Hospital Beds and Memories

Jack and I were cuddled up on the couch with a blanket draped around us when the doorbell rang. Neither of us felt like getting up, and Cam, even though it was already four in the afternoon, was still asleep. He had been coming out of his room less and less, just when I thought he was starting to make progress.

“It’s open!” I shouted.

Not even a second later the door opened and Abagail came walking in with a big smile on her face. I could tell she had just come from a photoshoot because she was wearing clothes she would otherwise not wear: a tight flowery strapless crop top, high waisted black jeans, and deep red heels, all complimented by a leather jacket, which was the only thing she would actually wear outside of work.

I totally forgot this was the first time Jack and Abagail met each other in real life, they had only seen each other through a screen. They stared at each other for a while before realizing who the other person was.

Abagail smirked. “Oh, look, it’s the fuckboy.”

“That’s me.” Jack looked her up and down, making me shiver. I had made them both promise they wouldn’t have sex with each other unless they really liked each other. But I didn’t really worry. Abagail wasn’t a girl that slept around, despite her good looks, and Jack just wouldn’t betray me like that. Or at least I hoped.

Abagail's eyes drifted to me. “So, you ready?”

I gave her a confused look. “Ready for what?”

“Your date with that guy Brian…? I promised you I would help you get ready… Remember?”

I was confused for a while before finally remembering. “Shit, that’s today?!” I scrambled to get up. What was wrong with me? I was forgetting the simplest things ever.

“You have a date?” Jack grinned. “Way to go!”

“Yeah, I met him at the club.”

Jack stiffened up and shifted awkwardly, “You mean the guy that--”

“No, a guy I met before that,” I interrupted in case Cam could hear. I hadn’t told him and wasn’t planning on it either. He would only freak out and never let me go out with Jack again.

“Abagail, when and where is the date? I totally forgot.” I turned to her.

“Umm, at seven and at that one new restaurant that opened last week,” she replied while looking at her phone. If you ever needed someone to remember something for you, ask Abagail. She would note anything down.

“Well, I’m going to go home,” Jack announced. “You guys have fun. The restaurant is pretty close to my house, so you can always come over if needed, like it being a bad date or something. I would drive you, but Alex just texted me about something he needed.”

“I’m pretty sure it won’t be a bad date,” Abagail nudged.

I rolled my eyes, “It’s ok, Jack. I’ll just steal Cameron’s car--”

“No, you’re not.” Cameron was suddenly stood behind me.

I jumped slightly and looked at him with puppy dog eyes. “Please, Cam… Please! I need it to get to a date!”

Cameron groaned. “Fine, but only because you’re going on a date.”

“Thank you, brother dearest,” I kissed him on the cheek and then gave Jack one as well. “Bye, Jacky, I’ll see you later.”

Jack laughed and shouted a goodbye when Abagail dragged me to my room. She couldn’t wait to transform me. With just half an hour to spare Abagail had finally finished dressing me up. She had all these crazy ideas, but I told her I just wanted to wear something comfortable and have a limited amount of makeup of my face. After some complaining, she finally gave in and actually made me look like myself: a red cotton dress, my white high converse and a beautiful rose gold necklace with flowers. Luckily she let me do my makeup by myself, or I would have definitely had a smokey eye and red lips.

Abagail insisted on driving with me to the restaurant. She said her parents lived close and that she could always call Jack if something happened. I felt bad about it, but she convinced me she was going to be fine, so I believed her.

Brian was already waiting for me when I walked into the restaurant, which had a nice theme: not too fancy, but also not too casual. I was actually quite surprised at how Brian looked, I didn’t remember him that good-looking. The alcohol had probably affected my vision at the club, but his choice of attire today could also have played a factor. He was wearing a white shirt with a blue flannel over it and some blue jeans.

He got up and gave me a hug. “You look amazing.”

“Thank you.” I smiled. “You look pretty handsome yourself.”

He pulled out my chair for me and then went to sit on his own. So far this date was going pretty well. The waiter came with the menus and we both started looking through it. There were so many things that sounded so great, but I also didn’t want to get anything too expensive. I wasn’t that type of girl.

“Get anything you want.” He smile., “Don’t worry about the price.”

