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I brought the rest of my rapidly melting Caramilk to my lips and bit into it as I shamelessly watched his ass walk away. Dakota caught my eye as she came out from behind the nurse’s desk, hurried down the hall past Dean, and right into the elevator.
She slammed her thumb down on the close door button and turned to me, crossing her arms.
“Okay, Gia, spill.”
hunter
“I don’t understand.”I looked from the doctor to my dad and back again. “You said UNOS had a liver coming.”
“It wasn’t in good condition, Hunter. I couldn’t accept it.”
I exhaled, dropping my head back on the pillow and closing my eyes with a frown.
“Listen, they’re not taking you from the top of the list, so you must be a little more patient.”
My eyes flew open to look at my dad. “All I’ve been is patient, andapatient, all my life! I’m ready to stop being sick andlive.” He turned to the doctor and grabbed his elbow, steering him out of the room to have another one of those sidebar conversations he’d been having all my life where he made decisions without me.
“Fuck,” I said to no one in particular as I lifted my head only to drop it back down on the pillow repeatedly. My phone buzzed from the table as I lay there, trying not to wallow in self-pity. Turning over, I grabbed it and flicked the screen open, grinning at the message.
Austin, my best friend since childhood, was on his way over. He didn’t live here anymore, but apparently, his cousin just had babies, so he was still in town after visiting her. A few minutes later, a moppy head of dark brown hair appeared in the doorway, followed by an atrocious vase of flowers.
“For the sickly boy.” Austin looked over the bouquet and grinned.
“You didn’t.”
“I did not. You don’t deserve it.” He laughed as he walked into the room and set it on the table beside me. “My cousin had like a million, so I stole one.”
“So, you did.”
Austin dropped himself into the chair by the window and shook his head. “Doesn’t count.” He threw his feet onto my bed and relaxed, clasping his hands behind his head.
“What are the chances of both of us being here?”
“Here like the hospital, or here in Pleasant Lake?”
“Pleasant Lake, I’d rather not be in the hospital, but who else would want to visit you?”
“Hah.” I rolled my eyes and shrugged. “Chances are pretty high. You know I moved back last year.”
“Right, hometown boy returns.” He dropped his hands and straightened his face to one of seriousness. “How you feeling?”
“Great. They’ve got me on morphine.” I kicked a thumb in the direction of my IV line. “When that’s not on? Shitty.”
“But you’re getting a liver soon?”
I sighed, and the day's bad news came crashing back down. Solemnly, I shook my head. “Nope. Doctor came by to tell me it wasn’t suitable, whatever that means. Shit out of luck at this point.”
Austin stared at me, a furrow creasing his brow for a long time. The silence felt uneasy when I was used to us screwing around when we were together. I opened my mouth to tell him it wasn’t a big deal when he spoke.
“I’ll go talk to him and see if we can test mine.”
“What?”
He shrugged. “I’m in town. Why not? It’s just a liver. I don’t need the whole thing—right? You’ve lived without a decent one for twenty-five years.” He flashed me a grin before slamming his hands down on the arms of the chair and standing up.
“You’re not serious, are you?”
“Sure? Why not?”
