"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I miss her too. She was a great patient and friend." AJ felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Buddy, you alright?" trembled Howie's voice.
"I'm fine," AJ said quickly. A little too quickly. No one else dared to say another word. Suddenly, a loud beeping echoed from the hall. The nurse glanced toward the door. She gathered up the sheets and walked towards the door, slowly.
"Listen," she said to the boys. "If there's anything I could do, ask for Leah. And um, her guardian's giving her a funeral tomorrow afternoon at St. Patrick's church. Not many people are going, but I know how much good friends you are with her, so you can go if you want to." She smiled sadly at them and closed the door behind her.
"Oh, God AJ. We're so sorry," said Nick sympathetically.
"Man, how could this happen?" demanded AJ, getting angry. "It's her birthday, dammit! She was healthy, she was happy....she promised."
"It's not her fault," said Brian, gently.
"I'm not blaming her, but she did promise! She just HAD to let go when we were coming up, didn't she? It's like she planned all this shit," he said through clenched teeth.
"You're right AJ. A promise IS a promise. But it doesn't matter now, does it? No, it doesn't. The reason why you're making such a big fuss about this is," said Kevin. AJ looked at him, as well as his other friends. Kevin sighed and continued, "because you love her." AJ looked horrified and opened his mouth to argue but Kevin held up his hand. "And you're very upset of losing the girl you love. Hey, we're upset and sad too. But you LOVED the girl which counts a lot more. Get my drift?" Everyone was still. Even Nick, who's so obnoxious, didn't make any jokes or tease AJ about falling in love with a 13-year old girl.
"You...you really....thi....thin...think I loved....Max?" asked AJ, stammering on every word. Kevin nodded his head and the others followed. AJ suddenly collapsed onto the cold tiled floor of the hospital room and shook his head. "No," he gasped, looking up at his sad friends. "How could I not know this? I love a girl, and now I lose her! Oh God, this is not right." For the next few minutes, everyone stood around watching AJ weep to himself and the rest had a hard time holding back their own tears. Finally, AJ stood up, wiped his face with his sleeve and walked out the door with his friends close behind him.