Vince lays 100% alive, but filled up with drugs in a hospital bed. My dad, mom, Dani, and I all sit in chairs not too far from his bed staring at him as he stirs in his sleep before fluttering his eyes open.
I know Vicki's in the waiting room wishing she could be in here, but honestly there's not much to see. Since the doctors let us in his room he's just been sleeping and trying to wake up then going back to sleep. If I wasn't filled with guilt and fear I would be knocked out too. Dani is almost there as she rests on my dad's lap, but the sound of someone's footsteps makes her and Vince both wake up.
"I'm fine," Vince moans and lets go of my mom's grasp on his hand. A young woman in blue scrubs walks in and we all turn our heads.
"Hi i'm doctor Silverman I'll be taking care of Vince today," She says with a smile directed towards Vince.
It's probably because I'm drowsy as hell and it's late, but doctor Silverman looks exactly like Margot Robbie.
"Margot?" Vince asks and turns his head to the side. So it isn't just me, but Vince is filled up with Valium so maybe not. Doctor Silverman laughs along with my parents who are forcing uneasy smiles on their faces.
Doctor Silverman's face loses its light touch and I take a long deserved deep breathe. "We've run some tests and it seems that Vince has had a concussion for a little less than a month." Concussion the worst word in football vocabulary. My dad's eyes immediately go wide and he looks from Doctor Silverman to Vince.
"How bad is it?" My dad asks.
"It's mild, but because Vine hasn't stayed away from strenuous activity it became critical and this lead to his seizure."
We all look at Vince begging for an explanation which I'm sure he has. Vince sighs and with one look at my mom's eyes I can tell she would be screaming at him and possibly my father if we weren't in the hospital.
"A few weeks ago I took a bad blow to the head I thought it was normal and just a headache," Vince says. My mom shakes her head and my dad runs his hand over his face.
For the next few minutes I pretty much zone out as Doctor Silverman uses too many scientific words to explain what's going on. During her explanation and my zoning out I come to the conclusion that I officially hate hospitals, like any other sane person. I hate the small tvs you can't hear, the way the doctors pushed me aside in the hospital, and I hate that the overall surroundings make you focus on things like the fear in your parents' faces.
"Daya?" my mom's voice booms and I come back to reality.
"Yes," I say and jump up a little bit.
For the first time since I came here and saw Vince in his hospital gown his eyes are directly on me.
"Vince is going to get some rest and he'll probably be discharged tomorrow. Your dad and I are going to stay, but I'm going to uber you and Dani to your dad's house because it's closer and Kayla is there," my mom states.
Before my mom can completely get up from her seat Vince reaches out and grabs her wrist. "Tell Vicki I'm ok and to go home. I don't want her to see me like this." He's so dramatic. My mom nods and Vince quickly goes back to sleep prior to Doctor Silverman leading us out of the waiting room. I expect to see just Vicki and Vince's coach, but instead they're joined by Jada, Darian, and that player who's just always there.
Darian and the other player are still in their uniforms just like Vicki is still wearing Vince's football hoodie. They all stand up when we enter the room and show the same worried faces they had on the field.
"Is he alright?" Vicki asks. My mom explains Vince's diagnosis to them, and their reactions are a mix of relief that he's going to be ok, but with some subliminal sadness because of the elephant in the room.
The fat elephant that I'm sure we're all trying to push to the back of our brains is Vince's football career. Vince was jerking on the ground not too long ago so no one has asked the forbidden question, when will he be back on the field? I'm sure the first person to ask will be Vince himself or my dad.
As much as I want to stay and sit in one of those uncomfortable black chairs waiting for Vince even though there's nothing to wait for, I have to be with Dani. She's closer to me than Vince because of the 7 year age gap. Because of this she's seen Vince as this football superhero, strong, and brave. She's in her last year of elementary school and I know I can't stop her from seeing what she sees, but I can do my best to comfort her.
When we get home Kayla is up waiting for us on the couch, and she gives us both big hugs before going straight to sleep.
"You Hungry?" I ask as I finish tying her head scarf in the bathroom mirror. All we had between the beginning of the game and now was nachos and a vending machine cookie so I figured.
"Starving," she states and we both head into the kitchen. I pour us two bowls of apple jacks and we share my earbuds to watch Grey's Anatomy at the dining table.
"Do you think Dr. Silverman has all of this drama?" Dani asks.
"No she seems like she's got her life together, but doesn't she look like Margot Robbie?"
"No you and Vince don't know what you're talking about." I roll my eyes, but then start staring at Dani as she laughs at the show.
"You're ok right?"
"Yeah, I'm not the one who passed out," she says and doesn't turn away from the screen.
"He had a seizure."
