A Twist in His Story

Caleb.
I could hear the sound of a voice yelling orders, a familiar voice, but not one that I had known for very long. Slowly, I peeled open my eyes to glance around the room to locate the voice, eventually I found Lukas standing against the window with his back to me as he stared out at the night. I was curious to why he was still here, why he bothered to stay with someone he barely knew.
I watched him curious as his shoulders slouched before muttering some sort of code into his phone and shutting it with a groan.
“Stupid fu—” Lukas said while turning around, stopping when he spotted me. “Oh, hey kid,” Lukas said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Hey,” I replied before opening my mouth to ask a question.
“Don’t bother asking why I’m still here,” Lukas spoke, shooting me a look before shaking his head. “I’ll be back tomorrow morning to pick you up, take care kid,” Lukas said before nodding his head in my direction and walking out the door, past the man with the doctor’s coat, a nurse following behind.
“Alexander, you have to go home, you need rest! It’s almost ten at night!” The nurse exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air to add emphasis.
“I don’t care; I have to see him Cynthia!” Alexander yelled, turning around to face her, his dark hair covering his face as he looked down at the white haired lady.
“Fine! Go in there, but please be home by eleven, I beg of you,” Cynthia spoke before gingerly reaching out and squeezing his hand before she turned around on her heel and moved back down the hall.
I noticed the man let out a shaky breath before he turned to face me, my breath getting caught in my throat as I looked over his attractive face, his bright blue eyes blazing with happiness. I could see his trembling hands shoved into the pocket of his coat as he stared right back into my green eyes.
“Caleb…”
“Xander…” I murmured back before I chucked the thin sheet off of my body and flung myself at him, not worrying about the tubes and cords that detached from my body when I did so.
“Fuck, you are so thin,” Xander growled, once he had wrapped his arms around my waist.
I yanked back, almost immediately, wrapping my arms around my thin body before sitting down at the end of the white hospital bed, looking away from Xander’s gaze. I didn’t want to be told how ugly I looked or how thin I was. I didn’t want to know what I looked like from other people’s eyes, I just wanted to be held, comforted and told that everything would be alright from now on, which of course is just false information.
“Caleb, what happened? Why are you here? Who was that with you?” Xander asked, as he bent down in front of me to catch my gaze.
Looking into his deep blue eyes, I swallowed nervously and told him the story. I told him who Lukas was, I told him I wasn’t sure if I was with my father anymore and that I had missed him so much over the six years. I had apologized for the loss of Rosie, and that topic ended up bringing us to tears.
After that, we ended up speaking for hours on end, watching as the moon slowly disappeared from the night sky and the sun rose in its place.
“Alexander Royce, have you been here all night keeping this boy awake?” I heard the nurse that was with him, Cynthia, ask in a disapproving voice.
A humorless laugh left Xander’s mouth before he answered, “Pfft, no.”
“Yeah, I doubt that,” Cynthia muttered, rolling her eyes before she turned to face me. “My name is Cynthia Rosa-bell Claire, and I’ve heard you’re the infamous Caleb that Xander never stops talking about.”
“Um, unless Xander knows another Caleb, that would be me,” I asked, flashing a shy smile.
“Oh, aren’t you just the cutest thing!” Cynthia squealed before bounding over to me to throw her arms around my shoulders. “Hmm, you are a bit thin though, why aren’t you eating probably mister?” Cynthia growled, placing her hands onto her hips to glower down at my fragile body.
“Um, Cynthia—”
“No, Alexander, do not cover for him. I want to hear it from him,” Cynthia snapped at Xander before turning her attention back to me, her motherly side showing.
“Um, I w-would rather not speak about it,” I murmured back, looking down at my feet.
“And why not?”
“It’s personal Cynthia! Believe it or not, but there is such a thing of something being so personal that they are too scared to speak them,” Xander growled, raising from his seat on the floor to stare down at Cynthia with crossed arms.
“Excuse me? Alexander Royce, I am not a piece of trash, do not speak to me that way,” Cynthia snapped back.
“Well sorry, I thought you needed to be refreshed on the fact that there are some things that re personal.”
“Talk to me when you grow up Alexander, right now, I don’t even want to see your face,” Cynthia snarled before turning on her heel and stomping out of the room, leaving Xander staring at her in shock.
I let out a small sigh before I rose from my seat and bolted out the door, biting my lip curiously as I watched the middle-aged woman walk away.
“Cynthia! Cynthia! Stop, please!” I yelled down the corridor, making her freeze and turn around to look over at me with a bland expression.
“You should be in bed, you don’t want to make your cut worse,” Cynthia said as I walked towards her, biting my tongue before speaking.
“I won’t make it worse, but I need to tell you, Xander was only defending me. He knows why I’m this thin, he knows that it involves my past and that is something you don’t want to know about, but even if you do for some odd reason, I would like to say I am not ready to reveal it yet. So please, don’t blame this on Xander, he didn’t do anything wrong,” I said, rushing out the words in a hurry.
“Honey, it was more the shock than anything. I am not angry at him, it’s just, that was the first time he’s ever yelled at me. He’s such a sweet natured kid, a kid that’s quiet and keeps to himself. He’s never even tried to reach out for anyone besides me here and he ditched his family and friends back where ever he came from. No one knows anything about him, only that he has several problems in his past and those problems happened during this week several years ago. The only thing he has ever mentioned to me is you and his sister Rosie, that’s it.”
“Xander is a protective guy, someone that I can look up to, he’s always been there for me through every problem and maybe, for once, I’ll have to be there for him. Thank you Cynthia! I’ll tell Xander you’re not mad!” I said before flashing her a smile and running back to the room.