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(A/N: WARNING, Grossness up ahead, you have been warned)

Chapter 15: CPR Review

Mason gave up on “not caring” the second his back touched his bed. Compared to how other decisions towards not thinking of Mark/getting over Mark went, that was pretty impressive.

But “pretty impressive” didn’t keep Mason from grabbing a pillow, smushing it against his face, and screaming. Loud. In fact, his father still complained about the noise he made despite the precaution. 

Mason might be going mad. 

All because of Mark-freaking-Tyler. 

Mark-freaking-sexy-ass-Tyler. Mark-super-kind-and-funny-Tyler. Mark-crazy-talented-and-kisses-like-a-freak-Tyler. Mark-want-to-chain-him-down-and-turn-him-into-male-wifey-Tyler. Mark-buy-him-a-ring-and-propo-

Mason huffs loudly, cutting himself off from his dangerous train of thought. It doesn’t matter how cute or talented he was, Mason was sure that Mark would no longer be in his life after this. He was absolutely convinced that Mark would drop him as a friend in order to be rid of the guy that kept kissing him in class.

Here’s the thing, Mason had about three possibilities that he could imagine happening, and only 2 of them seemed genuinely possible.

Mark could have hated the kiss(es) and want to cut Mason out of his life for doing it in the first place. This option was pretty unlikely since Mason saw and felt how eager Mark was to come back and get another taste again and again, but it was a present fear none-the-less.

Mark could have loved the kiss(es) and actually be interested in becoming an item with Mason. Mason loved this choice theoretically since it would make all of his long-term-crush-dreams a reality.

But, it was the option Mason was most skeptical about. The idea of Mark wanting to be with him was an absolutely crazy idea in his mind and he placed this option away for if he ever became optimistic. 

Finally, Mark may have actually enjoyed the kiss(es) but not be accepting of the idea of liking guys and want to push Mason away due to being confused.

This option made Mason feel a bit better than the first one but it would still end up with Mason losing his best friend and crush because he couldn’t keep his lips to himself.

Mason, always being a man to make himself miserable, focused on the first and third options, thinking himself into an intense state of sadness. He was pulling out his phone, scrolling through photos of him and Mark like he had died, moping and sleeping in his bed, and watching sad movies that captured any amount of the heartbreak Mason was feeling.

It took him a while to remember that, as a human being, he needed sustenance and was actually hungry at that moment. He debated mentally if it was really worth it to leave his bubble of sadness and go get food, but the gnawing hunger in his stomach was overpowering. So, with a deep pout on his face, Mason got out of bed and made his way downstairs for breakfast (it was actually lunch). 

Mason was a bit startled to find his mother humming at the stove. She usually was working at this time, but he assumed he just forgot that she had a day off. It really wouldn’t have been a first.

He moved silently, attempting to blend in with the furniture while he moved for the cereal in the cupboard. Unsurprisingly, she quickly noticed the sound of feet hitting hardwood and a box of cereal being moved. 

“Good morning!” She said, grinning energetically. Mason repeated the phrase quietly in response and his mom finally looked at him. Her grin faltered when she saw the expression on her son’s face before she gained a quizzical expression. “What’s wrong with you? What’s got you making that sour face?”

Mason sighed, now grabbing the box without worrying about the noise, and shuffled over to the cabinet for a bowl.

“It’s nothing. I’m just kind of tired today.” He lied easily, yawning for added effect. He had his head pointed to the ground as he made his way to the kitchen island, taking a seat. Mason sent a cautious glance his mother’s way, wincing at the look on her face. She clearly wasn’t convinced based on the squint in her eye. 

Moving away from the stove, she leaned close to Mason and looked him straight in the eye. Mason grit his teeth and held his breath. His mother sighed.

“Really. What is it, Mason?” She asked again, now calm and quiet as she spoke. “Is it about Mark?” Mason released a long breath, giving up on hiding the fact that he was upset. She was too keen, not only seeing that Mason was bothered but knowing that it had to do with Mark.

He thought for a moment, wondering how he could word it to keep as many details from his mother as possible. While she was very supportive of both his and Aiden’s sexualities, Mason never felt comfortable delving into the details of his crushes and sexual escapades. It was just too weird—especially with his mom.

