I woke up the next morning early, but still feeling okay.
I noticed dad had already gotten up. I could smell the scent of coffee in the air and I knew where he was.
I got up, went to the bathroom and headed for the kitchen.
Uncle Jack and dad were there sipping coffee and chatting.
"Morning sport, you're up early." dad said.
"Yeah, I couldn't sleep anymore and I smelled the coffee." I wiggled my eyebrows at him, indicating I wanted a cup.
I took mine like dad did his, with cream and sugar.
I took a couple sips of the hot liquid and then decided to ask what had been on my mind.
"Dad, do you think on our way home today, we could stop so I could see Joey at the hospital?"
"I don't see why not." dad said.
I jumped up from my chair and gave him a big hug.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you dad." I said.
Dad hugged me tightly back. It felt nice to be hugged by him. Warm and comforting.
I had almost finished all my coffee when Nico came running into the kitchen and started jumping on my leg.
"I think he needs to go out son."
"I think so too."
So I took Nico outside to do his business and to play with him a bit.
A little while later, I was joined outside by Alex and Michael.
Deciding we had a little time left before we had to leave, we decided to play in the cool water of the morning.
My dad, uncle Jack and TJ loaded up the car while we played. I could see them going back and forth from the water.
"So, did you guys do anything last night?" I asked Alex and Michael.
Michael began to blush and Alex simply mouthed, "none of your business."
That told me all I needed to know. They had done something, but didn't want to tell me.
"Fine, you guys don't have to tell me, but I know you did." I said sticking my tongue out at Alex.
He proceeded to dunk me under the water for my remark. When I came back up, they were both laughing and I couldn't help but laugh too.
Just about then, dad called for us, signaling it was time for us to go.
I told Alex and Michael about stopping at the hospital to see Joey on our way home.
They both patted me on the shoulder and nodded in agreement.
The ride home was a lot more lively than it had been the way there.
I still didn't think it was right that I was feeling happy while Joey lay in a hospital bed fighting for his life, but dad and Alex had me laughing a lot and Nico kept licking my face which would make me giggle even more.
My dad had the radio on by this point and there was a special bulletin that came over saying there had been a tornado that had come through the area causing a lot of damage to some parts of the county. Immediately, he got on his cell phone and called mom. Her and Adam were okay, thankfully. The worst of it dad said had hit west of us, but he did say mom said there were downed trees and some power outages.
I was relieved to hear that mom and Adam were okay. I hoped that John and Tyler were okay too.
A few minutes later we pulled into the parking lot of the hospital. It was pretty chaotic because of the storm, but dad did finally managed to find a place to park after about 10 minutes of circling the parking lot.
We made our way across the lot towards the big double doors of the main entrance and found the elevator, which we took to the 10th floor. Dad had talked to Jamie earlier and found out which floor and room was his.
When we entered, Jamie was asleep in the chair by Joey's bed and all that could be heard was the gentle beeps of the machines next to Joey.
He looked so peaceful as I sat down on the other side of his bed and put my hand around his.
My dad woke Jamie up and suggested they get a coffee to give me a little bit of time alone with Joey.
I sat there motionless for a bit with tears welling up in my eyes and mad at myself that I couldn't have done something to stop this from happening to him.
In between all this, I gripped his hand firmly and brushed my other hand across his cheek, forehead and through his hair.
I looked up at the clock and realized I had been there a while and knew it'd be time to leave soon.
I leaned down over Joey and kissed him on the forehead.
"I love you Joey." I said to him.
I looked up only to see dad standing by the doorway and immediately jumped back from the bed.
"D-dad, what are you doing here?" I asked in a nervous voice.
"I was just coming to get you and tell you that we should be going."
The terrified look hadn't left my face yet, but I nervously moved from where I was sitting to join dad and Alex and Michael.
Dad never said anything if he'd heard me on the ride home. I was thankful for that.
As we were driving along, we saw a lot of downed trees and some power lines. When we approached our street, all I seemed to see was downed trees. I was glad that it seemed we'd not seen the worst of the tornado that came through.
Mom and Adam greeted us as we were pulling up. They were cleaning up some debris. I was happy to see them.
Michael, Adam, Alex and I took our camping stuff into the garage to put it away while dad made a phone call to uncle Jack to make sure that him and TJ had gotten home okay. Dad said there was no answer on uncle Jack's cell phone, so he left a message.
