Scream Me a Dream

Thursday May 20, 2010
10:45am

The sound of water hitting empty buckets and the loud giggling of grown men was the only thing heard being echoed through the kitchen, before they clomped up the stairs carrying two large buckets filled with not only cold water but also cubes of ice that they had emptied out of the freezer and into the buckets.

“Shh.” Bam shushed, as they grew closer to the room. He knew for a fact that Ville and Soya had fallen asleep late, watching some late night movie on the TV, crawling into bed around two in the morning. So far, he had made Soya’s stay at Castle Bam by far tamer than he and the crew had ever been when they had guests over, and that was mostly due to the fact that he wasn’t sure how Soya would react to any of the pranks they pulled.

But ever since his and Soya’s talk, Soya had shown herself pretty easy going to anything the guys did or said around the house. She hadn’t even been bothered when Novak had walked into the living room butt naked the day before, she had of course, blushed and buried her face into Ville’s arm as she laughed, but hadn’t gotten upset. So Bam had dubbed her fair game.

As a rule, Ville allowed Bam one prank during his stay and Bam had yet to pull anything, so the way he saw it, he was killing two birds with one stone by getting both Soya and Ville at the same time.

He turned back and saw Dunn, still carrying his side of the bucket, while Novak and Raab carried the other one, Dico behind them all, the camera rolling. Opening the door quietly, they walked in, stopping slightly when they saw the way Ville and Soya were sleeping. Ville was on his side, his leg wrapped tightly around Soya’s hips while his arm anchored her to his side. Soya was on her side, facing Ville, her face buried in his chest as they slept, her hands resting high on his chest, gripping his shirt.

“It’s like they’re afraid to let go.” Dunn whispered, as he followed Bam towards Ville’s side of the bed while Novak and Raab went to Soya’s.

“One.” Bam counted quietly, trying to hold in his laugh. “Two.” They positioned the buckets right over their heads. “Three!” he shouted as they threw the water onto the bed. Ville shot up from bed with a curse, getting up and trying to get the ice out from under his shirt.

Dunn watched in surprise as Soya shot from the bed and made it to the door, only to slide down it and grip her ankle.

“Fuck!” Ville said, trying to get the ice from out from under his shirt. “Please tell me that was only water and not some concoction of water and other…nasty matter mixed in.”

“Water and ice I swear.” Bam laughed

“Uh…I don’t think Soya reacted well.” Dunn said quietly, pointing to Soya who was still sitting by the door, gripping her ankle.

“Soya?” Ville asked.

Soya shook her head, but kept her head buried in her knee.

“Soya I swear it was just water.” Bam said, lifting his hands.

“I don’t think that’s it.” Ville said pushing past Bam to get to her. He crouched down next to her, and tried to touch her hand that was gripping her ankle, only for her to scoot away from him. “Mikä hätänä, kulta?”(What’s wrong sweetheart?)

He heard her take a deep shuddering breath, and just by that action, he knew she was holding in tears. “Mielestäni nyrjäytin nilkka taas.”(I think I twisted my ankle again.) She whispered, her words a bit cracked.

Ville swallowed and put his hand on top of hers that was resting on her ankle. “Oletko varma?”(Are you sure?)

“Kyllä.”(yes) She whimpered.

Ville turned to Bam. “I think we need to take her to the hospital Bam,”

“No!” Soya said loudly, her grey eyes widening. “No hospitals.”

Ville turned back to her in surprise. “Soya, what if you didn’t just twist-”

“No hospitals! Promise me you won’t take me to a hospital!” Soya begged, gripping his arms.

“Not without a good reason as to why I shouldn’t take you.” Ville told her.

Soya shook her head, as she saw the camera Dico still had on. “I…”

“Everyone out.” Bam ordered, seeing her hesitation over the video camera Dico had in his hand. Ville picked her up carefully, sitting her on the dry spot of the bed, as everyone but Bam filed out of the room. Bam closed the door, and waited few seconds, before banging his fist on the center of the door, a loud groan came from the other side.

“Get the fuck away from the door!” Bam yelled, he heard them scattered before he turned to Soya. “Look, as a guy who has made countless trips to the ER, I can honestly say there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“I’m not afraid!” Soya snapped, glaring at him.

“Whoa.” Bam said lifting his hands up as a sign of peace. “Sorry I tried to help.”

“No.” Soya sighed covering her face with her hands as Ville sat next to her pulling her hands away from her face and met her eyes.

“I can’t not take you to the hospital Soya. What if it’s more than a twisted ankle?”

Soya swallowed and stared down at her ankle, she could see that it was already starting to swell and she could barely rotate it. “Rebecca doesn’t know.” She whispered.

Ville frowned as Bam came closer to be able to hear her. “Doesn’t know what?”

Soya bit her lip. “That I twisted my ankle the first time.” She finally admitted.

“All right.” Ville nodded.

“As a part of my contract…” she sighed. “All of our contracts…if we injure a vital part of our body, it needs to be reported to Ben…or Rebecca.”

“Why?” Ville asked.

“Liability.” Bam said quietly, looking at Soya. “Right? So that if something happens to you on stage, they’re not held responsible for an injury you previously had.”

Soya nodded slowly, surprised he had understood. “Josef and I….we paid the doctor a lot of money for him not to send the MRI and X-Rays to the company. Every doctor’s appointment is recorded and sent to them to look over. If Ben had seen that I’d twisted my ankle a month before our performance he wouldn’t have let me dance.”

Ville stared at her in surprise. “You bribed the doctor?”

Soya nodded slowly. “I can’t not dance Ville,” she looked at Bam, before she switched languages looking back at Ville with tears in her grey eyes. “Jos äitini koskaan selville…”(If my mother ever found out…) she trailed off, hoping he would get the hint.

Ville nodded in understanding. “Lots of trouble.” He muttered.

“I can’t go to a hospital.” She said quietly. “Josef and I got lucky with the last doctor; he said if the sprain were more serious no amount of money would have convinced him not to send the reports to the company, since he would have been responsible for letting me dance in the first place. I highly doubt this…,” she said pointing towards her ankle. “Is a small sprain, it doesn’t matter how much I beg, they’re going to send the reports. I have two years left, Ville.”

Ville closed his eyes, frustration rising on him. On one hand, he wanted to appease Soya and respect her decision. She was a big girl now and if she wanted to handle her own injury by herself then who the hell was he to argue? On the other hand, the protective nature that always showed up when even thinking of Soya, wanted to ignore what she was saying bundle her up and haul ass to a hospital and get a team of doctors to fix her.

He looked up at Bam, who was staring at the ankle with a contemplative look on his face. “What are you thinking?” Ville asked.

“I’m thinking that Ed has a portable X-ray machine.” Bam smirked.

“Who’s Ed?” Soya asked looking between Bam and Ville.

“He worked with us during ‘Jackass’.” Bam told her. “He was the medic we had when Dunn stuffed the toy car up his ass.”

Soya blinked. “Dunn did what?”

Bam waved it off and moved on. “He lives in Philly, he can be here in about an hour.”

“I…” Soya shook her head. “I can’t take the chance that he’ll send the report.” She told him. “Rebecca, as much as she says she wants me off the company knows nothing can really kick me out, except for this.”

“Ed is discreet.” Bam assured her. “Any x-rays or reports he does can be sent straight to me and I can lock them up, burn them, whatever you want me to do.” Bam told her.

Soya looked over at Ville who shrugged. “Jopa te.”(Up to you)

She looked down at her ankle and knew it was going to take more than just icing the damn thing to fix it. “All right.”

Bam nodded. “I’ll make the call. Ville, if you want to move Soya to my room, I’ll get the guys to clean all this shit up.” Bam hesitated by the door and turned to Soya with a smirk. “Had you not twisted your ankle….getting water dumped on you funny or annoying?”

Soya sighed and couldn’t help the laugh that escaped. “I don’t do well with water wake ups.” She admitted, when she’d woken up, she’d actually thought she was back in the dorm rooms with the older dancers and she’d been running towards the bathroom to lock herself in, when she’d felt her ankle fold and realized where she was. “But funny in the long run.”

“Good to know.” Bam nodded as he left the room.

“Come on.” Ville said, quietly, picking her up bridal style. “I’d rather you not walk on your foot.” He told her before she had a chance to argue. He took her down the hall towards Bam’s room and nudged the door open with his hip. He sat her down on the chair in the corner of the room and helped her adjust herself. “I’ll go get you some dry clothes, just stay there.”

