Fall From Grace

”THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID!”

This was about the tenth time I’ve heard another one of those jokes. The bed next to me was empty up until five hours ago when someone else was brought in. I’m assuming it’s a male, because his friends are making many sexual references and talking about random things.

I groaned and tried to get some more rest.

”Shhh dude, I think that girl’s trying to sleep!”

Well thank you for now noticing!

”We better go Zacky. We’ll be back in the morning.”

Finally.

Each of the four different voices said their goodbyes before finally leaving the room so I could attempt to get some sleep. It was useless.

Violet stole my ipod and my phone, saying that if I tried to use them while in the hospital I could kill somebody. I tried to bargain with her that those were just myths, but she wouldn’t believe me.

So now here I was, lying in bed, music-less and sleepless.

I was just about to start counting sheep when the curtain dividing me and the other person was moved a little. My eyes were tired, but I made an effort to see who was behind the curtain.

He had dark, almost black, hair what was long, but not too long. He had holes on his lips where I’m guessing he put in snakebites. I was lucky I had a cousin who wore them to know what they were for.

As I looked closer at his facial features, I noticed he had a small patch of hair right under his lower lip. And his lips … Oh my. I licked my own subconsciously. His eyes met mine and I saw how green they were. They were beautiful, even with the huge black eye he had.

“Sorry if my friends were keeping you from sleeping,” He apologized, “They’re still a little buzzed.”

“It’s alright,” I shrugged, sitting up a little more in the bed. I winced a little as I did this, but finally managed to sit up.

“You look like you hurt,” He pointed out, watching me carefully.
“From what the doctors have told me, I’ve been out for a week.”
“What happened?” He asked, sounding a little more concerned than he intended.

Oh great, let’s just tell some random stranger about your freak accident, shall we?

I hesitated a little before answering his question, “My friend Violet said I hit a tree while snowboarding, but I honestly don’t remember.”

He nodded.

“What about you?” I asked, hinting at his black eye and the few cuts that I noticed on his forehead.

“Uh well, funny story actually,” He said with a light chuckle.
“Can’t be any worse than mine,” I smiled.
“I think I can top yours,” He smiled back, “I was with my friends back stage and I tripped over a wire that someone forgot to tape down and I smacked my face on the floor. One of my friends said I blacked out for a couple hours before they took me here,” He explained, touching one of the cuts of his forehead, “I don’t really know how I got these though.”

“So you’re in a band then?” I asked.
“Nope,” He answered back almost immediately, “I just got lost at the venue and wandered around till I fell.”

“I’m sure that’s the true story,” I replied with an unbelieving tone in my voice.

“Well, you’re right about being in a band,” He admitted a few minutes later, “But can you guess what I do?”

I took another look at him, hoping that my cousin’s musical knowledge would have sunk in by now. He looked too bulky to be a drummer, because those were some tight places to squeeze into and he didn’t look confident enough to be the front man and be a lead singer. He also didn’t look unskilled enough to play the bass.

I looked at his fingers and saw that they were a bit longer than what most guy’s fingers were.

“Guitarist,” I answered, sounding confident with my answer.

“Damn you’re good!” He grinned, flashing his white teeth at me. I felt my ears burn a little and my face turn warmer.

“Musically educated cousin,” I shrugged, praying that he didn’t see my change of color.

“Well Amen to that,” He said.

I involuntarily yawned and closed my eyes.

“Maybe you should get to sleep,” He suggested.

“Yeah,” I sighed, now noticing that my body was sinking into the bed from exhaustion.

“Night ……” I paused because I didn’t know his name.
“Just call me Zacky,” He said filling in my blank.

“Night Zacky,” I repeated.

“Goodnight ……”
“Hayden,” I finished.

“Goodnight Hayden,” He repeated.

I waited for him to shut the curtain before I turned over and closed my eyes.