As we were putting our stuff away, I asked Adam what he'd done since we were away. He said he'd gone and hung out with Nathan and my friend John.
"I stayed the night with Nathan and we made a fort, watched scary movies and played some video games on his X-Box." Adam said.
"Did you lose power here?" I asked Adam.
"For a little bit, but it was came back on a bit later." He replied.
Mom and dad called us inside, but before I went in, I noticed John across the street and told them I'd be in in a minute.
"Hey." I said to John.
"Hey." He said back.
"You alright?" I asked.
"Yeah, but it was kinda scary there for a bit when we lost power, that's never happened to me before."
I was close enough to John that I put my arms around him and hugged him. I think he was a little taken aback by it, but he returned the hug.
I heard my dad's voice behind me calling me home. I released my hold on John and told him I'd see him tomorrow.
We waved bye to each other as I crossed the street again.
It was just left over's for dinner as we were all feeling tired. I was a little on edge wondering when dad was going to mention the hug he saw between me and John. I wasn't ready to tell him or mom about it just yet.
After dinner, while Alex and I were doing dishes I told him about dad seeing me hugging John. He said not to worry about it and reminded me what dad said about him and Michael. That calmed me down a bit.
I had mixed feelings about going back to school the next day, but I decided to turn in early. Same as Alex and Michael. It wasn't weird for Michael to stay over as he'd done it for years, but I wondered what they'd be doing alone together.
I laid there awake for a while staring at the ceiling wondering about Joey and if he'd ever be okay again. Some tears began to fall just before I fell to sleep about 1:00 am.
My alarm clock went off the next morning way too soon for me. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and stared at the clock. It was 6:30 am. "Ugh," I said to myself as I threw the covers off and headed for the bathroom, grabbing a towel from the hall closet on my way. I adjusted the water to just the right temperature and got in. I washed my hair and body and turned off the shower. I grabbed my towel and dried off.
I finished in the bathroom and headed back to my room, passing Michael in the hall on the way. We nodded at each other. He was wearing only his boxers. I had to admit he had nice definition. My dick responded to seeing him. I blushed as I closed the door to my room. I got dressed and then headed down to the kitchen.
Both my mom and dad were awake when I got there. They got quiet as I entered. I thought it a little suspicious. Mom was cooking breakfast and my dad was sitting reading the paper and drinking his morning coffee. I asked if I could have a cup of coffee. Mom nodded.
Mom finished making breakfast just as Alex, Michael and Adam came bounding into the kitchen. It all smelled really good. We dug in with fervor at the delicious breakfast.
Alex and Michael offered to drop Adam and I at school on their way back to college. My parents were grateful as they had to rush off.
We got our stuff and got in Alex's car and headed off.
Adam was the first to bed dropped off. He hugged Alex and waved as we drove off.
"Did you guys have fun last night?" I asked blushing as Alex and Michael looked at each other and shrugged.
"Yeah, we made love last night." Alex said.
I could tell this was embarrassing for them.
"I don't want to embarrass you guys, I was just curious what it was like."
"I'll tell you about it sometime kiddo, but now's not the time."
I was about to question why, just as I realized it was because we'd arrived at my school.
I hugged Alex and nodded at Michael as I got out and headed towards the school. I waved at them as they drove off.
I started to feel sad again because Alex was going back to college and I'd have no one to talk to about how I was feeling.
I shook it aside and kept walking until I found myself falling towards the ground. I looked up only to see Marco standing over me.
"You should look where you're walking FAG!" He spat at me.
He was laughing as he walked away from me.
I was beyond pissed but there wasn't anything I could do.
As I was getting up, I noticed someone else appeared to my right. It was the green eyed boy from gym class.
"Here, let me help you up." He said.
I took his hand as he lifted me up on my feet. I was left wondering why he helped me.
"I'm Kyle." He said.
"David." I replied.
We shook hands.
"I hope this doesn't sound rude, but why'd you help me?"
"I saw what happened but was too far away to do anything to stop it, so I felt the least I could do was help you up."
I began to blush. I wasn't expecting anyone to help me, I thought to myself.
"Thanks for helping me." I said.
"You're welcome. Let me know if he gives you any further problems." He said.
"Okay, I will." I replied smiling.
We walked into school together chatting.
"What's this guys problem anyway?" Kyle asked.
"I don't know. I guess he just sees me as an easy target."
"I know the type." He said.
When we got inside, we had to part ways.
"See you later." He said.
"See you later." I said.