Categories > Celebrities > Simple Plan > No News Is Good News
David and Seb were silent for a few seconds, staring at the girl. David was amazed at how she managed to look sick and tough at the same time. Seb was amazed no one had come by and told her to shut up yet.
“Sad, isn’t it?”
David and Seb turned to see a middle-aged man and a smaller woman standing behind them, looking in the window at the girl as well.
“Uh, yeah....” David said, almost at a loss for words.
“So sad, that that one survives, but my little girl is lying cold and dead on a morgue drawer in the basement!” the man said, volume of his voice growing louder with every word.
“Uhm....” David and Seb looked at each other, sharing a “what the hell is going on?” expression.
“Come on, Tom,” the woman said, pulling at the man’s arm.
“Goddammit, Nancy! I can’t believe you’re just fine with this!” the man yelled, wrenching his arm out of the woman’s grasp.
“I’m not ‘fine,’ but I’m past causing a scene in public!” the woman said angrily, taking his arm again.
“You bitch!” the man yelled, looking past David and Seb at the girl on the hospital bed. Seb noticed that the singing had stopped, and everything, the beeping of the various machines and the ringing of the phones and all the people talking, had gone dead silent.
“You little bitch! I hope you’re next! I hope you’re dead next!” The man’s yelling continued as the woman dragged him down the hall and out of the hospital.
David and Seb shared another glance, then turned back the door of the girl’s hospital room.
She was sitting up in bed, a mildly interested look on her face, staring intently at their backs. As soon as they turned around and she recognized their faces, a flicker of happiness crossed her face, then it settled to indifference.
***
“Hey.”
Chuck looked away from Jeff and up into Pierre’s face. “Hey. How’s your dad?”
“Fine.”
“You didn’t yell at him, did you, Pie?”
Pierre was silent for a few seconds.
“You yelled at him? Pierre....”
“I didn’t yell at him.”
“Okay.” Chuck leaned back in the seat and realized for the first time just how uncomfortable chairs in hospital waiting rooms are.
“Uh....where’re David and Seb?” Pierre asked quietly, looking around.
“They went that way, I think,” Jeff said, staring at the ground.
Pierre looked at him. “What way?”
“I dunno.”
“You lost them?”
“Last I remember, they went down that hall.” Chuck pointed. “I think they were headed towards the cafeteria....but I don’t know.”
“Remember what happened last time we lost track of them? In Bermuda?” Pierre asked.
“Um, Pierre, this is a hospital. They don’t sell alcohol here. And to my knowledge, neither of them has had anything to drink yet today,” Jeff pointed out.
“Fine, so they won’t be naked. Not the point,” Pierre said, turning and heading down the hall where Seb and David had supposedly gone.
Chuck sighed and lifted himself out of the chair, pushing up on the arms to help himself up. He held out a hand and helped Jeff to his feet as well, and the two of them followed after Pierre.
“Think he’s mad at us?” Jeff asked Chuck in a low voice.
“Nah. I think he’s mad at himself,” Chuck whispered back.
“Really? How can you tell?”
“See how he’s walking?”
Jeff watched Pierre’s feet.
“He’s walking more direct and quicker than he normally does. He’s stepping down harder, and he’s not swinging his arms around. When he gets pissed at himself, he kind of stomps around like that,” Chuck explained.
“Oh yeah....” Jeff thought back to all those times when Pierre had gotten mad, whether it had been over messing up his chances with a girl or saying something stupid that he wasn’t supposed to. He had stomped around those times, so loud the bus had shook side to side, even as they were barreling down the highway. Normally David could calm him down, but now David wasn’t here....
“You’re right,” Jeff said. “Goddamn....what all you think happened in there?”
“No idea,” Chuck said. “All we can do is hope he’ll get over it and tell us soon....otherwise it’s gonna be an awkward time recording....”
***
Seb stood there, in shock for a few seconds.
“You think she heard what that guy was yelling?” David asked quietly.
