Chapter Text
The next day, Marisol felt significantly better (physically), and she managed to convince her mother to let her leave the house. It helped that she didn’t plan on staying out very long. She only had one real plan for the day.
She pulled up in front of the hospital, brushing her hands along her green tunic. It might seem a little weird, her going to visit Adam. They didn’t exactly know each other. Only by association. They had talked a couple of times, but never a real conversation.
It didn’t matter. She needed to see for herself that he was okay. She needed to see his smiling face, needed to hear him cracking jokes. He was such a sweet kid and he didn’t deserve this. Thankfully, Drew let everyone know on Facerange that he would be out of the hospital soon (Adam was having some trouble typing, for obvious reasons).
She had also learned from Drew that Adam liked brownies, so she bought some from the bakery downtown before coming over. She held the box carefully in her hands as she made her way through the hospital. Katie had given her Adam’s room number.
When she reached the right door, she took a deep breath. Given that both of her parents were doctors, she had spent a fair amount of time in hospitals. She was used to them. It was just weird, the thought of seeing someone from her own school in here.
The door was halfway propped open. She knocked as she pushed it open a little. “Hello?” The first thing she noticed was that Adam was in bed, peacefully asleep. Damn. Apparently she picked a bad time to come.
The lights were off in the room, but sunlight was still pouring in through the very thin blinds. Drew and Adam’s mother was sitting in the chair next to the bed, reading what appeared to be a knitting magazine. Marisol had seen her a couple times around school, usually yelling at Mr. Simpson. Katie said she was nice, but she’d always struck Marisol as a little intimidating. Marisol had no idea what to expect from her. Would she ask her to leave?
When she saw Marisol, Mrs. Torres set her magazine aside in surprise. “Hi,” she said. “Are you one of Adam’s friends?”
“Uh, not exactly,” Marisol replied. “I’m Marisol, I’m best friends with Katie."
Mrs. Torres just nodded slowly, taking it in.
“I just came to see how Adam was doing,” Marisol continued. “But I can come back later, since he’s asleep.”
“No, it’s okay,” Mrs. Torres said in a surprisingly warm tone. “Thank you for coming. Come on in.”
“Okay.” Marisol smiled and stepped further into the room. No one else was there, not even Drew or their dad. But the room was still very much full. All around, there were flowers, cards, candies, balloons, even a GET WELL SOON lizard, which she had some questions about. That didn't even include the abundance of well-wishes for him on Facerange. Adam was a very well-liked kid at Degrassi, that was for sure.
“How’s he doing?” she asked. Now that she was closer, she could see that Adam looked perfectly fine aside from the bandage on his shoulder. He wasn’t pale or bruised or anything like that. Just sleeping. His steady, deep breaths were comforting to her.
“He’s good,” Mrs. Torres said. “Tired, obviously.” She chuckled, evidently trying to lighten the mood. It occurred to Marisol that this was the second time this semester that one of her sons had ended up in a hospital bed. She seemed to be faring a lot better than Marisol would have expected. “They wanted to keep him for observation, just to make sure there weren’t any complications. But he’ll be discharged tomorrow. He’ll have to do some physical therapy for awhile, but he’s expected to make a full recovery.”
“That’s good.” Marisol was glad to hear that Adam’s recovery was going smoothly. “Well, I brought some brownies for when he wakes up.” She held up the box.
“That’s very nice of you, thank you.” Mrs. Torres looked very appreciative. “You can just set them right there.” She gestured to the table next to the bed, which barely had any room left on it. Marisol moved a balloon and a couple cards out of the way and gently set her box down.
“I’m gonna go find my husband,” Mrs. Torres said. “He disappears pretty easily.” She stood up. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you like, Marisol.”
“Thank you.” Marisol nodded.
Mrs. Torres left the room, leaving Marisol alone with Adam. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t want to leave just yet. Maybe it was because she’d spent several days locked up in her house. Maybe it was because she was hoping Adam would wake up soon. Maybe it was both. She placed the knitting magazine on the floor and took Mrs. Torres’ place in the chair. She pulled out her phone to keep herself busy in the meantime.
A few minutes later, she heard footsteps coming into the room. She figured it was Adam’s parents or possibly a doctor, so she quickly stood up to get out of the way.
Who she wasn’t expecting to see was Eli Goldsworthy, holding what appeared to be a portable DVD player. He froze in his tracks when he saw her. “Marisol?” he asked in confusion.
