Chapter 34
At the sound of
his name, Kevin stood up abruptly. “I’m
sorry,” he mumbled hoarsely and bolted, escaping the room before anyone had a
chance to stop him.
Nick looked from
AJ to Howie to Brian in bewilderment.
“What the…”
Brian cleared his
throat. “He hasn’t said much of anything
since I told him. I, uh… I think this
has something to do with his dad.”
“Aww, crap. I’m sorry, Rok, I shouldn’t have even brought
that up,” AJ muttered, abashed. “I
didn’t think he would react like that… I mean, I thought he was over his dad…”
“He is. Or he was,” said Brian. “But, um…”
He shot Nick a sideways glance.
“… now that Nick has… well… you know… I think it’s reopening some
wounds. You know what I mean?”
AJ nodded
silently.
“Nicky, maybe you
should go talk to him,” suggested Howie.
“What am I
supposed to say?”
“Well, I dunno…
tell him… tell him you’re not going to be like his dad. You’re going to beat this thing.”
Nick stared
squarely at Howie. “And how do you know
that?”
Howie drew
back. “Nick, don’t say things like
that. Of course you’re going to beat
it. You’re a fighter; you’re not going
to give up.”
“And Kevin’s dad
didn’t fight?”
“That’s not what
I meant! I… oh, I dunno… I’m sorry,
Nicky… forget I said anything…” Howie
sighed, running his hands through his black hair.
Nick shook his
head. “It’s okay,” he mumbled. “I’m sorry too… guess I’m just not Mr.
Optimism at the moment… I’m more in ‘glass is half empty’ mode.”
“Nick… I know
it’s hard, but… you have to be optimistic,” Brian said quietly. “You have to have faith. This is a serious disease, but it is
beatable. This isn’t going to be like
what happened to Uncle Jerald. He had
colon cancer; it’s entirely different.
You’re going to get through this.”
Nick offered his
friend a tiny smile and nodded. If any
one of them had enough faith to get them all through this ordeal, it was
Brian. Nick only hoped he was right.
***
“Kevin?” Nick rapped his knuckles impatiently against
the door. “Train, come on, open
up.” Heaving a sigh, he knocked again,
louder.
After a minute,
the door abruptly swung open to reveal a disheveled Kevin, his eyes bloodshot
and watery.
“Kev…” breathed
Nick, his eyebrows rising in concern.
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry,” croaked
Kevin. “What are you sorry for?”
Nick
shrugged. “I’m sorry you’re upset. I understand… this is about your dad, isn’t
it?”
Kevin didn’t
reply, only stepped back to let Nick in the room. Closing the door after Nick had come in, he
wordlessly walked back to the couch and took a seat, propping his elbows on his
knees and resting his chin in his hands.
“Kevin,” Nick
tried again, “I know this is probably really hard for you… after watching your
dad die from cancer, I mean. But…
I…” He swallowed hard, squared his jaw,
and continued firmly, “I’m not going to die.
I’m gonna be fine.”
Kevin looked up,
fresh tears springing into his eyes as he gazed at Nick. His voice a mere whisper, he whispered, “I
hope so.”
***
“It’s just a
flesh wound,” mimicked Brian, AJ giggling, as the five of them sat around
Nick’s suite watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Desperate to take their minds off the
obvious, they had opted to spend the night together, like old times, and have a
comedy marathon. Brian and AJ had gone
out hours before, returning with rented classics such as Monty Python, Airplane,
Vacation, and Dumb and Dumber, and a superb assortment of junk
food.
Nick sat propped
up in bed, while the others took to the floor, sitting amongst crunched in
chips and popcorn kernels.
“Ugh, could you
guys not do that,” he complained as Brian and AJ catapulted cheese balls at
each other, trying to catch them in their mouths. The smell of that artificial orange cheese
powder was not helping his already-turbulent digestive system.
“Sorry,” mumbled
AJ, his cheeks puffed out with cheese balls (he and Brian had apparently
decided it was a good idea to see who could fit the most into their mouth).
“Hey, Nick,”
garbled Brian, his mouth also filled, “Ya like sea food?” Knowing exactly what was coming, Nick tried
to look away, but not before Brian had opened his mouth wide and stuck out his
tongue, exposing an orange mouth of slimy, chewed up Cheetos, some of which
were plopping to the floor in spitty blobs.
While Brian
laughed like a little kid, Nick clapped his hand over his mouth and got up as
fast as he could, stumbling off to the bathroom. As he slammed the door shut behind him, he
heard AJ comment, “Jeez, Brian, that joke is so old!”
The image of
half-dissolved cheese balls forever engrained in his mind, Nick sank to his
knees, his shin screaming in protest, leaned over the toilet bowl, and
retched. As he was finishing, the door
slowly opened. Wiping his mouth off,
Nick turned to see Brian hesitantly come in, his mouth empty and cheese-free,
his expression solemn.
“Oh my gosh, I’m
so sorry, Nick,” he said, stricken. “I…
I wasn’t thinking… it’s like I almost forgot, you know?”
Nick sighed. “It’s okay,” he said. “I want you to forget. I want to forget. That was the whole purpose of this night,
right? Guess it worked.” Forcing a smile, he painfully climbed to his
feet.
“Are you okay?”
Brian asked nervously.
“Dude, I’m fine,”
Nick insisted. “See what I mean? Now you’re gonna feel like you can’t have fun
with me anymore. Don’t be like
that. It’s okay to joke around and gross
me out.”
“I made you throw
up,” Brian pointed out.
“I would have
thrown up anyway at some point,” Nick said with a weary smile. “It was only a matter of time.”
Managing a small
smile, Brian reluctantly nodded. “Okay,”
he said. “You ready to go back in
there?”
“Yeah, I’m
good.” Reaching over to flush the
toilet, Nick slowly followed his friend out of the bathroom and into the main
room, where he was met with concerned stares.
The five men continued watching their movies after that… but there was a
lot less laughter.
***