"No," I tell her. "We're sitting down."
"Fucking ridiculous," Danny says as we go back to our seats.
Eve is there, looking at hair coloring kits on her tablet. She's tired of the pink and thinking of switching to purple.
"What happened?" she asks, setting her tablet down.
"They won't let me see him," I say, sitting beside her. "Dean told them I'm not his sister."
"Why would he tell them that?"
I shrug. "Maybe he doesn't want to see me."
"Of course he wants to see you. He was probably just confused. Didn't you say he was really out of it at lunch?"
"Yes, but if he was awake enough to tell her that, he knew what he was saying."
"Not necessarily," Danny says. "When my sister had her wisdom teeth out she woke up and had no idea what she was saying. She didn't even know who we were. She thought Mom was one of her teachers at school."
"That's different," I say. "She was coming off anesthesia."
"Pain drugs can make you just as confused." Eve picks up her tablet. "Want me to look it up to prove it to you?"
"No. I believe you. I'm just sad. I really wanted to see him."
"If he's awake and talking, maybe he'll get out of here soon," Danny says. "Want me to go ask the nurse?"
"She won't tell you. You're not family."
"Maybe it's good you're not seeing him tonight," Eve says. "You know he'd ask you about Jake."
"I still don't know what to tell him. If he finds out the truth, he's going to rip out his IV and leave so he can go find Jake."
"They wouldn't let him do that."
"Maybe not, but he'd still try."
"What do you want to do?" Danny asks. "Stick around here or leave?"
"We might as well go." I get up. "Can one of you give me a ride?"
"I can." Eve quickly gathers up her supplies. She brought more activities to keep us busy while we wait. She missed work again to be here with me. I told her not to but she insisted, and I'm happy she did. Danny doesn't talk much so when it's just him and me, I sit here worrying about Dean and then my mind goes to all the horrible things that could be happening to Jake. I hope none of them are true but I just don't know. If Joe was capable of beating up Dean, what would he do to Jake?
"You sure you don't want to stay?" Danny asks. "I don't mind waiting with you."
"We might as well go if they won't let me in there. I'll come back tomorrow. Maybe a different nurse will be working and she'll let me see him."
We leave the hospital and Eve drops me off at home. My mom is still at work. She's putting in extra hours to make up for the time she missed yesterday.
I go to the fridge and find it's empty but the freezer has a few frozen meals. I take one out and heat it up in the microwave.
As I'm eating dinner, my phone rings. It's my dad. I wonder if he knows what's going on. He doesn't talk to my mom but he talks to my sister. She knows about Dean, but I don't think she'd tell our dad. I've asked her not to tell him stuff about me. If I want him to know something, I'll tell him myself.
"Hi, Dad," I say, answering the call.
"Hi, honey. How was your day?"
"Okay." I'm not going to tell him about Dean. He wouldn't approve of me dating him, especially if he knew what's going on with Dean's dad. And he definitely wouldn't approve of me missing school and not doing my homework because of everything that's going on.
