“Leave me the fuck alone already,” I groaned, as the nurse came in with another bag of fluids for my IV.
This was the worst fucking thing ever. This place smells like old people and weed. And they wouldn’t even let Josh come see me because he’s “not family”. Who the fuck cares? My sister is at her wedding and my parents aren’t around. I don't understand why they can’t let my boyfriend come to see if I’m okay.
He keeps frantically calling me. He’s so worried about me. He thinks I must hate him, and I don’t. I told him that too, but he just keeps crying.
When he first got to the hospital after I had woken up, I heard him trying to fight his way past a doctor so he could see me. Josh was trying to convince the doctor that we were married, but I had already told that doctor that he was my boyfriend, so of course it didn’t work.
I got out my phone and called Este. She picked up immediately.
“Hey, girl, what’s up?” she asked.
“I need you and Cam to drive to Homeland Hospital. Do your makeup in the car and wear a white dress that looks like you could’ve gotten married. Have Cam throw on a suit. Long story short, me and Josh got in a car accident, I’m in the hospital, they won’t let him see me. And I told them that my sister was getting married today so I need you and Cam to pretend to be my sister and her husband so you can come see me. And since it’s supposed to be your wedding day, I’m hoping they will let you bring Josh back, too,” I said.
“Oh my god. I got it, I’ll be there in an hour,” she replied.
In the background you could hear her yell “Cam, get a suit on! I’ll explain later.” He replied “Okay.” No questions.
“I love you, I’ll be there soon,” Este said.
“Love you, too,” I told her as she hung up.
I reached over to the small table beside the bed and dragged the snack basket onto my lap. It was filled with granola bars, fruit snacks, a variety of chips, mini cookies, crackers, and dried fruit. All name brands, too. I’ll take all the extras home with me.
As promised, Este and Cam roll up to the small hospital about an hour later. I heard her voice as soon as she walked in. She does the school musical every year, so I knew her acting would be on point for this.
“My sister! I came as soon as I could, I had to finish getting married first,” she yelled.
“Are you Betty Evanson’s sister?” I heard someone ask.
“Yes, and this is my husband. We need to go see her,” Este said.
“Can I please go with you?” I heard Josh ask.
“He’s coming, too,” Cam said.
I heard footsteps getting louder every second, and I assumed it was all three of them. I was right.
Josh ran through the door first, pulling a chair to the side of my bed and sitting down beside me. Tears started running down his face.
“Babe, I’m so sorry. I’m so happy you’re okay,” he said.
I slipped my hand in his, holding it tightly. “Josh, it’s okay. I’m fine now,” I assured him.
Este and Cam stood in the doorway looking at us, smiling. Este’s head rested on Cam’s arm. They both looked amazing, and very convincing.
Este came over to me and sat on my other side, pulling the small couch over. Cam helped her, then sat down beside her.
“Do you know when you get out of here?” Este asked.
I nodded my head. “The doctor said either tomorrow night or Monday morning,” I told her. She nodded.
Cam and Josh looked at each other and started smiling. “Hey, I’m Cam, Este’s boyfriend,” Cam said.
“Hey, I’m Josh,” my boyfriend said, as he dapped up Cam.
“Hey, me and Betty have to talk. Why don’t you and Josh go find something to do?” Este said.
Cam nodded. “Yeah, I have my Nintendo Switch in my car. We could find a TV somewhere to hook it up,” he said.
“Bro, that’s awesome!” Josh said, getting up. Excitement lit up his whole face. They both left the room, leaving me with Este.
She shook her head. “My boyfriend is a 10 year old,” she said smiling.
I returned her smile. “I guess mine is, too.”
We talked for a long time, like we always do. Little bits of drama from what I missed at school, shit like that. Then homecoming. It was in two weeks.
“You should definitely go, we would have so much fun! You, me, Cam, and Josh could all go out to dinner together and get pictures beforehand. And, if you keep Josh a secret, imagine your entrance. It would be so dramatic and amazing!” she said.
“Yeah, maybe,” I told her.
“Oh, and you were nominated for Queen, so you, like, have to go,” Este said.
Shock spread throughout me. The thought never occurred to me that I would be nominated.
“Who else is? There’s five nominees, right?” I asked.
“Yeah, so there’s you, obviously, me, Inez, Chanel Martin, and Hannah Pool,” she replied.
“Oh my god, wait, you too? Congrats, girl, that's amazing!” I said, giving her a hug.
“Aw, thanks, Betty, you too!” she said.
Cam and Josh walked back in the room, laughing and holding ice cream cones in their hands. Both of them had both hands holding ice cream cones.
Cam gave the pink one, probably strawberry flavored, to Este. “For my dear wife,” he said, laughing.
She smiled at him. “That’s so sweet! Thank you! Where did you get this?” she said.
“From the dessert bar in the cafeteria,” Josh said, handing me a brown ice cream cone. “I got you chocolate fudge, you seem like a chocolate person. They didn’t have chocolate peanut butter, Cam said it was your favorite,” he said.
I took the cone from his hand. “No it’s perfectly fine, I love any kind of chocolate ice cream. Thank you so much,” I said, smiling at him.
He sat down in the chair while giving me a sweet smile. His cone was orange and pink swirled, so I’m guessing it was something super sweet, maybe sherbet. He had a dot of it on the tip of his nose, like a child would. He was so innocent and cute, so different from James in that way.
All James wanted to do was have sex and go to parties. I never had any real fun with him that I can remember. When I was with him, sometimes it felt like he was just dating me for publicity, because I was pretty and a varsity cheerleader.
But with Josh, I always had fun. Everything was relaxed and lighthearted when I was with him, because he was still young on the inside. Simple things made him happy, pictures of puppies and playing a video game in a hospital.
I looked over and he was smiling. I loved that about him, he was always smiling. Something always made him happy, which made me happy.
Nothing felt forced when I was with him.
I was free. I think I am finally clean.
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