I'll Do Anything to Have Her to Myself

“I’m sorry in advanced for the mess….” He said as fumbled with the house door lock. “I kind of left it in chaos before the tour….and haven’t been able to clean up.”

“I’m sure it’s all right.” She told him as she balanced herself on the crutches they’d given her at the hospital. He finally got the door to creak open. He was right. It looked like his laundry room exploded. There were t-shirts, cds, and dvd cases laying everywhere. He helped her inside and began scrambling to pick things up. He threw the pile of clothes in his hands up the steps then turned back towards her.

“So, there’s a bedroom down here……might be easier than climbing up the steps on crutches….but if you want to its….well, its whatever you wanna do.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine down here…” she smiled. “Thanks again for letting me stay…and going by my apartment to get some clothes…..and taking me to get a new phone.”

“No problem. Anything for you.” He smiled and bit his lip a little. “I’m gonna throw all these clothes in the wash. You can go in there and chill out if you want.”

“I could help you…”

He shook his head, “Nah, I’m ok…I’ll just be a minute.”

She went to check out the guest bedroom he’d told her about. Judging by the fact that the bed was crisply made and that the room was virtually empty aside from the bed, a nightstand, and a tv….no one had stayed in there in a good while. Leaning her crutches against the nightstand, she pulled the new cell phone she’d gotten that day out of her pocket. She promised Shawn she’d text him when she got out of the hospital and she did just that.

Addie: Wanted to let you know that I got a phone and that I’m at Corey’s.

Shawn: Ok, sweetheart. Really want to see you. Could I come by?

Addie: Still trying to get settled in and stuff. Maybe tomorrow?

Shawn: It’s a date. I’ll bring you dinner. I love you, Adds.

She read those last few words and sighed. What was she supposed to say to that? Should she say it back? Things were so complicated and it probably wasn’t going to get any better any time soon.

“Who ya talking to?” He asked as he stood in the doorway. She hadn’t even noticed him standing there while she was agonizing over how to reply to Clown’s text message.

“Shawn.” She said lowly as she flipped the phone shut.

“This room gonna be ok?”

“Yeah,” she smiled. He loved her smile and the way it always made her green eyes light up and sparkle. “It’s a lot neater than the rest of the house.” She teased him.

“I don’t really have that many houseguests…..so this room never really gets used.” He confirmed her previous thought on the bedroom. She tried to scoot over a little bit as he sat down next to her, but the complex web of bracing on her leg made it a little difficult. He grabbed the bag of bandages and antiseptic they’d been given at the hospital and looked to her, “Let me see your leg, and I’ll change your bandage.”

“You sure?” He nodded and she slid her stiff leg closer to him. He unbuckled the brace and began unraveling the gauze that was wrapped around her leg.

“Damn.” He whispered to himself upon seeing her knee beneath the bandage.

“Bad?”

He nodded, “It’s pretty haggard. This stuff’s probably going to sting like a bitch….so I’m sorry.” He heard her inhale sharply as he dabbed the antiseptic over her stitching. Once clean, he carefully wrapped some fresh gauze over her wound.

“You’re pretty good at this….”

He smiled, “The nurses at the hospital showed me how.”

“Thanks.” She said suddenly wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He was caught off guard a little bit but settled into her embrace contently.

“I’m really glad you’re here.” He said in a deep exhale.

3:21 A.M……..that’s what the nearby alarm clock read when she woke up in the middle of the night. She must’ve woken up a handful of times already. She wasn’t used to having to sleep flat on her back but with this knee injury she’d have to deal with it. She pulled herself up and reached for the crutches that were leaned up next to the bed. A quick trip to the kitchen for something to drink and she’d go right back to sleep. She tried desperately to make no noise, but those damn crutches would make sure she wasn’t successful. As she limped down the hall toward the kitchen, she spied light creeping out from underneath one of the doors along the way. She tapped the door lightly with a crutch and to her surprise it creaked open. The lamp on the desk was responsible for the glimmer of light she’d noticed earlier. She began moving towards it so she could turn it off but before she could get there she got lost in the various objects that hung off the walls. Some of his awards, magazine covers, old masks, and a wide array of pictures covered the room.

“Whatcha doin?” his voice seemed to thunder from behind her unexpectedly.

“Shit.”

He laughed a little bit, “Did I scare you?”

“Uhh….yeah….” she nodded. “I was on my way to the kitchen and noticed the light on…I was gonna turn it off.”

“Yeah, I’ve been down here for a little while.” He said pointing to the laptop that sat on the desk halfway open. “Couldn’t sleep. Figured I’d see if I could write anything…”

“Yeah….I couldn’t sleep either. I was going to get a glass of water” She confessed. “Then I came in here to shut that light off and started looking at everything.”

“I need to go through everything….and put some stuff in storage or something…”

“These pictures are really great.” She said pointing to the frames that hung on the wall.

He watched her as she perused the pictures in their frames and smiled when she turned to face him. “Think I’m gonna get that water and get back to bed.”

“Goodnight.” He said in a soft voice.

“You too.” She said patting his arm as she went by.

He sat down in his leather desk chair and stared at the screen on his laptop for a few minutes. He placed his fingertips on the keyboard as though he were about to type something but nothing came. Sighing in frustration, he shut his laptop and climbed the steps to his room. He pulled his t-shirt over his head and sat on the edge of his king-sized bed. His eyes were drawn to the top drawer of his nightstand. He stared for second, then opened it up, retrieved its contents, and headed back downstairs.

She had just laid down on the bed and shut her eyes in a frail attempt at sleep when the tapping at the door got her attention.

“What’s up?”

“Ok if I come in?”

“It’s your house.” She said in a teasing manner.

He rolled his eyes and smiled to himself. “Well?”

“Yeah, come in.” she finally gave him an answer.

“I know it’s late and shit…but I’ve got some stuff on my mind…and…..I had something that I wanted to show you – well give to you, actually. I got it for you a while back…..and it just never seemed like a good time to give it to you with Shawn and everything…I mean…I guess…ummm…..well, here.” His rambling finally came to a halt and he handed her a necklace. It was an old-timey pendant with an intricate monogrammed ‘A’ scrolling on a silver chain.

She examined it carefully as a smile crept across her face. “Corey, it’s beautiful.”

“Good. I’m glad you like it.” He said with a hint of red in his cheeks.

“When’d you get this?”

“A few weeks ago. Jim drug me to this antique shop with him one day…..I just saw it and it reminded me of you. So, I bought it. I’ve been holding on to it so I could give it to you.”

“Put it on me?”

He nodded and took the necklace from her hand. Moving her hair aside, he clasped the pendant around her neck. His fingertips lingered against her neck and smiled shyly, “I’ll let you go back to sleep…”