Dax
The emergency room we pulled in front of seemed like a cruel joke. No way could this actually be considered a hospital. As long as they had good drugs and weren’t stingy with them, I didn’t really care. Every muscle in my body was tense, which wasn’t helping my leg at all. I already knew what they were going to say. I was lucky. You know, as lucky as a guy could be after getting hit by a car.
“End of the line for you, man,” the EMT joked as he opened the doors.
“You sure you aren’t just dumping me off in a field?” I asked. It was a fair question, seeing as there were no other buildings to the east of the hospital, just corn as far as the eye could see.
“You caught me,” he teased. “I figured you’d be okay for a while and there are other people up there who need a ride into Abelman. No hard feelings, yeah?”
“Yeah, I get it. Besides, I’ve been to the hospital in Abelman. The nurses up there are mean as hell.” It was a bit surreal to be lucid and chatting as if I hadn’t just gotten hit by a damn car. From what I’d heard, I was the lucky one. The driver had some sort of medical emergency and was probably dead before she hit me.
I heard Jagger screaming for me from the parking lot as the doors closed behind us. I was rolled into one of the triage rooms and transferred onto a gurney. I turned to the nurse who was busy taking my vitals. “Hey, can you make sure Michael Underwood and his son are allowed back here?”
“Sir, we don’t normally allow friends to visit until you’re settled and we know what’s going on,” she informed me.
“Please,” I begged. “Believe me when I say your job will be much easier if you let them see for themselves that I’m in one piece.”
“That remains to be seen,” she scoffed. I’d fear for the level of care I’d receive here if it wasn’t so damn refreshing. She looked up from the computer screen and I did my best to pout the way Jagger did. She simply rolled her eyes. “Oh fine. Besides, knowing Michael, he’ll storm back here even if I tell him he can’t.”
I laughed. “Sounds like you know him pretty well.”
“Thirteen years of school on top of the years he volunteered on the ambulance during school breaks,” she informed me. “Yeah, we were pretty close.”
“Thank you.” She left the room and a doctor came in. After a cursory exam, he decided I wasn’t bleeding internally and sent me for X-rays.
Things got a bit fuzzy after that. I vaguely remembered the doctor telling me that I’d gotten lucky and nothing was broken. Doctors seriously needed to expand their vocabulary because it was pretty shitty to tell anyone sitting in a hospital bed that they were lucky. Luck would have meant getting out of the damn way before getting hit, not just getting hit once the woman’s foot slipped off the gas and she’d been slowed by the curb.
When I woke up, there was a sleeping lump in the bed next to me. I ran my hand down Jagger’s back, offering up a quick prayer that he was okay. I’d have dealt with another month in the hospital followed by agonizing rehab, as long as he was safe. As it turned out, I would only need a night or two and then they’d cut me loose.
“Hey, I told him you were probably going to be sore, but he insisted on sleeping next to you,” Michael told me. His voice was hoarse and he looked like shit.
“What time is it?” It felt like I’d been asleep for days, but there was still a faint glow from the setting sun outside my window.
“Almost eight,” he said after looking at his phone. “I think today took a lot out of him.”
“You guys should go so you don’t miss the fireworks,” I told him. I didn’t want Jagger to miss out because I was stuck here.
“I think he’s had all the excitement he can handle. Besides, I’m pretty sure the nurses are going to have to fight him to get him to leave.” Michael scooted his chair closer to the bed and took my hand.
“Just him, huh?” I teased.
“Never said that.” He lifted my hand to his lips. “You’d better be done with this almost dying on me shit. I’m not sure my heart can take it again.”
“Don’t worry, if I have my way, I intend to stay out of hospitals for a long, long time,” I assured him. “No one lets you sleep, they keep coming in to draw blood, and the food is shit. Speaking of, who do I need to kill to get something to eat around here?”
Michael dug into a bag on the floor by his feet and produced some crackers. “Justin stopped by with some clean clothes for Jagger and some snacks. He told me to tell you he’ll keep Matt entertained while you’re laid up.”
“Yeah, I bet he will,” I scoffed. “You think those two are going to go their separate ways after the weekend, or should I get my spare room finished and be prepared for company?”
Michael shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He cleared his throat and looked up at me. “Actually, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”
“What’s up?” My head felt fuzzy and my body hurt. I wished the nurse would hurry the hell up and get me some more painkillers.
“I know it’s really fast and we said we’d go slow,” he started. He cleared his throat and stared at the floor. I reached over, wincing as a sharp pain traveled up my side. The corner of his mouth turned up in a nervous grin when his eyes met mine. “Okay, so here’s the thing. I don’t want you to feel any sort of pressure, but today was a real wake up for me. I don’t want to wonder if you’re going to be at my house when I get done with work. I want to know you’ll be there. I want to know that you’ll be in my bed waiting for me, even if you are watching mindless shows.”
“They’re not mindless,” I protested. Jagger shifted against my side and I placed my hand on his back. “When the day comes that we’re looking for a vacation home in Nicaragua, you’re going to be glad I’ve done my research.”
Michael stood and silenced me by pressing his lips to mine. “See, that’s what I love about you,” he said, dumbfounded. “When I’m stressed, I lose my head. But not you. You crack jokes.”