“Yup.” Not taking his eyes off the girl, Seb lifted a hand and waved weakly. She seemed to be looking right at him, but nothing on her face changed. She didn’t even blink.
“We should go find Pierre, right?” Seb turned back to where David was standing. Or rather, where he thought David was standing.
“Dave?” Seb turned back and saw the door to the girl’s room swinging shut and David crossing the small space of floor, stopping at the side of the girl’s bed.
“David!” Seb pushed open the door and followed him.
“....and this is Sebastien,” David was saying, like he knew Seb would be coming in right after.
“I know who you are,” the girl said.
She’s surprisingly normal-sounding, Seb thought, for someone most likely on chemo. Then again, I have no idea what someone on chemo sounds like.
“Oh, okay. I mean, just ‘cause you were singing one of our songs doesn’t mean you know all our names, right? I just....assumed,” David said.
“Well, you know what they say when you assume.”
“Uh....no.”
“When you assume something, you’re making an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me.’”
“Right.” David shifted uncomfortably.
“Why did you come in here?” The girl stared at them defiantly, throwing out question after question. “And why is he not talking?”
She gestured at Seb, and he noticed, with a slight sting of pity, that the IV in her arm moved around with her.
“I....honestly don’t know. Uh....” David looked to Sebastien for help.
Seb just shrugged.
David threw him a look before turning back to the girl on the bed.
“You just came in because you wanted to? You have nothing better to do?”
She sounded so angry, David thought.
“No, no, that’s not it! We–”
“You saw some girl lying on a hospital bed and thought, ‘Oh, hey, why don’t we make her final days just a little more enjoyable.’ ‘Cause who wouldn’t love a visit from David Desrosiers and Sebastien Lefebvre? Not me, that’s for sure! But not now. Not when I’m....like....this.” The girl fell silent, staring at her hands.
David stood straight, shocked by the sudden outburst. Seb stared, wide-eyed.
“I’m sorry,” she said in a small voice, so different from the angry one she had been using seconds earlier. “I don’t want anyone....to see me so....weak like this.”
Before he had fully realized what he was doing, David reached out and hugged her. He felt her stiffen at first, and it wasn’t until he whispered “It’s okay” that she gave in and fell limply into his shoulder.
Seb stood off to the side, uncomfortable. He wasn’t really one for emotional displays. Sure, he liked hugging people, but that was pretty much it. Anything past that, and he started to freak out and say completely wrong things.
The girl leaned away from David, brushing her hair off her face. Seb watched the IV move around again.
“I’m Hayley,” she said, half-smiling.
“Hi, Hayley,” David said, smiling at her.
“Why are the two of you even here today?” she asked.
“Uh....” Seb and David looked at each other. Would Pierre get mad if they told this girl why they were really here? It was going to get out eventually, and besides, who would she tell?
“Actually, it’s all of us. And, uh....Pierre’s dad got cancer, and Pie’s visiting him today,” Seb explained.
“Oh.” She nodded once, her face blank, then looked at Seb. “See? I knew you could talk.” She smiled, and something in her smile made Seb’s worries disappear and he smiled back at her.
“Yup,” he said, “I have been known to do that occasionally.”
“‘Course, I knew that already,” she said, leaning back on her pillows. “Where’s my laptop?”
David, sitting on the end of her bed, saw it on a chair and picked it up, handing it to her.
Hayley opened her laptop, selecting iTunes and showing the two of them all the Man Of The Hour episodes ever made, most on her Top 25 Most Played.
“Wow, cool!” Seb said, leaning in for a better look.
“I’ve been a fan since Day One,” she said proudly. “Bought the first episode as soon as I could.”
“Oh, hey!” David leaned in as well. “That’s a good song!” He touched the screen lightly, finger underlining The Used’s “All That I’ve Got.”
“Yeah, this one too,” Hayley said, highlighting and playing Plain White T’s “Figure It Out.”
“You really like music, huh?” Seb asked, noticing the number of songs in her iTunes was close to reaching the number of songs he himself had.
