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What is with people making assumptions today?
“Thank you,” I say through gritted teeth.
I walk quickly down the hallway, checking the plaques by the doors for the right room. When I find it, I don’t hesitate and crash through the door.
Alvie is sleeping soundly in the bed, his head wrapped in gauze.
Approaching him quietly, I take him in as he rests. The rise and fall of his chest calms my racing heart and quells the anxiety that’s been accumulating in me for the past two hours.
“I think I should start calling you Daddy,” I say quietly, taking his hand in my own. "Everyone already seems to see us that way. Silver Daddy, maybe."
I let out a small chuckle at my own joke.
A sharp voice comes from behind me. “What are you doing here?”
I turn around to find a very shocked Bex staring at me from the doorway of Alvie’s room.
“Selene told me Alvie got hurt. I came here as quickly as I could,” I breathe out, relieved to see her again despite the circumstances.
“You decided to just show up?” she asks with a raised eyebrow.
“Well . . . yeah.” My voice goes quiet.
Tension builds in the air between us as she takes a few steps toward me.
"You can't be here when he wakes up." Her tone is desperate.
"What? Why not?"
"You just . . . You're . . . You just can't. Okay?"
"I don't understand," I say, stepping back and bumping into the edge of Alvie’s bed.
"No, you don't. Do you?" Bex says incredulously. "You wouldn't know the first thing about what this is like. Seeing your husband like this. Watching him get hurt."
I take a breath and use the moment to truly study Bex. She looks exhausted, as though the past hours have aged her by years. There’s a sickening anxiety that surrounds her and permeates the air. Everything about her demeanor is wrong.
It’s not her.
"Then help me to understand, Bex," I implore quietly, as though speaking to a spooked animal.
"No,” she says sharply. “I just. I need you to leave."
The forcefulness and conviction in her tone leaves no room for argument, yet I push back anyway. "Bex. You're not being reasonable."
"Reasonable? You want me to be reasonable?" she cries. "Why are you here, Naomi? Why aren't you at school? I called Selene less than two hours ago and you're here. Why the hell are you already here? Without my permission or request?"
"I," I stutter. "I quit."
"Quit what?"
"I quit school. I'm dropping out," I admit, voicing the truth for the first time since I called Selene after my advisory meeting.
Bex’s eyes go wide in shock before her brow furrows and her face falls into a staunch frown. "And so what? You decided that it would be a good idea to pick up and come down here? What's your goal here?"
"I don't know, Bex. All I know is that I couldn't do that anymore. I couldn't be there. I couldn't be that person."
"That's fine, Naomi. But why the fuck are you here? Why now?"
