Micha


The next day is the transplant thing and we meet up with my dad at the hospital. The room they put us in is small, with a curtain, a couple of chairs, and this odd-looking machine with a lot of wires. It smells like Lysol and the loudness of the hallway flows in from the open door.


I read up on the procedure before I came out to New York and it’s not too complicated. The doctor will put a needle in my arm and run some of my blood through a machine before it returns to my veins.


My dad is doing something on his phone as the three of us sit there in silence. Ella is scrapping her fingernail polish off, and I can’t stop tapping my foot against the floor. Ella’s got a hickey on her neck from where I sucked on her skin last night. She tried to cover it up with makeup, but it’s still visible and I love that it is.


“Micha, could you knock that off?” my dad asks rudely as he eyes my foot. “I have a headache.”


I stop jiggling my leg and Ella slides me a sidelong glance before staring coldly at my father.


“Would you mind getting off your phone?” she asks him, pulling at the ends of her sleeves “It’s kind of rude since he’s here to help you.”


God, I love when she gets this way. Even though it’s rare, her spitfire attitude is beautiful. At least to me, but probably not so much for the people she’s directing it at.


My dad scowls at her harshly as he pushes a button on his phone. “Excuse me?”


“Yes, excuse you,” she counters. “Instead of doing that, you should be sitting here thanking him, don’t you think?”


I cover my mouth with my hand to hold back a smile and place my other hand over hers, sketching my finger along her wrist, thinking about what it felt like to touch her last night.


My father looks at me, hoping I’ll intervene, but I shrug. “You’re on your own.”


The nurse enters before anyone can say anything else. She has a clipboard in her hand and her eyes skim the papers. Her hair is the same shade as Ella’s but she is at least ten years older, with brown eyes and freckles. “Alright, is it Micha?”


I flash her a charismatic smile. “Yeah, you even pronounced it right, which doesn’t happen very often.”


She smiles at me, a little frazzled as she sets the clipboard down on the counter. “It’s probably better if you two wait outside. It’ll take a little while.”


Ella looks at me and I nod my head while my dad hurries out of the room like it’s on fire.


Before she leaves, Ella kisses me on the cheek. “I’ll be right outside if you need me.”
She’s been acting weird since last night, more affectionate, which I don’t mind, but it’s puzzling.


Once the room is cleared out, the nurse prepares the machine and puts a needle in my arm. I barely notice the sting. My thoughts are with Ella and what she’s saying to my dad.


Ella


As soon as I lay eyes on Micha’s dad, it’s clear he’s an arrogant asshole. He’s wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase, like he needs to prove he has somewhere important to be. Micha hasn’t really talked to me much about what goes on between them, but it’s obvious that it’s been bad.


After the nurse asks us to leave, I sit in the waiting area and Micha’s dad seats himself across from me. It’s loud, with screaming children and people coughing.


“You’re that little girl who lived next door, aren’t you?” Micha’s dad asks with a disdainful tone. He looks like Micha, with aqua eyes and attractive facial features, only older. “The one who had the family with all the problems.”


He hits me in my weak spot and it takes a lot of mental preparation before I retaliate. “Aren’t you the asshole who walked out on his family?”


The old lady beside me turns her head in our direction, shunning me with a look for my foul language.


Micha’s dad leans forward in his seat, buttoning up the cuff of one of his sleeves. “I’d like to know why you think you can talk to me this way. You don’t know me.”


“But I do know you.” I cross my legs and rest my arms on my lap. “You’re the man who walked out on the greatest person you’ll never know. And you know what, I’m kind of glad you did, otherwise Micha might have turned into a dick like you.”


Micha’s dad looks at me like he wants to slap me and the old lady narrows her eyes at me, about to say something, but I leave the room before she gets an opportunity.


I wander around the hospital halls and pass the nurse’s desk, deciding to steal a lollipop from out of the bin to give to Micha as a joke. The hospital is a sad place, full of crying and screaming people and beeping machines. It’s like everyone is waiting around for someone to die and it puts an unnerving feeling in the air. It brings me back to the day my mother died and we went to the hospital with her, even though she was pronounced dead on arrival. I didn’t cry, but my dad and Dean did, hugging each other while I stood near the end of the hall, watching the nurses and doctors walk by.


I felt out of place, like I shouldn’t have been there. Finally I ended up leaving and walked all the way home, curled up in my bed, and stared at the ceiling until the sun rose, knowing my life would never be the same.


When I reach the psychiatry services area, it feels like an invisible hand winds around my neck and strangles me. I back away from it quickly, bumping into a nurse wearing blue scrubs.


“What are you doing?” She glances over my shoulder at the shut door. “You shouldn’t be back here.”


I inch away from her. “Nothing. I was just looking for the restroom.”


I collect my thoughts about how I might end up in a place like this and I return to the front desk area. Micha is waiting for me in one of the chairs, flipping through a magazine. His skin is pale and his blond hair sticks to his forehead. He has on a Rise Against T-shirt and black jeans and the leather bands that were on his wrist are replaced by a bandage.


Hiding the lollipop in my hand behind my back, I approach him. “You made it out alive.”


He looks up at me and smiles tiredly. “Of course I did, but where did you wander off to?”


“Nowhere really.” I sit down in the chair beside him and he tosses the magazine onto the table. “I wanted to get away from your father.”


He searches my face. “What did you say to him? Because he came back to the room all pissed off.”


I give a one-shouldered shrug. “Nothing but the truth.”


Grinning, he stretches his legs out in front of himself and raises his arms above his head. “If it’s okay with you I’d like to go back to the hotel room and sleep. That took a lot out of me.”


“Don’t you want to wait for your dad to get out?”


“Nah, not really.” He drops his hands to his lap. “What are you hiding behind your back?”


My mouth curves into a grin as I extend my hand out to him with the red lollipop in my palm. “This is for being a very brave boy.”


He laughs softly and takes the lollipop. “God, I love you.”


I get to my feet and help him to his. His movements are lethargic as we head toward the sliding-glass doors.


He peels the wrapper off the lollipop and puts it in his mouth. “As much as I love your gift, there are a ton more ways you could make me feel better when we get back to the room.”


I laugh under my breath, not protesting, because at that moment I’d do anything for him.