“You’re upset.” She whispered.

Ville felt the muscle in his jaw tighten and shrugged. “I’m fine.”

“I’ve always been able to read you like a book Ville, you’re upset with me.”

Instead of answering, he walked out of the room, going back to his own and grabbing a dry set of clothes for himself, before rummaging through Soya’s suitcase and finding a pair of loose sweatpants and a grey “Rebel Yell” tank top. He thought about grabbing underwear for her, and while they were close, he didn’t think Soya would appreciate him rummaging through her more personal articles of clothing.

Rubbing a hand in front of his face, he sighed tiredly. He couldn’t believe he had actually allowed Soya to choose not going to a hospital.

“You okay?”

Ville turned and saw Bam leaning against the doorway. “Yeah.”

“It’s her choice man.”

“I know, I know.” Ville muttered standing back up holding the clothes. “I don’t have to like it though.”

“Ed’s a good doctor.” Bam told him. “I mean any doctor that allows a man to shove a toy car up his ass, has to be good right?”

Ville groaned. “Thank you Bam-Bam, that makes me feel loads better.” They walked out of the room and back to Bam’s, to find Soya trying to get up from the chair.

“Will you sit down?!” Ville snapped at her pushing her back on the chair.

Soya glared up at him. “Don’t talk to me that way.” She snapped back.

“Wow, pain makes you both irritable.” Bam muttered watching them glare at each other. “Ed’s on his way, he has the x-ray machine in his office, so it might take him a while to get up here.”

“Thank you.” She muttered.

“I’ll take you to the bathroom to change.” Ville told her, picking her up again and taking her to Bam’s bathroom. Bam handed him Soya’s clothes before Ville closed the door, he walked further in, sitting her on top of the counter.

“I can change myself.” Soya muttered, looking at the clothes he had pulled out for her.

“I’ll help you.” He said quietly, “I’d prefer you didn’t move more than you need to.”

“It’s my ankle that hurts, not my entire body.”

“Just take your shirt off.” Ville told her, handing her a towel so she could dry off any remaining water, while he stripped his own shirt off the change.

Soya sighed and stared at the towel in her hands. “I’m sorry this is upsetting you.”

“You’re a grown woman, who obviously makes stupid choices.”

“Well, now that I know how you really feel.” Soya said with a roll of her eyes.

“Not going to the hospital because you might get in trouble for twisting your ankle Soya, that’s stupid.”

“It’s not a might.” Soya told him with a glare. “If Rebecca finds out that I not only twisted my damn ankle once, but twice within a year Ville, there is no way she’ll even allow me into the rehearsal studio.”

“You’ve said she’s not your boss.” Ville pointed out, pulling on his dry shirt.

“When it comes to this, she has the authority to kick me out. You know Anya and Evie, my teachers?” She asked.

“Yeah.” Ville nodded.

“They left because they began noticing problems with their knees and ankles, Ville. It wasn’t even a full blown problem yet and Ben pulled them out of the company because he couldn’t have them be a liability to the company. Me, twisting my ankle, that’s enough for him to not even consider keeping me.”

“Change your clothes Soya.” Ville told her. He wanted to understand where she was coming from; he wanted to understand that she needed the company as much as the company needed her. But he knew the real reason Soya couldn’t leave before the end of her contract was mostly her family obligation to dance, and the obvious lack of care about her own health irritated him.

He tried to watch with disinterest as Soya hesitantly pulled her wet shirt over her head, revealing the flat expanse of her stomach that was slightly paler then the rest of her body. A simple grey jersey bra covered her breasts from view, but even then just the glimpse of the tops of her breasts were enough for his body to betray him, and his groin to tighten. Even more so when he realized that not only did the blue ivy of her tattoo crawl past her breast, but curved around it as well.

He couldn’t believe he had actually thought he could just be friends with Soya, without any type of attraction to her.

“Um...”

He refocused on her when she hesitated and saw that she had started to take off her sleep boxers, revealing the lacey blue boy shorts she had underneath.

