“Was,” I clarified, laughing. “I was quite a handful for about five years. Things have settled down since then.”
“Right,” chuckled Maverick, “because you’re the ripe old age of what… twenty-eight?” Everyone laughed. Murphy chimed in with a mocking grandfather voice, “Back in my day, I was a hellion, kids.” It was such a stupid rib, but I didn’t realize how much I’d missed silly ribs like that. The kind that friends doled out to each other. It’d been years since I’d seen my adventuring group, and though we didn’t stand the test of time when things got rough, we had fun together all those years ago.
Audra’s glassy eyes caught mine, and they sparkled as she asked, “What kinds of things did you do, Donovan?” I unintentionally held her gaze for a little longer than necessary, mostly because it was hard to turn away from her.
“Well, lots, but one of my favorites is I roasted a marshmallow over flowing lava on Mount Kilauea in Hawaii.”
Looks of wide eyes and surprise came from the table as a collective symphony of ‘whats’ and ‘nos’ filled theair.
“How?” Audra finally asked. “You didn’t mention that the other night.” Her head tilted in question.
“We were on Big Island in Hawaii in Volcano National Park. Armed with a pack of marshmallows and a stick, we hiked for about five hours up the old lava flows to where we heard from locals that there were some openings. We were idiots, so we didn’t even have hiking shoes on, just regular gym shoes. God, we were so dumb. When we got close to the break in the ground, we could actually see the lava flowing. Saying it was surreal is an understatement. The rubber on the bottom of our shoes would melt if we stood still, so we had to keep alternating between having one foot in the air and one on the ground. And then we got out our stuff and roasted those babies up.”
“That’s insane, Donovan. Were they the most delicious marshmallows you’ve ever had?” Juliette asked from across the table.
“No, they were unequivocally the worst,” I laughed at the memory. “They tasted like rotten eggs because of the sulfur from the volcano, but it was certainly the proudest I’ve ever been of a marshmallow.”
“Let’s go to Hawaii and roast marshmallows over lava, Tucker! Let’s make that our trip!” Maeve said dreamily. I caught Tucker’s knowing eyes, and he played it off like a professional.
“Put it on the list, Maeve,” he laughed.
The night flew by, and the bar was clearing out ahead of closing time, so it was about half full when some shouts got our attention. It was a group of people who all had to be just twenty-one. But as we turned, we saw one of them hit the floor. While a person in their group was reaching tocatch him, his arm hit beer bottles, and a couple of them crashed and broke, so there was glass in this mix, too.
Before I could even begin to react, a flash passed in my peripheral and Audra was on her feet, heading over to assess what was happening. A bit of déjà vu, I thought. Snapping out of it, I followed right behind her. The guy on the ground was convulsing. Holy shit, was this a seizure? Audra took complete control again. She knelt on the floor of the bar next to the kid, not caring that it was filthy with popcorn, stale beer, fresh liquids dripping off the table, and who knows what else.
“You, in the green polo, call 9-1-1.” She pointed and looked at the boy in the green polo, who got his phone out and started dialing.
“Donovan, please start the stopwatch on your phone,” and without question, I followed her instruction even though I had no idea why she wanted a stopwatch going. Then she looked up at the group of drunk kids who looked to have indulged in more than just cheap alcohol.
“Girl in the pink, I need that sweatshirt on the chair,” she said, pointing to the back of the barstool. The girl went to grab it as Audra manipulated and rolled this large human over onto his side with incredible ease, which was wild because he had to be double her weight. She folded up the sweatshirt, put it under his head, and undid the top two buttons of his shirt expertly. I felt like a dolt just standing there with my little timer going. There was a crowd of people around us at this point. And of course, some phones were pointed in our direction, recording. God, I hated people.
“What’s his name? Does he have a history of seizures?”
“His name is Colt. He has never done this before,” a girl said meekly.
“Has he ingested any substances besides alcohol tonight?”No one answered that question. They just kind of looked at her. Their pupils were blown wide, and they seemed twitchy. I’d been there before.
“Guys, you’re not in trouble. I have to know what I’m dealing with here. Did he take any drugs tonight?” Her voice was so steady and matter-of-fact, but she was still dealing with resistance.
“Help your friend, guys. She’s a nurse and wants to help,” I chimed in.
“Cocaine,” the meek girl finally said and then cried. “He just came in from doing some outside.”
Sirens were on us, and we could see the reflection of lights. The benefit of a small town. Quick ambulance, just like last time. Right then, our buddy Colt stopped seizing. You could see Audra’s shoulders relax just the slightest bit. “Donovan, what is the time?”
“Two minutes and fifty-three seconds.”
The paramedics came in and not only cleared a path, but shooed people away. Audra spoke with them and relayed all the info they needed. They took Colt and the meek girl with them while the rest of their group squared up their tab and took off.
Once again, I stood in complete awe of the woman in front of me before my brain caught up. I mean, I knew what she was capable of after the bike accident, and being a PICU nurse, I can imagine that she’s seen and dealt with some shit, but it was remarkable to watch her slip into that space again.
Holding out my hand to help her, she took it to get up. When I let myself feel her fingers in mine, a feeling bubbled up inside me that I couldn’t explain. Looking between our joined hands and her eyes, I lost track of myself. I’d never had that kind of reaction to anyone, not even close. She was looking at me with her head tilted, almost curious, and I wondered if shewas feeling this too. “You’re … you’re bleeding,” I finally stammered out but didn’t drop her hand.
“Ah, shoot, I must have nicked my ankle when I was on the ground. Gross.” She mockingly scrunched up her nose and stuck her tongue out.
The bartender had watched the scene unfold, so he thanked her, hand over fist, and asked what he could do to repay her for what she had just done.
“Maybe some Neosporin and a Band-Aid?” She requested. Then she turned to me, and I realized I still hadn’t dropped her hand. At that point, I let it go like it had burned me and looked at her. She talked to me quietly and calmly. “I’m going to go wash my ankle with soap and water. Can you grab that Band-Aid and ointment from the bartender when he comes back?”
