Love Me
Chapter 24
Life-Saver
Caden and
Jared talking in the office while Riley is in his room relaxing. They are talking about the people responsible
for saving Riley's life. The young man
may not last another 15 or twenty minutes if not for these people. If the young man who came across Riley's
still form had not found him. Isaac
Stone saved Riley's life that day.
"Caden, what
would you think about reaching out to the people who saved your brother's life?
Caden is
caught off guard by the question from his boyfriend. He contemplates the question for just a
second. He quickly responds to Jared.
"I think it
would be terrific. I would love for my brother to meet Isaac, the cop, and the EMTs. I think it would be a great idea. How hard do you think it will be to find
them?"
It shouldn't
be too hard to find the officers and the EMTs, but it might be something else
entirely to find Isaac Stone.
"I think
Trace might be able to help out in finding the first responders, and maybe I
can reach out via the web and find Isaac Stone.
Course, Trace might be able to find him too."
Jared says
as he wakes up his computer to track down Isaac. Caden gives him a kiss before getting back
into the conversation.
"What should
we do for them?"
Caden wants
to do something for them, but he has little to no clue what to do. He just wants it to be excellent for both
them and Riley. Maybe, they could even
invite Ryan. Actually, Riley might hurt
them if they didn't ask his boyfriend.
Jared and Caden start to think about what they want to do for the first
responders and Isaac.
"Maybe some
light food, gifts of some sort?"
Jared
suggests to Caden. Caden thinks about it,
and he doesn't have any ideas himself.
"I love the
idea of a gift. I just don't know what
to buy or make?"
Caden wants
to do something nice, but he's just not sure what to do for them. Jared and Caden think things through. Between the two of them, they should be able
to come up with a gift idea. Jared's
mind is stuck on the idea of a gift bag.
In his mind, he pictures a gift bag filled with candy, a gift card, and
then something extra, so they remember Riley.
Not to mention a little something else, to say thank you for being there
when Riley needed them the most.
"I have an
idea Caden, but you got to trust me."
Caden nods
his head. He knows that he trusts his
boyfriend to do something that will look good and something that will be
enjoyable.
"Okay, I
trust you to make the bags cool."
Caden wants
his brother to smile and meet his life-savers.
Caden heads downstairs to work on breakfast for the family.
***
As he's working on the meal, he is trying to
figure if he wants to keep this all a secret from his brother or let him be in
on the planning. It would be cool if
Riley picked something to go into the gift bags. The more he thinks about it, the more he
wants his brother to be kept in the dark until the last minute. The only thing he needs to do is keep the
teen away while arranging everything.
Sadly, Caden doubts that Riley will remember any people who helped
rescue him from the street where their sperm donor dropped Riley after knocking
him to the floor. Riley deserves some
kindness in his life. Maybe this will
lighten up the young man's life a bit.
***
Jared starts
his work the second Caden leaves the room.
He gets on his phone to call Trace.
"Trace here;
what's up, Jared?"
Jared hopes
that Trace can help him out on this one.
"I need your
help to pull something off for Riley. We
want to surprise him by having the first responders who saved him here at the
house for a little get-together. Is
there any way you can make help us do that?"
Trace isn't
sure what they want him to do precisely.
"Jared, you
want me to see if I can find the officers?
Do you know the officers' names and the names of the EMTs that responded?"
Jared gets
the list off of the computer to answer Trace's question. He reads off the names from Caden's list.
"Officer
Jackson Brant and Officer Kaleb Reyes are the officers, and the EMTs are Dixon
Woods and Edward Price. We wanted Riley to know who saved his life. He already knows the doctors who saved his
life. Do you think you can find them?"
There is a
second of silence while Trace thinks things over. He isn't at the police station now, but he
will be a little later in the day. The
names are quickly written down by Trace.
"As far as I
know, both officers are still at the station.
I'll have to reach out and see if I can find the EMTs. I'll let you know sometime today if I can
work some magic for you guys. Are you
going to try to reach out to the guy who found him?"
There is a
plan to attempt to reach out to Isaac.
Hopefully, they can find Isaac, and hopefully, he'll want to show up to
surprise Riley.
"Trace, we
really appreciate everything. Yeah, we
are going to try and find him."
