55. Bailey
55
Bailey
S omeone’s phone was going off, the vibrations humming against the bed. Chase groaned but made no attempt to stop it.
“Hey,” Ethan answered, his voice still full of sleep. He let go of me and sat up. “Where?” he asked, more awake now. I rolled onto my back to watch him, curious who had called. “We’ll be there.” He hung up the phone and turned to me. “Nolan needs us.”
That woke me up fully, any hint of tiredness disappearing. “What’s wrong?” I sat up, giving Chase a little shake until he opened his eyes.
“Lachlan has him. They are on the trail, and he passed out. That’s all I know.”
“I’m up.” We all got out of bed at the same time, Chase and Ethan reaching for their pants that were on the floor and slipping them on.
“What time is it?” Chase asked.
I checked my phone. “Five.” Nolan’s dad was still making him work out before practices.
I rushed to my room and grabbed the first pair of sweats my hands touched, slipping them on over my pajama shorts before tugging a hoodie over my head. Ethan and Chase were right behind me when we ran down the stairs.
“Whoa, where’s the fire?” Dad asked as we burst through the door. He and Mom both sat on the porch with their morning coffees.
We all stopped and looked at one another for a second before I took a deep breath. We were all family. “Nolan needs help. I don’t have time to explain, but I might not make it back for chores.”
Dad stood up. “Do you need me?”
I shook my head. “Probably for the best you stay.” I spoke honestly, but his eyes narrowed, and he still took a step forward. “Nothing dangerous has happened. I promise to call you if I need you.”
Mom grabbed Dad’s arm, and he stopped, nodding at me. “Be sure you do.”
As we ran to the truck, I heard Mom say behind us, “It’s time for the next generation.”
“They are just kids,” Dad said.
“So were we.”
As soon as we got into the truck, I called Lachlan. “He’s okay,” was the first thing Lachlan said, and I fought to calm my breathing. It was hard not to think of the worse-case scenario.
“What happened?” I asked.
“He called because he pulled his muscle running. I was going to meet up with him, but he didn’t show. When I walked down the path, I found him passed out.”
“Is he awake now?” I tried but failed to keep the frantic edge out of my voice.
“Now and then. He’s not hurt. I just think he’s exhausted.”
I nodded. Rage boiled inside me, and all of it was directed at Nolan’s father. “We’re almost there.”
“Go to the end of the riverside trail. You know where the backside parking lot is?”
“The dirt one?”
“Yeah.”
I relayed the message to Ethan. Twenty-three minutes, that’s how long it took us to get there. Each second was an agonizing hour, but I had to remind myself Lachlan was there. Nolan was safe. The sun was coming up as Lachlan emerged from the end of a trail, alone.
“I need a hand moving him,” Lachlan said. “He’s dead weight.”
“Don’t say it like that.” Chase was upset, and I wasn’t sure why that shocked me. Perhaps it was because he’d never given any indication that he cared about Nolan before, not like he did Ethan and Lachlan. Maybe Nolan had grown on him.
We’d run down the path only a little way before Nolan’s form came into view. He was rolled onto his side in the recovery position, with a hoodie bunched up under his head. I walked up to him and knelt, my fingers brushing the hair off his forehead. He stirred.
“Nolan, you okay?” I asked.
His eyes fluttered open, and he tried to move his legs but winced, grabbing his left thigh. “Shit, shit, shit.” His voice was weak.
“We got you, man,” Chase said. “Let’s get you off the ground.” Lachlan rolled Nolan onto his back, and then he and Chase reached down, each grabbing an arm and pulling him up to his feet. “You’re right, he is dense.” Chase grunted.
“My GPA used to be three point eight,” Nolan said, his head rolling to rest on Lachlan’s shoulder.
“Sorry, bud, mine is four point two.” Lachlan chuckled.
“Bullshit. Show me.”
Lachlan pulled Nolan’s arm over his head and across his shoulder, getting a better grip around his hip. Chase did the same. “Yeah, sure, let me just whip it out,” he said sarcastically.
I choked a little and Ethan sighed. “I think we are talking about three different things here,” he said, walking with me behind the other guys.
Chase grunted under Nolan’s weight. “Wait, how do you get above a four?”
“Because I’m special.” Lachlan grinned.
Nolan winced. “Yeah, special classes.”
We were almost to the truck when Nolan’s feet suddenly stopped moving, and Chase and Lachlan cursed, trying to grab him and stop him from slipping off them. “He’s out again. Why does he keep going in and out?” Chase asked.
Ethan got in front, and the three of us grabbed Nolan and pulled him onto Ethan’s back. “Is he seriously that overtired that he can’t keep consciousness?” I asked. “What time has he been running since?”
