The stages of falling

‘Sorry, your mum is in the children’s wing she’ll be finished soon’

‘Thanks Dianne’ I smiled and walked away, ali following me close to my back.

‘What the hell was that? You’re obviously not happy with oli right now, but-‘ and at that moment I spotted oliver talking to my mum, this boy really did surprise me, and that took a lot.

And I guess I was happy to see him, at least there was one boy in my life that didn’t fuck it up. I sighed and walked over to hug him.

‘Oliver’s already quite popular with the kids’ my mum laughed as she checked a childs pulse and wrote something down.

‘So im guessing you met my mum already, well this is ali. My best friend’

‘The one who did that; he pointed to my wrist and laughed. She smiled and shook his hand.
‘so the kids find you funny, well that’s weird cause I don’t find you funny at all’ I joked.

‘naww, so all that laughing you did today was fake ?’

I shook my head and laughed.

‘Nah, actually, they know me already. I was a patient for a bit here and now I voleenteer’
‘Oh, well that’s decent of you’ I chuckled.

He smiled and continued talking to a little girl with a cast around her leg. My mum chuckled and led me to the general side of the hospital, the place people went when something minor happened. I followed leaving Ali with Oliver.

Mum felt at my wrist and I winced as she applied pressure to the sore parts.

‘I think this is fractured, very minor, but fractured’

‘So you gonna cast it?’

‘Yes, what colour?’ she smiled and rolled her eyes.

‘Hmmm, let’s go bright pink this time’ I smiled big.

The only part of breaking something that was fun, was picking the colour of the cast. The casting took longer than I expected, but when I was done my butt was numb for sitting for so long. My mum led me to Oliver and gave me the house keys; she also mentioned how nice Oliver was. I agreed but assured the friendship we held.

When I got back Ali was gone, leaving Oliver talking to a very scared little girl, the only one awake in the children’s ward. I sat next to him and put my cardigan on my lap. The little girl looked at me and my pink cast; she almost smiled but went back to a worried look.

‘She’s gonna get a surgery tomorrow, to put splints in her leg, she fractured it in 4 places’ Oliver recapped me.

‘Ouch, I thought fracturing my wrist was bad’ I smiled; she smiled clutching her blanket tighter.

‘Hey I need to pee, you mind keeping her company?’

‘Sure’ I answered a little weary, I was always nervous about being alone with kids.

‘Can I have a pink cast too?’ her voice was small but strong.

‘Course you can, they have every colour you want’

She didn’t smile.

‘You know, I would be just as scared as you are. Last year I feel from my tree house, I needed surgery too. I was so scared, but I pulled through. And you will too. Just think when you get to see all your friends, they’ll get to sign the cast’ I smiled and tried to add some optimism to the situation.

She chuckled lightly and smiled back.

‘Were you really scared? Aren’t you too big to be scared?’

‘theres a scared little girl inside of all of us. Even Oliver’

She laughed, and pointed behind me. Oliver was leaning on the wall smiling and shaking his head.

We said our goodbyes to her and she seemed half asleep when we left, I hoped I did a good job of calming her. We were walking out of the still bustling hospital when I saw someone wearing a familiar shirt, it was white and had ‘I know you’re hot like that’ on the back. I looked back at my singlet and furrowed my brows. Oli ?

‘Oli?’ I called at the person, they only increased their speed. I increased my speed too with Oliver close on my back. I caught up to him and he turned around looking worried.

‘What are you doing here? Nice shirt’ I chuckled and he returned It with a nervous chuckle.
I furrowed my brows, and oliver emerged from behind me. Oli shifted his eyes to Oliver, but instead of acknowledging him he told me quickly he needed to go, I was worried about him. His recent adventures hugging people in a more than friendly way, and now he was at the hospital with no explanation, and he practically ran away from me. I had had enough of this. I told oliver to wait in the front waiting area and walked briskly to catch up to Oli.

I grabbed his hand and winced, my cast didn’t let my hand move that way. He turned back and accepted that I wanted an explanation, he pulled me aside.

‘What are you doing here? You can tell me’

‘Its..it’s my sister, shes really sick. I’m just really worried’ Oli’s sister was blonde and had the occasional tattoo. At that moment I was just glad he was seen hugging his sister, not the girl at the party. I breathed a sigh of relief and put away any other over exaggerated observations ali’s mum had.

‘I’m so sorry’

‘Why are you apologizing, please don’t apologize’

‘It’s a stupid, but long story. I thought the worst of you today, and I know I can trust you now. You are my boyfriend’

He breathed out heavily and smiled. But it didn’t reach his eyes. I thought if Lee was in hospital, I would be pretty destroyed too. I hugged him tightly and let him visit his sister.

I joined Oliver in the waiting room. He was happy to see I was relieved. I told him the whole story, from Alis mum in the car to now.

‘So he was just visiting his sister’

‘Well that’s good, seems like everything’s going good’ he seemed happy.

I hopped in his car and he drove me home with the stereo too loud to have a proper conversation, we sang loud and nearly crashed into several cars.

A couple was making out on a bench at a bus stop, oliver rolled down his window and yelled ‘be safe kids’ at them loudly. The guy flipped us off. I laughed loud.

‘Ok, so you have no shame, you’re a funny individual and you’re cute. The whole package ey ? Maybe I should set you up with Ali…’ I pondered.

‘that girl at the hospital ? she was cute and all. But im not up for anything at the moment’ he told me while looking straight ahead at the road. I huffed.

‘Fine, but the moment you are. Hit me up. Im sure i can find something for you’ I chuckled
He chuckled along and we chatted aimlessly about the stupidest topics until he reached my house.

We sat for a moment, he turned to me and smiled.

‘I had fun today’ he smiled ‘We should do this more often’

I laughed ‘Sure thang’ I winked and he laughed. I said goodbye and we hugged awkwardly in the car. As I got out he kicked my ass.

‘Oi !’ I laughed ‘That’s my butt’ I said stating the obvious.

He laughed and handed me my phone, I swiped it from his hands.

‘You told me to hold it for you when you were getting your cast done, and I added my number while I was at it’ he smiled big.

‘Well that’s good, cause I reckon you could be a decent texting buddy’ I slammed the car door and watched him drive away.