Thanks for everyone's patience and kind comments of encouragement to continue the story. Thanks to Devir for his quick editing skills and to Matt for being another set of eyes on this tale and as always to Jessica for just being her usual awesome self!
Please enjoy, comment and vote!
****
Patrick walked slowly toward Jake's room. He and his mother had run into Jake's mom in the waiting area when they arrived. She told them that she had just come from Jake's room and he was being checked over by the nurses.. He had said that he would wait but his mother insisted he go ahead. Patrick wondered how Jake would look as he pressed the button for entry to the ICU wing. He fumbled over Jake's name, when the desk nurse asked him who he was there to see, over the intercom. For a moment he hoped that he would be turned away but that hope was dashed when he heard the buzz of the door being unlocked for him. He made his way to Jake's door and almost knocked then he remembered that Jake's mom told him that no one was in the room at the moment. The sight of Jake brought him to a halt there in the doorway.
"Jesus, Shadow," Patrick whispered as he looked at Jake's leg in a cast.
His eyes followed the myriad of wires and tubes that were attached to Jake and led to all sorts of monitors in the room. The heartbeat one was the only one he could figure out. He watched it for several moments so he didn't have to look at Jake's face. Words wouldn't come out of his mouth as he stood there until he turned and walked for the door where he paused and looked back.
"I'm sorry, Jake," he said then hurried out the door to rejoin his mother.
****
"Shadow!"
Jake heard a voice call out. He wiped the sweat from his brow then used his hand to shield his eyes from the hot afternoon August sun that beat down on him. He stopped on the stadium steps and looked up for who had called out his
clever
nickname. He wasn't surprised when he saw Patrick and his normal crew at the top of the stadium. What did surprise him was the tall, beautiful blonde girl that stood with them. Something about her was familiar but he didn't know why that was. A name slipped out as he opened his mouth.
"Jess," he said.
The blonde smiled at the sound of her name then beckoned for him to join her. He started to climb the stairs again until his legs felt like bags of wet cement and his lungs threatened to burst from his chest. He looked up to check his progress but it seemed as though he hadn't moved. The blonde still stood at the top of the stadium with Patrick who now had his arm around her waist. Jake could still see the smile on her face but she was even further away now.
"Jessica," he called out breathlessly.
"Sorry, Jake," she answered him as she slipped her arms around Patrick's shoulders. "You can't just keep me waiting like this."
She leaned in as if to kiss Patrick when Jake felt the stadium tremble beneath his feet. To his astonishment the stairs that were between him and the blonde he called Jessica doubled in size. Then tripled with a blink of his eyes.
"No!" he cried out and started to climb them again until he fell to his knees. "I can't do this."
He kept his eyes on the step in front of him afraid that if he looked up again that Jessica would disappear from his sight. That Patrick would disappear with her and that would be the end again.
"Just like always."
Jake heard Bobby say. He turned toward the voice and saw his friend seated on the metal bench of the stadium.
"What?" Jake asked.
"You just give up when you find out Patrick is involved," Bobby responded then tilted his head. "Or you used to do that. Is that who you are again, Jake? Jake the quitter?"
"It's impossible," Jake complained as he gestured to the stairs. "I'm exhausted and the stairs... the stadium just keeps growing!"
"Sounds like another excuse to me, Jake."
Jake looked back to where Bobby had been but now Roxie sat there and Bobby was gone.
"It's not an excuse, Roxie," he said. "I'll never get to her. I don't... I don't deserve a girl like her."
"Is that what you think," she asked him. "Who said that you are the one that gets to decided that, Jake?"
"Me," he answered then shook his head. "Don't I?"
"If you have to ask then you're probably wrong, Jake."
Staci now sat where Roxie had been.
"Staci?" Jake said confused.
"The one and only, babe," she answered him. "It seemed like you needed a cheerleader so here I am. Now get moving up those stairs. Jessica is waiting for you."
"She's with Patrick," he argued.
"Then go get her back. He's not better than you, Jake, and you know that," she told him. "He's not taking her. You're letting her go to him. Get off your damn knees and go get her!"
"Get off your damn knees," he repeated through gritted teeth.
A pair of pom poms appeared in her hands and Staci stood and started to cheer.
"Go, Jake, go!" she shouted as she started to jump up and down beside him.
Jake started to shake his head at the ridiculousness of it but then Staci's voice grew in volume and was joined by others. Jake looked around for the source of the voices but the stadium was still empty save for himself, Staci, and the now even further away Patrick and Jessica. He pushed himself back up to his feet and glanced over at Staci who smiled and nodded at him as she shook her pom poms.
"You can do this, Jake," she said then cheered again.
"You're damn right I can," he nodded and smiled back at her then started to climb the stairs in front of him again.
"Must be one heck of a dream you're having," Jake's nurse commented as his heartbeat rose steadily. "You keep fighting your way back to us, all right?"
Jake didn't answer, of course but, she thought she saw his lips curl up into the beginning of a smile. She noted that along with his heart beat increase on his chart then exited the room.
****
Coach Morrison had the volleyball team seated in the school's gymnasium after school at Jessica's request.
"Do you know what this all about?" Tonya asked Caitlyn.
"I think that we're about to find out," she answered as she nodded toward the gym door.
Jessica had entered with a trio of adults and walked toward them.
"That's the woman that was in Charlotte for our championship," Caitlyn said. "She's from UCLA."
"I'm more interested in the cute guy that's with her," Tonya commented. "He's yummy looking."
"You are impossible," Caitlyn shook her head. "Aren't you dating Scott now anyway?"
"We aren't, like, official or anything yet," she answered. "I can look."
"Well look with your eyes and not your mouth, sis," Tabitha warned her. "We don't need you to embarrass Jessica in front of her recruiter."
While Ashley took Jessica to the side to check on her splint Miss Langston addressed the team. She thanked them for staying after school, introduced herself and her team then explained why they were there.
"I know that you are all helping to look after Jessica since the accident which I know she really appreciates," she said. "My assistant has printed up some info on the type of cast that Jessica is wearing in case any of you have any questions about it."
"I saw her take it off during lunch," Tonya said as Ken handed her one of the sheets. "Is that all right for her to do, sir?"
"I had an itch, Miss Langston," Jessica called out as she made a face at Tonya.
Tonya didn't see it. She was too busy staring up at Ken with a smile plastered on her face until Caitlyn nudged her.
"It's fine as long as she is
careful