Lachlan shrugged. “I told him to send me a text whenever he goes out by himself, but he never does. He called when he pulled his muscle because he couldn’t move and didn’t want his dad to know.”
“It will probably be easier to pull him into the bed of the truck,” I said. I tugged off my hoodie, and Chase did the same, then I laid the tailgate down, and we put our hoodies on the truck bed for him. It took both Lachlan and Chase to pull Nolan from up top, and me and Ethan to push him from below to get him up into the bed and onto our hoodies. Then we dragged him back, closer to the cab. “Hospital?” I asked.
Lachlan shook his head. “He said he just wanted to go home.” I knew that feeling. “Roll him onto his side, in the recovery position.”
I did as Lachlan asked. “You know, when we took first aid and CPR in class, I never thought we would be using it so much in day-to-day life.”
“Sorry,” Chase said.
My eyes flashed to him. “Don’t be. I’m glad we learned it.” I sat down next to Nolan’s head, and Lachlan took the other side. “Just go easy on the turns,” I told Ethan as he shut the tailgate and he and Chase got into the truck.
I held on to Nolan’s shoulder. In my mind, I was holding him steady to prevent him from rolling, but I found myself gently rubbing his arm. Lachlan pulled his sweater up over Nolan to keep the cold air from getting to him, then his hand found mine. “He’ll be okay,” Lachlan told me. “He had us to call. He’ll be okay.”
Yeah, he had us. What would’ve happened if Nolan hadn’t become part of our group? What would’ve happened if he didn’t have us as friends, family? His father was destroying him.
I pushed away the tears that threatened to fall and used the pain and anger I felt for that man to steel myself.
When we got to the condo, the garage door was open and the lights on, displaying the gym equipment no doubt waiting for when Nolan got back from his run. After all this, Nolan had football practice at the school. Weeks, months, this had been going on, weekends included. And then add in all the shit we’ve been going through…how many times did his father tack on extra runs for punishment when he missed his sessions? No wonder he was so exhausted. It was a miracle he didn’t get injured earlier.
Ethan turned the truck around and backed up to the open door just as Nolan’s father stepped out of the house. “What are you doing?” he snapped.
“Fuck you,” I growled at him.
Lachlan blinked at me a couple times before smiling and reaching for Nolan. Ethan and Chase were there right away, helping unload him, the same way we got him in.
“Nick, what happened, wake up.” His dad was displaying a mixture of anger and maybe an edge of hysteria.
“Where’s his room, Rob?” Ethan grunted once Nolan was draped over his back. “He’s okay, he’s just tired,” he tacked on. Rob did look on the verge of ready to fight us.
“I know where it is.” Lachlan didn’t wait for permission or instructions; he held the door open as Ethan carried Nolan into the house, Chase close behind.
“Tell me what happened to my son!” Rob yelled. “What did you do? Nick, wake up!”
“Nolan!” I finally snapped. We stood at the bottom of the stairs as Ethan made his way up, Chase placing a hand on Nolan’s back to keep him from falling off.
His dad spun on me. “I knew you would be trouble,” he growled.
“Say it.” I ground my teeth, trying to curb the anger.
“What?”
“Say his name.”
Nolan’s dad was a large man, but when I took a step forward, he found himself backing up against the wall. “His name is Nolan. I get you lost your other son, but can’t you see the damage you're doing? He is not Nick, and no matter how much you shove him into that small box, no matter how much it hurts him, he will always try to make you happy, but he will never be Nick. Ever. When he was hurt and in need of help, he didn’t call you. He called us. If you don’t stop, you’re going to have two dead sons!” I yelled in his face.
Spinning, I stomped up the stairs. I found the others in the room with an open door and stepped in just as Lachlan was pulling Nolan’s socks and shoes off. I grabbed the comforter and draped it over him, watching his breathing for a moment to reassure myself he was only sleeping. He was so still.
I knelt beside the bed. “Nolan,” I whispered, his face inches from mine. “Please give me some indication you’re okay, that I don’t have to call the ambulance right now,” I begged.
His eyes fluttered but didn’t fully open. “I’m okay,” he whispered. “I just need ten minutes. I'll be good in ten minutes.”
“Did you hit your head?” Lachlan asked.
“No.” Nolan yawned. “Hand me the pills in my drawer.”
Lachlan opened the drawer and pulled out a prescription bottle. Before he opened it, he looked at the label and took out his phone, searching for the drug name. “Muscle relaxers,” he said before opening the bottle and slipping one into Nolan’s hand. Nolan swallowed it with no drink, then promptly fell back asleep.
The picture frame on the bedside table caught my attention. “Can you guys stay here? With him?” I asked.
