Just Feel Better.

After Johnny left, I got stuck into my homework. Starting with English, of course. It was the easiest subject. Mrs. Hart only asked for minimal work. Two page essay, print-out completed. It was rare she gave out homework, because most of our work was done in class. She made things fun.
The essay set for English was on a book we’d read in class. I’d read it twice, because I’d enjoyed it, which made the essay easier.
I’d managed to finish the essay, a few work sheets and start the science revision by the time Brian came to visit.
The pile on my table was nearly clear, the finished work on the bedside table, giving me more room.

‘Hey. How’re you feeling?’ Brian asked when I looked up from the paper. He had changed, though his face was dirty. There was a black smudge on his cheek, and a glisten on his forehead.

‘Bored.’ I stated, closing the textbook. I piled what I had left to do in the corner of the table, slipping the pen beneath a book cover so it didn’t roll away.
‘Been workin’ hard, or hardly workin’?’ I smiled.

‘Workin’ hard. Who knew ovens could get so dirty?’ He smirked, wiping his forehead on his hand.
‘You look better.’ He commented after he’d sat down in the chair by my side.

‘I feel better.’ I said, nodding. Though the bandage had been painful at first, the pressure made my side feel better. I felt less restricted in movements with it there.
‘What time is it?’ I asked, looking around for a clock. I’d forgotten that hospital rooms had no clocks on the walls, and it annoyed me.

‘Eight-thirty. Give or take a few minutes.’ Brian said, looking down at his phone. He stared at the screen a little longer, before shoving it in his pocket.
‘When’s dinner around here?’ He asked, leaning over to rest his elbows on his knees.

‘The elderly get served at seven-thirty, children at eight-thirty, then us at nine.’ I stated, remembering when the night nurse had given me the menu.

‘I’ll leave before your dinner gets here.’ Brian said, brushing a lock of hair from his face.

‘You don’t have to. It’s not like I’m going to eat it anyway.’ I shrugged. Brian tried to argue, but I stopped him before he could speak, explaining that, although I hadn’t eaten lunch, I wasn’t hungry.
Brian disagreed with me, and tried to con me into eating. When dinner did arrive, he tried to hand-feed me. Not only was the meal unappealing, my side was giving me some grief, taking any sort of appetite away. I gave in, though, and swallowed one bite, just to make him happy.
Brian, after asking for my permission, ate a little less than half of what was on the plate, before it was shoved to the side of the table.
We talked for a while, about little, meaningless things. The subject changed almost rapidly. First it was about school, then what we wanted to do for the rest of our lives. At one point, Brian bought up relationships. I felt so inexperienced compared to him, and his thirteen girlfriends. I’d dated one person, though my one relationship lasted longer than all of Brian’s little flings put together.

‘Are y’gonna tell me who she is?’ Brian asked after I’d avoided saying “her” name, twice.
He’d shifted himself so he was sitting on the opposite side of the table from me, his arms folded on top of it. I had laid myself back on the pillows, my arms crossed over my stomach.

‘That might make things a little awkward.’ I stated, blushing slightly. Brian just smiled, propping his arms up so he could cradle his head in his hands.
‘”She” was actually a “he”.’ I murmured, picking at the hospital’s poor excuse for a blanket.

‘Okay, so, what was his name?’ Brian asked, his face showing nothing but curiosity. I’d expected him to run away screaming, or, at least, be disgusted.

‘You don’t care that I’m gay?’ I asked, confused slightly.

‘Why would I? Your love life doesn’t affect me.’ He shrugged, his head moving a little with his arms, like a cartoon.

‘I don’t know. You don’t strike me as the kind of person who would be okay with that.’ I confessed. Sure, I was judging him by who he was friends with, but his group wasn’t the kindest people. And, in most cases, when one member of a group hates something, the rest pick up on that feeling and hate it too. Pack mentality.

‘I believe you can find love in anyone, whether they’re male or female. There’s nothing wrong with it.’ He said, that smile still present on his face.
‘So, y’gonna tell me his name or what?’ He asked, leaning forward more.

‘Darren.’ I laughed, sitting up.
We talked a little more, the subject switching after he tried to pry into my relationship, before the night nurse walked into the room.

‘Hey, you can’t be here. Visiting hours is over.’ She said, her voice stern as she looked at Brian. Generally, she was a nice woman, but she took her job seriously.
Brian moved to stand, but I reached over the table, gripping his arm.

‘Can’t he stay just a bit longer?’ I asked, frowning a little. The night nurse bit her lip, her stern face breaking away.

‘I don’t think so, Zack. You’ve gotta have a shower.’ She said, looking down at my chart. I wasn’t sure what was written on my chart, but I doubted it had my shower times.
‘I can let him stay until I set up the bath.’ She sighed, leaving the room. I knew the big bath was down the hall, near the nurses’ station. And, I also knew that, if you used that bath, you needed a nurse or doctor there to supervise you, incase you fell or something.

