Page 48 of I Need You

When Jesse pulls into the barn behind Madison's car in his bright yellow clown car, Taylor and Madison both give me confused looks. I pull out my own car keys and a card from my wallet and hand them to Madison.

“You are not scaring Aubrey off with that death trap you call a car. Take mine, and use my card to buy Aubrey whatever she needs,” I say.

Taylor plucks the credit card out of Madison’s hands and shoves it into her jeans’ back pocket.

“Thank you Daddy Warbucks,” she says.

“Who the hell are you calling Daddy that isn’t me?” Jesse shouts as he walks towards us.

He kisses Taylor hard on the lips and tickles her sides, pulling laughter from her. Madison and I both make gagging sounds until they stop.

“Those fit you perfectly,” Madison says and I turn around to find Aubrey changed and coming back down the loft stairs.

Madison’s right, they fit her perfectly. The jeans and basic tank top are much more form-fitting than anything I’ve seen Aubrey wear before. They hug all of her curves in all the right ways. Suddenly, a dickish, primal part of me wants to tell her to go back upstairs and change back into her sweats. I don’t, because I’m not a complete idiot. It doesn’t go unnoticed that Aubrey is using her hands to cover her arms. I’ve never seen her shoulders and I don’t think that’s an accident.

“Well, we better get going,” I say to Jesse without taking my eyes off Aubrey.

I walk up to her, not sure what the protocol is for saying goodbye. She helps me make the decision by wrapping her bare arms around my waist and leaning into me. I wrap my own arms tightly around her and kiss the top of her head before releasing her.

“Use Madison or Taylor’s phone to call me if you need anything,” I tell her before painfully walking away.

It takes a lot of effort and a lot of cursing to fold myself into Jesse’s stupid tiny car, but seeing Aubrey giggle makes me smile.

“Dude, you’ve got it bad,” Jesse says as he pulls onto the highway, heading toward Sheridan.

Today is my last day of treatment, hopefully for forever. Not even Jesse teasing me is going to get to me today.

“Yeah dude, I really do,” I say with a stupid goofy grin on my face.

Jesse laughs and shakes his head.

“So, why doesn’t she seem to know about where we’re heading right now?” he says, his voice low and serious.

I sigh, not sure of what the right answer is and instead opt for silence, which, thankfully, Jesse allows.

When we pull up to the hospital, Jesse surprises me by parking the car and coming in with me. It’s nice to have some company during the hour-long process for once. We talk about school, football and video games. Jesse does me a favor by not bringing up Aubrey again.

“So doc, when can my boy get back on the field with me?” Jesse says when Doctor Anderson comes in near the end of my treatment.

“Hello Jesse,” he says as he picks up my chart and thumbs through it.

After he looks through the paperwork for what feels like decades, he sets the clipboard back down and crosses his arms over his chest.

“As soon as you feel up to it, you may resume sports,” Doctor Anderson says and turns on his heel and leaves.

“Hell yes!” Jesse yells and jumps into the air before practically tackling me out of my chair.

“Dude, you’re pulling on shit that’s literally hooked up to me,” I scream as I try to shove him off.

Jesse falls to his ass on the floor and we both erupt in laughter.

“Would you two stop having so much fun,” Nurse Rosa says as she comes into the room and starts unhooking all the machines.

We both sheepishly apologize but can’t seem to get rid of the smiles on our faces, and even Rosa lets out a small chuckle.

“I heard the good news,” she says as she finishes freeing me from the cords and tubes. “Congratulations Emmet, but please be careful and remember, you may not be at full capacity right away. Don’t push too hard, you hear me?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I say.

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