All three of them nodded, and I grabbed the picture, walking out. This had to stop. I couldn’t watch Nolan tear himself apart anymore. I got that it was selfish, but Nolan was family. I had to protect him as much as he wanted to try to protect me.
I expected Nolan’s dad to be downstairs somewhere, but he was sitting at the top of the stairs. I took a deep breath, calming myself before I sat down next to him. “Is he okay?” Rob asked, his voice broken.
“Yes.” His body deflated at that, and I gave him a moment before I held out the picture, and he gently took it from me. “This is Nick.” I pointed to the little boy that had the same haircut Nolan sported now. He had a huge grin on his face, his arms held up, showing off his muscles the way little boys did. “This is Nolan.” I pointed to the kid next to him. He was identical to Nick but also the total opposite. His hair was falling into his eyes, curly and resting below his chin. His shoulders were hunched a little, and the smile he had was soft, content. Like he was just happy to be and didn’t need to be big to show it. He leaned into his brother.
The grown man next to me let out a long breath as tears rolled down his cheeks. “I thought I was helping Nolan.” His voice was low. “I thought I was keeping him busy and doing things his brother did, so he wouldn’t have to miss or grieve his brother. He never said—” His voice broke.
“Nolan told me he was being more like Nick, so you wouldn’t have to grieve his loss. You both are pretending he never died.”
That broke the man. Sobs wracked his body, and he clutched the picture in his hands, large tears falling onto the glass. I wrapped my arm around his shoulder, having to reach up to half hug his frame. “It’s something a son, a brother, should have never had to do.” He tried to take steadying breaths. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know it was hurting him so much. He never—”
“He never would have told you.” It was something I was learning. “It’s the ones we love the most who will heal us the most. But it’s the ones we love the most we hide from because we want to protect them. We need to stop hiding the pain.”
Silence descended as we both stared at the picture. “We went for a hike that day,” his dad said, clearing his throat and wiping the tears off the picture before wiping them off his own cheeks. “Nick was so determined to beat our time, wanting to conquer the trail, always running up ahead, coming back and telling Nolan to hurry up before running back ahead of us. Nolan wanted to stop at every rock, lift it up to see what bugs lived under there. He would pause every five minutes and look at the sky and say, ‘Dad, listen,’ and then he would spout out the name of some bird, followed by the scientific name. Nick was my hurry up and get there , beat the race kind of kid. Nolan was my stop and listen to the birds and smell the flowers kind.”
Rob moved to put his arm around me, giving me a large side hug before letting go.
“Thank you, kid, you’re a good friend. I’m going to go check on him.” He cleared his throat again and wiped his face, trying to get rid of any evidence he was crying. His eyes were so bloodshot and puffy, it was still obvious.
I followed him to the room and smiled at the shouts and laughing coming from within. Nolan was awake, though still lying in bed and looking tired. Ethan leaned against the dresser, arms crossed and smiling. Chase was standing on top of a chair, shouting something, while Lachlan sat at the end of the bed. Everyone went silent when we walked into the room, and Chase quickly got down off the chair.
“Dad? Are you okay?” Nolan asked. He sat up quickly but gasped, grabbing his leg.
“What happened?” Rob asked, stepping up to his son. The worry and love he had for Nolan was the same I felt my dad had for me. He never wanted to harm his son; grief makes us do things we wouldn’t normally do. It disguised the wrong choices as the only choices.
“My leg won’t relax, it keeps spasming. Should I get in the ice plunge?” Nolan asked.
Lachlan’s eyes widened, but before he spoke, Nolan’s dad did. “No, son. Let’s get some heat on this and let you rest.”
Nolan looked over at the clock on his bedside table. “I have practice soon.”
“I’ll call Coach. You’re staying home today.”
Nolan blinked at him a couple times, then frowned. “Why? I’m fine, I can do it.” He tried to get up, but his father stopped him.
“Nolan Brodie Reeves, you will stay in that bed, or else you will hurt yourself further. I’ll make a drink for you. Some magnesium and potassium will help, banana and strawberry? I’ll add the spinach—”
“Chocolate goes good with that,” I offered.
Rob chuckled and shook his head. “Yes, chocolate. I’ll have to go to the store. Any requests?” he asked Nolan. Nolan couldn’t stop frowning at his father like he had grown two extra heads. “Mint, you like chocolate mint.” He snapped his fingers, like he had just remembered something.
“We should head out,” I said to the others. “Coach will have a heart attack about one of us missing practice before the weekend, never mind five of us.”
Nolan grabbed my hand. “What’d you do to him?” he mock-whispered.
Rob sighed. “She told me to stop and listen to the birds, son.”
I smiled at Nolan and gave his hand a squeeze before leaving.