Ok, well… I could technically get anything, but I still felt bad about it. Eventually, I settled on some vegetarian pasta that actually sounded pretty good. I had considered becoming a vegetarian before, but that was way too difficult. It wasn’t that I wasn’t determined, it was just that it was pretty difficult to always have vegetarian food, especially if I went to a family gathering.

“You know, that dress would really look good with a pearl necklace.” Brian pointed out.

“I guess it would,” I shrugged, “they’re pretty expensive, though.”

“I could buy you one sometime.” Brian winked.

I sat there pretty confused. Why would he want to buy me a pearl necklace? I would only end up breaking it and wasting his money. I didn’t even know him at all. All I knew was his name and that he seemed pretty cool at first. My thoughts were interrupted by our food coming. The service was actually pretty fast.

“So, I ordered the most expensive wine. A treat for you,” Brian explained after the waiter had poured us both a glass and left.

“Umm… thanks, I guess…” I moved around in my seat uncomfortably.

“I have a couple of bottle at home actually. It’s a great simple gift to give to people.”

For the rest of the dinner, he kept hinting at how much money he had. He told me about his car, his house, and the car and house he had somewhere in Spain on a private estate. A private helicopter was also mentioned somewhere in the conversation. However, the last straw was when he thought of another ‘toy’ he had.

“I actually have a beautiful yacht in the Caribbean. I haven’t gone to it in a couple of months, so I have somebody take care of it. Maybe we could go out to it once and stay there for a couple of weeks.” He smirked.

“Ok, no,” I interrupted before he could think of anything else, “this date is going nowhere. I don’t care how much money you have. All I need is a nice conversation. This definitely isn’t nice.” I pointed between u., “Maybe someday you’ll find a girl who wants all of that. But I honestly don’t give a shit. This isn't going to work.” I took my napkin from my lap and stood up. “I’m so sorry, but I’m going to go.”

So that’s exactly what I did. He didn’t even try to stop me. I guessed he never had a girl reject him like that. Normally money would make them want to be with him, but as I said so many times before, I really didn’t care about that. I thought about Jack’s offer and got in my car to drive to his house

The streetlights were illuminating the dark somber streets. Cold could be seen in the air and reflected off the headlights from cars going the opposite direction. The copies of houses lined the roads with perfect dollhouse gardens. My phone rang through the silent humming of the car. It was Brian. I took my eyes off the road for a second to answer.

“Sorry, can’t talk right now. I’m driving.” I informed before he could say anything.

I hung up and pulled up into Jack’s driveway. His house really was close by. All the lights were on so I reckoned it would be safe to go in. I turned off the car and got out, shivering in the ice cold weather. The door was unlocked so I just walked in. There was no sound so I went straight for his bedroom thinking he would be sleeping there. I was right about him being there, but not about him sleeping.

He was thrusting in and out of a girl; a girl with familiar purple hair. How I didn’t hear the sounds before was a mystery to me. They both realized the door opening and looked at me with terrified faces. I stared back at them taking a while to process what was going on in front of me. Abagail and Jack were having sex. They broke their promise to me. How did I not realize Abagail smirking at her phone every once in awhile when she was getting me ready? How did I not think it was suspicious that she had Jack’s number?

I quickly ran out before it could get any awkwarder. They shouted my name and I could hear Jack’s footsteps thundering down the stairs, but I ignored them. I felt sick and the need to get away was screaming at me. This was messed up, really messed up. I got in the car and turned the corner before I could see Jack run out of the house. The ride back home was a complete blur filled with tears.

----

There was a loud knocking at the front door and I opened the door, not thinking twice about who could be on the other side. However, when I saw it was Jack, I quickly slammed the door shut in his face and walked back to my room. The knocking and ringing of the doorbell continued. Cameron gave me a weird look as I walked past him.

“Don’t open the door,” I stated bluntly.

He did exactly the opposite and let Jack in. I ran into my bedroom, threw the door closed behind me, and locked myself in my bathroom. I slid down the door as I heard footsteps that were obviously Jack come into the room. He immediately knew where I was hiding and starting knocking once again.

“Ireland, I’m so so sorry,” he kept repeating over and over again.

I stayed silent and let tears roll down once again. My own best friend betrayed me. How was I ever going to trust him again? The images kept repeating in my head, making me feel sick once again. Not just mentally this time, but also physically. I rushed over to the toilet and started emptying the contents of my stomach.

“Isle, are you ok in there?” A panicked Jack shouted.