A light goes
on in Trace's mind, and he lets his thoughts spring out of his mouth.
"I think we
can try finding Isaac too. Should I go
for it?"
Jared still
wants to find Isaac, but it would be awesome if Trace could find him.
"Thanks,
Trace; I really appreciate it. We'll be home, or we'll have our phones with us
all day. So just let us know when and if
you find out anything. We'll do the
rest."
Jared tells
Trace so he knows that he can contact them at any part of the day. The guys want Riley's world to be made a
little smaller by doing this party. It's
for the teen, but they will celebrate the first responders and let Isaac know
that he's a hero, at least in their eyes.
It was literally a half-hour for Trace to get back to Jared.
"I'm going
to text you everyone's phone numbers.
It's all cell phones, so feel free to text them."
Trace tells
his friend. Trace's next text contains
all the phone numbers Caden and Jared need to reach out to everyone they want
to reach out to.
"Thanks,
Trace!"
Jared
replies to the comments. Now Jared sits
down and calls each person they want to contact for the party. Each of the officers, EMTs, and yes, even
Isaac agrees to come to the party. Jared
is glad that he's gotten that task completed with the thanks of their friend. He has one more thing that he needs to do,
and he needs to call his mom to do them a solid favor.
***
He
immediately calls his mom's phone to make arrangements for the luncheon.
"Hi Jared,
how are you?"
"I'm good,
Mom. I hate to call you when I need something.
We need a big favor from you.
Caden and I were talking about doing a party for Riley. We've invited the cops, EMTs, and the guy who
found Riley out on the street. Anyway,
the reason I called was to ask you if you would be willing to put together a
menu for us and then handle the food for us."
Jared
crosses his fingers and hopes that she'll say yes. After all, what would a party be like without
food? He knows one way or another they'll
have to figure out the food situation if she doesn't agree to do the food. Still, though, he knows that his mom can't
resist doing nice things for Caden's brother.
"Jared, you
know that I am willing to do anything for Riley. When are you doing the party?"
Jared heads
downstairs to speak with his boyfriend.
He finds him in the kitchen.
"Caden, when
are we doing the party?"
Caden's mind
immediately starts running through possible dates. He then looks at Jared and answers that
question.
"How about
Saturday? That way, we don't have to worry about your mom working, or everyone
else will hopefully have the day off as well."
Jared relays
that information to his mom, who immediately starts work on the menu. She wonders if Caden will want to know what
she thinks should be on the menu.
"Tell Caden
I will text him possible menus, and then I'll do the cooking done Friday. Can we do the party around 1:00 pm? That way,
I can do some cooking on Saturday if need be?"
She asks her
son.
"Mom, that's
fine. I'll let Caden know to be expecting your text."
She
immediately begins looking for snacks, recipes for parties, and even simple
desserts that could be made up and enjoyed by everyone.
"Sounds good,
sweetie! I'm going to let you go, so I
start looking for recipes."
She lets her
son go to start work on the menu.
***
It doesn't
take long for her to thumb through recipes online. She plans to do a smoky Spanish chicken for
the entrée, mushroom and cream cheese taquitos, soft ginger cookies, and
chicken pasta caesar salad. She immediately sends the menu to Caden. Caden glances over the menu and agrees with
it.
"Make me a
shopping list, and we'll get you the food."
Seconds
later, Lisa responded with a big old smile.
Caden takes his phone to show his boyfriend.
"Your mom is
amazing. I mean, look at this menu."
Caden isn't
telling Jared something new. Jared knows
his mom is awesome. This menu is just one
more thing that makes her extraordinary.
"Caden, I
take it that you like the menu?"
Caden nods
his head and goes back to work on breakfast.
***
Next, thing
that Caden needs to do is call Ryan.
Someone needs to keep Riley busy, and who better to do it than his
boyfriend. It's what Caden is counting
on anyway.
"Hi Caden,
is everything okay?"
Caden thinks
that Ryan will be excited over what he and Jared have planned.
"Everything
is good. I have a little favor to ask of
you. On Saturday, we are having a little
shindig for Riley. We are, of course,
inviting you, but we are also inviting all the officers, EMTs, and the guy who
called 911 after finding my brother on the street. We already have confirmation that everyone
invited so far has accepted our invitation.