“Music helps me deal with my life,” she said smoothly. “Music is one of the only things that keeps me going.”
“Oh....yeah. I feel like that sometimes, too,” David said. “Probably not as often, but I still do.” He blushed, aware that he was rambling.
“Yeah, probably not.”
There was a slightly uncomfortable silence in the room, broken when the door swung open. All three of their heads turned to see Pierre, Jeff, and Chuck walking into the room.
***
“Pie, wait up!” Chuck and Jeff quickened their pace to catch up with Pierre. Damn him for having such long legs! Jeff thought.
Pierre slowed, but only a little. “Why don’t the two of you just hurry up?” he snapped when they had caught up to him.
“Sorry.” Chuck gave him a look.
Pierre sighed. “No, I’m sorry. I just wanna get out of here, you know?”
“I know. Let’s go get David and Seb.” Chuck put his hand on Pierre’s shoulder and kept walking.
“This is depressing,” Jeff said, noticing they were passing through the children’s wing. “How they paint the walls yellow....like it’s supposed to distract from the fact that most of these kids aren’t gonna get better.”
“Shh.” Pierre stopped walking.
“O....kay?” Jeff and Chuck exchanged confused looks.
“Hear that?”
Jeff and Chuck tried to listen harder, and then they heard it. The faint sound of “Figure It Out” by Plain White T’s playing over the normal hospital sounds.
“Where there’s Plain White T’s, there’s David,” Pierre said, starting to walk down the hall again. Jeff and Chuck followed, still listening to the song.
Pierre stopped suddenly, and Chuck, who had been following too close, ran into him.
“Sorry,” Chuck said, backing up.
Pierre ignored him, looking in the window of the door.
“What is it, Pierre?” Jeff and Chuck leaned in too.
David and Seb were in the room with a younger girl, all three of them looking at the screen of the laptop in the girl’s lap. That was where the music was coming from, no doubt about it.
Pierre pushed the door open and walked into the room, Chuck and Jeff following. The three in the room all turned their heads to look at them, their expressions a mix of surprise and pity when their eyes landed on Pierre.
“Sad, isn’t it?”
David and Seb turned to see a middle-aged man and a smaller woman standing behind them, looking in the window at the girl as well.
“Uh, yeah....” David said, almost at a loss for words.
“So sad, that that one survives, but my little girl is lying cold and dead on a morgue drawer in the basement!” the man said, volume of his voice growing louder with every word.
“Uhm....” David and Seb looked at each other, sharing a “what the hell is going on?” expression.
“Come on, Tom,” the woman said, pulling at the man’s arm.
“Goddammit, Nancy! I can’t believe you’re just fine with this!” the man yelled, wrenching his arm out of the woman’s grasp.
“I’m not ‘fine,’ but I’m past causing a scene in public!” the woman said angrily, taking his arm again.
“You bitch!” the man yelled, looking past David and Seb at the girl on the hospital bed. Seb noticed that the singing had stopped, and everything, the beeping of the various machines and the ringing of the phones and all the people talking, had gone dead silent.
“You little bitch! I hope you’re next! I hope you’re dead next!” The man’s yelling continued as the woman dragged him down the hall and out of the hospital.
David and Seb shared another glance, then turned back the door of the girl’s hospital room.
She was sitting up in bed, a mildly interested look on her face, staring intently at their backs. As soon as they turned around and she recognized their faces, a flicker of happiness crossed her face, then it settled to indifference.
***
“Hey.”
Chuck looked away from Jeff and up into Pierre’s face. “Hey. How’s your dad?”
“Fine.”
“You didn’t yell at him, did you, Pie?”
Pierre was silent for a few seconds.
“You yelled at him? Pierre....”
“I didn’t yell at him.”
“Okay.” Chuck leaned back in the seat and realized for the first time just how uncomfortable chairs in hospital waiting rooms are.
“Uh....where’re David and Seb?” Pierre asked quietly, looking around.
