Chapter
7
Finally, Howie answered.
“Hello?”
“Hey, D, it’s AJ,” AJ said.
“Hey, Bone! Howie doin’
this morning?” Howie asked playfully.
AJ rolled his eyes, trying not to smile. “Not so good, actually,” AJ admitted,
deciding to get right to the point.
“What’s wrong?” Howie asked, his voice turning serious.
“It’s not me,” AJ said, taking a deep breath. “It’s Nick.”
“Nick? What happened?” Howie asked, his voice filled with
concern.
“Well, it’s all my fault, really,” AJ said softly.
“What is?” Howie demanded.
“What happened?”
“Well, you know Nick’s been acting depressed, right? Well, I thought maybe he just needed a night
of fun to take his mind off things,” AJ started.
“What kind of ‘fun’, AJ?” Howie asked sternly.
AJ sighed. Howie knew him
too well. “I took him to a bar,” AJ
said. “But before you can yell at me,
Nick is 21 now, and he can drink if he wants to.”
“Yeah, but AJ, drinking is not supposed to be something you do to
get rid of your problems. That’s just
the kind of thinking that makes people get drunk,” Howie scolded.
“Exactly,” AJ muttered.
“Huh? So Nicky got drunk?”
Howie asked. He chuckled. “How bad’s the hangover? Maybe I better call that guy and harass
him.” He laughed again.
“No, Howie, it’s not like that,” AJ said. “I mean, yeah, Nick got drunk, but it’s much
more serious than that.” Howie was
silent. “He passed out last night at the
bar and went into cardiac arrest,” AJ said, his voice nearly a whisper.
He heard Howie gasp over the phone. “Oh, my God,” Howie whispered. “Is…is he okay?” he asked, his voice growing
louder and shriller.
“He’s alive, if that’s what you mean,” AJ said. He heard Howie sigh with relief. “But his doctor is worried that he could have
done some bad damage to his body, especially his liver. You see, it wasn’t just all the alcohol that
caused this to happen. The doctor told
me that the antidepressant Nick’s on most likely reacted when combined with the
alcohol, and that’s what caused Nick to go into cardiac arrest.”
“Oh, my God,” Howie said again.
AJ knew how shocked he was. “Can
I go see him? He’s in the hospital
still, right?”
“Yeah,” AJ said. “Orlando
General. In the ICU.”
“Oh, God,” Howie murmured.
“Well, I’m going up there in a few minutes to see him. Are you coming too?”
“Later I will,” AJ said. “I
have to call Kev and Bri first.”
“Bri’s gonna take it pretty hard, you know?” Howie said.
“No shit, Howie,” AJ said bitterly. “And I’ll be lucky if Kevin doesn’t kill me
before I even get the chance to call Brian.”
“It’s not your fault, AJ,” Howie said with a sigh. “Like you said, Nick is an adult, and he
should be making adult decisions. And
besides, if part of this was a reaction to his medicine, how could it be your
fault? You couldn’t have known that
would happen.”
“Yeah, I know,” AJ said, sighing.
In his head, he knew that it really wasn’t his fault. But in his heart, he couldn’t help but feel
guilty about what had happened to his friend.
“Well, D, I’ll let you go now.
See you later at the hospital.”
“Sure, Aje. Bye,” Howie
said and hung up the phone. Feeling
depressed, AJ did the same. But then he
picked it up again, knowing he had to call Brian and Kevin before he could do
anything else.
***