We just need to keep him busy that on Saturday so all the guests can get
here and so we can get set up. Are you
okay doing that?"
Hmm...let's
see, spend time with Riley or not spend time with Riley? He doesn't exactly see
a problem with this situation. Plus, it
would be awesome to see the first responders who helped save his boyfriend.
"Caden,
you're asking me to spend time with my boyfriend; course I'll do it."
Caden didn't
think that Ryan would refuse him. Ryan
loves his boyfriend. He loves
Riley.
"Thanks,
Ryan, we're going to the party on Saturday at 1:00 pm. You just have to keep him busy till I call
for him. Keep him in his room and keep him busy, and then stay for the party."
Caden knows
Ryan won't let him down.
"I'll be
there."
Ryan is
looking forward to the Saturday party.
***
Ryan comes
over to the house on Friday at 6:00 pm.
He knows the rules in the house.
He has to sleep in a sleeping bag and stay away from the bed. Riley and Ryan spend the night watching
movies. Ryan is great at keeping things
quiet, so much so that Caden puts his trust in the kid. He wants to give in to the urges running
through his head. He could wake Riley up
and then talk. He then would lead the
way into some playing. Still, he trusts
Caden and Jared and doesn't want to break that trust. He doesn't want to do anything that might
harm his boyfriend or destroy the trust that has grown between him and Caden,
Jared, and Riley.
***
Ryan and
Riley are still sleeping upstairs when the first guests arrive downstairs. The first guest, Isaac Stone, brought his
girlfriend, Kristy Murphy. Caden invited
them into the house and then went about introductions.
"Hi, I'm
Caden Bishop, Riley's brother. This is
my boyfriend, Jared Gunther."
Isaac was
all smiles.
"I'm Isaac
Stone, and this beautiful lady is my girlfriend, Kristy Murphy. We met at the hospital. She was done in the cafeteria at the same
time I was, and she looked really sad, so I went to talk to her, and that is
when we connected."
Isaac made
many trips up to the hospital, and on one of those trips, something extraordinary
happened. He met a wonderful
person. Her best friend had been in a
car accident and had died on the same day that this handsome guy had taken time
out of his day to cheer her up. Caden
He made it up to the hospital a couple
times to check on him, but since he wasn't family, they couldn't give
information out to him. He made several
trips up to the hospital to check on Riley and somehow managed to miss Caden
every time he went up. He also prayed a
bunch of times for the teen.
"I know he
made it out of the hospital, but how is he doing?"
Caden is
glad that he wasn't the only one praying for his brother.
"Well, our
father hit him, and it landed him onto a hard, oak floor. He bounced off the floor, knocked himself
out; he wasn't breathing when you found him.
His brain didn't have enough oxygen, so there are some memory issues and
some other handicaps. But he is alive
and happy, and that is all that matters."
Isaac
couldn't agree more. He wonders when
he'll get to meet the person he saved.
"Caden, any
chance of him recovering any part of what's lost?"
Caden looks
down at the floor and then back at Isaac.
Isaac already sees the mistake he made.
"I can't say
for sure, but if what we are seeing now is any indication, then I am going to
say no."
Jared leads
Kristy and Isaac into the living room so that they won't see the guests when
the boys come down the stairs.
"Oh, I
almost forgot, this is for Riley."
Isaac hands
a wrapped present to Jared. Caden heard
someone else knocking at the door.
***
The next
guests to arrive are the two officers who investigated Riley's scene and
arrested Mr. and Mrs. Bishop, Officer Jackson Brant, and Officer Amelia
Reyes. They were unsure about showing up,
but Amelia decided it was for the best.
They wanted to support this young man.
Especially with what he's been through, besides any friend of Trace's is
their friend too. Officer Brant and
Officer Reyes have already met Caden, but they haven't met Jared, so Caden
welcomes them into the house and leads them towards the dining room as well.
"Jared,
Isaac, Kristy, this is Officer Jackson Brant and Officer Amelia Reyes; they
were the officers who handled the investigation and the arrest of my parents.
Jared is my boyfriend. I'll leave the two of talk with everyone so I can answer
the door."
Another
knock at the door, Caden again goes to answer it before they can knock again.
