Broken

The tension I was waiting for never came. Sidney never treated me any differently as he continued to help me fix up the house. Within the week he arranged for all the things that needed to be fixed for the winter to be fixed, and agreed to pay, much to my dismay. He was quickly becoming the best thing that I’d had in a long, long time and he wasn’t even mine. He was a friend, if you could even say that much. For all I knew, he was sticking around because he felt horrible for the wrong-doings of his fellow man. I caught him looking at me a lot, something I was slightly uncomfortable with. My injuries were slowly healing. The black eye was starting to yellow around the edges. The pains in my chest were slowly disappearing and I had a doctor’s appointment scheduled to check the progress on my arm. I was finally beginning to be the normal person that I wanted so desperately to be.

“Darbs, you ready,” Sid shouted through the front door.

“Yeah, just let me grab my bag.” I grabbed everything I would need for the new doctor and rushed out the door, locking it behind me.

“You look nice today,” Sid said, looking me up and down. I shrugged.

“I feel a lot better. Guess it’s showing?” He shrugged and walked beside me to the SUV. He opened the door and allowed me to jump and get situated before shutting it.

“Are you excited?”

“There’s no way the cast is coming off already, so there’s no real reason to be excited. I’ll be glad to get a deadline for it though.”

“I bet they get a little old after a while.”

“Not old, just itchy.” He cracked a grin before reaching over and shoving my shoulder lightly. “Hey Sid?”

“What’s up?”

“Have you spent any time with your family at all?” He gave me a weird look.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I guess I’m just kind of missing mine and I know you’re gone for most of the year. I’m sure they miss you.” He giggled a little before replying.

“It’s fine Darby.”

“I just don’t want you to take time away from them.”

“I can’t spend every second with my family. Believe me; I’d have gone crazy by now.” I rolled my eyes. “Besides, I like helping you. Gives me a sense of purpose other than working out all summer.” He pulled into the small parking lot reserved for the doctor’s patients.

“Whatever you say Chump. You gonna come in with me?” He nodded and unbuckled his seatbelt to follow me inside.

“Did you spend a lot of time with your family,” Sid asked once we were inside and I was filling out my paperwork. I nodded as I wrote down my allergies.

“My mom was basically a single mom until I was like seven, so she’s kind of my rock. She was more upset about what happened to me than anyone else because she didn’t notice what was happening. She felt like she failed me.”

“I’m sorry.” I glared at him over the clipboard.

“Don’t apologize for what happened to me. It wasn’t your fault. I swear, you’re worse than me with those ‘I’m sorry’s’.” I turned in my paperwork and began the wait. Today, they were going to x-ray my arm and make sure the healing was going well so that they could give me an end date for the cast.

“So, if everything goes right, the house will be done by next week,” Sid said after reading a text message. I gave him a weird look.

“Do you have someone at the house working right now?”

“Maybe.” I rolled my eyes.

“You are incorrigible. What’s being done?”

“They’re fixing the leaky roof. I noticed that it said it was going to rain later this week and you complained that it leaked last time the storm got bad.”

“Thanks for looking out for me, Punk,” I said, hip checking him lightly.

“Someone’s got to. Otherwise you’d be frozen come winter.” I rolled my eyes and shoved him as they called my name.

“I’ll be back after a little while.”

“It’s okay, ma’am. Your boyfriend can come in with you.” My face immediately flushed. Sid giggled and then stood up to follow me.

“C’mon [i/]babe.” I glared at him before digging my elbow into his rib. He grimaced and then bumped me forward. I went through the usual doctor routine before they took me to a room. Once we were there, it was only a few moments before someone was in to see me. I was still blushing wildly from the nurse’s comment when the doctor entered.

“Hello Miss Tate! How are we doing today?”

“Doing pretty good! Ready to get this thing off,” I said, raising my arm a little bit.

“And we’ll give it a deadline today won’t we? How have you been feeling? According to your charts that your previous doctor sent over, your injuries were pretty extensive.”

“I’ve been feeling much better actually. My ribs only hurt when I make too sudden of a movement and the bruises are fading and aren’t as painful to the touch anymore.”

“So you’re definitely making process! Have you been seeing the therapist they appointed for you?” I shrugged.

“I call her every couple days. I don’t have a car and she doesn’t mind doing sessions over the phone.”

“Excellent. I’m going to go ahead and send someone in to get you ready for your x-ray and then we’ll get you on your way! I’m sure you two have plenty to do today!” I chuckled before shrugging and looking over at Sid, who was having a hard time not laughing. The doctor walked out of the room, not without getting Sidney to sign something for his son.

“So you talk to a therapist?”

“Yeah, it was requested by my mother. I talk to her a lot.”

“Does she know about me?” I chuckled.

“Yes Sidney. She does. I tell her everything that happens here.”

“What did she say about me?” I rolled my eyes.

“You really want to know?”

“I like to know what important people say about me,” He said, giving me a ‘duh’ look.
“Maybe I shouldn’t tell you,” I said, faking a nervous look.

“Was it that bad? Did she suggest you not hang out with me anymore?”

“She actually said that you seemed to be really good for me and that she was glad I found a friend here.”

“Don’t try to scare me like that! That’s not nice at all!” A nurse interrupted our conversation to take me to the x-ray room.

“C’mon you big lug.”