CHAPTER 67: UNEXPECTED SITUATION

Alex lounged in the corner booth of the campus café, fingers drumming against his coffee cup as he watched students filter past the windows.

The morning sun caught the condensation on his iced drink, casting little rainbows across the scratched wooden table. When Mike finally slid into the seat across from him, Alex couldn’t help but smirk.

"You’re late." Alex raised an eyebrow, though his tone held more amusement than annoyance.

Mike shrugged, pulling out his phone to check the time. "Only by ten minutes. Danny and Sarah texting you yet?"

"Nope. Probably caught up in something." Alex took a sip of his drink, ice clinking against the plastic. "So... how’s your dear girlfriend doing?"

A grin spread across Mike’s face as he leaned back in his chair. "Oh, you mean my dear, manipulative Lila?"

They both burst into laughter... the kind of unrestrained sound that makes other café patrons glance over with mild irritation.

Alex wiped his eyes, shaking his head. "God, you two are something else."

"Hey, she started this game." Mike’s eyes sparkled with mischief as he leaned forward, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "But I think I finally have proof too that she’s been playing me from the beginning."

Alex leaned back, resting his arm across the back of the chair, eyes gleaming with curiosity. "So... tell me more. How are you so sure now?"

"Maybe she’s really got a crush on you?" Alex shook his head, laughing low and amusedly.

Mike smirked, shaking his head slightly. "As you know, I told you about my suspicion regarding my... so-called girlfriend. Yesterday, it got confirmed. I overheard her talking with Sophia."

Alex let out a low whistle, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Ah, so Sophia is really involved, huh? Expected as much. Those two together... it’s like watching a pack of wolves plotting a hunt."

Mike chuckled, leaning forward. "Exactly. The way they talked, the little manipulative digs... I could almost picture them laughing at me behind the scenes. Classic Lila, thinking she’s some goddess of control."

Alex shook his head, laughing. "Oh, they’re good, I’ll give them that. But we’re not exactly sitting ducks either, are we?"

Mike grinned, leaning back with a mischievous glint in his eye. "Nope. I’ve been playing along the whole time. Every little reaction, every blush, every sigh... I gave them just enough to keep them guessing. All part of the plan."

Alex’s eyes sparkled with amusement as he leaned closer. "Careful, man... you’re enjoying this game too much, or have you started falling for her secretly?" he teased.

Mike laughed, a little self-deprecating, a little sly. "Me? Falling? Please. I’m just... savoring the show. Besides, I know exactly what’s going on. No one’s getting the upper hand here but us."

Alex laughed, a low, satisfied sound. "Good. Keep playing your part, then. Let’s see how deep the rabbit hole goes.

***

As they were laughing, Alex’s phone buzzed against the table. Danny’s name flashed across the screen.

"Hey, what’s up?" Alex answered, pressing the phone closer to his ear as the café noise swirled around him.

The voice that came through the speaker was barely recognizable. Raw, broken, punctuated by shaky breaths that made Alex’s stomach clench with immediate worry.

"Alex... I..." Danny’s voice cracked completely, and Alex could hear him struggling to form words. "I don’t know what to do anymore."

Mike noticed the change in Alex’s expression immediately, his own smile fading as he watched his friend’s face go pale.

"Danny, slow down. What’s happening?" Alex pressed the phone tighter to his ear, straining to catch every word over the ambient noise.

"It’s Nina." The name came out like a sob. "The hospital... they can’t... Alex, they’re sending us away."

Alex froze. Nina... Danny’s little sister. She had end-stage kidney disease. The pieces clicked instantly, and a cold dread sank into him.

He remembered her tiny hands trying to make peanut butter sandwiches, the gap-toothed grin when she called him "big brother Alex."

He shot up so quickly his chair scraped against the floor. "Where are you?"

Danny’s voice trembled. "We’ve been at St. Mary’s since yesterday. Mom and Dad were with me the whole time, trying to figure things out, but the doctors said her condition is beyond what they can handle. This morning, we came back home because the hospital said they couldn’t continue care without a specialty treatment... and the upfront cost is fifty thousand dollars just to start."

Mike was watching Alex’s face with growing concern, mouthing "What’s wrong?" but Alex could barely process anything beyond Danny’s broken voice.

"The other hospitals won’t even see her without insurance pre-approval, and that could take weeks she doesn’t have." Danny’s breathing was ragged, like he’d been running.