‘Great. Naked in front of strangers.’ I murmured, rolling my eyes. Brian tried to hold back his grin, but the corners of his lips wouldn’t stay down.
‘It’s not funny.’ I groaned, falling back to the pillows.

‘It’s not that bad. These people have seen it all before.’ He said, trying to make things better, but it wasn’t helping. All his words did was make me blush profusely.

‘Not helping.’ I frowned, dropping my head onto the table. Only moments later, the nurse came back in. She gave Brian a stern look.
Brian smiled apologetically at me, before getting up.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow, Zack.’ He said, squeezing my hand. The nurse stepped aside, to let him through the door, before turning to me. I sigh, stepping off the bed.

The nurse was kind enough to turn around while I stripped down and got into the bath. The tub was full of bubbles, so I was covered once I was in.
The nurse refused to let me bathe myself, explaining, at least twice, that it was her job.
I felt like a child when she ran her fingers through my hair, scrubbing the shampoo and conditioner through.
The whole time I was in the bath, the water only at waist level, the nurse tried to talk to me, mainly small talk about what I was doing in school, and who Brian was.
The nurse helped me out of the bath, and let me dry off and dress in peace.
When I came out of the dressing room, she was gone.
I wrapped my hair in the towel, and went back to my room. The bed was made, the pillows replaced, the table was moved back to the end of the bed, and a book lay on the bed. I picked it up before slipping under the thin covers, reading the title.
The book way frayed, the cover bent and refusing to stay down. The pages were worn and torn, strains on nearly every second page.
For a few hours, I sat up and read the book. I was careful with the pages, afraid to tear them anymore than they were.
Nearing midnight, I was asked by one of the passing nurses to turn my lights out. I’d been getting right into the book, and didn’t want to put it down, but dog-tagged the page and put it away.

I was woken the next morning by my Mother. She was grinning, ear to ear.

‘Wha’s goin’ on?’ I asked, rubbing my eyes. Mum sat down in Brian’s chair, her purse dropped on the ground. I heard her keys jingle inside, and her phone clunk against the bottom.

‘You’re being released, baby. When I finish work, they’ll have the paperwork to sign.’ She smiled, leaning over to kiss my forehead. I hummed quietly, too tired to actually celebrate.
‘Fine, go back to sleep. I’ll see you at seven.’ Mum laughed, getting up and leaving.
I rolled over, careful of my side, and went back to sleep for an hour.
I woke again to the sounds of screaming. I jerked up, the stitches in my side pulling painfully.

‘Easy there.’ A smooth voice said, a hand slowly gripping my arm. I turned my head, letting out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding.
Brian sat in his chair, smiling tiredly. His hair was pulled back into a pony-tail, though a few bits refused to stay in the tie.
‘Don’t worry. It’s just a kid with a broken arm.’ Brian said, referring to the screaming. I nodded, laying back down and rubbing my eyes roughly.

‘What time is it?’ I asked, kicking the blanket off my legs.

‘Almost nine-thirty.’ He said, looking down the beaten up watch on his wrist. It looked like it was about to fall apart, like it’d taken years of abuse.

‘Shouldn’t you be at school?’ I asked, sure it was Friday. Being in the hospital had made me lose track of the days.

‘I’m suspended for two months. The school’s worried about their reputation.’ He said, rolling his eyes. I hummed, like I had with my Mother, my eyes closing again. Even though I’d slept through the night, I still felt tired.
‘Go back to sleep. I’ll see you tonight.’ Brian whispered, his voice suddenly closer. My eyes snapped open, and I was slightly shocked to see Brian leaning over me. He just smiled, leaving a small kiss on my cheek. And he was gone before I could say anything.
I wasn’t able to go back to sleep after that, so I picked up the book I’d been reading last night. I found it easy to fall back into the plot, forgetting about the world for a while.
I’d been so deep in the book, I didn’t notice the nurse come into my room and lay my lunch onto the table. I only noticed the food, almost an hour later, when my stomach grumbled. I’d refused breakfast the night before, knowing I wasn’t going to eat much of it. Lunch, on the other hand, I wanted. Badly. I set the book aside, and ate the soup and sandwiches left for me. The soup was cold, but still nice, as were the sandwiches.
I went straight back to the book once the food was gone, only resurfacing from the fictional land to use the bathroom.
As Mum had said, she was there at seven, on the dot. She’d sighed the paperwork on her way in, giving me time to get out of bed, and get dressed. My bag had been pretty much untouched during my stay in the hospital, so I didn’t really have to pack it.
Mum talked the entire way home, telling me how she was going to invite all my friends over the next day, and have a party. I didn’t bother telling her I had only two friends, because she seemed so happy.
She went on and on about hoe she’d make my favourite meals, and let me lounge around all day if I wanted. I just let her go.
By the time we finally got home, Mum was listing off the things she wanted to do with me over my few weeks off from school, while I healed. I wasn’t really allowed to do much, since bending made the stitches stretch. Though, that didn’t stop Mum. She wanted to play board games, and even have a go at the X-Box with me.
I only escaped her blabbering by saying I was tired. She let me go upstairs while she cooked steak and mashed potatoes.
It was only twenty minutes later that there was a knock at my door. I hadn’t heard Mum stomp up the stairs like she usually did. I called for her to come in, laying back on my bed.
To my surprise, it wasn’t Mum behind the door. Brian stepped into my room, a smile on his face.
I’d perched myself on the floor, with a book in my lap. I was tired, but not enough to sleep. Brian sat beside me, carefully reaching over, and closing the book so he could read the cover. My fingers were still inside the pages, so I hadn’t lost my page.

