Cooper was surprised at how comfortable it was to be around Austen. “Why don’t I hate you? I mean, shouldn’t we hate each other?” Cooper asked out loud, chuckling.
“I definitely shouldn’t hate you. I mean, I’m the one who’s dead, so how selfish would that be?” Austen responded.
Cooper nodded his head in agreement, “Pretty selfish. I thought I would want to punch you in the face or something, but I don’t.”
“Thanks for not busting up the goods.” Austen laughed as he grabbed at his chin.
“Weird.”
“What?” Austen asked.
“This whole thing. I don’t know. How I feel. How I felt before I met you. The fact that I’m meeting you. Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.” Austen knew he had no right to feel anything but gratitude toward Cooper Donovan. He knew that Cooper had saved the love of his life. He also knew that Cooper was the only guy he could see loving her after he was gone. It was just like the last time.
“Is it hard for you?” Cooper wondered.
“To what? See you and Katherine together?”
“Yeah.”
Austen paused before answering. “Yes and no.” He took a breath. “I mean…I love her more than I can put into words, so all I want is for her to be happy. And if it’s not going to be me in her life, I’m really happy that it’s you.”
Cooper was surprised at Austen’s response. “Thanks. That means a lot,” he said, relieved.
“Is it hard for you?” Austen was curious.
“It was,” Cooper nodded. “All I knew was that every time she went to sleep, she was with someone I could never compete with. That realization was the hardest, I think.”
“But you know how much she loves you.”
“I also know it’s not the same,” Cooper spoke without disdain.
Austen nodded. “But it doesn’t have to be the same for it to mean the world to her. She loves you in ways she doesn’t love me.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I can feel it. And I see the way she looks at you.”
Cooper felt the blood rush out of his body. “I don’t...”
“Cooper!” Austen yelled, but it was too late.
Katherine woke and popped up in her bed. “Taylor. We need to go to Cooper right now. RIGHT NOW!”
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. I have a bad feeling. Take me there now, Taylor!” Kat threw back the covers and pushed at Taylor, not sure if she were trying to help her out of bed, or keep her in it.
“Okay, okay. Come on.” Taylor helped Kat get out of bed and they rushed toward Cooper’s room. Austen watched, unseen, from the hallway. Danny stopped the girls at the door.
“You can’t go in there, Kat,” Danny insisted, as he grabbed her arms and held her tightly.
She struggled and tried to push her way through the hockey player. “Let me in there, Danny! Cooper! Cooper, don’t you leave me!” she cried from the hallway.
A nurse walked by and admonished, “You have to keep it down, miss. Please.” She turned to Taylor. “And you really need to get her back to her room! She shouldn’t be out of bed.”
“Cooper!” Kat’s knees buckled under her weight. She heard the solid beep coming from the machine and knew what that sound meant. “Don’t leave me! You promised you wouldn’t leave me. Wake up! Cooper!”
Austen crouched behind her and held her in his arms. She couldn’t feel him, but he didn’t care. “Dammit, Cooper, where are you? I know you’re here! Cooper!” Austen yelled for him. He started running through the hallways looking for him. He shouted Cooper’s name around every corner. He had to be somewhere close and Austen was determined to find him. “Come on, Cooper, where are you?”
“Austen.” The voice was so weak he barely heard it. Austen looked down and saw Cooper sitting on the floor. “What’s going on?”
“You’re dying.” Austen spoke the words void of any emotion.
Cooper understood what happened and accepted it. He closed his eyes before Austen grabbed him and shook him. “Snap out of it, hockey boy!”
Cooper glared at him. “What’s your problem?”
“Right now YOU’RE my problem.”
Cooper tried to stand, but couldn’t. “What do you want from me?”
“I want you to fight! I know it’s easier to give in. I know everything in you is telling you to do just that. But you have to fight it, Cooper.”
“I don’t have the strength.”
“Do you want to die?” Austen grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him outside the hospital room where Katherine screamed and cried for him. “If I had a second chance, I’d give anything to be with that girl. And you still can. Don’t quit on her! She would never quit on you!” Austen’s eyes burned with rage and sorrow.
Seeing her and hearing Austen’s words lit a fire in his soul. “How do I do it?”
“That’s the spirit!” Austen got down in Cooper’s face. “You fight. When you feel that peaceful weakness...and your body begs you to give in to it, you don’t let it win.You have to stay strong. Use everything in your power to fight through it.”
“What if I can’t?” Cooper concentrated on breathing.
“You can! And you will. It won’t be easy, but you have to fight, Cooper.”
“Will you help me?” Cooper didn’t think he could do it alone.