Eisen frowned, shaking his head no when Rory confirmed that his fear was being left behind. Eisen wouldn’t let that happen. He knew that if he said so without backing it up, Rory wouldn’t believe him, and he probably wouldn’t even believe him if he backed it up, but at least he could try. Rory would do the same for him.
Previous anger completely forgotten, Eisen reached out and touched his best friend’s shoulder. “I don’t think you realize how important you are to your brothers and I, Rory,” he started, choosing his words as carefully as possible. “Listen, no matter what happens, you’re always going to be my best friend. No matter who’s doing better than who, no matter what goes on in either of our lives, the idea of leaving you behind or not doing whatever it takes to come and hang out with you?” – whether it was in the hospital or at home, or wherever he was? – “I’ll do it. No amount of ‘having a life’ is going to get in the way of that. I promise.”
“Hey,” he frowned at the way his best friend had resigned himself to such a miserable life. “No. Almosts are not all you have, dude. Someday someone’s going to have their mind blown by that Shakespearean mind of yours and I’ll be here with an ‘I told you’ so ready when it happens, too.”