“I’d rather not. Why hasn’t Molly been in?”
“She has, you just don’t remember. And then you were asleep.”
“Well, I’m not asleep now.”
“She’ll be back. You heard Nurse Sunshine; she’s in surgery. Why do you want to see her so bad?”
I shrugged, unclear why I was suddenly so desperate to see her. “I dunno. She operated on me; it would be nice for her to see how I am.”
“She has been in to see you. You talked to her and then you fell asleep. You’ve been asleep a lot.”
I huffed, a huff any bratty teenager would be proud of.
Plump cherry lips brushed across mine, like a secret, sending a cascade of shivers across my body. Eyes as inviting as hot caramel held me captive, until I lost myself in them as my tongue explored unchartered lands, stroking, comforting, loving.
The scent of fresh laundry.
All of it unfamiliar, but at the same time, the most familiar.
Calling me.
Belonging.
My body flooded with warmth, the pain erased, like I was floating in a hot bath.
The door opened, abruptly yanking me out of sleep and away from my dream. My weird fucking dream. For the second night in a row. I opened my eye the smallest degree possible which would still allow me to see, groaning when I noticed who it was.
“Morning, Felix.” Doctor Reyes took hold of my wrist, as he’d done every day so far, checking my pulse before shiningthat fucking light in my eyes. “How are you feeling today? Sleep okay? How are the pain levels?”
“Fine. Where’s Molly?”
He frowned. “Has she not been in? She was definitely here; she had the night shift. You were probably asleep.”
He scribbled some notes in my chart, putting it back, as he always did. The same thing over and over, like fucking Groundhog Day.
“No, I’ve not seen her.”
I hadn’t seen her since the first night I was brought in, after my accident, three fucking days ago. Or I just couldn’t remember seeing her. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was avoiding me. And I definitely hadn’t been sleeping all day.
I picked up my phone from the bedside table, scrolling through dozens of new messages. But not a single one from Molly replying to my question of when she was coming to see me.
“I’ll make sure she comes by. How was your physio yesterday? How did it feel to move about? Let’s have a look.”
Frustrating. Frustrating is how it felt because it wasn’t exactly what I’d call moving. Tiny steps a snail would outpace, with a fucking walker, like I was in my eighties. Although my body definitely felt like it was.
I sat up, managing better than I had before. He lifted off my sheet and began unwrapping the bandages from my knee and along my thigh until the thick black and purple bruising, spread over my skin like a bad tie-dye shirt, came into view. He pressed gently against the swelling, examining the stitching.
“Yes, very nice. This is looking good, even if I do say so myself. Very nice job; there’ll be minimal scarring here.” Finished with his exam, he looked at the bandage. “I’ll get the nurse to come in and refresh these.”
He walked out and almost into Nurse Sunshine who was on the way in. “Hey, can you get his bandages changed this morning please?”
“Just about to do it, Doctor Reyes.”
Nurse Sunshine, who I’d found out was actually called Marco, closed the door and handed me a coffee. But not just any coffee, coffee from my favorite coffee shop which happened to be round the corner from this hospital.
I took it from him, sipping immediately. “Ah, thanks, man. This is amazing.”
Nurse Sunshine and I had come to an agreement yesterday. Drew’s bag of snacks had turned into currency. Four boxes of Milk Duds for a coffee and the latest Xbox game for a shower. Because technically I wasn’t allowed one yet, but he’d wrapped my leg up in waterproof dressing and set it up for me so I’d be able to sit down. He’d had to stay in the bathroom while I did it in case I fell, but I’d still managed to have one. And that was a fucking achievement in itself, especially as I hadn’t showered since before the game. He’d also removed my catheter, which meant I could take a piss by myself.
