An Anxious Silence

Just as Ben and Selene were about to arrive home, there was a phone call from Johnny. Ben was suddenly on high alert and Selene sensed there was something wrong just by the way he answered the phone.

When Selene heard, "How is he?," her heart dropped. She knew immediately that something bad had happened to Peter and she grabbed Ben's arm. He looked at her, trying not to show too much concern on his face for fear it would scare her more. She was looking at him expectantly, so he took his free hand and held hers.

After he was done with the call, Ben sighed as he turned to Selene. He squeezed her hand and gently explained what Johnny had told him.

He started, "I don't know how to tell you this, baby. But Peter and Johnny were in a car accident."

Before he could continue, Selene's face crumbled and tears started forming as she asked, "How are they? How's Peter? That was Johnny right?"

Ben tried to wipe the tears with his fingers as he continued, "Johnny was banged up pretty bad from what he told me, but…" He hesitated, "Peter is in surgery and in critical condition. I guess the passenger seat took the hit and that's where he was sitting."

"Oh my God," Selene cried. "We have to go to him!"

"Of course," Ben said. "We'll go to the hospital right now."

Once they arrived at Johnny's hospital room, Selene ran up to him, grabbed his arm and through tears asked, "How is he? Any updates? What happened?"

Johnny looked toward Ben who was walking up to them. Then he looked back at Selene and let out a deep breath.

Ben suggested that they sit down first and brought the chairs in the room over to where the hospital bed was. As he held Selene's hand, Johnny began, "First of all, he's going to be fine. You have to know that. Second, he's still in surgery and they haven't given me an update yet." He looked at Ben, "I called you as soon as I came to and the doctor left."

"I don't understand. What happened?," Selene asked again, trying to calm herself down as she wiped her tears.

Johnny rubbed his face. Then he leaned forward, and his eyes looked down as he told them what happened.

Peter and Johnny had gone to a restaurant for dinner and to a bar afterward for drinks. Johnny had only had one beer the entire night so he would be sober enough to drive. As they were headed home, they crossed an intersection at a green light, but they were side-swiped by another car who apparently did not stop at his red light. It was a relatively small intersection on streets where the speed limit was 45 mph so people usually did 55mph or more. As a result, the impact was pretty severe. There were shards of glass everywhere from the passenger side window shattering.

For the first time since arriving, Selene noticed all the bandages on the right side of Johnny's body where the glass pieces must have pierced the skin. He also had neck brace and one arm was in a sling.

"I'm so sorry, Johnny. I didn't even ask how you were," Selene said, leaning forward and looking regretful.

Johnny couldn't shake his head even though he wanted to so he could reassure her it was fine. "I understand," he replied instead. "Peter is your best friend and he's the one in surgery. Of course, you would be concerned."

"Oh my God!," Selene suddenly exclaimed. "Do his parents know?"

"I don't have their number," Johnny answered quietly, wishing he had asked Peter for the information before.

He was regretting a lot of things he didn't get to ask his boyfriend. He was trying to stay positive, but when he heard Peter was in critical condition, his heart just about stopped. He wasn't a religious man, so he didn't want to be a hypocrite and pray to God, but he had decided to do so anyway since Peter believed. Who knows? Maybe it would actually work.

Selene looked at Ben and said, "I don't know how I'm going to make this call."

"Do you want me to do it?," he offered.

She wanted to take him up on it, but knew it was better for them to hear it from someone they were closer too.

"I should do it," she answered and then got up to go in the hall. Before she got to the door, she turned around and walked back to the hospital bed. "Do they know about you and Peter?," she asked hesitantly. "I mean, should I meet them in the waiting room or tell them to come here?"

Johnny ran one hand over his hair and sighed before he answered, "I have no idea. He mentioned that he had told his parents he was seeing someone seriously, but we've never met or spoken to each other." Then quietly he ended, "Not yet anyway."

Selene bit her lip as she thought about what to do. "I think Peter would want them to be here with you," she decided with a nod.

"I hope so" was all Johnny said before closing his eyes.

Selene walked outside the room to make the call. After she was done, she came back in and told them that the McDermotts were on their way. "I gave them this room number," she said and then went to sit by Ben. They held hands again as they waited.

The McDermotts arrived about 45 minutes later. Both Selene and Ben stood as they entered Johnny's hospital room. Peter's mom, Jenny, walked quickly over to Selene and then looking back and forth between her and Johnny, asked how her son was and what happened.

Selene took both of Jenny's hands in hers and replied, "As I mentioned on the phone, he's in surgery right now but it's better for Johnny to tell you what happened. But first, let me introduce you too. Mrs. McDermott, this is Johnny, Peter's boyfriend. Johnny this is Peter's mother, Jenny and that is his father, Douglas McDermott.

Johnny's brows were furrowed in what could only be described as despair. "I'm so sorry to meet you both under these circumstances because I was looking forward to Peter introducing us."

Jenny looked at Douglas and then nodded, "I'm sure he would have." Then she started crying.

Douglas held his wife as he asked, "When will we know how Peter is doing?"

Ben had prepared for their arrival by requesting extra chairs. He suggested that they all have a seat so that Johnny could explain again what happened.

When Johnny was done, he looked exhausted. Ben suggested he close his eyes and rest. Johnny couldn't keep his eyes open anyway.

An anxious silence filled the room.

After a while, the doctor came in and everyone sat up in alertness. "I have some news," the doctor announced.