Birthday Dare

By: Rick Masters
(© 2014 by the author)

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 24

I decided to give Mike a call so that I could tell him about the joke I had played and the results of it and also pass on mum's message to him. This meant that Mike and I talked a bit too far into the night, or rather early morning and this made it difficult to get up and ready on Monday morning. I know it was the school holidays but I still had some things to do and I had set myself a bit of a timetable because I wanted to get them completed to leave me more time during the holidays where I could just do what took my fancy at the time with nothing undone hanging over me. My later rising set me back a bit, but fortunately I discovered that I had overestimated the time it would take on some of my projects and by the end of Tuesday I was back on my schedule and all being well would be finished in time for Carrie's party and sleepover.

Although we could have, Mike and I did not see each other on Monday and it was only on Tuesday evening that I went round to his house to see him. I must admit that I was a bit nervous about facing his parents knowing that they now knew about Mike and me, but I should not have worried at all. Mike answered the door and when I greeted him with a kiss before stopping to take my shoes off in the porch he returned my kiss along with a little grope that would have made things embarrassing except that my underwear kept my bulge from showing too much. Mike's mum must have heard and recognised my voice because as I stepped over the threshold she called out, "Is that my favourite visitor Steve?"

"Yes mum, but you don't need to embarrass him with a new system of greeting." Mike answered.

"Hi Mrs. Ansfield," I called out and started to walk towards their lounge so that I could put my head around the door. Then when I could see her I added, "I hope you are alright."

"Well, not quite. Mrs. Ansfield sounds so formal and makes me feel too old. Just call me Michelle." She replied.

"And you can call me Dan," Mike's father said from behind me making me jump because I had not realised he was there. "But then if you two are getting married perhaps you would be better off calling us mum and dad." He continued with a grin on his face and Mike quickly let me know that he had shared my joke with them.

"That was a cruel trick to play on your mum. And she is such a nice person too." Michelle scolded me.

"Well fancy you lot getting together and discussing our love lives without telling us and then leaving us with serious nervous disorders to try and tell you what you already knew. There had to be some kind of payback." I defended my actions with a good smile on my face to show that I was neither angry nor upset about it in reality.

"I suppose that was a bit mean, but we also did not want to push you guys in any direction especially as we were not fully certain that we were right." Dan told us. "Also I think your voyage of discovery, unaided by other's suggestions, has brought both of you to the real truth and something of a certainty about yourselves." He added. "Now Steve, I know you have not got married nor are really thinking about it, but I want to welcome you to the family anyway. It is my way of showing you that I have accepted how you and Mike are and am happy for both of you and give you my blessing." Dan continued, and held out his hand to me.

As I took his hand to shake it he pulled me into a hug and whispered in my ear, "I have not seen my son so happy in all his seventeen years. Thank you for that, just please keep him happy for me."

"It will be my pleasure to do my best to do that." I answered also in a whisper and then Dan let me go and as I turned Michelle was there and gave me a hug also. "You are always welcome in our home Steve, we love you."

My eyes were moist with tears as I stammered a thank you to them and then looked to Mike for some help. Mike also had damp eyes and he just grabbed my hand and pulled me into a hug while Dan dug in his pocket and then pressed a handkerchief into my hand. I gave him a grateful smile and reached up to dab at Mike's eyes. Once his eyes were dry, I did my own and we left the room.

We stopped just outside the door to the lounge to have another hug and kiss and as we stood there I heard Dan tell Michelle, "Well, he might not be the kind of girl we had expected but he is the right person for our boy. Did you notice that he dabbed at Mike's eyes first before taking care of himself?"

"Yes, he is going to be good for Mike, I am glad we like him so much that we love him." Michelle said.

I was embarrassed and took Mike's hand and led him away and upstairs to his room. I sat down on his bed and was not sure if I should laugh or cry.

"Well, you have made a mark with my folks and I bet you could ask them for anything and they would do their best to do it." Mike said.

He sat down on the bed and we started to kiss again before I could respond to what he had said which was a good thing as I didn't really know how to respond. Mike leaned his body against mine so that I dropped backwards onto the bed and then with him half over me while we still kissed he used his hand to begin fondling me again and this time if his parents had seen there was no way I could have hidden my raging boner that was pressing against my boxer trunks and my jeans.