Biting his tongue, hard, he walked over to her and carefully removed the shorts from her legs, so she wouldn’t put weight on her ankle, let her dry her legs, before he helped her into the grey loose yoga pants he’d found in her suitcase. He lifted her up and let her pull the top of the pants up, before he changed his own pants, pulling up his jeans and taking her back to the room, and setting her on the bed.

“Just stay still.” He told her, going and sitting in the chair he’d previously sat her on.

“I know.” She muttered pulling herself up, causing him to glare at her. “I want to be comfortable.” She situated herself more comfortably on the bed, both of them looking at opposite directions waiting for the doctor.

“Are you going to tell Josef?” Ville finally asked, fifteen minutes later.

Soya shrugged. “He’ll probably figure it out without me saying a word.”

“How?”

Soya bit her lip. “He’ll see me wearing the brace again and figure it out.”

Ville tugged on the ends of his hair as he stared at her. “This brace, should you have been wearing it the entire time you’ve been here?”

Soya looked down at the ivory comforter on Bam’s bed and gave a slight nod, wincing when she heard Ville stand up. “Don’t be upset.” She whispered.

“Start taking better fucking care of yourself and maybe I wouldn’t be.” Ville snapped before leaving the room, slamming the door closed nearly running into Bam who was about to go into the room.

“Everything okay in there?” Bam asked.

“Fine.” Ville said shortly. “I need air, I’ll be back.”

“Yeah, Ed just called; he’s about ten minutes away.”

“I’ll be back.” Ville assured leaving Bam alone in the hallway. Raising an eyebrow he went into his bedroom, where he found Soya laying on the bed, on her side staring out the window.

“So…Ville looked pissed.”

“He sounded just as angry when he yelled at me.” Soya muttered.

“Please don’t tell me you’re crying.” Bam begged, sitting on the bed next to her. “I don’t do well with crying chicks that aren’t my wife.”

“I’m not crying.” Soya chuckled, turning carefully so she was on her back staring at the ceiling. “He yells because he cares right?”

“Sure?”Bam asked looking at her. “Has he ever yelled at you before?”

“Not that I remember.” Soya laughed. “Ville’s not much of a yeller unless he’s on stage.”

Bam smirked. “Ed’s on his way, he’s a few minutes away. Ville went out to get some air, he’ll be back.”

Soya nodded as she watched Bam leave the room. Sighing, she lifted herself up and looked at her ankle, wincing when she saw the swollen appendage. “Damnmit.” She muttered, allowing the curses to slip into the quiet room. She placed her fingers on either side of her ankle and massaged it carefully, only to whimper when pain shot up her leg.

Icing the ankle wasn’t going to help. The swelling would go down, but the idea of actually putting pressure on it pained her just thinking about it. “Damnmit, damnmit, damnmit!” she groaned into her knee.

“That is probably the most curse words I’ve ever heard you say.”

She looked up and saw Bam walking back in, a heavyset man behind him, wearing a plain black t-shirt and jeans a backwards baseball cap on his head. “Hello.” She greeted.

“Ed, this is Soya.” Bam introduced. “Soya, Ed.”

“Nice to meet you.” Ed said, shaking her offered hand.

“The guys are getting the x-ray machine up here.” Bam told her, “Ed’s going to set up and start whatever he needs to do, I’ll go get Ville.”

Soya nodded as Ed started plugging in his laptop charger into the wall and turning on the computer. Bam left the room, jogging down the stairs past Dunn and Raab who were pulling the x-ray machine up the stairs with strict instructions not to break it and went out to the deck where he had seen Ville.

“Hey.” Bam called by the door, causing Ville to turn. “Ed’s here.”

Ville snuffed out his cigarette, letting the butt fall with the other ones on the grass before following Bam back to the room, where Dunn and Raab had gotten the x-ray machine up and were helping Ed set it up.

Ville took a seat on the chair in the corner, Bam shutting the door behind Raab and Dunn as Ed started probing Soya’s ankle, causing her to wince.

“So, what exactly happened?” Ed asked looking over at Bam.

“Why are you looking at me?” Bam asked leaned against his dresser.

“Injury…Castle Bam….Bam Margera.” Ed said slowly. “You’re to blame, so start speaking.”

“We threw water on them.” Bam said with a roll of his eyes. “I’m not sure how she ended up twisting it.”

