chapter thirty-seven

harris

There's nothing quite so fun as waking up in a hospital bed. "Mom?" My throat is raspy, sore. There's this weird, chilly tickling in my nose, but when I put my hand there to see what's up, I feel one of those little oxygen tubes, and the discomfort of an IV drip in the crook of my elbow. My eyes are attempting to adjust to the fluorescent lights when a deep voice comes out of nowhere.

"Harris?"

My eyes focus on a man in a lab coat and scrubs, holding a clipboard. He looks familiar, although I couldn't tell you why. He's just got this familiar nose. I can't explain it.

"Glad to see you awake," he says, grinning through a thick, bushy beard and crossing over to me. He's pale like Seb, although his eyes are a sharp, similarly familiar green. I feel like I've seen him around, but can't figure out where. "I'm Doctor Miller."

Ohhhh.

Puzzle pieces slide into place through my brain fog. Miller. Evan. Mom's coworker doctor guy. Maybe puppy guy friend? Interesting.

"Neil?" I guess.

He laughs. I don't know why he laughs, but it's deep and throaty, kind of like if Santa just kicked back a bourbon on the rocks. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"Uh, yeah, you too. Why am I here?" I've realized that I'm in this hospital bed with little The Fault in Our Stars-style tubes shoved up my nose, wearing a hospital gown and all. "And where's my mom?"

"Your mom went to go home and grab a quick change of clothes, and make sure Peaches was alright. She was still in her scrubs when she brought you here. Do you remember her bringing you here?"

I shake my head. After that blood in my elbow—which, oh god, never again, please—there's nothing.

"Well," Neil—the Neil, ohmygodwow—says, "you had a really bad fever. We ended up taking some blood and doing a sputum culture. You were somewhat awake at one point, and we took a urine sample too. When you were out again, we also took an X-ray."

"Well, with all that, I'm guessing you know why I'm here?" I can't see Mom leaving me alone if they hadn't figured it out. Still, all I can remember of this morning is fuzzy, yet concerning. Coughing up blood. Searing body pain, equally searing migraine. Using up nearly an entire roll of new toilet paper.

Instead of answering my question, Neil says, "So your mom says you went swimming in the quarry? Picked up a pretty standard case of oral thrush?"

"Yes." Damn that quarry. "Is that why I'm here? The oral thrush?"

"Nope."

I wait for him to say something else. "....Okay?" Does he know his son punched me? Is that why he's being weird? Because I thought me and Evan were chill.

Neil itches the edge of his beard. The scratching sound makes my nose wrinkle up, but I don't think he notices. "So, Harris, you've got Legionnaires'. It's not the end of the world. We found some infiltrates on your lungs, but nothing like an abscess or pleural diffusion."

"Sorry, but uh, doctor words don't make sense to me, Dr. Miller."

His smile isn't as tired as I'd have expected. "Just consider it severe pneumonia, Harris. When you went swimming in the quarry, did you choke on any water or anything?"

I think back to it. Jumping in. The just-right water. The spluttering as I surfaced and tried to get Seb to join me. "Yes."

"Generally, this is something you'd find in say a hot tub or aerosol can," Neil says, finally stopping with the beard scratching. "It's really just breathing in contaminated water. We had a few other cases a couple weeks ago, all kids who had been in the quarry."

Oh shit. Could he possibly mean—"Elana Doorsey?" I guess.

"I can't share patient information. It's confidential." I don't know Neil very well, but it feels like a 'yes.' "Everyone seems to be making full recoveries, thankfully. There's about a one-in-ten chance of not making it, but you're all young. You should be okay."

If I felt like I could sigh right now, I would. "Really?"

"Basically, you'll have to stay here for a little bit, but if you're looking better after a week or so, you should be able to continue treatment at home. I'm guessing you'll be a-okay."

"Okay. Cool." This is all admittedly dizzying. Somehow, I feel like I'm dreaming, but ... ain't no way. I glance at the IV drip shoved in my arm, then back at Evan's dad. The ever-infamous Neil. (Again. Wow.) "I caught it from the quarry?"

"If I were a gambler, I'd place my bet on that, yes." He glances down at his clipboard. "You a smoker, Harris?"

"Not intentionally?"

"I'll take that as a 'yes.'"

"Yeah." It's more of a mumble than I'd have liked for it to be. "You should take it as a 'yes.'"

Footsteps approach in the hallway, and my chest squeezes tight. I want to call out MOM? and have her run in and hug me, but I don't want to seem melodramatic in front of The Doctor Neil. But then, there she is, rounding the corner in an oversized sweatshirt and jeans, and I nearly do call out. Her hair is still in its work ponytail, but her normally meticulous coils have unspooled a little bit, and the makeup on her cheeks and forehead is shiny from being on for what's got to be over twenty-four hours.

Mom purses her lips. "Baby," she says, speed walking forward to hug me. I hug her back, even though the IV drip tugs my arm painfully. I still ache all over, but this is ignorable. "Oh, I'm so glad you're okay."

