Nothing Lasts Forever

Genevieve woke up an hour before her alarm went off. She was nervous because this was her first physical therapy appointment. Her doctor had told her that physical therapy was going to be the thing that was going to either make or break her. This would be the thing that would help her walk again.

She got out of bed, hopping over to her wheelchair. She looked down at it, wishing that she would be able to get rid of it. She would take anything over the wheelchair, crutches, a cane, whatever. She just wanted to get out of the wheelchair.

She got ready for her appointment, and looked at her clock, seeing that there was still an hour and a half until she needed to be there. She went into the living room, turning on the television. Genevieve knew that Nikki had been the last one to watch it because Comcast Sports Net was on. She was about to change the channel when something caught her attention: they said they were going to talk to Adam Burish after the break.

She immediately dropped the remote on the couch next to her, waiting for the commercials to end to see what this was all about.

When the commercials finally went off, the screen showed Adam’s smiling face with a young women sitting across from him. Seriously, was he always smiling? Genevieve thought to herself.

The girl was asking him random questions, and Adam would always make it into a joke. When Genevieve had first met Adam, that had frustrated her, but now that she had gotten to know him better, she learned that was part of his charm. Wait a minute, she thought to herself. Did I just say ‘his charm’? This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t actually be starting to like Adam, could she?

She shrugged the thought off, focusing her attention back on the television to watch the end of his interview. She smiled to himself as he made a joke about one of his teammates, and the person interviewing him laughed along with him. After the interview had finished, Genevieve started flipping through channels trying to find something else to watch.

She had finally found something good on television when she glanced at the clock, realizing it was time to go to her physical therapy appointment. Nikki had promised to meet her there, so when Genevieve arrived there and didn’t see Nikki’s car, she started wondering where she was. Nikki was never late; it was always the other way around, with Nikki waiting on Genevieve.

Genevieve wheeled herself into the building, checking in at the front desk. “Okay, if you can fill these papers out, it’ll just be a few minutes,” the woman at the desk said, handing Genevieve a clipboard with a pile of forms on top for her to fill out.

Genevieve smiled at her, grabbing the clipboard and trying to maneuver her wheelchair back, so she was out of the way from everyone else. When she had finally gotten situated, someone sat down in the chair next to her. Genevieve didn’t give the person a second glance, until she heard their voice. “Hey, how are you feeling today?”

Genevieve’s head spun around to see Adam sitting next to her, the ever-present smile on his face. “What are you doing here?” she asked him.

“Nikki got called into work, and she said she didn’t want you coming here by yourself, so I volunteered to come here with you. Besides, I’ve spent my fair share of time in physical therapy, anyways, so I know what you’ll be going through,” he explained.

“Thanks,” she smiled as she went back to filling out the forms that rested on her lap.

When she had finished, Adam looked over at her. “You want me to take them for you? Or is that something you’re going to hate me for, too?” he joked, something he had started to do a lot more of lately, and Genevieve actually found it nice to have someone treat her normally.

“Thanks,” she said, handing him the clipboard. “And, don’t worry, I’m sure there’s something else you’ll do that will make me hate you,” she added with a smile, to which Adam just sarcastically smiled back.

Adam sat back down next to her, and a few minutes later, a young, short guy came walking out. “It’s going to be just a few more minutes,” he told them. “We’re a little bit behind right now.”

Genevieve turned to look at Adam, wide-eyed. “Please tell me that wasn’t the physical therapist,” she begged. “He looks like he’s thirteen, and did you see his hair?” she asked in a whisper, referring to the guys long, flowing locks that made him look as if he was from the sixties.

“I thought the hair went nicely with those glasses,” Adam joked, trying to not laugh as he thought about the huge bottle-rimmed glasses that looked like they were three sizes too big for his face.

Genevieve started cracking up at Adam’s comment, but she stopped immediately when she saw the young man come back out. “Genevieve?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she smiled as Adam stood up beside her to help her get to the back room where the tables and rehabilitation equipment were. “Oh, and this is Adam,” she introduced, pointing over to Adam.

“You two make such a nice couple. It’s great to see a boyfriend come in for rehab with his girlfriend,” the physical therapist commented, and before either one of them could correct him, he continued. “Well, my name is Gary Barry,” he said.

Genevieve tilted her head back to look at Adam, who was pushing her wheelchair for her. “Gary Barry?” she mouthed to him, and Adam couldn’t help but start laughing, causing Genevieve to burst out laughing, too.

“Is everything okay?” Gary asked, turning around to look at the two of them.

Genevieve tried to put on a straight face, but she couldn’t do it for very long. “Yeah,” she said between laughs, nodding her head. “We’re fine.”

“Are you sure?” Gary asked, still looking down at Genevieve.

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Adam assured him as they reached the first table. Adam put the brakes on the wheelchair, and Genevieve carefully got out of it and onto the table.

“Okay,” Gary began. “So, let’s begin with you telling me what happened,” he said, looking down at Genevieve.

Adam stared at Genevieve, waiting on her to tell Gary what had happened. Adam had never actually heard everything that had happened. Sure, Nikki had explained what had happened in general, but he had never heard it from Genevieve.

“Well,” Genevieve began. “I don’t know everything that happened. I was driving on the interstate, and I got over into one lane to pass a car. When I tried to get back in front of him, a semi on the other side tried to get over at the same time, and we crashed into each other. After that, I don’t remember too much, but apparently my car started flipping, and I ended up in the side wall,” she explained. Adam winced at her explanation, just imagining Genevieve in the car.

“Okay, and you hurt your leg, correct?” Gary asked, and Adam bit back a laugh. Did he really just ask if she hurt her leg? He did realize that it was in a cast, right?

“Yes,” Genevieve said shortly. “And, my wrist,” she said holding up her arm that was still in a brace.

“Oh, yes, I see,” Gary said slowly, nodding his head.

Genevieve turned around to look at Adam, and he just started laughing.

“Okay, well if you, Adam, could go sit over there,” he said pointing over to a chair across the room. “Then I’ll get started with Genevieve.”

“Why does he have to go over there?” Genevieve asked. She didn’t exactly want to be left alone with Mr. Gary Barry, and she would have preferred if Adam could stay by her side the entire time.

“I just need some room,” Gary replied. “Please, go over there,” he said once more, pointing to the chair.

“You’ll be fine. I’ll be watching the whole time,” Adam whispered in Genevieve’s ear before he walked to the other side of the room, getting comfortable in the plastic chair.