Crazies

Chapter Forty-Three

"Alright, all done." Phil steps back, his normal carefree smile lighting up his face. He affectionately pats my knee before moving to the medical folder he placed next to me on the table and writes notes down on a page with my name at the top.

"So, am I clear to go?" I ask, shifting my shirt down around the new bandage he just wrapped around my ribs. Phil makes this low-humming sound that I’ve come to realize is a habit he does when he is thinking so I impatiently nibble on my low lip. I don’t want to keep pressing for an answer because then he’ll just tell me to sit out again. I sat on my butt all day yesterday and I’ll end up pinging off the walls if I have to endure another day of doing nothing. 

It takes him a few minutes before reluctantly giving me the go-ahead. “You’re only getting permission to go to this meeting then you come straight back. Your side is looking a lot better today so there might not have been a lot of internal damage as we initially thought, but I still don’t want you pushing yourself.”

“No worries Phil,” I tell him as I hop down from the table. “I promise to hide behind Jay if things turn bad.”

“Fuck that you little gremlin,” Jay yells from the living room, having heard my statement. “I’m not going to be your meat shield because you decide to start some shit.”

“But you’re like the perfect size for a meat shield,” I tease back hearing a few different chuckles coming from the room with him. Laughing himself, Phil waves me on to join Jay and I give him quick thanks before moving into the living room. 

The room accumulated more people after Phil dragged me away to examine the injuries I've acquired in the last week, and I begrudgingly remember that tonight’s Teen’s Movie Night. 

Saturdays are our night of normalcy where we binge movies all night and it feels kinda crappy knowing I’ll be missing out on the fun tonight. But then, I notice Micah and Harper locked into one of their famous glare off and since both are clenching a different movie I can see it's over what movie they want to start with. Most of the time they don’t start bickering until a full hour in but looks like they wanted to start earlier tonight.

So I might be dodging a bullet by leaving, I think as I step up behind the couch. 

Directly behind Jess and Wil who look to be a little too cozy. 

I do my big sister duties by leaning down so my face ends up between theirs. They don’t notice at first, both having looked away for a moment, but then Jess turns to say something to Wil. She jerks back in surprise before bursting out laughing.

“I like what you’ve done with your hair Wil,” Jess jokes as she leans back in to kiss my cheek. 

"What?" