Football Love: Part 7

It was the next day when the doctor told us the news that we have been avoiding for a while. The doctor told us that Monica hasn’t come around and she isn’t breathing on her own. This meant that she will be a vegetable for the rest of her life. The doctor then suggested an alternative “we can pull the plug” he simply said. Monica’s parents broke down immediately and I stood there stunned at the alternate. The doctor excused himself giving us some time to decide what we were going to do.

Both anger and pain coursed through my body all at once. I felt anger for the man in the bank who raped her and beat her almost to death with his gun. The pain was that I would have to end my best friend’s life to stop her from suffering. Both emotions made me take a seat on the bed with Monica. “What do I do?” is all I kept asking myself over and over again in a whisper. This can’t be happening how can I watch my best friend die right in front of me. I don’t think I have the strength to watch her die right in front of me. I won’t watch her die in front of me.

This was too much for me I just decide to leave the room to think. I start walking I don’t know where but I start walking. I find myself walking into the waiting room where half of the football team is there along with John. Everyone stands and looks at me for information about Monica. Jake is the one who starts to come forward. As soon as I see him I start crying and head right into his arms. “We are going to have to pull the plug” I say sobbing into Jakes chest. “I can’t do this Jake. I can’t watch her die in front of me. I just can’t” I begin to cry again into his chest.

Jake holds me a bit tighter. “Listen to me Alex” Jake pulls me away from him gently and stares into my eyes. “She is your best friend” Jake’s tone is steady but soft “She is your soul mate and if this is it for her then she will need you there next to her” Jake’s hands are holding me on each side. Jake’s words process in my head and I knew that I would have to be strong for these last few moments with Monica.

I swallow my tears and stand up straight. Jake then holds my hand and leads me back to Monica’s room. Monica’s parents are still crying but by their daughters side. I hold onto Jake’s hand tighter. Jake gently leads me to the other side of Monica’s bed. By this time my breathing has become uneven.

My tears come back even though it’s so hard to control them at this point. The doctor and nurse are standing by ready to unplug Monica. Monica’s parents say their last goodbyes to her. I wanted to say something but I don’t know what. How can I say goodbye to her? My mind is racing of something to say to her but I am just drawing a blank. Monica’s parents give the nod to the doctor and nurse. Both stand on either side of the bed ready to unplug the life support of my best friend. My mind continues to race for something to say but nothing is coming to me. The doctor and the nurse are ready to stop the machines.

“WAIT…Wait…please wait” I say while sobbing. My breathing has become more uneven and I move closer to Monica. I take her hand and look at her with teary eyes. I look at her for a moment between the water in my eyes. I then say the last thing she said to me on that day “You are my best friend, you are my soul mate and I love you…I love you” the last words are barely understandable. Without looking I can hear the doctor and nurse turn everything off and remove her tube. Monica takes two quick deep breaths in but doesn’t move or do anything after that. All of us are quite in the room waiting for the inevitable.

Monica is so still nothing is happening but I continue to hold her hand. The doctor, with a gentle tone, informs us that any minute now all her systems will shut down. More tears come down my face as I look into the face of my best friend. “Good bye” I say in a whisper and kiss her hand. Seconds turn into hours for us as Monica slips away slowly from us. It must have been about ten seconds when it happened.

Monica takes a deep breath in by herself. All of us stand stunned at what we just saw. Monica takes in another deep breath in. I grab her hand again and say her name gently. Monica opens her eyes ever so slightly enough to let me know she is still here. I laugh and cry at the same time as my best friend isn’t dead.

The doctor checks her vitals and determines they are back to normal. Everyone is stunned but happy and confused. The doctor explains that there have been only one other episode in his career that this has happened. He explained that a patient would come back to full function after they have removed the tubes and turned everything off. My hand was holding onto Monica’s while the other was still holding on to Jake.

2 Years Later

“You know he may ask you to marry him” Monica says as we eat some food in between classes. “What? No he is just making some speech for his class” I say as I bite into my sandwich. After Jake and John fought in the football field, at practice, Jake was kicked out of the football program. Jake however, quickly got another scholarship in the business/marketing section.

This proved to be Jake’s real calling and he has already had some offers with some big companies. It was getting close to the end of our program for all of us. Monica made a full recovery and got back into the trainer program. Monica took a lot of classes just to catch up with me. Jake was good at his studies that he got more classes then he should have which allowed him to graduate at the same time as me.

“Come on Alex don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it” Monica continues to tease. “You guys have been together for two years now I think it’s time” Monica continues. “I thought you didn’t like him for me?” I ask looking at her. When Monica woke up she couldn’t believe that I was okay with John and that I was dating Jake. I guess it was some protective quality coming out of her but Jake passed her tests. Now Monica likes Jake but still keeps an eye on him just in case. “I am sure he will ask me when he and I are ready” I say. Monica and I finished our last classes ever and decide to celebrate by going to a bar for a little while. After a few well earned beers and shots we decide to get ready at my room.

I start to put on my suit when I see Monica struggle putting on her dress. Her miracle awakening was bad ass but I did come with a price. Sometimes Monica couldn’t do some basic things because her brain can’t send the signal to her limbs. These episodes happen now and then but they have gotten shorter as timed passed. I walk over to her and help her with her dress. It took a long time for Monica to accept me to help her. I told her that eventually she would have to swallow her pride and thanked me for me helping her. Monica gave me a smile and fixed my tie.

Even though it’s been two years Monica and I don’t talk about that day. Monica told me what happened in the bank and we cried together for hours but we only talked about it once. Monica still has some episodes where she gets nervous in large crowds but is managing it rather well.

A soft knock at the door breaks the silence in the room. I opened it and to my surprise it’s Jack, Monica’s date. Jack and Monica met at the hospital. Jack is a rehabilitation nurse and is very good looking. Jack can only be described as the all American boy next door. Somehow Monica and Jack starting dating about a year ago and both have been going strong ever since. I guess the relationship lasted this long because Jack understood what Monica was going through. Monica told me that Jack’s sister, Teresa, was in the bank that day.

Jack hugs me as a hello. One of the many things that were settled early on in the relationship was that Jack needed to be okay with me been gay and that I meant a lot to Monica. Jack really didn’t care about me been gay he knew I meant a lot to Monica so that wasn’t a hard settlement at all. Jack walks pass me and gently hug Monica.

“Hey sexy” he says as he takes a step back looking at her. Monica blushes and kisses him. Jack helps Monica zip up her dress and both kiss again. I roll my eyes and look at the time. Another knock comes from the door and this time it’s my man. Jake looks so sexy in a black suit and his smile is a real guy killer. I hug him and kiss him passionately “Slow down love you’re making me not want to go to this thing and just rip your clothes right off” Jake’s states with a cheeky smile.

Once everyone is ready we take off. Been the last of our semester at the college the business program always throws a good bye ceremony for its students. The event specifically said formal but we always hear this things get wild after everyone has had more than one drink. It was great big hall everything just looked expensive I didn’t want to touch anything. Seeing that Jake was at the top of his class he was required to make a speech. The ceremony started with the dean talking, some teachers giving their speech and finally Jake was up.

I couldn’t keep my eyes off of him he just looked so damn hot in that suit. Jake started his speech with all the hard work they had to learn and do for each class. Every student laughs at Jake’s speech when they had to take Mr. Jin’s class and all his lessons about sex. Jake’s manly voice echoed through the room. At the last part of his speech he started talking about the people in his life and how they helped him push forward in his career. The last person he thanked was me and started saying that without me he wouldn’t be up there right now. Jake also said that he wanted to ask me something for a long time now. Jake takes the microphone from the stand and walks right in front of me.

