One Hundred Sleepless Nights

“Hey where are you going man?” I heard Vic’s voice coming from the kitchen

“To the hospital, gonna bring in a few decent food for Casey. You wanna come?” I grabbed my keys from the table and stood in front of the door, waiting for Vic’s answer.

“Nah, I’ll go later maybe. I have to go somewhere first” Vic waved

“Alright man, see ya” I closed the door behind me and unlocked my convertible black 2011 BMW 6-Series and hopped in.

Today isn’t like any other day, I’m actually excited to go to the hospital and visit Casey. Well, not that visiting Casey was a bad thing, it’s just now I got to see Cassie as well. I remembered two days ago when I first saw her in the parking lot, she was smoking and the rain had just stopped, she rolled her eyes at me when she passed us at the information desk and after I saw her curled up on the couch watching bad TV, all I think about was Cassie for the rest of the night.

I drove to the hospital and I found Panda Express on the way there; I got take out for 3 and went up to the hospital. I got into the elevator and pressed 2, once I got out I went straight to Casey’s room.

“Caseeeey, I got you food! I know you hate the stupid hospi–“ I looked up and I went silent because there were people inside the room, Casey’s parents and brother. Shit!

“Oh, I’m sorry” I stood awkwardly on the doorway, hesitating to come in.

“Its okay man, come in! Mom, dad, this is Tony Perry, he’s in the band I’m working with”

“Pleasure meeting you Mr. and Mrs. Ervin” I walked in, shook both of their hands and stood awkwardly next to the couch they were sitting on.

“I… Uh… I got you food, I know how much you hated hospital food” I chuckled and walked towards the table, putting out Casey’s takeout, “I’m... Uh… gonna wait in the cafeteria, it’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Ervin”

“You too Tony” Mrs. Ervin smiled and I went out the door.

Well that was awkward.

I walked to the cafeteria while carrying the two Chinese take outs I got for Cassie and myself, which was kind of stupid of me now that I realized that she might not even be here today or she might not remember me. But it’s 5 PM and I figured that Cassie would be sitting in the cafeteria with her tumbler and laptop alone.

And I was right.

There she was, sitting alone on the corner of the cafeteria with her blue matte tumbler on the table. She was typing furiously on her laptop, her eyebrows were furrowed and she was biting her lower lip.

“Hi” I said when I was standing in front of her table

She stopped typing and looked up, looking puzzled for a second but then she smiled.

“Hey, Tony right?” She smiled and stood up; I nodded and smiled in return.

“What are you doing here?” She asked

“I was visiting my friend Casey, he just got out of surgery”

“No, I mean here in the cafeteria, standing in front of my table?” She laughed

“Oh… Uh I saw you sitting here alone and I thought you might want some company?”

“Sure, sit down” She pointed at the chair across her and I sat down, putting the bag of take-outs on the table.

“What were you doing there? You looked like you were about to murder your laptop,” I laughed

She blushed and closed her laptop, “Work, I have to write this stupid review that’s driving me nuts” She ran her hand through her hair

“Oh? What do you do?”

“I work for a magazine, I review for their books section. I know, boring as shit right?” She laughed, I smiled seeing her hair bounce and her eyes light up whenever she laughed.

“No it’s not, it’s actually pretty cool”

“Oh shut up” She laughed, then stared at me.

“What?”

“Nothing” She blushed and looked down at her fingers, God she’s so cute when she blushes.

“Have you eaten yet?” I tried changing the subject

She shook her head

“Oh good! I got you Chinese; now which one do you want? Stir-fry or kung pao chicken?” I took out the two take-out boxes from the bag

“You… got me food?” She looked at me with a confused and surprised look on her face.

“Uh… Yeah, it’s kind of a sudden thought, I figured you must hate the hospital food after a while here”

“How do you know I’ve been here a while?” She raised her eyebrows and smirked.

Nice going Tony.

“Uh…I saw–“ Her laughter cut me off,

“I was joking Tony, thank you for the food” She smiled, “so what happened to your friend Casey? Why did he need surgery?” She took one of the boxes and opened the Kung pao chicken.

“He jumped off the roof of the studio we were recording in, he was supposed to jump onto a trampoline but he missed and here we are,” I laughed, remembering what happened, but I didn’t tell her the fact that Casey was high as a kite.

“Wow… That must have been funny as hell, so you’re a musician I presume?” She took a spoonful of rice and chicken.

“Yeah, I’m in a band, we’re now recording our second album”

“That’s cool, what’s your band name?”

“Pierce The Veil”