Yeah.. I Know.

Recovery Sucks

Charlie's POV:

As soon as I wake up I search for Kaitlyn. I groggily call out for her.

"Kait? Where are you?"

A nurse comes in.

"Kaitlyn left for home. She needs some sleep."

I feel so gross.

"Can I get a shower?"

The nurse nodded.

"Let me call someone up, showers aren't my specialty."

A few minutes later a nurse showed.

"Hi, I'm Jennifer."

The nurse was pretty cute, not my type, but cute. She has short brown hair, green eyes flecked with brown, and freckles sprinkled across her nose.

"Hey Jennifer. I'll try not to make this weird."

She laughed.

"It's ok. I'm used to it, I usually bathe older folks, but trust me, you won't surprise me with anything."

My eyebrows shoot up and I can't help but crack a smile.

"Well that's good to know."

After she cleans me up, I tell her I wanna try to walk on my own. She looks a bit uneasy but agrees. She slips a robe around me and helps me up and out of the shower room so I don't slip. We get out into the hallway and she puts her arm around my waist ready for action.
I take a step and wobble a bit. I take control of my muscles and take another balanced step.

"Wow Charlie! Very good!"

I stop and soak up the victory.
I take a couple steps in a row and my legs burn from the effort. I love that feeling.
Suddenly I feel dizzy, so, so, dizzy. I see black and I start to collapse. I couldn't even feel Jennifer's sturdy arm catch me.
I didn't black out for long. I woke up to Jennifer's concerned eyes close to my face.

"Charlie. You need to wake up."

I sit up and look around, still in the hallway next to the shower.

"How long was I out?"

She chuckled.

"About 10 seconds."

I smile a loopy smile.

"Well that worked out."

"What did you feel before you passed out?"

I start to get up when her firm hand sits me back down.

"Dizzy. My legs burned really bad."

She sighs in relief.

"You sweated so much that's not hard to believe. You passed out from exhaustion, even though you took like five steps. You'll be fine, now get up and finish this."

I get up. This time I feel pretty strong, the only thing I feel is nauseous.
I walk with confidence hoping my muscles catch on to it too. After several steps I feel sweat run down the side of my face and down my back from the effort.

"So much for a shower. Can I have a wet washcloth? I can just wipe myself down with that."

I don't hear anything from Jennifer so I turn around. When I see she's not there, I turn and walk back where we came from. I'm about to turn down a hallway when someone reaches out and drags me into a supply closet. It's dark but I can just make out Jennifer's features.

"W-What are you doing?"

I laugh nervously.

Her green eyes are clouded with lust, her lips curl into a nasty smirk.

"I helped you out. Now it's time for you to help me."

Without thinking I reply.

"Aren't you the nurse? I don't help you, you only help me."

She pulls me towards her and presses against me. I'm disgusted. I fight the urge to shove her away from me. I stead I grab her shoulders and separated us firmly, but not too roughly.

"I have the most amazing girlfriend. I'm very happily in love with everything about her. I would love if you would not do this."

She rips her shirt off.

"She won't have to know."

Now I'm livid.

"I'm going to walk out of this- this room and we're both going to pretend this never happened, but touch me one more time and I swear you'll regret it."

I leave Jennifer behind shocked and ashamed.
When I get to the waiting room I see Kaitlyn sitting in a chair applying make-up, wearing leggings and one of my shirts. She's so beautiful.

"Hey baby. You look good."

She looks up and her face lights up. I didn't notice how tired it looked before, but now I notice she no longer has dark circles under her blue eyes, instead, they're perfectly made up and full of joy.

"How's my boy?"

I wince internally.

"Perfect as you."

She eyes me up and down.

"I don't know what you're trying to butter me up for, but whatever it is, just ask. I have a shoot at 5:30 and it's already 4:00. I don't have time for games."

She smiles lightheartedly letting me know I'm not in trouble.

"A shoot? Well I'd like to go."

She sighs and snaps her compact closed.

"You know you can't leave."

I roll my eyes.

"Yeah but-"

I'm cut off right as Kreig and Dustin burst through the door.

"Where's Charlie! I have to- oh hey Charlie!"

This outburst cause a few already annoyed nurses to angrily shush him. You can tell Dustin had a beer or two on his way over. He's being loud.

"Hey guys!"

I grab them in for a group hug. After a few minutes, we pull away and they both have tears in their eyes. They truly are my best friends. Kreig looks down letting a tear drop onto his shoe.

"We thought we'd never see you again, you know. When we found out we- we didn't know what to do with ourselves."

I pull him into a tight hug and try to squeeze all his pieces back together.

If only it were that simple.