"You hear that, baby?" I scratched the back of his head soothingly. "You've gotta stay awake, alright? Okay?"
Kailey had the phone pressed firmly against her ear. "How much did he drink?"
"I don't know, I don't even—"
"At least half a bottle of whiskey," Ricky’s voice sounded firmly. I did not know when, but he had returned to the bathroom and was holding up said bottle. There was only about a quarter of it left. "But it could be more because I don't know how much was in here to begin with. I thought you took it from him?"
"I did!" I shouted in exasperation. "He must’ve had another bottle stashed."
I noticed a head peeking from behind. Gabriela stood in shock, her hand pressed against her mouth and her eyes open wide.
"Gabriela," I said her name sternly, causing her attention to break from the barely conscious man on the floor. "Go call Mamá and tell her what’s happening. Don’t come back into this bathroom."
"But I—"
I did not want her to see any more of this than she already had. "Go!"
Her lips pressed together firmly and I thought she was going to protest, but she left without another word.
"They're almost here," Kailey announced.
Please hurry, I can’t lose him.
Thirty-four
Javier
The ride to the hospital was surreal. They let me ride in the ambulance with him so that he wouldn’t be alone while the others drove behind us. In the frenzy of my panic, I kept asking the paramedics questions. I barely gave them a chance to respond to the first ones before hitting them with more.
They were very calm, slightly unbothered. They were completely used to my worriedness as they saw situations like the one, we were in probably every day. One of them spoke in a careful tone as she had me buckle up while the other focused on Eli.
They needed to focus on Eli and make sure that he was okay, so I shut my mouth. I watched as the rather unbothered paramedic wrapped the blood pressure cuff around his arm. She spoke to the male paramedic in medical terms, so I had no clue what they were saying. Surprisingly, their carefree attitude helped ease my nerves. If they were not worried, then I shouldn’t be either. Right?
The woman carefully stuck an IV into his arm and I flinched at the sight. Needles made me squeamish. The man began talking to Eli as if he was not barely keeping his eyes open. Heasked him basic questions, what his name was, where he lived, where he was at. Elias was able to give incoherent mumbles as responses, and the medics let me know that was a good thing.
When he suddenly hunched over and vomited they barely caught it in the hazard bag in time. Puking was a good thing, it meant that his body was trying to get rid of the toxins.
The paramedic faced me. “Vitals are stable for now.”
I felt my chest tighten. "For now?"
"We're monitoring him closely, but don’t worry. He’s in good hands.”
They told me I could try talking to him too, that it could be good for him to know I was right there with him. It felt awkward at first, but I spoke to him as comfortingly as I could. I told him that everything would be okay and that I wouldn't leave his side.
I thought he wasn't listening to me at first and it was discouraging. I leaned back and sighed, tired of talking to myself and him not hearing me, but then I saw his head twitch. His head faced me in a slow, strained motion as his hand fiddled around his neck. Eli was trying to reach for the necklace around his neck—the one I bought him for Christmas.
Eli was saying he knew I was there with him.
When we finally arrived at the hospital, they rushed him out and took me into the waiting area. Ricky and Kailey got there five minutes after I did and wasted no time before bombarding me with questions. I felt useless for my vague answers that I did not know the details behind.
The hospital was incredibly busy, so I knew that would play a factor in how long we had to wait. The way time was blending made me uneasy. I kept wiping my palms against my pants to get the sweat off of them, but they became wet again in an instant.
My mind felt like it was spinning, and I could not sit still any longer or I would lose it. I spotted a water dispenser down the hallway and my legs stood me up and walked toward it. Mythroat had been dry as a desert for the past few hours thanks to the stress of the situation. I took the complimentary paper cup and filled it before shakily bringing it to my lips.
I jumped when I noticed someone standing behind me. Ricky gave a weak smile before he reached for the cups and filled one up for himself. We stood there simultaneously sipping from our cups of water.
Ricky let out a shaky breath. "You know he's gonna be just fine, right? We can't get immediate updates because we aren't his family, but I think he’s just super-duper drunk. Like, a bad level, but not detrimental. Y’know?”