"Mom hasn’t stopped crying since then. She keeps saying it’s her fault, that she should have pushed harder for better doctors earlier. And Dad..." Another shaky breath.

"Dad’s out there right now, knocking on doors, calling everyone he’s ever known, begging for help."

Alex closed his eyes, remembering the first time Danny had brought him home years ago.

How Danny’s mother, Linda, had taken one look at this quiet, guarded kid from the group home and immediately set an extra plate at the dinner table.

"Where are you right now?" Alex asked, his voice steadier than he felt.

"Home. We brought Nina back because keeping her at the hospital was costing money we don’t have, and they said there wasn’t anything more they could do anyway." Danny’s voice dropped to barely a whisper.

"Alex, she’s getting worse. She can barely stay awake, and when she is awake, she’s in so much pain. Yesterday she asked me when you were coming to visit because she made you a drawing at school."

The memory hit like a punch to the gut... Nina, proudly showing him a crayon masterpiece of stick figures labeled "My Family."

She’d drawn herself in the middle, with Danny on one side, her parents on the other, and slightly apart but still clearly part of the group, a figure labeled "Big Bro Alex."

"I’m coming over," Alex said, already grabbing his keys from the table. "Right now."

"Alex, you don’t have to..."

"I’m already leaving."

Mike stood up as Alex ended the call, reading the urgency in every line of his friend’s body. "What’s happening?"

"Its about Nina." The words felt surreal coming out of his mouth. "Her kidney condition. They need fifty thousand dollars for treatment."

Mike’s face went white. "Jesus. Fifty thousand?"

Alex was already walking toward the exit, Mike hurrying to keep up. "I’m going to Danny’s. You coming?"

"Of course."

***

The drive to Danny’s house felt both endless and far too short. Mike had called ahead, so by the time they pulled into the narrow driveway of the modest two-story house, he was already waiting on the front porch.

Alex had never seen his friend look so hollow, so utterly defeated. Danny’s usual easy smile was gone, replaced by the kind of exhaustion that settles into your bones and stays there.

"Thanks for coming," Danny said as they approached, his voice hoarse from crying. "I just... I don’t know what else to do."

Inside, the house felt different... heavier somehow, as if grief had settled into the walls themselves.

The usual warmth that emanated from Linda’s cooking and the family photos covering every surface was muted, overshadowed by the soft sound of someone crying upstairs.

"Mom’s with Nina," Danny explained, following Alex’s gaze toward the ceiling. "She hasn’t left her side since we got back from the hospital."

They could hear it then... Linda’s voice drifting down from the second floor, singing a lullaby in the same gentle tone she’d used when they were younger and one of them got hurt.

The melody was broken by periodic pauses, probably to comfort Nina through another wave of pain.

Mike settled uncomfortably on the edge of the couch, clearly wanting to help but not knowing how.

"I called my parents on the way over. They said they’d help however they can, but..." He shrugged helplessly. His family was comfortable, but fifty thousand dollars comfortable was another level entirely.

A weak cry from upstairs made all three of them freeze. Linda’s voice immediately responded, desperate and soothing: "Shh, sweetheart, Mommy’s here. I’m right here, baby."

Danny flinched like he’d been physically struck. "She keeps asking when Daddy’s coming home from work. And yesterday..."

His voice cracked. "Yesterday she asked if big brother Alex was going to visit soon because she had something special to show him."

Alex felt something crack in his chest. "What did you tell her?"

"That big brother Alex would visit when she felt better." Danny’s words came out as barely a whisper. "I couldn’t... how do you tell an eight-year-old that we might not be able to afford to make her better?"

For a moment, Danny looked exactly like the scared kid Alex had first met in high school... back when Danny’s biggest worry was whether he’d pass chemistry, and Alex’s biggest problem was figuring out where he’d spend Christmas break since the group home closed during holidays.

"I can’t lose her, Alex." Danny’s eyes met his, and Alex saw something that terrified him... the same look Linda used to get when she’d promise everything would be okay even when it clearly wouldn’t be.

"She’s... she’s the heart of this family. When Dad lost his job two years ago, Nina was the one who made us all laugh by putting on these ridiculous puppet shows. When Mom got pneumonia last winter, Nina sat by her bed and read her stories even though she could barely read herself. She’s just..." He struggled for words.