“They went that way, I think,” Jeff said, staring at the ground.
Pierre looked at him. “What way?”
“I dunno.”
“You lost them?”
“Last I remember, they went down that hall.” Chuck pointed. “I think they were headed towards the cafeteria....but I don’t know.”
“Remember what happened last time we lost track of them? In Bermuda?” Pierre asked.
“Um, Pierre, this is a hospital. They don’t sell alcohol here. And to my knowledge, neither of them has had anything to drink yet today,” Jeff pointed out.
“Fine, so they won’t be naked. Not the point,” Pierre said, turning and heading down the hall where Seb and David had supposedly gone.
Chuck sighed and lifted himself out of the chair, pushing up on the arms to help himself up. He held out a hand and helped Jeff to his feet as well, and the two of them followed after Pierre.
“Think he’s mad at us?” Jeff asked Chuck in a low voice.
“Nah. I think he’s mad at himself,” Chuck whispered back.
“Really? How can you tell?”
“See how he’s walking?”
Jeff watched Pierre’s feet.
“He’s walking more direct and quicker than he normally does. He’s stepping down harder, and he’s not swinging his arms around. When he gets pissed at himself, he kind of stomps around like that,” Chuck explained.
“Oh yeah....” Jeff thought back to all those times when Pierre had gotten mad, whether it had been over messing up his chances with a girl or saying something stupid that he wasn’t supposed to. He had stomped around those times, so loud the bus had shook side to side, even as they were barreling down the highway. Normally David could calm him down, but now David wasn’t here....
“You’re right,” Jeff said. “Goddamn....what all you think happened in there?”
“No idea,” Chuck said. “All we can do is hope he’ll get over it and tell us soon....otherwise it’s gonna be an awkward time recording....”
***
Seb stood there, in shock for a few seconds.
“You think she heard what that guy was yelling?” David asked quietly.
“Yup.” Not taking his eyes off the girl, Seb lifted a hand and waved weakly. She seemed to be looking right at him, but nothing on her face changed. She didn’t even blink.
“We should go find Pierre, right?” Seb turned back to where David was standing. Or rather, where he thought David was standing.
“Dave?” Seb turned back and saw the door to the girl’s room swinging shut and David crossing the small space of floor, stopping at the side of the girl’s bed.
“David!” Seb pushed open the door and followed him.
“....and this is Sebastien,” David was saying, like he knew Seb would be coming in right after.
“I know who you are,” the girl said.
She’s surprisingly normal-sounding, Seb thought, for someone most likely on chemo. Then again, I have no idea what someone on chemo sounds like.
“Oh, okay. I mean, just ‘cause you were singing one of our songs doesn’t mean you know all our names, right? I just....assumed,” David said.
“Well, you know what they say when you assume.”
“Uh....no.”
“When you assume something, you’re making an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me.’”
“Right.” David shifted uncomfortably.
“Why did you come in here?” The girl stared at them defiantly, throwing out question after question. “And why is he not talking?”
She gestured at Seb, and he noticed, with a slight sting of pity, that the IV in her arm moved around with her.
“I....honestly don’t know. Uh....” David looked to Sebastien for help.
Seb just shrugged.
David threw him a look before turning back to the girl on the bed.
“You just came in because you wanted to? You have nothing better to do?”
She sounded so angry, David thought.
“No, no, that’s not it! We–”
“You saw some girl lying on a hospital bed and thought, ‘Oh, hey, why don’t we make her final days just a little more enjoyable.’ ‘Cause who wouldn’t love a visit from David Desrosiers and Sebastien Lefebvre? Not me, that’s for sure! But not now. Not when I’m....like....this.” The girl fell silent, staring at her hands.
David stood straight, shocked by the sudden outburst. Seb stared, wide-eyed.
“I’m sorry,” she said in a small voice, so different from the angry one she had been using seconds earlier. “I don’t want anyone....to see me so....weak like this.”
