One of the Boys

I put on a fake smile and stuck my hand out.

“Nice to meet you, Tina,” I lied. Tina just scoffed. Nick frowned at her.

“So, what happened to your face, or are you just ugly?” she insulted me. Nick glared at her.

“Wow, Nick, I didn’t know your girlfriend was a dog! Where did you find her, at the animal shelter?” I said with fake surprise. Tina’s mouth fell open.

“Oh it’s on!” she said as she walked over to my bed.

“Bring it!” I said. I knew I could take her on, even with a cast on my leg. Nick grabbed Tina’s arm and pulled her back.

“No, you’re not getting in another cat fight!” Nick said, holding Tina back.

“Don’t you mean a dog fight?” I insulted. I wasn’t usually like this, I would never fight someone or insult them, so why was this different? Why did I want to hurt Tina? Nick glared at me, then at Tina.

“Both of you stop!” he yelled at both of us, still holding Tina back. “Tina, I think you should leave, I’ll see you later.” He said. Tina glared at me one last time before leaving.

“Alex, I know you can beat me at just about every sport, but don’t mess with Tina, she’s a black belt in karate. She put a girl in the hospital a few weeks ago,” Nick said.

“What were they fighting about?” I asked Nick.

“They were fighting over a pair of shoes,” Nick said. I rolled my eyes. Typical girl. Suddenly Joe walked in the room. When he saw me his face lit up.

“Alex!” he cried happily. He ran over to me and gave me a hug. He cupped my face in his hands and kissed me.

“I was so worried about you!” he said. I saw Kevin standing behind Joe. Joe stepped aside and let Kevin hug me.

“We were all worried about you,” Kevin said as he hugged me. Denise and Paul walked in.

“So good to see you’re feeling better,” Denise said as she hugged me. Paul nodded in agreement and gave me a quick hug.

“Can I have a few seconds alone with Joe? I need to talk to him,” I said to everyone. They all nodded and walked out. Nick was the last to leave.

“Joe, wh-” I started, but I saw Nick’s face through the glass on the door, spying on us. I shooed him away with my hands and his face disappeared. I turned face Joe.

“Why haven’t you been visiting me while I was in a coma?” I asked him. I needed to talk to him about it.

“It hurts to see you there, looking lifeless,” he said. He walked over to me and sat down next to me on my bed.

“What about Nick? I’m sure it hurt him, but he never left me,” I said. Joe put an arm around me.

“Alex, I love you,” he said. “You know that don’t you? It was just so hard to see you like that, and it’s not like I never visited you.” I was in shock. This was the first time he told me he loved me, but did I love him back? I thought I had an epiphany earlier but now I was second guessing myself.

“So, now that you’re all better, do you wanna go out tomorrow?” Joe asked me.

“Not now Joe. I don’t know if I’ll be out if this hospital by tomorrow,” I said, making an excuse. I needed to know 100% who I wanted before I could go out with Joe again, or break up with him.

“Ok,” he said. “See you tomorrow.” He gave me a kiss on the cheek and walked out of the room. Everyone else walked in.

“When are you getting out of the hospital, Alex?” Frankie asked. I shrugged.

“Don’t know. They didn’t tell me yet,” I said. A doctor walked in the room.

“The X-rays show you have a slight concussion, so you might not remember some things for a few days, but it should go away,” the doctor said.

“When will I be able to leave?” I asked him.

“Well, we have to get you some crutches and some pain medication, but that shouldn’t take too long, so I’d say by this afternoon,” he said. I smiled.



I was being wheeled out of the hospital by Nick later that day. I was glad to get out that hospital. I didn’t like laying in bed all day. Nick lifted me up and gently put me in the backseat, then he got in and sat next to me.

When we got to my house Nick carried me in and laid me on the couch.

“I’ll see you later,” he said.

“Ok, see you later,” I said. He left and I grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.

All I did for the next four hours was watch TV. It’s not like I could do anything anyways. I had crutches, but I hadn’t tried them out yet. So I just watched TV and thought about Nick and Joe. Who did I have real feeling for? If it was Nick I would have to break up with Joe, I couldn’t lead Joe on if I had feelings for Nick, even if Nick didn’t like me back. If it was Joe I would stay with him and eventually I would get over Nick.
I turned off the TV and decided to try out my crutches. I would have to go to work tomorrow and they would probably give me the easy jobs where I didn’t have to move around a lot like customer service until my leg healed, but I still needed to learn how to use my crutches.

I grabbed my crutches and stood up. I practiced walking around my house before I sat down on my bed, exhausted. I never knew how hard it was to walk with crutches, not to mention my arms hurt a little, but I would just have to grin and bear it. I wasn’t the kind of girl who whined or complained about little things. I changed into a t-shirt and sweats and laid down. I fell asleep quickly.



The next day I woke up, grabbed my crutches, got dressed, and slowly walked in the kitchen. I grabbed a banana and sat down at the table. When I was done I walked to my car. Getting in the car was hard, but when I finally got in I realized I couldn’t drive with a broken leg. What was I going to do? Suddenly I had an idea. I pulled out my cell phone and hit a few buttons. It rang a few times before he picked up.

“Hello?” he answered.

“Hey, Joe, can you drive me to work? I can’t drive with a broken leg,” I said.

“Sure. I’ll be right over,” he said. I closed my phone and put it back in my pocket.

A few minutes Joe’s car pulled up in my driveway. He got out, walked over to me, and picked me up. He carried me to his car and put me in the passenger’s seat, then he went back to my car, got my crutches and walked back to his car. He handed me my crutches, then he got in the car.