“Something happened with him in class yesterday and . . . I’m worried that it’s going to change things.” Mason felt his mood drop further, finding his vague answer to be far too true. His mom placed a hand over her mouth, humming in thought.

“And this is something that two friends can’t work past?” She asked. Mason shook his head pitifully.

“No, I don’t think so.”

His mother had a very thoughtful expression on her face as she thought over everything that she heard. Walking around the kitchen, she took a seat next to Mason so she could place and gentle hand on his shoulder.

“Well, with the little information you gave me, I can’t really give you much- actually any advice to deal with this.”    The older woman frowned, giving her son an apologetic look. “But, I can help you get your mind off things. There are a couple of things I needed to buy today since it is my day off, but I was thinking that you could do that shopping while I binge watch Cutthroat Kitchen. I have been missing a ton of episodes.”

Mason’s mouth popped open, staring at his mother in shock.

“What? Mom, I can’t go out today!” He protested, wet cereal forgotten in the face of being forced to leave his house. 

“Why not?” She shot back, raising a single brow at her son. Mason sputtered for a moment, trying to come up with a believable excuse before saying the first thing that came to mind.

“Because I would much rather mope up in my room, mourning the loss of my friend, instead of leaving the house!” Mason gasped the moment the words had left his mouth.

Shit! That was the truth!

His mom simply rolled her eyes, not surprised in the least by her son’s reaction.

“Sweetie, it’ll be good for you. And me.” She told him, getting up from her seat to return to what she was cooking on the stove. “Besides, have you ever considered the possibility that you are just being dramatic about this whole thing?”

Mason glowered, not even letting the possibility register. No way was he going to let his mother give him hope about this. Mason didn’t reply to that question, though, turning to his soggy cereal instead. Right as Mason scrunched up his face at the mushy food, his mom turned around to see what he was doing. She laughed melodically at his expression before moving to the cupboard for plates.

“I made french toast. You want some?”