Ed looked at Soya. “Slip on water?” he asked her

Soya shook her head, “Just stepped on it wrong and it rolled.”

Ed nodded. “Well it definitely looks like you fucked it up.” Ed told her. “How about we take some pictures of it and we’ll see just how fucked up it is?”

“All right.” Soya answered quietly.

“How exactly does it work?” Ville asked looking at the portable x-ray machine.

“Same as any x-ray machine.” Ed told him. “Just a smaller amount radiation, but I still have to ask…are you pregnant?” he asked Soya.

“No.” Soya answered with a frown, looking down at her stomach. Did she look pregnant?

“Perfect.” Ed answered then turned back to Ville. “Basically any x-rays that are taken are sent and saved to my laptop. Lie back for me.” He said looking at Soya.

Soya nodded lying back as he laid the blue x-ray apron over her leg above her ankle, before positioning the head of the machine at her ankle. She heard the low hum of the machine as Ed started taking the pictures.

“So,” Ed started after a couple of minutes of silence. “Since I don’t have your file, want to tell me your medical history?” Ed asked her, looking at the screen of his laptop.

“Like what?” Soya asked, watching as he pushed some buttons on the machine.

“Like have you broken this bone before?” Ed smirked at her.

Soya shook her head. “I haven’t broken it, I have twisted it though.”

“Recently?”

Soya nodded slowly. “In December.” She admitted.

Ed sighed as he looked at his screen again, looking at the picture that was coming up much more closely. “Did you allow it the proper time to heal at all?”

Soya looked over at Ville, quickly looking away when she meet his disapproving gaze. “No.” she admitted with a sigh. “I iced it on and off for a couple weeks afterwards, kept a brace on it sometimes, but I had a recital a month later.”

Ed rubbed his face. “What do you do?”

“I dance.” Soya answered slowly.

“Look kid, I’m not going to sugar coat this for you.” Ed started, as he pushed the x-ray machine away from the bed and took the blue apron off her leg, helping her to sit up. “Your ankle’s pretty fucked up, to the point where I want to say ‘fuck it’ to Bam’s little confidentially rule and tell your boss not to let you dance.”

Soya started to speak but Ed cut her off. “I won’t, I was obviously called to keep this all hush-hush. This wouldn’t have been a bad sprain.” He told her. “But what’s happened is that the previous sprain you had didn’t heal properly, so when you rolled on the ankle this morning, it was like you twisted your ankle twice. You’re lucky the damn thing didn’t snap.”

“How long till it’s better?” Ville asked.

Ed shrugged. “Really it depends.”

“On what?” Bam asked from his position by the dresser.

“On if Soya can keep off it for a couple months.” Ed said, looking over at her. “This thing is going to need a lot more then ice and an ankle brace. You’re going to have to keep pressure off your ankle when you walk. That means I don’t want you dancing or doing anything that’s going to agitate that ankle more. If you don’t need to walk, then don’t.”

“Is there anything else she needs to do?” Ville asked.

“I don’t want her putting pressure on it, but I do want her rotating it once the swelling does go down. Wear the damn brace regularly.” Ed said looking back at her. “Not sometimes. If it doesn’t go with your fucking shoes, too damn bad. I know that a brace sometimes seems like it’s not doing much, but it does a lot in the long run, if you’re wearing it continuously.”

“And by continuously you mean?” Ville asked, knowing that if Ed didn’t spell it out for Soya, Soya would use her own definition and claim she was following doctor’s orders.

“If you’re not showering or going to bed, you better be wearing the brace.” Ed said. “I brought some crutches for you. I wasn’t sure how bad it would be when Bam said you had twisted your ankle.”

“I can’t use crutches.” Soya said shaking her head.

“Use the fucking crutches.” Ville said.

“If…”

“You’re using the crutches. At least while you’re here.” Ville said with a wince. “Once you’re back in your own home, then Josef will decide what you can and cannot do.”

Soya glared at him, feeling her jaw tighten in annoyance. “I’m not a child.”

“Jos toimit helvetin lapsen, aion kohdella sinua helvetin lapsi.”(If you act like a fucking child, I’m going to treat you like a fucking child) Ville told her with his own glare, before he turned to Ed. “Get her the crutches.”