Somebody That I Used To Know

Change

Denise walks into the room, Tom staring at the ceiling, playing with one of the wires used on the heart monitor.

"You're gonna break that thing." she says and takes it from his hands.

"Is that a bad thing?" Tom softly chuckles.

"Yes, it is. What's bothering you? Dr. Bettany said that you gained two pounds."

"How wonderful."

"It is. You're getting healthy again."

"Gaining isn't healthy, Denise. It's bullshit."

"I'm gonna go get the doctor."

"No-" Tom snaps. "You don't have to run and tattle on me the moment I do something you don't like."

"I'm not tattling, I'm making sure that you're okay."

"I'm fine, Denise."

"What happened yesterday?" Denise asks, looking deeply into Tom's eyes. "Talk to me."

"Nothing happened."

"You were doing so good. Was it Molly?"

"I don't want to think about her while I'm with you."

"Did she say something to you?"

"This is a problem of my own doing. No one did anything wrong except for me."

"Can you still help me what happened?"

"I was confused about something."

"Something like what?"

"Denise, I don't want to talk about this."

"Well I do."

"Come on, trust me. I just made a mistake with something."

"Did you kiss her?"

"No." Tom quickly says. "Nothing like that."

"I'm sure what you did wasn't that bad. Dr. Bettany told me this morning that they're going to give you a small breakfast. They want you to try and eat something before they take the tube out to make sure that you can handle it."

"Handle it?"

"Your body. Dr. Bettany was going to come in and tell you about it. Usually it's followed by stomach issues but that's okay because you're going to do great and this'll be your first meal!"

Tom looks at Denise's smile and folds his expression. "Want to bring a cheer squad in here too?"

"Tom-"

"No, it's fine. I get it, your cracked out boyfriend is finally doing something normal."

"I never said that."

"That's what you're thinking, I know it. You can leave now, Denise."

"Leave? I can't leave you."

"I don't need you here."

"You don't need me but-"

"I don't want you here."

"Fine." Denise says and grabs her purse. "I'll go. I'm coming back later to see how eating went for you."

"That's not needed, trust me."

"I'm sorry?"

"Just go."

Tom watches as Denise walks out of the room and feels a pit in his stomach. He knew that Molly wouldn't back down and he couldn't make a choice. If he was horrible to Denise, there'd be no way that she'd stay.