Mason just said yes.

~~~~~

“Okay, so I’ve got the wooden spoon . . . ” Mason mumbled, marking down the purchase in his notes app. “All I need to do is head to a department store for those earrings.”

Mason was quite pleased with himself. Although he hadn’t wanted to run errands for his mom all day, he had actually flown through the list pretty quickly. Mason wouldn’t tell her, but he thought that his mom was right. Running around all day had been a great distraction from what was happening with Mark. 

When Mason checked his phone for the fourth time that day and found that Mark still hadn’t messaged him, he was able to forget about it in his struggles to find almond stuffed olives. There were several moments throughout the day where he remembered again, and he would briefly become upset before moving on to the next item on the list.

Mason almost feared for the moment when he found those earrings and would no longer have shopping as a distraction. Goodness, what would he do then?

Mason had been shopping at the mall because he knew he could go to a ton of different stores without taking the bus each time. He left the kitchen supplies shop and began to walk a bit aimlessly. He wasn’t exactly sure which store would have earrings for a good price, so he hoped that one would just catch his eye. 

In half an hour, Mason went through about five stores and didn’t find any earrings that he thought would fit. He knew that his mom was buying the earrings for one of her friends and didn’t think that a pair of gaudy hoops or plastic pineapples would be appropriate.

Mason was on his way to his sixth store when he heard loud gasps to his left. He turned to see what the commotion was and found an older woman laying unconscious on the floor. For a moment his body froze, the shock of the scene leaving him paralyzed as he tried to absorb what he was seeing. The sight was completely unfamiliar to him as he had never been around violence. Yet here he was, among the bystanders yelling, crying, and asking if anyone had called 9-1-1.

Mason was finally able to move again when he heard a woman yell out amongst the crowd.

“Does anyone know CPR?!” She asked commandingly, voice carrying over all the screams and cries of fear. Despite the fearful expression on her face, one couldn’t hear and waver in her voice. Mason’s hazy mind seemed to grasp at the fact that yes, he was taught CPR.

It was almost comedic that that time of being taught is what was causing him so much turmoil only a couple of minutes before. Now it could be what saves this woman’s life.

It was that thought that propelled Mason forward, pushing past the ever-growing crowd and falling to the woman’s side.

He placed his hand under her nose, hoping to feel the warm brush of breath. Panic began to fill his body when he felt nothing. Quickly moving to the side of her neck, he realized that while she had a pulse, it was extremely faint. Mason pushed away the bags that were with him, licked his suddenly chapped lips, and sucked in a fortifying breath.

“Please let this woman live.” His simple request and prayer was mutter so softly, no one could hear it over the roars of the crowd. Once they left the space between his lips, everything became a bit of a blur.

Everything that he was taught came back to him. Mason simply let his body act. He crossed his hands over her chest. He began singing “Another One Bites the Dust” in his head. 

One hit

Two hits

Three hits

It was odd how the song brought comfort to him in such an intense and stressful time. Being able to keep the repetitive beat and hum as he bent down to breathe for the woman kept him from seizing up in his panic.

Four hits 

Five hits

Six hits

it was nice to think that he was just dancing to a fun song, not keeping a woman around the same age as his mother from dying. 

Seven 

Eight

Nine 

The screams and words of worry from the crowd around him faded as he focused on the woman and keeping her alive.

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Mason took a quick second to check the woman’s pulse, feeling a bit of relief when it came back stronger. Mason didn’t let his excitement derail him, though, and continued on. He completed several more rounds during the next couple of minutes.

His shoulders had begun to grow sore and the energy he was putting into keeping this woman’s heart beating was catching up to him. A man kneeled beside him gasping out that an ambulance would arrive soon before he was pulled back by other bystanders, not wanting him to distract Mason from his task. 

Mason bent down again, breathing more air into the woman’s lungs. Mid breath the woman’s body suddenly jolted and Mason’s tongue was hit with a bitter, sour taste. Mason’s mouth hung open in shock before he realized what had happened. 

The woman had thrown up. 

Mason wiped his sleeve over his tongue over, and over, and over again. Disgust filled him in an instant. His first urge was to run away and tend to his scarred tongue, but looking down at the middle-aged woman again, he realized that her life was more important, even with puke still covering her mouth.

So, with a strength he didn’t know he possessed, Mason wiped away at the woman’s face, spat a heady glob on the floor beside them, and continued to breathe for her. From his peripheral, Mason noticed a lady, likely in her twenties, moved to clean up the mess while her son watched from the crowd.

The woman thankfully didn’t puke again and after a couple more rounds of compressions and breaths, the paramedics arrived. Among the hecticness of getting the woman out of the mall and making sure that she could be kept alive, a paramedic briefly rested his hand on Mason’s shoulder and gave him a tired smile.

“You did a great job keeping her breathing. Thank you.”

It may have seemed small compared to all of the stress and disgust Mason had just been subjected to, but it brought a smile on his face that remained there, although faintly, for the rest of the day.

Many of the people that had been crowding the older woman went up to Mason to thank him afterwards, and one lady even handed Mason the bag of items she had just purchased as thanks.

Along with the light scarf, men’s jeans, and leather bracelet that were all in the bag, Mason also found a pair of earrings. They were a gleaming silver with small diamond-like bulbs from which two teardrop-shaped rings fell. The outer ring was covered in crystals while the inner ring was solid silver. Mason released a tired chuckle at the sight of them.

He found the last item on his list.

Mason took his time walking to the bathroom—where he would thoroughly rinse out his mouth—and considered how he would explain all of this to his mom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wow, that Chapter was kind of crazy

Almost as crazy as the fact that I haven’t updated in like two months

Crazy indeed

I’m going to add a grossness warning at the beginning of the Chapter because of the puke thing because that really was something else.

And if you think that whole “puking during CPR” thing is false, think again! Turns out that if you don’t tilt the head properly, some of the air can go into the stomach, causing the person who is unconscious to throw up.

Add that to your list of information that you really didn’t need to know.

Anywhy,

What did you like about this Chapter? Because I know there was a lot that you hated.

Why isn’t Mark contacting Mason, then? Hum?

I don’t know, I think my question-asking is getting a bit dry.

Anywhore,

Vote, Comment, Share, Follow, anything else you can do with this book and I will see you next Chapter.bye!!!👋🏾👋🏾👋🏾

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