***
The next two
guests are the EMTs who brought the teen to the hospital. The first EMT is
Marcus Foster, and the second EMT is Charles Olsen. If they had been a minute later to arrive at
the scene, Riley could be much different than he is now, or he could even be
dead. Riley owes his life to these
two. Sure
Jackson and Amelia did their jobs perfectly; Marcus and Charles got Riley
breathing again. Caden introduced
himself, and then they introduced themselves.
Caden led them into the dining room and introduced them to the rest of
the guests and Jared. Jared digs out his
phone and gets ready to text Ryan.
***
All the
guests in the dining room are settled and talking amongst themselves when Jared
gets ready to text a now awake Ryan.
Ryan and Riley have cleaned up and are dressed already.
"Ryan,
everyone is here. You can head
downstairs so Riley can meet the people who saved his life."
Suddenly,
Ryan is caught up with emotion at the thought of these people all coming to the
house because they all saved a young man's life that day. A young man is Ryan's boyfriend.
"I'm on it."
Ryan types
into his phone.
"Riley,
Caden says we need to get downstairs so we can eat."
Riley
ignores his boyfriend's comment for a second, but then he gets up and takes
Ryan's hand for better balance.
***
They head
downstairs for what Riley thinks is going to be breakfast. Jared is sitting in the living room to see
the teens coming downstairs. As they get
to the middle of the stairway, Lisa enters the house via the patio door. Caden thought it was best that she enter the house this way so the boys wouldn't see her. She did her best to cook up as much of the
food as possible at her home, and then she'll have a bit to do at the house. Ryan and Riley get to the bottom of the
stairs to see Jared.
"Riley, turn
around and look into the dining room."
Riley turns
around is speechless as he sees many people that he doesn't recognize at all.
His brother is sitting with them at the table, so Caden knows them, but Riley
doesn't, and it's bugging him.
***
Riley is
confused, and Caden can tell that he is unsure about the people.
"It's okay,
Riley. They are friends."
Riley hears
his brother's words, but he still isn't convinced. Jared walks up to Riley and takes his other
hand.
"Riley,
these people came to see you. They are
all the people who saved you the day that your dad attacked you. There are police officers, EMTs, and the guy
who called 911."
Riley is
quiet while Caden speaks as he moves around the table, stopping as he mentions
each group and Isaac.
"They...they
here to see me."
Everyone
nods their heads. Ryan drops his hands
from Riley's and lets Jared walk with him to the table. Riley is nervous and scared just a little
bit. He doesn't know what to think of
all of this.
"Jared and I
thought you would like to meet the people who saved your life. So we had Trace find them, and they reached out to us so
they could meet you."
Caden's
voice is soothing and reassuring. Caden
walks up to his brother and walks by his side at the far end of the dining room
table till he standing next to Isaac.
He's there along with his boyfriend and his brother's boyfriend.
***
The last
time Isaac saw this young man, he was lying on the ground, totally unresponsive
and not even breathing. He was afraid
that he had found a dead body. He stayed
with Riley until the EMTs loaded him up into the ambulance. If Isaac hadn't arrived to look at a rental
not too far away from Riley's house, Riley might have gone longer without
receiving aid, and his injuries and his disabilities might be more severe. Seeing Riley standing in front of him makes
his eyes a bit wet.
"Isaac, this
is my brother, Riley. Riley, this is
Isaac Stone. He is the guy who found you
on the ground and called 911 after Dad attacked you."
Caden tasted
bile in his throat when he said "Dad" but felt like he needed to say it. He
still isn't sure how Riley sees their father.
With his memory issues, he doesn't remember what he told their parents
or what they did to him that day.
"He-he-he
called the-the police."
Riley's eyes
are also wet.
"Riley, he
also called for the ambulance that took you to the hospital."
Isaac's
shedding tears. Riley reaches out his
hands to Isaac. Isaac stands a few feet
taller than Riley, so he squats down to hug the teen.
"Thank
you...for-for for...being there."
Riley manages
to say as he looks at Isaac.
"I'm glad
that you're alive. You-you had me so
scared. Thank you for fighting!! I hope we can be friends, my man."
Riley smiles
and shakes Isaac's hand. Isaac gives
Riley his present. Riley opens the
present to find a couple of sketchpads.
"I heard
that you like to draw."
The teen
smiles, and so does Ryan. Riley's
drawings are getting better with time, but they aren't at the level he used to
be before the attacks.