She pulls away from me and holds me by the shoulders. "Now, are you ever going to do something as stupid as swimming in that goddamn, motherfucking quarry ever a-fucking-gain?"

"Don't worry, I won't," I promise her, smiling. The migraine from this morning is a barely noticeable headache, and my muscle pain has largely dissipated. "And hey, look, I don't have any absences in my lungs."

Mom wraps her arms around me again and squeezes me tight. "Abscesses, you idiot."

There's a knock on the doorway. I look up and am surprised my eyes don't fall out of my skull. "Seb?"

"Oh, yeah, I brought your little boyfriend along with me," Mom says, turning to look back at him. "I was in the middle of changing, and he wouldn't stop ringing the fucking doorbell. I thought Peaches had gotten out of the yard again, and a neighbor was gonna get on me about it, and I was going to literally—y'know, nevermind. Not important right now."

Seb waves sheepishly. I can see the redness in his eyes, the slight wetness beneath his nose. "Hey," I say, my voice suddenly quiet. "Look who decided to show up."

"Harris, I am so sorry about ... well, everything. I can't believe I ghosted you like that." He walks up to the edge of my bed, next to my mom. He casts her a nervous glance for a moment, then focuses on me. "I had a ... really weird week. I promise, I can explain everything, but it's still no excuse for—"

"I don't care." I'm smiling. I'm smiling so fucking wide. Until I cough, but there's no blood, so hey. It's a painful cough for sure, but then I'm right back to smiling. "I'm not mad. I'm just really stinking happy you're here, Seb."

"And I'm really stinking happy that you're okay." He shakes his head at me, his slight grin tired. "Are you going to listen to me the next time I tell you something is a bad idea?"

My laugh is raspier than usual. Not that I mind it. "Yes, Seb, I will listen to you the next time you tell me that something is a bad idea."

"Good." His brow furrows. "But, you're okay?"

"According to my new bestie over here, yes."

Mom glances between us. "So.... You've met Neil now, huh?"

"Yes. Now I know 'who the fuck' is Neil."

"Well...." Mom bites the inside of her cheek. I already know what she's about to say. She has to realize that. It's painfully obvious. If my throat weren't so sore, I'd be laughing right now. "Baby, Neil and I have been seeing each other the past few months. I'm sorry you guys couldn't meet under better circumstances."

I shrug. "I kind of figured. What kind of 'friend' gets their 'friend' a puppy?"

Doctor Neil snorts. "Yeah, okay, yes, fair."

"Well, now that that's out of the way—" Mom starts, but I cut her off.

"Wait, Mom, this is Seb. The one who you—"

"The one who I saw leaving at seven a.m.? And then drove here just now, after he nearly broke down the door? Yes. Hi again, Seb. Pretty sure I went to school with your aunt."

I meet Seb's gaze and take a steadying breath. "Well, Seb is my ... boyfriend?" I try to let him know—with my eyes, which is harder than it sounds—that this is so completely his choice. But ... I like Seb. Like, like-like-like-like him. And I'm not going to play this inadvertent game of cat and mouse anymore. If he doesn't want to be my boyfriend, then so be it. But I'm not going to pretend that I don't feel this way.

He doesn't say anything. Fuck.

Am I being pushy again? This is just like the quarry all over again, isn't it? Fuck. I need to stop pulling this—

Seb's face cracks open in a big, wide smile, so wide that it hides one of his larger freckles in a smile line crease. "Yep," he says, and just like that, I'm smiling too.

Mom ruffles my hair. "Nothing like making things official in a hospital bed, huh, kiddo?"

"That obvious?" I ask. Almost-laughing causes a tight, painful stirring in my chest, so I try to ignore the urge.

"Very obvious," Doctor Neil says. "But hey, thumbs up. Approval."

"Yeah.... Thanks, Neil." I fight off the urge to turn to Mom and ask her, wide-eyed and innocent, Is Neil my new daddy? I'll probably whip it out later, like our first weird dinner together, me and him and Mom and Evan. Oh, yep. Perfect. That sounds good.

"Alright, well," Mom says, "I think me and Seb should go grab some dinner. You didn't have any kind of allergic reaction to your levofloxacin injection, but let Neil know if you have any vaginal itching. Well, more so than usual."

"Ahaha. You are so funny."

"I'm hilarious." She tightens her ponytail. "Alright, Seb, let's grab some Culver's, and I can tell you embarrassing stories about my son."

"Ooh, my favorite," Seb says. He gives me one last smile before he leaves, mouthing I'll text you before he follows Mom into the hallway, disappearing quickly. I hear, "So I heard about the mushrooms...." before they're out of earshot.

"Well.... Nice to meet you, Harris," Neil says, then leaves hurriedly as well.

I just smile, leaning back into the starchy hospital pillow and closing my eyes.

All in all, not a bad turnout.