Chapter Twenty-Four
Adam ended up in the emergency room with a fractured bone in his wrist. Most of the night became a blissful blur when they gave him drugs to numb him before they set the bone in place. Adam’s dad had asked a hundred questions, most of which Adam answered but could barely remember by the time they were headed home. He did remember texting Ru, begging Ru to come back, though he couldn’t recall what he said exactly.
There were several pings to his phone, but the fog of drugs and pain kept him from reaching for it. By the time his parents tucked him into bed and had given him a second dose of pain medication it was after 4:00 a.m., and Adam was out as soon as his head hit the pillow.
His phone ringing was the first thing to wake him that Saturday morning. He glared at the clock, realizing it was after ten. He never slept that late, but reached for the phone anyway, only to be reminded that his right wrist was in a thick cast. He sighed, grabbed the phone with his left instead, and hit Answer.
It was Bas. “Did you see the links I sent you? I don’t know how to stop it. I don’t know who posted it.” He sounded panicked.
“Huh? Slow down. I think my head is still fuzzy from the drugs,” Adam grumbled.
“Drugs? You’re doing drugs?”
“Just painkillers the doctor gave me. Nate broke my wrist.” Fractured his arm too, though that had only been a crack. The wrist, he was told, would need physical therapy.
Adam floundered around for a minute until he could balance the phone between his ear and shoulder and pull himself into a sitting position with his left arm. He’d have to work on that one more. It shouldn’t have felt so weak compared to what he normally did with his right, but he was right-handed, maybe he was used to holding or lifting things longer with that hand.
“What? Why didn’t you tell me? I would have taken you to the hospital.”
“My parents took me. Now what are you talking about, links and stopping something? What was posted?”
“Someone got a picture of you and Nate kissing. It’s all over Facebook. Well, it’s mostly you. Can’t really make out Nate’s face in the picture, though you can kinda see the Northern High football uniform he’s wearing.”
The words took a minute to sink in before Adam could understand what he was saying. “Wait. So you’re telling me someone got a picture of Nate assaulting me but couldn’t actually come help? I seriously doubt I look all that willing. He kept shoving me around.He broke my wrist.” His skin chilled again at the idea of the guys in the pizza truck not being there. What could have happened? He didn’t want to know.
“It’s a picture, Adam. Not a video. Means it is one second of your life that the whole world is analyzing. Everyone’s going on and on about who else is in the photo with you.”
The thought suddenly struck him: what if Ru saw it? What if Ru thought it was just like his last boyfriend all over again? “I have to talk to Ru. He’ll think I’m like Kris. That I’m cheating on him.” His heart flipped over, and it was really hard to breathe. He jumped out of bed and began struggling into clothes. “Maybe I can convince my parents to let me fly to San Diego. I can talk to Ru before he sees it, tell him it wasn’t something I wanted.”
“Sweetie, you have a broken wrist to prove you didn’t want it. What are you going to do about Nate?”
“What can I do? Avoid him, probably.”
“Did you tell your parents?”
Had he? He couldn’t remember much about last night once the fog of drugs had taken over. The setting of the bone of his wrist was just a vague memory, like something he’d seen on a TV show once, instead of something that had really happened to him. “I need to go. I gotta talk to Ru.”
“Okay, call me.”
Adam headed into the bathroom, brushed his teeth, and ran a comb through his tangled hair. He heart hadn’t stopped racing by the time he made his way downstairs. He needed to pack. Did he have enough of an allowance saved up to fly to San Diego? How much was that sort of thing? He needed to get to Ru.
He heard his parents talking in the kitchen, the sound of dishes, and pots being stirred. They were making breakfast and his world was falling apart?
But when he stepped into the kitchen, it wasn’t just his parents gathered around the counter. Ru sat at the beside Tommy, and a blonde woman who Adam had never met. Tears filled Adam’s eyes as he looked at Ru. Was he here to end it? Would the past two months just be over like they were some unattainable dream?
“Adam, sit down. You look like you’re about to fall over. Let your mom get you some breakfast. Do you need another pain pill?” his dad called to him.
Ru got up from the chair and crossed the room to wrap his arms around Adam. For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, Adam was reduced to a sobbing mess.
“I didn’t kiss him,” he muttered on repeat, trying to assure Ru that he wouldn’t cheat.
His world flipped and flopped all over, sliding between blackness and bright flashes of light. Several minutes passed before Adam finally heard Ru talking to him. “Breathe, baby. Just like you’re running. In and out, deep breaths. I know you wouldn’t cheat. It’s okay. We’re fixing this. Just calm down for me, okay? I’m here. You wanted me to be here, and I’m here. Shh.”
“You know I didn’t kiss him?” Adam looked up to examine Ru’s face. Adam wiped his eyes and runny nose on his shirtsleeve. He probably looked awful, and yet Ru was there, holding him, running his hands soothingly down his arms and back.
“Come sit down and we’ll talk about all this, okay? You need some food in you, and I’m pretty sure you need one of those pain pills your dad was talking about. How’s your wrist? Does it hurt?” Ru coaxed Adam to sit at the counter with the rest of them. Adam’s mom handed him a damp towel, which Ru used to wipe Adam’s face clean. “Better?”
Adam nodded and gulped back a dozen words he wanted to say but knew would set him off again.