"I-I-I do
like to draw. Tha-thank you!"
Riley and
Caden move to the next group of people.
***
Caden and
Riley are now standing next to Officer Brant, and Officer Reyes is
sitting. They aren't dressed in their
uniforms, so it's hard to tell if these two people are cops or not. Caden smiles at them and nods his head at
them. Jackson and Amelia stand up to
greet Riley.
"Hi Riley,
we are the police officers who investigated what happened to you and arrested
your mom and dad. We helped to keep you
safe."
Riley isn't
sure how he feels about the arrest of his parents, but he likes the part about
being safe. Riley turns and looks at his
brother. He needs a bit of reassurance.
"Tha...nk you!"
Amelia opens
up a bag and hands its content to Riley.
Riley doesn't have a lot of coloring books, so he is tickled when he
opens up his gift from Amelia and Jackson, the teen smiles. He also got a package of 250 colored pencils.
"Thank you
for...for...the presents!"
The teen is
happy to have met these guys, but the next guests hit Riley and Caden even more
than Jackson or Amelia.
"Thank you,
Amelia and Jackson! I'm Riley's
boyfriend, and I felt like I needed to tell you how much I appreciate
everything you did for my boyfriend. My
name is Ryan, by the way."
Ryan is
beaming at the officers. He's proud of
everything they've done for Riley. They didn't know what to get Riley for a
present, so they bought him a t-ball set so he could practice hitting the ball,
maybe with his boyfriend, Caden, or Jared.
He smiled at it also. Riley moves
to the next group; the EMTs, Marcus Foster, and Charles Olsen. Now for Marcus and Charles, this is a sight
to be seen; they know that traumatic brain injuries can come in many forms, but
seeing Riley up and walking is hitting them hard. The two men begin to cry. They've rarely seen someone with a t.b.i. ( Traumatic brain injury )
doing this good. It's emotional for them
to see him up and about. They were unsure when they got him to the hospital if
he would survive, so seeing him now is just making their day.
"Are...are...you
okay?"
Riley asks
Marcus and Charles. They smile and look
at him.
`We've
seen a lot of people with your injury who aren't walking.'
Charles
thinks to himself as he looks at him.
Good thing that Riley didn't hear what the emt
just thought because he might have cried.
"Riley
seeing you made us happy; these are happy tears."
Marcus says
as he wipes a tear from his face. Caden
is glad that his brother could meet these heroes. They gave Riley a chance to live, and that
makes him happy. Charles and Marcus got Riley
a plush version of Smoke and a 50 dollar gift card
that can be used where the guys may want to go shopping. The surprises are going to keep coming. Caden and Jared step out of the kitchen with
gift bags. The gifts are based on everyone's rsvp phone call. They have Riley pass out each bag to their guests. As he did, Riley got hugs and a thank you
from everyone.
***
After
everyone had received their gift bags, Lisa got ready to call everyone to lunch.
"Okay,
everyone, we have food set out in the kitchen."
Lisa smiles
as she watches the adults allow the teens to hit the food first. It amazes Isaac to see how much food Riley
took. Lisa heard how good the food is
several times, which made her smile.
"Lisa...you
cook for my birthday?"
Lisa smiles
at the teen that she considers to be her adopted grandson. She is glad to have been asked to cook for
his birthday.
"You bet, I
will."
He is so
glad to have her answer. Jared and Caden
are okay with him asking Lisa.
***
Caden gets
ready to hand out the gifts to the guests.
He hands one of the gift bags to his brother and points to where Charles
and Marcus are sitting.
"Caden,
who-who gets it."
Caden
answers him
"Give it to
Charles."
Caden
pointed to where Charles was sitting.
They then did this over again for Marcus. Next up, they did the officers, followed by
Isaac and Isaac's girlfriend. Everyone
stood and thanked their hosts, followed by thanking Riley.
***
Caden asked
his brother if he wanted to say something to everyone. After the meal and introductions, Ryan sat
down with his boyfriend, and they started writing up his speech. Riley stood up alongside Ryan, who will read
the speech for Riley.
"I'll be
speaking for Riley. This is my boyfriend, Ryan.
He is my best friend. I want to
say thank you to all of you. Thank you
for saving my life. I know that I wouldn't be here without you. I love you all! Thank you!"
