Page 229 of The Locker Room

198 Amy Lane

He wasn"t aware then that he"d just outed the two of them, but he

did see the terrible comprehension in her eyes, and not another word was

spoken about drugs to keep him asleep.

But nobody was there when Xander saw the surgeon come out to

give someone bad news the first time. He was not good at reading

people, had no real people-imagination, actually, so he couldn"t tell if it

was a husband or a father or a brother who had died, but he remembered

the faces of the family, as they tried to be strong at first and then

crumpled, like steel girders rippling under too much weight, and an

earthquake to boot.

They said “No no no no no no no—” a lot, and Xander wondered if

maybe, if he asked pretty, and the surgeon came out to greethimwith

that look on her face, God would let Xander"s heart stop before he

realized that “Yes, it was true, and you will never see Chris smile again”

actually registered.

So that was the first time Xander watched someone get bad news.

The second time, Mandy was with him, and she watched his knees

buckle as he sat down on the floor,hard,when the surgeon came in with

that look on her face, and then went to talk to the other family in the

room.

That was when the universal decision was made to not only keep

someone there when Xander was sleeping, but when he was awake too.

Xander told them all that he was fine. He made sure everybody

went home and got rest, he went to fetch food and horrible coffee, and

pillows for everyone. He even sent Leo out to get a computer and

chargers and everything so they could distract themselves with smart

phones and television and bad movies and anything, anything at all that

made the waiting less than excruciating.

Leo apparently raided the Big & Tall section when he went to