Ah! Guess I forgot to tell her.” he finally said.

“Since sophomore year?” I arched an eyebrow.

“What do you want me to say? That my best friend just stopped talking to me for no reason?”

“No reason? Dude, you left me when I needed you the most. How do you call that ‘no reason’?”

“I never left you, Drayton, you know that.”

“No, I don't.” I shook my head and stepped back.

My legs already felt too heavy. I had revisited this memory more times in the last two days than I liked.

“My mum died and I was grieving, but you were sending me vacation pictures of you in Hawaii. I was lost, Jack. But you weren't there when I needed someone. You were supposed to be my best friend, Jack.

I didn't ask you should drop your entire summer plan and come running to my side, but you could have called or texted. I would have understood if you called once. And when you came back, you stayed away.

I kept wondering why you kept your distance from me, but I also didn't want to find out. You always say I ended our friendship, but you drifted away from me first.”

Jack was silent after my confession, his head hung low with sweat dampening his body. I didn't bother to fill the silence. I had finally said what I itched to say for two years now. I didn't care if the silence stretched on forever.

“Do you really have such low expectations of me? You think I would leave you like that with no explanation?” he asked in a low voice.

“Well, you did.” I shrugged. “And you did a great job staying away after that.”

“Because I wasn't in Hawaii!” He screamed. “For god's sake, Drayton, I was in rehab.”

He stood up from the bed and began pacing the small room. My entire body had gone stiff with that single sentence, but I waited patiently for him to continue.

“I overdosed right before our trip was supposed to start. I was unconscious for days. When I got discharged, I was sent to rehab. I came out after the entire break had passed. That's when I learnt about your mum. I tried to reach out to you but you kept shutting me out.”

My head swirled with several thoughts as I listened to his confession. I'd held on to the grudge that he betrayed me for almost two years. I ended our friendship because of it. And now I learned that it wasn't even his fault.

“Why didn't you tell me?” I asked after a long pause.

“You never gave me the chance. I remembered you clearly saying that you never wanted to see me again.” He scoffed.

“That's not an excuse. We saw each other in class and practices throughout junior year. We literally live ten minutes from each other. You could have found a way to talk to me. Instead, you sent me pictures and made me believe you were on vacation.”

My heart was beating erratically in my chest. I was hurt, angry, remorseful, and felt terrible at the same time. It was difficult trying to focus on an emotion.

“I don't know what pictures you saw, but I never sent you any pictures. And before you accuse me of staying away again, maybe try to recall everything you did to keep me that way.” Jack said.

Jonathan's words about how I was remembering some things wrong filtered into my mind. There was no doubt that I was losing my mind. Jack's words were the confirmation I needed.

“I think you hated me more when Arielle and I started dating.” He added.

“Our fight had nothing to do with her.” I scoffed.

“Oh, it did. You've literally been in love with her since middle school. You couldn't stand any guy approaching her, talk less dating her.” Jack said.

“Woah! Let's tone it down a notch. I'm not in love with her. That's a very strong word to use.” And it sure as hell didn't describe what I felt for Arielle. Love was supposed to be fun and sweet. Neither of those two words could be used to describe what I felt for her.

“But you do feel something for her. Dude, for the five months she was in the hospital, you were–”

“Can we not talk about that time? It was a very dark time for everyone.”

Jack nodded and continued,

“My point is, you clearly feel something for her, and I knew that. But I let my hurt get into my head and I went out with her to get to you. I'm sorry.”

“It's fine. And I'm sorry too. I should have talked to you instead of shutting you out.” I said and he gave me a small smile.

“But you gotta admit, that fight was necessary too. I had to beat your ass out before you admit you were sorry.” Jack said.

I cocked my head to the side and smirked.

“You beat my ass? Remind me again which one of us spent the night on a hospital bed.”

He smacked his tongue and shook his head.

“Love blow, King. Let's see if you still have that arrogance when I beat you at videogames next weekend. I got a new playstation. Do you wanna come over and play?” he asked, his eyebrow raised. His expression wasn't as carefree as when we first started our banter.

“Oh, I’m coming. I'll make you eat your words and my shit.”

His eyes lightened and he laughed. I didn't realize when I joined him. Our laughters echoed through the ward.

And for the first time in almost two years, it felt like a huge burden was lifted off my shoulders.