“Miss Laura!”
Josh yells loudly as he hops off the ladder of the treehouse and turns to run toward where his parents and Kyra’s mom are sitting, shucking ears of corn from three large burlap sacks on the grass near them.
“Miss Laura!” He yells again as he runs across the grassy yard, getting their attention this time.
Instantly they can tell something is wrong by the tone of his voice.
“What is it, Josh?” Laura asks as she stands quickly, wiping her hands on her pants.
“Kyra...she’s all red and she can’t breathe,” he says catching his breath and pointing toward the treehouse nestled in a large oak tree toward the back of the property.
Laura nods quickly. “Did she eat something?” At the boy’s quick nod she starts running toward the tree house yelling over her shoulder at his Mom who had already started running toward Kyra’s house. “Kitchen drawer next to the stove!”
Josh watches as his Dad also runs, but toward their house. He hears the sound of the screen door slamming shut and Josh is alone. He feels unsure of what to do; all of the adults having dispersed so quickly. He, Kyra and a few other neighborhood kids had been playing in the treehouse waiting for the annual neighbourhood corn boil, when one of the kids had offered them some homemade cookies. The cookies were delicious but shortly after taking a few bites, Kyra had started coughing and her voice had gotten all raspy. She’d started scratching at her throat and her face had gotten all red. Instantly he’d known something was wrong and had run down the ladder to get an adult.
“Did you call?” Laura’s voice startles him back to reality when he sees her running toward him, holding Kyra close to her, her small body dangling from her arms
“I did. They’re on their way,” his Dad answers the question that had been addressed to him as he kneels down onto the thick grass next to where Laura is kneeling above an almost unconscious Kyra.
Kyra is making a choking sound and her eyes are rolled up in her head. It’s terrifying and Josh stays rooted to the spot. He feels like he’s watching things from above instead of beside them. Like the whole world is put on mute as he continues watching powerless as his best friend’s skin turns darker and darker. Surely Laura, a nurse, can save Kyra right?
Suddenly he hears the sound of a siren coming closer and closer and he knows that they are coming to help Kyra. And then he’s being brushed aside as he sees his own mother kneel to the ground as well. She hands Laura a long, thin piece of plastic that almost looks like a pen and he watches as Laura unclips an orange cap before she jams the pen into Kyra’s thigh. He recoils as Kyra’s eyes flutter open and her little body tenses up. That pen must have been a needle, he thinks as his stomach rolls over and he suddenly feels weak.
He doesn’t have time to say anything before he is brushed aside again, this time by two large men dressed in uniforms he quickly recognizes as paramedics. They’ll help Kyra, they have to, she’s his best friend.
“She’ll be fine, Dear,” said a soothing voice and JC looked up to see a motherly looking nurse checking the IV bags hanging by Kyra’s hospital bed. He hadn’t heard her come in, he’d been lost in his thoughts remembering the last time he’d seen Kyra have an allergic reaction to peanuts. It had been horrifying then to watch everything from afar, but it had been even more horrifying this time when he’d been the one to have to act.
He’d been lucky to find the Epi-pen buried at the bottom of her purse which had been hanging off one of the kitchen chairs. He’d figured she still carried one with her everywhere she went so he’d beelined for the purse the moment he’d settled her on the kitchen floor. He’d pawed through it madly for only a few seconds before he’d upended the bag, strewing all of her belongings over the kitchen floor in search of the damn thing. He’d felt only relief when his fingers had wrapped around the thin plastic cylinder and had run back to Kyra who was still gasping for breath. He hadn’t even had time to think before he’d pulled off the top cap and then jammed it into her thigh, knowing that the thick needle would penetrate her jeans easily. She’d cried out and he’d thrown the now used needle as far away from him as he could before he’d reached into his jeans and pulled out his phone to call 911.
“She’ll be really tired and achy for a few days, but she’ll come out alright. You saved her life,” she said, even though he hadn’t reacted to her first statement.
He looked up at her and smiled sadly. “Thanks,” he said softly and looked down at Kyra’s IV free hand clutched in his.
The nurse came back around the bed and patted his shoulder gently. “You make a really cute couple you know?”
He didn’t correct her, didn’t feel like he had to. “Thanks,” he repeated and rubbed the top of her hand with the pad of his thumb gently.
The nurse squeezed his shoulder and walked out of the ER observation room as soundlessly as she’d come in. He sighed and ran his free hand over his face; it was early morning now and he hadn’t slept a wink since they’d brought her to the hospital. Thankfully she was really going to be fine, but he still felt guilty as hell. He should have known to ask when he’d ordered the food if they used any kind of peanut products, but he hadn’t. He’d been out of practice after years of not thinking about her allergy.
