Nothing Lasts Forever

Genevieve sat in the waiting room of the doctor’s office, nervously tapping her fingers against the table. Today was the day that she would find out if her wrist was healed yet. If it was, she was going to be allowed to get out of the wheelchair and onto a pair of crutches. The doctors had kept her off of crutches until her wrist was healed enough that she was able to put pressure on it so she could use the crutches.

“Will you calm down?” Nikki asked with a laugh. “Man, I knew I should have sent Adam with you today instead of me coming,” she joked.

“Ha ha, not funny,” Genevieve told her. “You have no idea how happy I’ll be if I can get out of this damn wheelchair,” she said. “And, it’s not like you’re going to go with me to physical therapy. I’m a thousand times worse there. I can’t stand Gary.”

“Yeah, that’s why Adam’s meeting you there. I’m pretty sure you two have the same hatred for Gary. I’m waiting on Adam just to punch him one of these times. He keeps telling me how much of a jerk he is,” Nikki told her.

“Yeah, he is,” Genevieve agreed.

“Miss Anderson?” a nurse called, and Nikki got up, helping Genevieve get her wheelchair back to the room they were taking her to. “So, how are you feeling?” the nurse asked.

“Good,” Genevieve answered. “I’m hoping that the doctor says my wrist is good enough that I can get out of this thing though,” she added, pointing down to the wheelchair.

“Oh, I can only imagine,” the nurse laughed while walking into the room. “Here we go. The doctor will be with you in just a few minutes,” she told her, while Nikki sat down in the chair next to her.

“Thanks,” Genevieve said as the nurse walked out, shutting the door behind her. She looked down at her wrist, which was still in a brace. “I will be so happy if this comes off today,” she told Nikki.

“I know. All I’ve heard lately is how much you want it off,” Nikki said with a smile.

“So,” Genevieve said, trying to change topics. “How are you and Patrick doing?” she smiled.

Nikki’s eyes went wide. “Okay, I’ve told you that that was supposed to be kept a secret,” she whisper-yelled. “I don’t want everyone knowing about it!”

“Okay, first of all, we’re in a doctor’s office with the door shut. No one’s going to hear us,” Genevieve began, laughing at her. “And, second of all, I still don’t understand why you two are being so secretive about it. You two make such a cute couple!”

Nikki glared at her, while the two of them heard a knock on the door, and it suddenly swung open, revealing Dr. Quentin. “Genevieve, hello!” she said. “How are you doing?” she asked, sitting down on the stool.

“I’ve been good. I’m hoping to get this thing off,” she said, holding her brace up for Dr. Quentin.

“I’m sure you are,” Dr. Quentin laughed. “Well, I’ll look at it here in just a few minutes, and we’ll see what we can do about that. In the meantime, how has your leg been?”

“Um, it’s okay, I guess,” Genevieve said. “I still get a shooting pain when I accidentally put weight on it, but other than that, it seems to be okay.”

“Good,” Dr. Quentin replied. “And your wrist? Have you had any pain with it recently?”

“Nope,” Genevieve said as Dr. Quentin began to remove the brace. As soon as the brace was off, she started moving her wrist around, happy that it was finally free.

“How does it feel?” Dr. Quentin asked. “Any pain right now?”

“No,” Genevieve said, shaking her head.

“Okay, well, let me take a few measurements and do a couple of tests, and we’ll see if we can finally get you out of this brace, huh?” she asked.

“Okay,” Genevieve said with a smile, as Dr. Quentin pulled out a goniometer, beginning to measure Genevieve’s range of motion.

“Well, your range of motion seems to be back,” Dr. Quentin smiled. “Let’s test your strength now,” she said. After a few more minutes, she said, “It seems that your wrist is back to normal. I believe it’s time that we get rid of this old brace. What do you say?”

“Yes!” Genevieve exclaimed. “So, does this mean that I get to get out of this wheelchair and onto crutches?” she asked hopefully.

“I think we can try that,” Dr. Quentin said. “Let me go get a pair and we’ll fit them for you.”

A few minutes later, she came back in carrying a pair of crutches. After fitting her for them, Genevieve tried them out for the first time. “So, how do they feel?” Dr. Quentin asked after Genevieve had walked down the hallway and back.

“It’s weird,” Genevieve admitted. “But, it’s so much better than the wheelchair,” she said, grinning.

“Okay, well, we’ll try these out for a couple of weeks and see if they do alright. Make sure that you don’t put any weight on that foot, which I’m sure you won’t since you’ll feel immediate pain if you do,” Dr. Quentin said with a smile. “In the meantime, I’ll see you back in three weeks unless you have any problems.”

“Thank you!” Genevieve said, walking to the front desk.

Three hours later, Genevieve pulled into the parking lot of the physical therapy building. She looked around to see if Adam’s car was there, but she didn’t see it. He was going to meet her there since he had practice beforehand. She got out of the car, grabbing her crutches out of the back and walking into the building. She checked in at the front desk and then took a seat out in the waiting room.

Five minutes later, Adam came walking in, sitting down beside her, giving her a quick kiss. “Hey, sorry I’m late. Practice ended late,” he explained.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, waiting on him to notice that she was no longer in the wheelchair, and instead had a pair of crutches next to her.

As her name was called, Genevieve grabbed her crutches, standing up. She turned around to Adam, to see him staring wide-eyed at her. “Hey! Where’d your ride go?” he asked as he followed her to the back room.

Genevieve laughed. “Umm, I thought I’d go without it today,” she joked.

“Well, if it isn’t Miss Genevieve, and I see you’ve ditched the wheelchair,” they heard Gary say as he walked up to the two of them.

“Yeah, the doctor said my wrist was back to normal, so I can try crutches now,” she told him, glancing back at Adam with a smile.

“I see my magic that I worked on you has done the trick,” Gary said arrogantly.

“Yeah, your magic, or the fact that ligaments heal with rest,” Adam muttered under his breath.

“What was that?” Gary asked.

“Nothing,” Adam said with a boyish smile.

“Well, since I can’t really do anything about your leg until you get out of that cast, I’ve just got to check out your range of motion of your wrist so I can make a record of it, and then you can go. But, I can expect to see you back when you’re ready to rehab that leg of yours,” Gary said.

Fifteen minutes later, Adam and Genevieve were walking out of the building. “So, you know there’s no way I’m going to let you go back to him to rehab your leg, right?” Adam asked as soon as they had left physical therapy.

“Why? Is he some type of competition for you? Do you think I might leave you for him? I mean, that hair and those glasses is awfully sexy,” she joked.

“Well, if you’re into that sort of thing,” Adam said. “I’m sure I can get him to ask you out. In fact, let me go back in there right now,” he said, turning around and walking back inside.

“Don’t you dare,” she said, grabbing his arm and spinning him back around, causing her to begin to lose her balance on her crutches.

“Whoa, there,” Adam said, putting his hands on her waist to steady her. “You okay?”

“Perfect,” she said, smiling, as she put her arms around his neck, letting her crutches fall to the ground, as she kissed him.