Nothing Lasts Forever

The following day, Genevieve woke up in an unknown location, forgetting what had happened. She looked around the room, and she tried to get out of bed, when all of a sudden pain shot through her wrist, where she had tried to put pressure on it, trying to get up. She winced, as she looked down and saw the brace on her wrist, remembering that she had a sprained wrist.

She had wanted to believe that the last week had all been a dream, but when she looked down at her casted leg, she knew it wasn’t. She carefully got herself to the end of the bed, trying to be gentle on her hand and leg.

She saw her wheelchair sitting about three feet away from the bed, and she thought to herself, trying to figure out the best way to get over to it. She slowly stood up, placing all of her weight on her non-injured leg. She thought she could just hop on the one leg over to the wheelchair, but she suddenly began swaying, not able to keep her balance.

Without thinking, she put her injured leg down on the ground, trying to steady herself, as pain shot up her leg. “Fuck!” she yelled out in pain, jumping into her wheelchair.

Within three seconds, her bedroom door flew open, and Nikki ran in there, trying to figure out what had happened. “Gen, are you okay?” she asked, a worried expression on her face. “What happened?”

“I was trying to get to my wheelchair, and I put weight on my leg,” she said, motioning to her left leg. “Sorry to scare you,” she added, looking up at Nikki who seemed to be calming down.

“No, I’m sorry,” Nikki apologized. “I should have thought about that last night, and put your wheelchair closer. I am so sorry.”

“Nikki, don’t worry about it. You aren’t responsible for me. I need to learn how to do things on my own, anyways. I just didn’t think my plan out all the way,” she added with a grimace, thinking about how intense the pain had been in her leg.

“Genevieve, you need to learn to ask for help when you need it. Don’t try to do everything on your own. I know you’re used to be independent, but you’ve got a broken leg. You’re not going to be able to be as independent as you’re used to,” Nikki told her.

“Yeah,” Genevieve sighed. “Listen, I’m going to change,” she said.

“Okay, do you want me to get your clothes for you?” Nikki said, and when she saw Genevieve’s frustrated expression, she added, “Never mind. I see you want to do it for yourself. Just yell if you need anything,” she told her, walking out of Genevieve’s bedroom and shutting the door behind her.

Genevieve sighed, knowing that Nikki was just trying to help, but she just wanted to be able to do things on her own again. She got dressed, which proved to be a tougher task than she had anticipated with a sprained wrist and broken leg.

Nearly a half an hour later, Genevieve rolled her wheelchair out of her bedroom, having finally gotten dressed and fixed her hair for the day. “Hey,” Nikki smiled, seeing Genevieve. “You want something to eat?”

“Sure,” Genevieve smiled gratefully. “Thanks.”

Nikki nodded her head, and went into the kitchen to get Genevieve something to eat.

Later that night, Nikki sat in the living room, excitedly tapping her foot, waiting for Adam to arrive. Genevieve looked over at her, a smile on her face. “Nik, are you a little excited for Adam to come?” she asked with a laugh.

“Hey, I haven’t seen Adam for a couple of months now. I miss him, so sue me!”

“I’m just kidding,” Genevieve told her. “It’s nice to see that you and your brother get along.”

“I can’t wait for you to meet him,” Nikki said excitedly as the doorbell rang. She jumped up and ran towards the door. “That must be him,” she said, grinning.

She opened the door, and Genevieve could see a tall, handsome guy standing on the other side. She knew it was Nikki’s brother based on the pictures she had seen of him. She saw Nikki lunge herself towards him, wrapping him in a hug. “Adam!” she cried.

“Hey, Nik!” Adam said, returning her hug. “How have you been?”

“Good,” Nikki said, letting him go and ushering him into the apartment. “Hey, I want you to meet Genevieve. Gen, this is my brother, Adam,” Nikki introduced, pointing towards Adam.

“Hey,” Genevieve said with a smile, trying to figure out the easiest way to get her wheelchair over to him so she could meet him properly.

“Stay there,” he told her as he walked over to her. “It’s nice to meet you,” he smiled as he reached her and stuck his hand out for her to shake.

“You, too,” she smiled, as her hand touched his, and she could swear that she felt electricity shoot up her arm. She shook it off, and looked up at him. “So, I hear you’re back for a while,” she said, trying to make small talk.

“Yeah,” Adam said with a smile. It seemed to Genevieve that he always had a smile on his face. “I’m back through the season, which will hopefully be through at least May.”

Genevieve smiled as they talked about random things for the next ten minutes before Nikki interrupted saying, “So, who wants dinner?”

“Did you make it?” Adam asked, looking over at his sister. “Because, sorry Nikki, but you’re no cook.”

Nikki’s eyes widened. “That was just mean,” she said, feigning hurt. “But, for your information, no, I didn’t make it. I bought the food at one of the restaurants downtown.”

“Oh, okay, then, I’m starving!” Adam told her.

Nikki rolled her eyes as she went into the kitchen to bring everything out to put in on the table. Genevieve tried to move her wheelchair over to the table, but she was having difficulty navigating around all of the furniture.

After watching Genevieve for a few moments, Adam walked over to her, saying, “Let me help you.” He grabbed the handles on the wheelchair and pushed her over to the table before Genevieve could voice her complaints.

She looked up at him, saying a small thank you before he went into the kitchen to help Nikki with all of the food.

After all of the food was sitting on the table, Genevieve looked it all over, surprised by how much was actually there. “Nik, you know there’re only three of us, right? You look like you’re feeding an army,” Genevieve said with a laugh.

“Um, Gen, you’ve never seen how much Adam eats! Seriously, you’d think he was eating for an army,” she joked.

“Thanks, Nik. I love you, too,” he said sarcastically, and Nikki just smiled at him.

Genevieve tried getting some green beans out of one of the bowls and onto her plate, but she was having difficulty with the brace on her wrist. She saw Nikki watching her, knowing she was waiting on Genevieve to just ask for help, but Genevieve refused. She was determined to do this on her own.

After trying for about the third time, Adam looked up at Genevieve, grabbing the spoon out of her hand. “Let me give you a hand,” he said, putting the green beans on her plate.

Genevieve glared at him. “Thank you,” she said through gritted teeth.

Adam looked up, wondering what he had done wrong. He glanced over at Nikki, who was giving him a sympathetic look. “I’ll tell you later,” she mouthed to him while Genevieve was focused on the food on her plate. Adam nodded, and sat through the rest of the dinner with an awkward silence surrounding them.