Before he had fully realized what he was doing, David reached out and hugged her. He felt her stiffen at first, and it wasn’t until he whispered “It’s okay” that she gave in and fell limply into his shoulder.
Seb stood off to the side, uncomfortable. He wasn’t really one for emotional displays. Sure, he liked hugging people, but that was pretty much it. Anything past that, and he started to freak out and say completely wrong things.
The girl leaned away from David, brushing her hair off her face. Seb watched the IV move around again.
“I’m Hayley,” she said, half-smiling.
“Hi, Hayley,” David said, smiling at her.
“Why are the two of you even here today?” she asked.
“Uh....” Seb and David looked at each other. Would Pierre get mad if they told this girl why they were really here? It was going to get out eventually, and besides, who would she tell?
“Actually, it’s all of us. And, uh....Pierre’s dad got cancer, and Pie’s visiting him today,” Seb explained.
“Oh.” She nodded once, her face blank, then looked at Seb. “See? I knew you could talk.” She smiled, and something in her smile made Seb’s worries disappear and he smiled back at her.
“Yup,” he said, “I have been known to do that occasionally.”
“‘Course, I knew that already,” she said, leaning back on her pillows. “Where’s my laptop?”
David, sitting on the end of her bed, saw it on a chair and picked it up, handing it to her.
Hayley opened her laptop, selecting iTunes and showing the two of them all the Man Of The Hour episodes ever made, most on her Top 25 Most Played.
“Wow, cool!” Seb said, leaning in for a better look.
“I’ve been a fan since Day One,” she said proudly. “Bought the first episode as soon as I could.”
“Oh, hey!” David leaned in as well. “That’s a good song!” He touched the screen lightly, finger underlining The Used’s “All That I’ve Got.”
“Yeah, this one too,” Hayley said, highlighting and playing Plain White T’s “Figure It Out.”
“You really like music, huh?” Seb asked, noticing the number of songs in her iTunes was close to reaching the number of songs he himself had.
“Music helps me deal with my life,” she said smoothly. “Music is one of the only things that keeps me going.”
“Oh....yeah. I feel like that sometimes, too,” David said. “Probably not as often, but I still do.” He blushed, aware that he was rambling.
“Yeah, probably not.”
There was a slightly uncomfortable silence in the room, broken when the door swung open. All three of their heads turned to see Pierre, Jeff, and Chuck walking into the room.
***
“Pie, wait up!” Chuck and Jeff quickened their pace to catch up with Pierre. Damn him for having such long legs! Jeff thought.
Pierre slowed, but only a little. “Why don’t the two of you just hurry up?” he snapped when they had caught up to him.
“Sorry.” Chuck gave him a look.
Pierre sighed. “No, I’m sorry. I just wanna get out of here, you know?”
“I know. Let’s go get David and Seb.” Chuck put his hand on Pierre’s shoulder and kept walking.
“This is depressing,” Jeff said, noticing they were passing through the children’s wing. “How they paint the walls yellow....like it’s supposed to distract from the fact that most of these kids aren’t gonna get better.”
“Shh.” Pierre stopped walking.
“O....kay?” Jeff and Chuck exchanged confused looks.
“Hear that?”
Jeff and Chuck tried to listen harder, and then they heard it. The faint sound of “Figure It Out” by Plain White T’s playing over the normal hospital sounds.
“Where there’s Plain White T’s, there’s David,” Pierre said, starting to walk down the hall again. Jeff and Chuck followed, still listening to the song.
Pierre stopped suddenly, and Chuck, who had been following too close, ran into him.
“Sorry,” Chuck said, backing up.
Pierre ignored him, looking in the window of the door.
“What is it, Pierre?” Jeff and Chuck leaned in too.
David and Seb were in the room with a younger girl, all three of them looking at the screen of the laptop in the girl’s lap. That was where the music was coming from, no doubt about it.
Pierre pushed the door open and walked into the room, Chuck and Jeff following. The three in the room all turned their heads to look at them, their expressions a mix of surprise and pity when their eyes landed on Pierre.
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