Suddenly Mike stopped kissing me and he rolled onto his back with a groan and brought both hands to cover his stomach. "Shit I have got such a sudden sharp pain here," he groaned out.

I put my hand onto his stomach and began to massage it gently, "Is that helping?" I asked.

"No! It's getting worse." And he began to curl up into a ball. His face was ashen and there were beads of sweat appearing on his forehead and cheeks.

I realised that this was something that I was no good for and decided there was only one thing that I could really do. I jumped up and ran to the top of the stairs and shouted for Mike's parents. They must have heard the panic and fear in my voice because Dan was up the stairs almost before I could get back to Mike.

"What is it?" he asked as he came in the room.

"I don't know, Mike just said his stomach was suddenly hurting and then he said it was getting worse and rolled up like this." I said as I went around and put my hand on Mike's shoulder and told him it was going to be alright. But by this time, Mike had tears running from eyes and he was almost crying in his groans his pain was that bad.

Dan did not even stop to do any other examination or questioning; instead he had his mobile out and had dialled 999 and asked for an ambulance as soon as the phone was answered. Dan went on to describe how Mike was writhing in pain and clutching at his stomach to the person on the other end of the phone. Next he was giving their address and asking them to please hurry. A few minutes later and we heard the siren as a paramedic arrived. Michelle was in such a state that I realised I had to be the one to let the medic in and show him up to Mike.

The medic began to examine Mike and ask questions which Mike struggled to answer through his pain. It took the medic less than sixty seconds to decide that Mike needed to be hospitalised quickly and got on his radio to make sure the ambulance was on its way. As it turned out he was still talking when the siren of the ambulance was heard and I ran downstairs again to go out to the street to guide the crew in.

In the meantime the paramedic had got a drip into Mike and I am guessing was administering some pain killer through it. They decided it would be easier and quicker to carry Mike down the stairs rather than trying to get a stretcher up to him and so one of the ambulance crew and the paramedic with Dan's help carried Mike down and then they put him on a stretcher and began wheel him out of the door to the ambulance. Michelle said she would ride with Mike even though I had offered. I was a bit upset until Dan said to me that it was best as she could fill in the forms and sign them which I was not able to do. "But I will not stop you from coming to the hospital, you better phone your mum or dad and let them know." He said comfortingly. I whipped out my phone and pressed the number for dad's phone and he answered surprisingly quickly. I filled him in on what had happened and said that I was going to ride with Dan to the hospital and didn't know when I would be home.

Michelle had got into the ambulance and it had raced off with Mike. The paramedic explained to Dan that he thought it could be either a ruptured ulcer or problems with Mike's appendix, either of which might require surgery. Dan turned to me as I was talking on the phone and I asked where they were taking Mike.

"Broomfield A&E" the paramedic said and I relayed that on to dad who had asked me.

"Steve, could you get some things ready that Mike might need if he has to stay in hospital please? You probably know his room better than I do."

I nodded and dashed upstairs. I grabbed Mike's overnight bag out from the bottom of his wardrobe and then moved over to his dresser and pulled out some drawers to find some soft shorts for him to use. Neither of us used or owned pyjamas and I knew Mike never slept with underwear on so he needed some comfortable shorts to wear. I also found some t shirts and hanging behind his door was a dressing gown that I have never seen him use but I packed it for the hospital. Then I went to the bathroom and grabbed his toothbrush and the tube of paste that family used along with a facecloth and a towel and packed that into the bag. I reckoned that they probably had a new tube of toothpaste in their pantry or somewhere or that one of Mike's parents could nip out to an all-night supermarket to get a new tube if they needed it. I dashed downstairs taking them three at a time and very nearly crashed into Dan as he was heading towards the front door.

"Easy there tiger. We don't want two casualties in our family even if you would like to lie in the bed next to him in hospital." Dan said as he grabbed me and pulled me into a hug. "Mike's going to be all right. You'll see." He told me and we both headed out the door to drive to the hospital.

