I hate he has something similar weighing on him now.
With a chuckle, Gus shakes his head and crosses his arms. “He was always an adventure, that’s for sure. How’s he doing?”
“Fine.” I shrug. “Better than me in some ways, I guess, where he’s not suspended and exiled from the city we play in.”
Slowly, Gus’s stare turns on me. The heat of his eyes burns into the side of my face, and I swallow. “What’s your plan with Aulie when you go back? You know she gets wicked attached to people, and you don’t date during the season, so if I’m going to be okay with this, I have to know there’s a plan.”
I meet his stare. I don’t know what happens to us, but I owe Gus the truth.
“There isn’t one yet. We haven’t had a chance to talk, but I promise, I’m attached, too.”
“So, no stereotypical Asshole Jack stuff?”
“Not if I can help it.”
“Cool.” Gus shrugs, returning his attention to the empty grey chair before us.
Wait. What? “That’s it?” I blurt, immediately regretting it.
I should be grateful Gus is being this chill. But after five years of torment, his laissez-faire attitude is unsettling.
Did I seriously have perpetual blue balls for years for nothing?
“I mean, I can kick your ass if you want me to,” Gus snorts. “But yeah, that’s it. She hasn’t slept in months, and from what I can tell from her lack of rustling around the house she’s slept like the dead the past few days. I won’t block her from whatever is helping her finally move on from things.”
Okay, rational and valid.
But I’m not buying it. Gus’s tendency to overprotect Aulie doesn’t align with his calm demeanor. I’d expect at least a little pushback.
“Did Emy talk to you?” I smirk.
His eyes widen, and he nods. “Yeah, and she scares me. But she had a point. I’d be a hypocrite to date her and bar Aulie from you. You’re my best friend for a reason. If you’re showing that side to her, too, then we’re cool. I want her to be with a guy that deserves her.”
I nod. “I’m trying.”
“As long as you do that every day, we’re good.” He lightly punches my leg. “But the minute you act up—trust me—”
“I’ll be ready for the dropped gloves.”
The swinging doors open wide, and Gus and I gaze in their direction.
Emy marches through them. A soft smile plays on her lips when she sees us together. “They just wheeled her into surgery. She has a cyst twisting her ovary and blocking blood flow, so they need to operate immediately.”
Ice floods my veins at the shock of the news, and I sink back in my chair, seeking something to tether me to reality.
Fuck. Surgery?
After they ruled out appendicitis, I was hopeful Aulie would get out of this visit without a drastic procedure, but I guess I was wrong about that, too.
“Is this something that just happened, or does it have to do with why she’s been going to the doctor so much?” I ask. As oblivious as I have been about certain things, I know something has been bothering Aulie for a while, and I hate that every time she goes to the doctors for help, they shrug it off.
If this surgery will help that, it sucks she needs to have it, but at least something good would come out of today.
“I think it might have something to do with the asshole doctors—her passing out today. She’s so in her head about her pain because of their dismissal that she keeps trying to push through it, so hopefully, this will help set her straight. She shouldn’t lose her ovary, but yeah, I’m over dickhead doctors. Especially the one that dismissed her a few weeks ago because they said the cyst was already there, though it wasn’t fully twisted. They said she should be out in a few hours, but one of us should set up her room for when they release her later today. Are you guys okay to stay here and keep me in the loop?”
Emy exhales, and her shoulders sag. She cares for Aulie just as much as us, but she’s had to be stronger than us today. Gus seems to realize this, too, and stands, rubbing her back and swallowing her with his arms.
“Go home and make sure you get some rest, too. We’ve got everything under control here.”