He still remembered visiting her in the hospital after that time in the treehouse and how sick she’d looked in the big hospital bed with wires and tubes coming out of her. Laura and his mother had explained to him that Kyra was allergic to anything that had peanuts in it and that it was really dangerous for her to eat them. He’d remembered them both telling him before that it was important that Kyra asked an adult before she ate anything but he’d forgotten about it, not thinking that sneaking a few cookies before dinner would be such a problem. From then on though, he’d been diligent at making sure she followed the rules, after all he was older than her and it was his job to make sure she was okay.
Always had been, always would be.
“Hey,” she said in a very rough voice and he looked up to find her looking at him. It pained him to see the red veins in her eyes from having had breathing trouble earlier. But he was just happy that she was looking at him again.
“Hi Sleepy Head,” he said trying to take the shake out of his voice which had been present ever since she’d fallen to the floor earlier. “Nice to see you awake.”
She smiled and nodded. “Yeah. What happened?”
He shifted in his seat and leaned closer to her on the bed. “You had an allergic reaction to the fish. They must have used peanut oil to fry it.” He gripped her hand gently and added, “I’m so sorry, it’s my fault I didn’t ask-”
She shook her head quickly but then groaned at the movement. “It wasn’t. It’s my responsibility to make sure I can eat something before I do.”
He leaned forward and kissed her hand gently. “I should have thought of it too. But no matter, you’re going to be okay and someday I’ll recover from you scaring the shit out of me.”
He grinned wryly after those words and she chuckled hoarsely before coughing a few times. He quickly stood and offered her a few sips of water from a styrofoam cup on the table near her.
She smiled and nodded when she was done with the water and he placed the cup back on the table.
“When can I leave?” She asked, looking around the room and down to the IV’s on her hand.
He sat back down. “In a few hours they said. After you’ve gotten some rest and gone through that whole bag of stuff they have up there.” He pointed to an almost full IV bag hanging over her head on a rack.
She sighed. “You don’t have to stay, I’m probably just going to fall back asleep. I’m really tired for some reason.”
He shook his head. “I’m not leaving. And it’s normal, a combination of medications and because your body went through a lot just now. It needs time to repair itself. Just sleep,” he said as he brought her free hand up to his lips and kissed it gently. “I’ll still be here when you wake up,” he added but he wasn’t sure if she’d heard him because suddenly she was again fast asleep.
*
JC opened a drawer and pulled out a few folded pairs of underwear and socks. “Yeah. I know, Ma.” He rolled his eyes as she stuffed the items into his duffle bag and sat on his bed.
His Mom had called him to confirm his and Kyra’s presence for Thanksgiving that weekend and he’d mentioned what had happened a few days before with her being hospitalized for her allergic reaction. This had unleashed a litany of questions and concerns from his Mom, not to mention the ones he could hear from his Dad in the background, that made him feel like his family had suddenly turned into the Costanzas.
“I said she’s fine, Ma. She’ll be even more fine when we get to Florida. Just don’t put any nuts in the stuffing and she’ll be triply fine, okay?” He sat down on the corner of his bed and ran a hand over his face. “I don’t know about Christmas yet.”
He’d known all along that Kyra accompanying him home to Bowie for Christmas would be an uphill battle. Although he hadn’t been sure how hard it would be until he’d broached the subject and he’d realised that she hadn’t been back since the house had been sold. He realised that it must be impossible for her to separate the holidays and the loss of her Mom, but he was hoping that he may be able to start helping her cope. It had been close to ten years since the accident now and he thought that if he brought her back around, having family and friends near could help her once again remember the good things about home. The good times with him, with his family, with her Mom. That’s what he’d hoped anyway.
“Yeah, I’m still here,” he said when his Mom asked. “I’ll let you know if she’s coming with me. We’ll see how Thanksgiving goes first.”
He listened for a few more minutes as his Mother told him about the preparations and then fielded a question that he knew he’d get, a lot, during the holidays. “No, she’s not coming as my girlfriend.” He sighed and ran a hand through his loose hair. “I don’t know what we are okay, Ma? We’re just...us.”
He thought he’d have to explain further but just then he heard the kitchen door downstairs slam shut and Kyra calling out for him. He covered the mic on his cell phone and yelled that he was upstairs. “I gotta go, Ma. I’ll see you in a few days. Yeah, love you too.”