"Whatever." We look back at my phone and try not to clink our spoons to loudly. We fall asleep at the dining table, but I wake up after 30 minutes.
I don't go to my room at first, and instead use everything in me to carry the 100 pounds of sleeping Dani to the couch. I now see why that only works for children who are at least 5. I put a blanket on top of her and she surprisingly is fast asleep like someone who wasn't almost dropped by their sister.
I head into my room and when I get to my bed my phone buzzes. Although I've been ignoring all of my messages about tonight, I open this one because its from my mom. It's not a text, but a video of Vince in his hospital bed admiring how good his hospital sandwich is. He has a big smile on his face and that's all I need to peacefully fall asleep.
The next morning the first thing we do is get ready and Kayla drives us to the hospital, so my mom can take us to her place. After the whole night and some hours in the morning with Vince my parents can barely open their eyes, and want to scream at Dr Silvermen when she tells us the discharge process is going to take longer. Luckily Vince is still fine, and when everyone goes to eat breakfast we both decide to stay in his room.
"So how hard was it for Vicki to leave?" I ask. Vince looks up from his phone then narrows his eyes one me.
"Tears were shed, but it's alright." He automatically stops looking me in my eyes and goes back to his phone.
"You sure? She really cares about you." While I fiddle with my fingers Vince sighs and puts his phone on the nightstand.
Finally he gives me all of his attention, instead of trying to pretend like the sadness in the room isn't here. "Daya I'm ok stop looking at me with so much damn pity."
"You had a freaking seizure you're not ok," I raise my voice.
"That's over now Dr Silverman said to take the week off and I should be fine."
"A week?" Vince and I now battle stares and even though he's laying in a bed his scold is harder.
"Yes a week so I won't be playing or practicing for 7 days." Now that he puts it like that it does sound like a lot of time away from football.
"I'm sorry," I say looking at the white tiles on the floor and not Vince's scold.
"For what?"
Tears battle in my sockets, but I manage to keep them in."For not telling dad the second I saw you in pain."
"It's fine." It's fine? This is the part where he's supposed to say 'sorry for putting you in the position of not telling dad about my pain.'
We sit in silence for a bit until Vince finally finds out how to use the remote and change the channel from the news. He's about to scroll through the guide, but the words of the news reporter's voice stops him and he goes back.
"Marina High School quarterback seizes during last quarter," the lady on the news announces. "The player has not been named but it is said that he's in the hospital and will recover quickly." Vince abruptly changes the channel and we share a knowing look.
"See I will recover quickly," Vince mocks.
"Aren't Notre Dame and all the other schools going to find out about this?" Now that was a forbidden question.
"Oh my god Daya stop worrying about everything. I'm going to be fine because I'm still an amazing player." Vince makes it so hard for me to love and care for him sometimes.
The only good thing his words are doing are stopping the tears that were so close to falling out of my eyes. I have so many other questions about if his injury will jeopardize his scholarship, but I know that will lead to one of us raising our voices. Vince moves from his lying position and turns to sit on the side of the bed.
"Come here," he says and extends one of his arms. I don't hesitate at all and rush into his arms. We stay like this for about the same amount of time that Vince was seizing and then go back to our previous arrangement.
Everyone else comes back from breakfast and Dr Silverman gives Vince the permission to leave this depressing place that saves lives. My family that came together for Vince's heath separates in the hospital parking lot when my dad goes in Kayla's car and my mom takes us kids after drinking a huge cup of coffee. It's so crazy that less than 24 hours ago, the only thing I was worried about was if Ziyah has an ex, which seems so minimal now.
When I get to my mom's I check my phone and my messages from my relatives across the country are at its highest number. Of course they are asking about Vince and his condition , and not why they haven't called in the last years. They probably all know the whole situation by now, but I set their nerves at ease and tell them Vince is alright.
I have to also copy and paste this to Harper who said she almost had a heart attack when Navia told her about the game. After doing the copy and paste process 3 times I get to Ziyah's text which is actually different from everyone else's.
Ziyah: Hey I hope your brother is ok and if you need to talk I got you
He sent this yesterday and I do want to talk to him, but I don't want to be a burden. I'm so close to pressing that phone button, but Dani burst into our room and shouts, "We're watching a movie wanna join?"
I look back at my phone and feel a tad torn, but when my eyes reach Dani's crooked smile I know the right answer. Ziyah could give me the biggest kiss and compliment my arms a million times, and I would still know the right answer which is more than I can say for my peers.
"Yea just give me a second," I say. Dani closes the door and rushes back to the living room with very loud steps. I start to type and don't end up deleting any words out of fear of embarrassment, and send the text.
Me: Hey thank you that means a lot. I'm sorry I'm just texting you back, I'll talk to you tomorrow.