Before I knew what was going on girls started screaming and there were a lot of applauses. I see Jake down in one knee smiling at me. “Baby, I just wanted to ask you if you would be mine forever?” Jake pulls out a silver ring. My mouth is wide open and everyone is waits for my answer. For a moment I couldn’t move I was just stunned. I smile and nod my head “Of course” I said as my lips kissed Jake’s. Everyone went crazy as Jake and I kissed and hugged.

Everyone came to congratulate us. Monica was the last one to say congratulations. She had the biggest smile on her face and hugs me. “I told you so” Monica tells me as we pull away from our hug.

It only took about two months when we set a date for the wedding. It was a no brainer that Monica was the one who would walk me down the aisle and give me away. Jake got a good job with a high salary and I got accepted to be a trainer with a good football team. Life for me seemed to be good at the moment. When it came down to the invitations Jake and I got into a huge fight when I told him I didn’t want my father to be there. Jake been a family guy wanted my father there and I almost called of the wedding too.

It was Monica who talked some sense into me and eventually I mailed my father an invitation. The date was quickly approaching and each day my heart beat a little faster. The day of my wedding Monica and I were alone in a room waiting for it to start. I then heard a knock on the door and Monica quickly got up to see who it was. Monica’s biggest fear was that Jake wouldn’t be at the altar waiting for me.

I think Monica was a bit more nervous than I was. I saw Monica’s body tense as she saw who it was. “I just came to say my congratulations” John’s voice came from the other side of the door. Monica didn’t say or do anything. My heart raced as I heard John’s voice. After the hospital with Monica, John and I talked but it was always small talk.

“It’s okay Monica” I say to her as I stand up. Monica looks at me and after a while lets John in. John was a full blown football star now been one of the top ten quarterbacks in the NFL. John’s smile always makes me blush. “I’ll be right outside” Monica says not taking her eyes off of me. I give her a reassuring smile and she closes the door behind her. John and I look at each other for a little while. “You look great Alex” John’s tone is gentle. “Thanks you too. I see the NFL has been good to you” I say with a smile.

John chuckles “Yeah but it’s a shame I don’t have that someone by my side”. John’s blue eyes stay glued on mine. “John please…” I begin “Tell me you haven’t gotten over me Alex. I am here to see if I can…” John stops. I look at him “I know why you really came to me that day when I broke it off with Sabrina in the hall” John says with a gentle tone. “You told me congratulations instead of I love you. I know why you did it. You’re a special guy Alex and I can’t just let you go that easily…I just can’t” John’s voice sounds defeated. I come closer to him and place my hand on his shoulder.

“John I will always love you…after all you were the first guy that loved me back” I say with a smile “But I have someone now in my life and I love him with all my heart” I say with the gentlest tone I could muster. “Please John let me be happy…he makes me happy”. John just stays looking at me “You know you will always be the one that got away right” John half smiles at me.

John then leans in to kiss my lips and my body tenses up. John feels this and at the last minute kisses my cheek. John then places his forehead at the side of my head. “I wish you all the best of luck in the world” I say as I put my arms around him. John and I hug each other for a long time. Monica knocked at the door signaling it’s time for the wedding to start. John breaks the hug and looks at me one more time. “Goodbye Alex” John says with a gentle tone. “Good bye John”.

John leaves the room and Monica comes in. after assuring her that nothing happened Monica walks me the doors leading to the church. I hold Monica’s hand and I try to get my breathing under control. Monica will always be by my side and I know that Jake will never leave my side either. The doors open and the first person I see is Jake waiting for me up at the altar. The next person I see is my father sitting at the very front with a huge smile on his face. “Ready?” Monica asks me while looking at me. I just nod my head and both of us walk down the aisle together.

THE END

Sorry it took me so long to publish this guys work and high school got a little crazy at the very end. Main songs for this one is “The Partying Glass by The Wailin’ Jennys and At Last by Beyonce”