Page 123 of My Brother's Best Friend

I tore some skin off the inside of my cheek and gnawed on it.

“Ms. Rodriguez,” a nurse said, frowning. “Can I talk to you?”

Ms. Rodriguez, Vera’s mom, nodded and followed her out into the hall, leaving the door ajar. Keeping my gaze on Vera, I inched closer to the door to listen in on whatever this nurse was about to tell Vera’s mom about Vera’s condition.

Their voices were muffled, so I couldn’t quite hear clearly what they were saying, but I caught the wordinsurancetossed around a couple of times. I rubbed my sweaty palms together, playing with my fingers, because I knew that Ms. Rodriguez couldn’t afford good insurance.

Ms. Rodriguez would forever be in debt because of me. This was my fault.

After about five minutes of them chatting back and forth and seemingly getting nowhere, Mr. Harleen—Blaise’s father—stepped into the hallway and shut the door behind himself so that we couldn’t overhear their conversation anymore.

Blaise sat on the other side of Vera’s bed, clutching her hand tightly, tears in his eyes.

“This is my fault,” I whispered. “I convinced Vera to skip school with me.”

“Maddie,” Blaise growled from across the bed.

I hung my head. “I’m sorry.”

While I had never really been left alone with Blaise because he wasn’t much of a talker to anyone but Vera, I had seen how much they loved each other. And though he didn’t show his emotions on a regular basis, they were written all over his face right now.

Blaise brought Vera’s hand up to his lips and drew his thumbs across her knuckles.

“She wanted me to tell you that she loves you with all her heart,” I whispered.

The room was quiet for a long, long time, Blaise tensing by the moment. And then, suddenly, he burst out into a sob, his cries breaking my heart even more than Vera’s words while she had lain on the concrete, bleeding out.

The door opened, and Ms. Rodriguez and Mr. Harleen walked into the room. Ever since Blaise and Vera had started dating, their parents had become closer and closer, like they used to be years ago.

“Ethan,” Ms. Rodriguez said, staring at Blaise’s father, “you don’t?—”

“Luciana, don’t fucking tell me that I don’t have to do anything for your daughter.”

I stared between them, heart pounding. Ms. Rodriguez worked multiple jobs to support Vera and Mateo, her children, and she didn’t like taking money from anyone. But Ethan Harleen wasn’t just anyone to her anymore.

“Thank you,” Ms. Rodriguez finally whispered. “Thank you so much.”

Blaise glanced up from Vera’s bedside. “What happened?”

“Don’t worry about it, Blaise,” his father growled at him.

From what Vera had told me, Blaise and his father had never had the best relationship, but I was glad that he had come to at least support Blaise. Or maybe he was only here for Ms. Rodriguez. Hell, it didn’t matter to me, but Vera was the only person that Blaise had.

“Blaise, why don’t you take Maddie and Mateo to the cafeteria?” Mr. Harleen offered.

“I’m not leaving Vera’s side,” Blaise said.

“You’ve been here all night,” Ms. Rodriguez whispered to him. “Can I spend some time alone with my daughter?”

After another moment of silence, Blaise sighed softly and stood up from his seat. He placed a kiss on her forehead, one last tear dripping down his cheek, and then walked to the door, where Mateo had been standing all night, crying.

“Come on, punk,” Blaise said to him, grabbing on to his shoulder and squeezing.

I stood. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I’ll be fine, sweetheart,” Ms. Rodriguez whispered.

“Do you want anything from the cafeteria?”

---