The Times We Felt Alive

Startled by the automatic change in the mood, I yelped and jumped back, almost shoving Alex. My very first thought was that Lisa had seen us. As soon as I whipped around, a boy’s body landed on top of us. I flung my bandaged arm out from underneath him in an attempt for it to not be crushed. I looked up and found myself face with Jack. “YOU GUYS WERE FUCKING GOING AT IT! HOLY SHIT!” He screamed, a huge smile plastered on his face. I winced at how loud he was.

“Jack, shut the fuck up!” Alex, whose face was turning bright red, pushed Jack off of me. Jack landed on the floor, but jumped back up, beaming and pounced on Alex this time. “I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! I KNEEEW IT!”

Alex pushed Jack off of him, who rolled onto the other side of the bed. “Seriously man, shut up. People are gonna hear your drunk ass.”

Jack sat up automatically. “I’m not drunk!”

Alex and I burst out into laughter. Jack’s defensive expression never dropped. “What?” He crossed his arms.

“Dude, you were so drunk you were hitting on guys.” I laughed.

“I caught him hitting on Rian,” Alex added with a giggle. I laughed even harder.

“Liars.” Jack smirked.

“We’re not lying!” I yelled, grinning.

Jack winced and held his head. “Maybe I’ve had a little too much to drink. But I’m sober now!” Jack threw his arms up and knocked over the lamp on the bedside table. I cringed.

“Fucking dumbass,” Alex gasped, “you are not sober.”

Jack carefully put the undamaged lamp back into place. “Sober enough. And you guys should probably get back downstairs before Tiff gets impregnated.”

“Dude!” Alex yelled, “We weren’t having sex!”

My face burned. Jack laughed. “I know, I know. But you were getting really into it.” Jack pushed me lightly and I yelped in pain; holding my injured arm.

Alex automatically grabbed me. Him and Jack both gasped, “Are you okay?”

“I’m so sorry, I totally forgot.” Jack apologized.

I laughed lightly. “It’s fine guys, I’m fine. Just sore.”

“And it needs to be changed.” Alex held up my arm lightly, examining the bandage. It was almost completely dyed a shade of deep red.

“Oh yeah, Tiffany. Blake needs to see you.” Jack suddenly said.

“Can we change the bandage first?” Alex asked Jack, annoyed.

“Well, Blake wanted to take a look at it, and your swollen nose, Alex, and bring you guys to the hospital. Might as well get it done by professionals.” Jack stood.

We agreed and headed out the door.

I noticed on a nearby clock that Alex and I have been in the room for about an hour. The music was blasting downstairs, but the party itself had died down immensely. A few people were sprawled out on the ground, passed out, some people were dancing, and most were sitting down talking and drinking.

The area where Lisa had freaked out was cleaned up, but the beer pong table was still broken beyond repair. Alex landed right in the middle and the legs had apparently given out.

By the time we were halfway down the stairs, every eye was on Alex and me. Before anybody else could greet us Blake rushed up to us. “Oh my god. Tiff, your arm.”

He grabbed my arm and I hissed, “Ow!” and slapped his hand away.

“Does it hurt that bad? Oh my god. Did Alex wrap it up…” Blake turned to Alex and gasped, “Holy shit! Your nose!”

I held Blake’s arms into place. “Blake. Calm down. We’re fine.”

He shook me off. “Yeah well, we’re going to the hospital anyways. I’m sure you guys did your best to clean that up, but it still worries the fuck out of me. And Alex, your nose is so swollen and bruised, and just, c’mon.” He tugged at my hand.
I sighed. “Let’s go, guys.”
Alex nervously shuffled up next to me. “Do we have to go to the hospital? I mean… it’s not that bad and we cleaned your arm very well…”
Jack pushed Alex from behind. “C’mon, pussy. You’re not gonna die.” I gave Jack a confused look. “Alex hates hospitals,” he confirmed.
“Why would somebody like them?” Alex defended.
The guys argued. I guessed Alex doesn’t like them because of his anxiety. And God knows what other hospital encounters he’s had, with his brother and all.
I took a look around the room before we walked out. People were still staring, whispering, and pointing. Lisa, Robert and Zack were nowhere in sight. Rian emerged from the kitchen at this moment and trotted towards us.

We all talked as we piled into the van. “Tiff, Alex, you do not want to be near Lisa, for at least a good…year.” Rian commented.

I sighed. “I feel so shitty.”

Everyone in the car objected to this. Jack yelled from the back, “Tiffany, I don’t even want to hear that. Sorry Alex, but Lisa’s always been a bitch. She just needed an excuse to blow up, and then you came around, so she took the opportunity. Yo Blake, can we sue her for like, assault?”

“No, I wouldn’t let that happen.” I said.

“Depends how much this hospital bill is,” Blake answered, ignoring me. “Oh shit, should we go tell your mom about this, Tiff? And Alex? We should.”

I’m just picturing my mom freaking out and calling her lawyer to actually sue Lisa, and then never let me near Alex and the guys again. And then move again. Yeah, no.

“Eh,” Alex commented, “I’m telling my parents I’m sleeping over Zack’s anyways, so we’ll see how it works out.”

