Everyone jumps up, looking at Julia first, who answers, and then my father and then my uncle. I look at their faces. The whole time, my heart is hammering in my chest. I push back the fear that he’s not okay. I watch to see if they will look at me, knowing that if he’s hurt or not okay, no one will want to make eye contact.
“He’s okay!” Julia shouts, running to the front door as we all follow her. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” She runs to get into my father’s car. My mother is in the front seat, and I sit in the back with Julia.
I don’t even know who is following or if the other people are coming with us, but I don’t care. “Where is he?” I ask her.
“Dylan found him.” She looks at me as she types on her phone. “He was at a park near the house.” My hand goes to my mouth. “He was sitting waiting by the monkey bars.”
I close my eyes, and all I can see is his face. “He must have thought we didn’t care.”
“Police are waiting for us to see if we should have him transported to the hospital,” Julia says. “I’m trying to get an answer if we can see a judge today, but it’s Sunday,” she says, and I shake my head.
“You are going to have to pry him out of my arms,” I state, looking out the window.
“That’s exactly what Dylan said, and it almost got him arrested,” Julia shares, and my head whips around to look at her. “Luckily, I know the officer.”
“It’s good to have friends everywhere,” my father says.
“He’s not that kind of friend,” Julia defends, and my mother laughs. “I mean, we get friendly, but that’s about it.”
If it was any other time, I would have a comeback, but all I can think about is getting to my guys. When we pull up to the park, my eyes roam the whole place, and I’m out of the car before my father puts it in park. “Dylan!” I shout his name and see him sitting on the bench right off the side in the shade. Maddox sits beside him, drinking a water bottle. Justin stands beside the bench. His face looks white like a ghost, and two police officers stand beside the bench on the other side talking to each other.
I run toward them, only stopping when I get in front of the bench. I reach out and grab Maddox, pulling him to me. Then I let him go and hold his face in my hands. “You scared me,” I say, not even sure if I should tread lightly. “I was so scared you were hurt.” I rub his cheeks with my thumbs. Looking over at Dylan, who has his own dried tears on his face, no doubt having gone through exactly what I just did, if not worse, thinking he would find him hurt.
He just looks at me. “I’m not hurt.” He finally speaks, and it’s like music to my ears.
“Are you sure?” I ask him and look at his arms, seeing that they are dirty, and his legs look like a bruise is forming on his shin.
“What’s this?” I ask, looking at the bruise.
“I fell when I did the monkey bars,” he admits to me. “I almost made it, but I slipped.”
“You could have hurt yourself,” I scold. “You always need someone to watch you when you do things like that.”
“Okay,” he replies. I bring him to my chest, looking around seeing all of my family have come to the park. I hear car doors shut and see my grandparents walking into the park. The whole family has come to show their support, and I just can’t help the tears that come.
“Oh, my,” my grandmother says from behind me. “He looks just like Dylan did.”
“He does,” Caroline says. “He really does.”
“We need to take him to the hospital,” Julia says from beside me. “They want to just make sure he is okay and have it documented that nothing is wrong with him.” She gets down next to me in front of Maddox. “We need to take you to the doctor,” she tells him. “And then we are going to have a little talk.”
“Okay,” Maddox says, and he jumps off the bench, turning to hand the water bottle back to Dylan. He looks at Dylan then. “Are you going to come with me?”
“I’m not leaving you, buddy,” he says to him, getting up and standing beside him. Dylan puts his hand on his shoulder.
Maddox looks at me now. “Are you coming, too?” he asks me, and I just nod my head at him. He just looks at Julia, who smiles at us. I start to walk, following her, when I feel Maddox slip his hand in mine.