A couple of
the people had tears coming down their eyes.
What happens next is Riley speaking from his heart to Jared and Caden.
"Cad-den,
Jar-ed, thank you for-for lov-ing me. This, this is my, my family, and-and I love
them. Lisa is-is my grandma. I-I love her. Thank you."
Now it's
Caden's, Jared's, and Lisa's turn to cry.
They have tears in their eyes.
***
After all
the guests had left, Riley and Ryan helped clean up after the party. Ryan helps Lisa clean up downstairs and then,
Riley manages to talk him into playing basketball. Together, they play ball for about an hour. After an hour, the boys go up to Riley's room
and rearrange Riley's belongings.
"It was
pretty nice of your brother and Jared to have that party."
Ryan says to
his boyfriend.
"You...you
knew?"
Ryan chuckles
at his boyfriend's question. Riley
playful pushes Ryan.
"Je-rk, you shou-ld have...have said
some-thing."
Ryan rolls
his eyes. Riley gives up and goes back
to the job at hand, helping Riley organize his room. 10 minutes later, Caden shows up at Riley's
room door.
***
Caden is at
the door of Riley's room, and then he enters the room.
"Hey guys,
Riley, can we talk for a second."
Riley sat
next to Ryan while Caden sat on the floor.
He took a breath and then started talking.
"What did
you think of meeting the people who saved your life?"
Riley smiles
as he looks at his brother.
"I...liked
them."
Caden was
hoping for more from his brother. Ryan
just quietly sits there as his boyfriend and Caden talk.
"You need to
write them thank you notes like we do for everyone who gives you gifts."
Riley nods
his head to his brother.
"Oh, oh
okay, I...I...do that. You...you...you help me?"
Riley is
more than happy to do it, but he knows his writing is terrible at best. He would prefer to get help from his brother
to do it.
"Yeah, I'll
help you, Dude."
As they are
talking, Jared joins the group in the room.
***
Jared also
joins Caden on the floor.
"Hey, all,
what's up?"
Ryan is the
first to speak up.
"Not much
Jared, we are just talking about the party."
Caden smiles
and looks at Riley, and then he looks at Jared.
"We were
talking about the fact that Riley needs to write thank you to everyone who
attended the party."
Jared nods
his head. He agrees with Caden that
Riley needs to write the notes.
"I can help
Riley with the notes."
Ryan says as
he looks at both Caden and Jared. Jared
doesn't care who helps Riley with the notes.
He just wants it done.
"It's fine
Ryan, I just want the notes written."
Caden tells
Ryan and Riley.
"Thanks, Ryan!"
Jared says
as he takes Caden downstairs together.
***
Ryan and
Riley move downstairs to watch television in the living room. They decide against watching tv and turn on
the streaming device Caden and Jared brought from the other house. They pick a movie that neither of them has
seen before and then cuddle up next to each other to watch it. Caden and Jared are in the office while the
teens are downstairs. They are putting
together a list of names and a list of addresses for everyone who attended the
party. Ryan spoke up and volunteered to
help his boyfriend write the thank you notes. He hasn't forgotten that promise
either. Up in the office, Caden and
Jared start talking.
***
Caden and
Jared are up in the office talking between themselves about the future. Jared starts it off by asking a question.
"Hey Babe,
where do you see us in five years?"
Caden starts
thinking about the question. Caden
smiles and hugs Jared and then answers the question.
"In five
years, I want to be engaged to you, married to you, and happily married to
you. Does that scare you at all?"
Jared may or
may not have thoughts of asking someone to marry him whose name may or may not
start with "C." He just doesn't have any plans set in stone.
"It doesn't
scare me at all."
Jared
surprises him by giving Caden a kiss.
"So, where
do you think Riley will be in five years?"
Caden asks
Jared. Now, it's Jared's turn to think
about a question. Jared considers the
question carefully before he answers.
"I think
Riley will be anxiously awaiting Ryan's graduation from college. I think the guys will be dating. Still, they
might be living together, but I doubt they'll be engaged."
They don't
have any more questions for each other.
The guys relax a little bit before heading downstairs to give Ryan the
names and addresses so that the two boys can get notes written. Hopefully, whatever happens next to them
won't hurt them too much.