I opened my eyes and saw there was blood. My breath hitched in my throat and my stomach dropped. This wasn’t any good… this wasn’t good at all. I quickly wiped my mouth and flushed the toilet, hoping it would take reality with it.

“I- I’m fine,” I stuttered out of breath.

“You don’t sound fine. Let me in!” Jack banged on the door loudly.

“I’m fine, Jack! Leave me alone!”

“It’s not fine! I messed up. I fucked up our friendship and I can’t just leave you in there knowing something's wrong! Please open the door for me.”

There was no point in trying to fight with him. He wasn’t going to give up and I knew that he would stay in my room until I came out or he would break the door down. I tried reaching for the lock, but my arm and hand were shaking too much. Come to think of it, my whole body was shaking uncontrollably. I tried grabbing the lock again, but I always just missed it or my hand would slip off before I could twist it.

“I can’t,” I cried.

“Come one, babe, please. I’m so sorry.” Jack was becoming desperate.

“I physically can’t, Jack,” I sobbed. The shaking was only getting worse and my breathing started becoming more shallow by the second. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t do anything. All I heard was Jack’s muffled voice coming through the door and a loud bang. Before I knew it there was a shadow in front of me holding me in a tight grasp. It made me raise my arms up. allowing my lungs to fill with more air as the voice was counting along. My vision sharpened and I saw Jack sitting in front of me. As soon as I could breathe again I fell into him and gave him a hug. He held me back tightly.

“What happened?” I stuttered.

“You had a panic attack… I’m so sorry I gave you a panic attack,” he mumbled into my hair.

“Don’t be sorry, it wasn’t because of you,” I thought back to the blood swirling around in the toilet, “it was something else.”

“Want to talk about it?”

I shook my head. I wasn’t going to make him worry even more. There was probably nothing wrong with me anyway, even though I never had this happen to me before. I also wasn’t going to tell Cam about anything that had just happened. He would only freak out and go ballistic.

“Ok, well, how was your date?” Jack tried to keep me talking.

“Terrible,” I murmured. “He wouldn’t shut up about all of his cars and boats and houses. He said he would often casually take his helicopter to go golfing. It was really messed up, he could only talk about how much money he had. I don’t go for that.”

“I know you don’t.” Jack moved some stray hair out of my face and kissed my temple.

“And then I went to your house and see my two best friends fucking each other. So that whole hour was just messed up.”

“I’m so sorry about that. I’m not saying it’s her fault, because it really isn’t. She was looking for a one night stand, and she looked hot, you know I can’t say no to that.”

“How will you ever get a girlfriend?”

“I never will.” he smiled down at me and moved the stray hair that had fallen back into place again. “It would be so much easier if-- nevermind…”

I didn’t push whatever he didn’t want to say, and instead asked some questions about Abagail, “so, um… What did you even do after I ran out of your house?”

“I put on my clothes and came rushing after you. I left Abagail,” Jack muttered embarrassedly.

“Why did you leave her there? You could have easily finished off and come here tomorrow.”

“I know, I probably should have done that… but something was telling me to go after you.”

I nodded and yawned, snuggling further into his embrace. Jack held on to me and stood up before putting me down on my mattress and taking off my shoes. He took off his own and sat down next to me.

“Do you want me to help you with your pajamas?” Jack ran his fingers through my hair.

I shook my head. As often as I had seen him naked, I didn’t want him to see me even remotely naked. I knew he was my best friend and that I could trust him, but I felt too uncomfortable especially since he was obsessed with the female body.

“Ok, well do you want me to turn around so you can change?” Jack suggested.

“Yes please,” I mumbled. Jack smiled at me and handed me my pajamas before getting up and standing at the door with his back facing me. I quickly got changed and curled up under the duvet. It was my secure place, now all I needed was Jack here with me. I told him he was allowed to turn around and join me.

“I’m going to strip down to my boxers though.” He smirked.

I nodded in my sleepy daze and closed my eyes as he started to undress. There was a weight on the other side of the mattress and Jack wrapped his arms around my body before pulling me closer to him so my face was buried in his chest.

Just before I fell asleep I stupidly asked him something, “Jack, will you be my date to my aunt’s wedding?”

“I’d love to.” he placed a quickly loving kiss on my forehead as I drifted off in his warm embrace.