She just blinked in response. It made sense that Eli was here; he was Adam’s best friend. The two of them had apparently worked as servers together at the prom, she remembered. Eli must’ve been pretty freaked out, too. Especially since he’d apparently seen his ex-girlfriend get fatally hit by a car last year. Marisol had just never expected to cross paths with him here. She figured she would see Adam’s family and possibly even Bianca. Eli being here seemed completely random even though it wasn’t.
“Hi,” she said, realizing Eli was waiting for her to say something.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I came to see Adam. What else would I be doing here?” “Right.” His eyebrow arched up. He seemed a little suspicious, which annoyed her. Just because she had a bad reputation around school didn’t mean she couldn’t come see a boy who was shot. Just because she wasn’t technically friends with Adam didn’t mean she couldn’t bring gifts or show her support.
Besides, Eli didn’t know anything about her. Not that she knew anything about him. Other than the ex-girlfriend thing and the fact that he’d crashed a hearse on purpose (and that he drove a hearse to begin with). Oh, and he had dated Adam’s other best friend Clare Edwards for awhile. This last semester he wrote a weird play about her as some sort of revenge over their breakup or something. She was now dating Jake Martin, who looked like he could be her brother. Needless to say, Eli clearly had his own issues he needed to work out before he thought about judging her.
“What’s that for?” she asked, gesturing to the DVD player.
He looked down and adjusted the device under his arm. “We’re gonna watch Grown Ups,” he explained. “It’s Adam’s favorite movie.”
“Sounds about right.” Marisol couldn’t help smiling.
Shuffling came from the bed. Before either of them had time to react, Adam said, “Eli and Marisol?”
They both jumped and turned around. Adam was sitting up in bed, smiling, his eyes and voice tired.
“Hey, you’re awake!” Marisol said, unable to hide the happiness in her voice.
“How you feeling, bro?” Eli asked.
“I’m all right.” Adam had a mischievous look on his face. “Just surprised to wake up and see you two here together. Very interesting combination.”
Eli and Marisol just looked at each other and shrugged. Adam wasn’t wrong.
“I have the movie,” Eli announced.
“Awesome.” Adam adjusted his blanket slightly. He looked up at Marisol. “I didn’t see you at prom with Katie and Drew. What happened?”
“I was sick,” she explained.
“Ah. Well, you didn’t miss much." He nodded toward his shoulder. "Guess this is what I get for volunteering to serve bread.” He cracked a smile. “I’d shrug, but I can’t.”
“Come on, dude, don’t even joke,” Eli said, but even he seemed a little amused. Marisol knew why. Adam cracking jokes meant that he was perfectly fine. She just rolled her eyes playfully.
“For real, though, it sucks that you were sick, but it’s probably a good thing you didn’t end up going,” Adam added.
“Yeah,” Eli agreed. “For sure.”
Marisol’s smile wavered and she shifted her weight, uncomfortable. She didn’t want to talk about any of this dark stuff right now. She just wanted to relish the fact that Adam was okay and awake and talking. Changing the subject, she held up her brownie box. “I got you these,” she said cheerfully.
“What are they?” Adam asked.
“Brownies, from Carmello’s.”
Adam’s eyes widened happily. In that moment, he looked like a giddy little kid. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I did.” She set the box down in front of him and opened it for him.
He happily reached in with his healthy hand and grabbed a rich chocolate snack. “Thank you so much.”
“Damn, girl, you did better than me,” Eli quipped.
“No, you’re both great,” Adam insisted through a mouthful of brownie. He was getting crumbs all over his blanket, which Marisol normally would have found unappetizing, but right now, on him, it was cute. “Eli, let’s watch the movie.”
“Okay.” Eli knelt down next to the bed and set up his DVD player. He glanced up at Marisol. “Do you wanna watch?”
Touched (and surprised) by the invitation, Marisol gaped a little. Watching Grown Ups with Eli and Adam certainly sounded way more fun than going back home now and spending the rest of the day there. “Yeah, sure,” she agreed without hesitation, kneeling down next to Eli. “Thanks.”
He nodded, giving her a civil smile.
Once Eli got the movie going, he set up the portable on the bed in a spot where they could all easily see it. Adam had the best view, obviously, but she and Eli still got a reasonable eye’s worth.
They had to sit very close together in order for that to happen, however. And, getting a close up of Eli’s dyed black hair and piercing green eyes, she had to admit he was not that bad looking. Especially since he’d recently cut that hair and no longer looked like Lord Farquaad. She shook these thoughts away and focused on the movie.
For the next hour and a half, she and Eli and Adam got lost together in the blunderous world of Grown Ups, laughing and chatting the afternoon away.