Page 17 of The Recovery Coach
“Why aren’t you at practice?”Hazy asked.
Lover shrugged and gulped his sugar rush in a cup.
“Practice ended an hour ago,” Beanie replied.“Plus, we’re both taking maintenance days.”
“For what?”
Lover said, “If you weren’t broken, I’d smack you.What the fuck do you mean, ‘for what?’To sit with your dumbass in the hospital.”
Beanie said, “We wouldn’t have gotten much done, anyway.”
“Have they announced anything yet?”Hazy asked.
Lover shook his head.“They have you as day-to-day right now.”
Hazy hummed.“I’ll be out for a while, right?Like six weeks at least?”
Beanie’s nostrils flared, his expression grim.
Hazy asked, “Right?”again.
“Definitely at least six weeks,” Lover confirmed.
“Buuutt,” Beanie said.“It will probably be longer.”
Hazy saw red.Six weeks was standard for broken bones.It couldn’t be that fucking bad.
“Why would it be longer than six weeks?I’ll shake it right off.”
“I don’t think you will,” Beanie said, reaching out to squeeze Hazy’s shoulder.
Hazy shifted in the bed to get more comfortable, but pain radiated through his leg.He grimaced.
“Fuck, that hurts.”
Beanie leaned over and pushed the button on a remote next to Hazy’s head.
Within a minute the rude nurse from the previous night appeared.She pushed past Lover and grabbed a clipboard off the wall.After making a few notes and updating a whiteboard with the current time, she addressed Hazy.She asked the normal check-in questions, and when he admitted his leg hurt like a bitch, she emptied a syringe of clear liquid into his IV.
Beanie and Lover stared at their phones while she went through the motions of her examination.
The nurse had barely finished and disappeared out the door when Livy appeared wearing a delighted expression and boring gray business clothes.Why the fuck did she wear so much gray and beige these days?He hated it.
“You’re awake!”she said, her voice filled with fake cheer.
Hazy frowned.“Why are you talking like that?”
The smile fell from her face.“Oh, sorry,” she said.“Customer service voice.How are you?”
The drugs were taking hold.Hazy bit his lip to hide a grin and said, “Nurse Livy to the rescue.You’re too late.The mean one already drugged me.”
Her mouth popped open in shock and hurt filled her eyes.Fuck.He hadn’t meant to poke at a sore spot.He didn’t know why she dropped out of nursing school, but apparently it wasn’t on the table for appropriate teasing topics.
She glared at him, her open, friendly demeanor suddenly closed off.“I swear to God, if you don’t tell me how you’re feeling, I’m going to murder you.”
Hazy raised his eyebrows and attempted another lighthearted ribbing.“I’m pretty sure you aren’t supposed to threaten the patients.”
“Oh, are you going to lodge a complaint?I can get my supervisor if you’d like to speak with them.”Instead of laughing at his silliness, she said it all serious and annoyed.