‘Isn’t that our English homework?’ Brian asked, flipping the book back open. I flipped the corner of the page down, and put it on the ground beside me.

‘Yeah. I’m just bored.’ I shrugged. Before Brian could comment on my obvious nerdy-ness, Mum knocked on the door, popping her head through the crack.

‘Dinner’s ready. You’re welcome to join, Brian.’ She smiled.

‘That’d be nice, thank you.’ Brian smiled.
Mum had already set the table, three plates of steaming food just waiting to be devoured. I had no doubt that, even if Brian had said no, she would have forced him to stay.
The conversation over dinner was supplied by Mum, mainly because I didn’t know what to say. Everything Brian and I had talked about had been somewhat private, and idle chit-chat didn’t seem like something he was interested in. Though, he chatted along with Mum easily. I probably should have felt left out, but I didn’t. I felt pleased, now that the attention wasn’t on me, for the first time in my life.
I was slightly shocked when Mum outright asked Brian about his friends. There was no hesitation, or regret after the words left her mouth. I was glad I hadn’t gotten her bluntness.
‘They’re fine, I guess. Pretty upset that they actually hurt Zack enough to put him in hospital.’ He shrugged, as if he was talking about the weather.
I tuned out the rest of the conversation, merely rolling a piece of meat around my plate. The iron was good for me, but I wasn’t as hungry as I thought.
After dinner, both Brian and I offered to do the dishes, but Mum ushered us away. Instead, I took Brian back to my room, letting him pick whatever game he wished to play. After setting the game station up, we both sat on the foot of my bed, bashing the controllers in our hands.
‘I like you Mum.’ Brian said, after successfully defeating a disease infested zombie. I, on the other hand, was getting killed.

‘Dude, not cool.’ I laughed, somehow managing to chop the zombies head off, before my life meter sunk any lower.

‘I didn’t mean it like that.’ He laughed back, coming to the aid of my character.
‘I just mean, she’s cool. I wish my Mum was like that.’

‘She’s not like that all the time. I can talk to her about anything, yeah, but it gets awkward sometimes.’ I said, sighing when my character died. It only took a few seconds, before I’d re-spawned to a safer place.
‘Why’d you kiss me?’ I asked. So, maybe I did get my Mum’s bluntness.

‘I thought you knew already.’ Brian said, frowning at the screen. I only caught a glimpse of his expression, before the controller vibrated in my hands. I quickly tapped out a combination, managing to save my own life, again. Though, my life meter was low, and I doubted my character could survive much longer, without some sort of health pack.

‘Knew what?’ I asked. Brian’s character ran passed mine, flitting across my side of the screen.

‘I like you. I have for a while now.’ He shrugged, bashing a particularly sick looking zombie with a piece of wood. How he’d managed to live through the entire swarm was amazing. My character had died at least three times already.

‘Brian, I…-‘ I started, unsure exactly what I was meant to say. Sure, I liked Brian, but no in that way. I could feel an attraction towards him, but I barely knew him.
I’d forgotten about the game, and had no doubt I’d been killed again. Brian must have paused it, ‘cause he turned to face me, the controller moved from his hands.

‘You don’t have to say anything, Zack. I don’t expect you to confess your undying love for me.’ He smirked, leaning over towards me, his face only inches from mine.
‘I’m just saying, I like you, and I’ll be here, whether you like it or not, until you get better. Maybe even after that, if you want me.’ He whispered, dipping his head down to peck my lips softly. I felt my stomach flutter, and my heart skip a beat or two.

‘I want you to stay.’ I murmured, dropping my head. The blush had taken over my cheeks, tingeing my skin a light pink.

‘Then I will.’ He smiled, pecking my lips again.
Somewhere, deep inside, I knew I could easily fall for this beautiful boy. With a voice that sounded like it belonged to an angel, and eyes that resembled melted chocolate, I could already feel myself falling. And, I already knew he’d be there to catch me.