He barely had time to flip his phone closed before Kyra burst through the door of his room clutching a thick envelope. Though he’d been scared that something was wrong, the look on her face indicated the total opposite: her skin was flushed, her smile was wide and though her left eye still had a blown vein (which was the only lasting result of her episode), her eyes were bright and clear.
“Guess what?” She asked moving closer to him while showing him the thick envelope.
He chuckled. “What?” He loved seeing her so pleased and alive.
“They’re buying it! The film company is buying the rights to my book. They want to make a movie and they want me to help with the screen adaptation and the script and...oh my god. I’m going to have to go back to New York. Do you think they’ll force me to include Allison?I mean, she suggested it and sort of brokered the deal for me...but I don’t really like her. I mean, she’s just made me a lot of money...like a lot of money and maybe even more if the film ends up being produced and released. Do you think that could really happen? How do things like that work-”
JC grinned and reached forward to place his hands on her shoulders. “Woah, slow down Ky.”
She finally took a break and a small, slightly hysterical giggle bubbled from her lips and he laughed. “Sorry, I’m-I’m a bit excited.”
He nodded and squeezed her shoulders gently. “I can see that. Rightfully so. Congratulations, Ky. I’m really happy for you.”
She grinned back and let herself be pulled into a hug, the thick envelope between them.
“You had no idea?” He asked against her hair and she shook her head, pulling away before they both sat on the edge of his bed.
“Not really. Allison had called me to let me know that we have received an answer back from the company and that she’d couriered it to me. When it was delivered I almost passed out when I read it!”
He laughed. “Please don’t do that again any time soon.”
She laughed and shrugged before she reached over and took his hand. “I guess I never really properly thanked you for everything you did then.”
He shook his head and looked down at their joined hands, as if embarrassed by her words. “You really don’t have to thank me.”
“But I still want to,” she said quietly and he felt her small hand brush against his cheek, making him look up. She pressed her lips sweetly against his and whispered, “Thanks.”
They smiled at each other for a few moments before she seemed to snap out of it and took a deep breath. “So, I should probably start doing some research. I wonder who they would want to play Scott? Oh my god, do you think they could get like...Freddie Prinze Jr.? Or Paul Walker? Or no, Ryan Gosling. Oh my god, Ryan Gosling.”
JC brought his hands up to his mouth theatrically. “Oh. My. God! Ryan Gosling!”
She giggled and rolled her eyes at him. He loved making her laugh like that.
“Funny.” She sighed and threw herself back onto his bed, looking up at the ceiling. “Ryan though, he’s not so little anymore. I doubt he remembers meeting me.”
JC laughed again. “He might. He was obsessed with you for a little while. Always asking me when you’d come around again, if you’d talked about him…”
He watched as Krya quickly leaned up onto her elbows to look at him skeptically. “Are you serious?”
JC smirked. Of course it was true, he’d had to fend off both Ryan and Justin’s burgeoning hormones whenever Kyra came to visit the MMC set back when they were all on the show.
He barely had time to wander too far back into nostalgia though before he suddenly felt a blow on his arm, rather more forceful than expected, by an agitated Kyra.
He bristled. “What the hell was that for?”
Kyra flopped back down onto the bed and crossed her arms over her chest. “For not telling me I could have been hooking up with Ryan Gosling all this time!”
He could tell that she was trying hard to keep a straight face as he rubbed his shoulder slowly and plastered an indignant look on his face. “Gosling? You’re excited about Gosling? What about me? You forget that I’m JC Chasez or what? A lot of women would be really happy to be in your position right now.”
Kyra broke and laughed, which he wasn’t sure he should be very happy about or not. But then her face turned more serious and he could see some red start creeping up the sides of her neck. He watched as she nervously licked her lower lip and his body responded instantly. The air between them had changed. It felt heavy, as if the air was permeated with little sparks that all could instantly transform into a flame at any moment. This was his chance. He knew she’d be receptive with months and years of tension and yearning culminating into the possibility of this one moment.
She moved first. The hand closest to him reached up and grabbed the side of his shirt in an invitation to lean down. When she spoke again all he could look at was her lips; smooth and soft. “And what position would that be?”
He couldn’t help the grin that spread over his own lips as he turned and leaned down toward her. He stopped less than an inch from her lips to answer, “Whichever position you want really…”
She smiled and he couldn’t take it anymore. It was like two magnets that had slowly inched toward each other until they were close enough to stick together. His lips crashed down against hers and his body molded itself to hers in a way only past lovers knew how. And though it had been years since they’d shared this kind of intimacy it instantly felt to him as if he were coming home.
*
