One Shots [discontinued]

IASWAA | The Crew

I’d never seen Oliver cry before.

To see him cry now . . . it was . . . odd.  Yeah, odd was the only way to describe it.  To see the tears dripping down his face as he gripped the hospital door . . . it broke my heart.  But then again it elated me to know that those tears weren’t out of remorse.  They were happy. 

Dannon, still sitting in his bed, smiled.  His full attention was on his best friend, his eyes alight.  I struggled not to shed my own tears of joy as Oliver continued to cry.  Shelley, Garner, Paula, and Meghan crowded around him, appalled expressions on their faces.  No one said anything.  We all waited.  What we were waiting for, I wasn’t exactly sure.

“Oh my God,” Oliver croaked out at last, his voice thick as he covered his mouth with his hand.  “Oh my God.”

Dannon laughed, his voice like a sweet melody filling the air.  I closed my eyes taking in the sound of his chuckles.  For how long had we all thought we’d never hear that sound again?  How long did we believe that we’d lost Dannon—and everything about him—forever?  A long time.

Suddenly Oliver wasn’t at the door anymore.  He rushed across the room, not at all caring that he was blubbering and bawling his eyes out.  At the moment pride didn’t cross his mind.  At least, it didn’t seem like it did.  And I loved that about him.  He wasn’t afraid to show his friend that he’d missed him.

As the two friends embraced, my eyes flicked to Kyla as she stood beside me.  Her eyes were watering at the sight of her boyfriend’s tears, at the sight of such sentimentality.  I had the sudden urge to wrap my arms around her, to hold her tight to me because I had no idea what could happen to either of us.  One of us could be lost at any moment, any time.

“Hey, Dannon,” said Oliver, trying for lightness as he pulled away.  He wiped his eyes, sniffling.  “Nice to see you, man.”

Dannon’s eyes were bright as he beamed at his friend.  “Nice to see you, too, Oliver.”

Dannon’s eyes lifted from Oliver, sweeping over toward the crew as they huddled in the doorway.  Shelley’s eyes were bright with fresh tears, gripping Garner’s hand tightly.  Dannon’s eyes collided with their intertwined hands and he laughed.  “Wow, I must have been gone for centuries,” he mused.  “Are you two finally together?”

I couldn’t help but laugh with the rest.  Shelley let out a whimper in her throat before she flung herself at Dannon, too, almost crushing Oliver to death as she pushed her way toward him.  “Dammit, Dannon!” she shrieked, as she hugged him.  “Don’t you ever do that to me, to us again do you hear me?  That was so unbelievably—”

Dannon grinned, hugging her back.  His eyes met mine as he hugged his friend and his smile grew.  My smile grew, too.  I don’t think that anybody here had ever been this happy before.  And if they were, I’d like to know what the hell happened.  Because this was bliss.

“It was hell,” Garner said, stepping to the side as Meghan and Paula stepped in, each taking their turns hugging Dannon.  It was hard because Shelley did not look inclined to let them in on the hug-fest.  It was funny, in a way.  She was blubbering in a way that could only be defined as comical.  And the fact that she was reprimanding him for going into a coma like he’d stolen a cookie from the cookie jar only made it funnier.  It reminded me of the time I switched camps for a summer and went back to my old one.  My counselor hugged me and told me never to do such an awful thing again. 

“Yes, it was hell!” Shelley whined, pulling away and moving away.  “So glad to have you back, Dannon—really.”

“Hell?” Dannon’s eyebrows creased with concern.  He’d known it was bad, from what I’d told him (which was almost nothing, by the way).  But he didn’t know just how bad it was.  It seemed he was about to find out.