Dan set some new land speed records as we travelled to the hospital and as it was quite late in the evening we were able to find a parking on the top level right across from the ambulance bay where we needed to go to see Mike. Dan also parked right next to a meter and so we were able to buy our parking ticket quickly and get into the waiting room. Dan went straight to the desk and explained who we were and after a few moments we were shown through to where Mike was in a little cubicle. The pain killer was doing its job and although Mike was still ashen and clearly in pain he was able to talk a bit more which was a help when the doctor came to examine him. We had been ushered out of the cubicle for the examination and were waiting off to one side when the doctor came out and went straight to the desk and spoke to the nurse behind the desk. Then he came over to us and told us that he suspected that Mike had a burst appendix and that they were going to do a quick scan and would probably operate that night. Michelle turned pale now and had to sit down as she received this news. Dan immediately sat and put his arm around her. "He'll be ok." He assured her.

"I think he has a good chance because this has happened so fast. We will have to operate as soon as we have confirmed my suspicions and then we will have to keep him in hospital for a few days to make sure that we have cleaned him up inside properly." The doctor told us.

As he told us this I saw them wheel Mike's bed out of the cubicle. "Can I go with him please?" I asked and looked at Dan for permission.

"Yes it would be good for him to have a familiar face to look at while they do the scan." The doctor said.

"Go on boy get with them." Dan almost ordered me. I jumped up and ran to catch up with the gurney and then as I drew level with Mike I reached out and took his hand in mine and we walked like that up to the scan.

The scan showed that his appendix was very swollen and likely to burst and it was decided that it was best to operate immediately. I sat with Dan and Michelle beside Mike's bed while we waited for an operating room to become available and Mike began to doze off because they had already started his pre-med through his drip.

Michelle said that she was thirsty and I said I would get them and jumped up and began to move towards where I thought the drinks machine was. I had got about five meters when I realised that I did not have any cash to feed the machine with and I also did not know what Michelle wanted for a drink. I turned back and rather sheepishly admitted my problem to both of them. Dan dug into his pocket and pulled out a fistful of change and asked me to get him a lemonade type drink while Michelle said she needed something stronger and could I get her a black coffee with sugar. Dan then told me to get whatever I wanted also.

We had just about finished our drinks when they came to get Mike and this time we were not allowed to accompany him. We were advised to wait in the waiting room outside the theatres and were directed to where that was.

It had been a stressful few hours and while were waiting Michelle suggested that I should try and sleep, but I was having none of it. However as the night wore on into the morning I lost my battle and began to doze off and then jerk awake again as my head fell forward. One of those waking moments came about because my mum and dad walked into the waiting room to join us.

"At last, how is Mike?" dad asked.

"He is in surgery now. A problem with his appendix." Dan answered.

"We had such a devil of a job finding where you all were." Mum said, "It was not until I said we were looking for a couple with a teenage boy that one of the nurses said she thought you would be at the OR waiting room and directed us to get here. We have been here for over an hour already."

The arrival of my parents had brightened us up a bit and we chatted for a while but I began to lose the battle to stay awake again only this time I was able to lean my head against dad's shoulder and got a bit deeper into sleep than before.

It was after two in the morning before the surgeon came out to see us. "His appendix burst as we were trying to remove it. This means that some of the poison it had got into his wound. We have spent a lot of time irrigating the area and cleaning it and hope that we have got all the poison out but if we have not he might develop septicaemia which can be serious. We will keep him in hospital for the next seventy two hours to be able to keep a close watch on his condition to ascertain that he has not been infected by this. But as a precaution we have started him on a course of strong antibiotics to help fight against any adverse infection. He is in the recovery ward right now and once he has come round from the anaesthetic you will be able to see him for a very short time and then I would advise that you go home to get some rest as Mike will need to sleep as well. The sister will call you when you can see him."

Dan thanked the doctor and we sat down to wait some more, rather more relieved now but still worrying about the septicaemia aspect. When we were eventually allowed through we were only allowed two minutes and then had to leave. Mike was so groggy I am not sure he was even aware we were there, but Michelle was definitely happier after she had seen her son.

We left the hospital with Dan and Michelle promising to keep us posted on Mike's progress and also promising to take me with them when they went to visit as Dan was going to take a couple of day's emergency leave.

To be continued...

Posted: 12/12/14