“Blake,” I whined, “Mom’s gonna freak out.”

He sighed. “I know. And they’re gonna be looking for a parent, Alex. And what would you tell your parents when you look like that?”

“I’ll make something up. And um… maybe-”

“Can’t you just cover for him?” I asked Blake, interrupting Alex.

“I’m not eighteen, dimbo.”

We all thought for a moment. “Why can’t your mom, Tiff?” Jack asked.

Blake and I laughed. “Jack, when we say she freaks out, we mean freak out.” I told him.

“Not if you don’t tell her all the details.” I could hear his smirk.

“Jack…” Alex groaned.

“No! Listen! Okay. Tiffany and Blake go in the house and tell Kerrie that Tiff tripped and cut her arm on like, I dunno, a glass coffee table? And when Kerrie gets into the car, we tell her that we want Alex’s nose looked at too because Lisa punched him. It’s not completely lying!” Jack grinned.

We considered this. “Sounds like it will work,” Blake commented. We pulled up to the house. “Well, we’ve got nothing to lose.” He concluded, and got out of the van.

Jack’s plan was foolproof. I was surprised that my mother was so fine with our injuries. She bought the story of me falling and cutting my arm, and didn’t freak out as much as we’d expected. Mom was also completely fine with getting Alex’s nose checked out, she even denied Alex when he said he’d pay for his portion of the bill.

“No Alex, dear, I’ll pay. Really, it’s fine.” Mom told Alex for the thousandth time.

Alex sighed. “I’d feel terrible! I’m the idiot who ticked off Lisa, I need to pay.”

Mom turned around and faced him. “Alex. You’re a very kind young man who’s great to my daughter and your friends. You’re a friend, and I’m the adult, so I’m going to pay.” She smiled at him. I felt my face grow warm from my new seat in the back and turned away from Alex, hiding my embarrassment. How corny could you get?
Alex stared at my mother open mouthed for a moment, and then broke out a genuine smile. “That means a lot. Thanks, Kerrie.”

She turned back around. “No problem, dear.”

We made our way to the hospital, and soon Alex and I were in a room with bright fluorescent lights, us being separated by a white curtain. My arm was re-cleaned and re-bandaged, although our doctor, Dr. Martin, said it was “infection free.” I took that as a translation that Alex cleaned it well. Dr. Martin then gave me a short checkup, making sure nothing else happened in my “fall.”

“You’re all set! There aren’t any more injuries I can see, so just sit tight here for a bit while I go check on…uh, your friend.” He smiled, struggling to remember Alex’s name.

I grinned and leaned forward. “Alex. And thanks, Doc.”

He nodded and walked around the curtain, over to Alex. I leaned back onto the uncomfortable hospital bed I was seated on and listened to Dr. Martin and Alex talking.

“So, Alex, what happened here?”

“Uh, my girlfriend and I got into a fight…” Alex said uncomfortably.

“A physical fight?”

“Well no, I didn’t physically fight her, but she punched me.” Alex said defensively.

“Ah, okay. Well let me take a quick look here… Yep. Definitely fractured. She can throw a mean punch, huh?” Dr. Martin said. I heard him open a drawer.

“Guess so,” Alex said nervously.

“Alright, well, it’s only fractured in the cartilage from what I can see, which means it’s just a small fracture. And easily fixable. Could you just tell me if you feel pain when I touch your face?”

“Sure.”

He proceeded on poking basically Alex’s entire face, I guessed, because they took forever before Dr. Martin issued Alex some ice and ibuprophen, and allowing my mother and Jack into the room. Blake and Rian went on a coffee run. All of us were over on Alex’s side of the room when Dr. Martin told us what he was going to do for treatment of Alex’s nose. Alex sat up, alarmed.

“Can’t we just wait for it to heal? I mean… you can do that right?” Alex asked.

“Um, I wouldn’t advise it. It would most likely stay out of place, in that position, and it will hurt more in the long run.”

Alex leaned back, his brown eyes wide, and gently touched his broken nose. “I don’t know if I want it fixed right now…”

“Alex, you should get it fixed now. Like he said, it’ll hurt more letting it heal naturally.” I ensured Alex.

“And it’ll stay on your face like that.” Jack added.

I don’t blame Alex for not wanting Dr. Martin to snap his nose back into place right now; it does sound painful. But I wouldn’t want my nose to be oddly shaped for the rest of my life either. We know Alex doesn’t either, so we urged him until he finally groaned and agreed to the physical fracture treatment.

“It won’t be agonizing, don’t worry. It probably hurt more breaking it in the first place.” Dr. Martin assured him. I didn’t believe it; Alex’s adrenaline levels were running extremely high when he got punched. If anything, he only felt a little pain. But Alex tried to use his words as comforting.

Dr. Martin told us we could leave if we wanted, but Alex wanted someone to stay with him. I decided to stay because I really felt like I owed Alex for helping me out these past days. And there was still something tugging inside of me that made me feel extremely guilty about my whole presence in this town. Even when I held Alex’s hand and felt him violently squeeze it when Dr. Martin snapped his nose into place, I somehow felt like I just didn’t belong.