‘You mean when you pretended like we hadn’t just seen each other fully naked maybe … a month before?’
He chuckled. ‘Yeah. Sorry. I was kind of a dick. I had appendicitis about a week or so before and was still in this excruciating pain. So I understand if you’re not feeling one hundred percent right now.’
I was taken aback. ‘Wait, what?’
‘Yeah.’ He leaned back and pulled up his shirt and pointed to his belly. ‘Here, you can kind of see the scar still.’
I leaned across the back seat as he leaned to the side, catching a bit of diffused light through the foggy window. There was a small smile-shaped scar below his belly button.
‘What does that feel like?’ I leaned away from him and let him pull his shirt back into place. ‘Every time I get a cramp or stomachache, I look up appendicitis symptoms.’
He laughed. ‘I did, too! But, also, none of the symptoms matched up with mine anyway, so I let it go for a little longer than I probably should have.’
‘Oh my God, you’re freaking me out! What were your symptoms?’
His shoulders popped up. ‘I don’t want to tell you. It’s embarrassing.’
‘Youhaveto tell me now! I just almost cried in front of you because I jammed my finger on your jacket.’
He groaned. ‘It just … felt like … I had to fart really bad and couldn’t.’
I snorted a laugh, which made him laugh. I felt like we were children, laughing at farts.
‘So I didn’t tell anyone! And I didn’t want to go to the hospital and have the nurses all laugh at me because I had gas!’
‘Brad! You could havedied.’
‘I know! But I didn’t. The pain got worse, and I told my mom, so it’s all fine. But the appendicitis was nothing compared to the pain after the surgery. They did it laparoscopically, and when they do that, they blow a bunch of air into your abdomen so they, like, have room for the camera to move around and not be blocked by organs.’
‘Ew.’
‘Yeah. Afterward they push it all out, but a little is left in there because … you know, your stomach has been cut open and all. And for some reason – I googled it, but I still couldn’t find an explain-like-I’m-five – the gas created this excruciating nerve pain in my shoulder.’
He rubbed at his left shoulder like even the thought of it brought the pain back.
‘Why your shoulder if they took out your appendix?’
He shrugged. ‘I told you I couldn’t find the ELI5. It has something to do with the gas and nerves that the shoulder and diaphragm share – I don’t know, I’m not planning on being a doctor. Point is, I was a little shit, wincing in pain every time I lay down, or stood up, or moved for over a week. And that was just laparoscopic surgery. I can only imagine how much pain there is having fingersreattached.’
That felt good. Nice. Outside of my mom, everyone seemed to be trying their hardest to ignore the fact that I’d cut off my fingers, and yes, even this far along into my recovery, I still had pain. It was nice to know that someone else got it.
‘So …’ he said. I thought he was going to ask me if I wanted to keep making out. If he had, I would have said yes. Instead, he said, ‘Can I get you anything to help? I know you said you’re driving, but I can check for some ibuprofen or something in the house.’
‘I think I’ll be all right. Thanks.’
He nodded. ‘Okay. Are you gonna …’ He thumbed over his shoulder toward the house.
‘Yeah, you go ahead first. I’ll follow in a bit.’
‘’Kay.’ He moved to open the door but stopped. ‘You don’t ha …’ He continued speaking, but his voice trailed off so I couldn’t hear him.
‘Huh?’
He was silent for a few moments, then said, ‘I do know something that might help the pain. Let me see your hand real quick.’
I narrowed my eyes at him but held it out. He gently took my wrist and brought his lips down to the exposed tips of my fingers, placing a light kiss on them. The hairs raised on my arms, and something in my stomach did a flip.
‘Does that feel better?’ He looked up at me in the darkness and I could see his smile.
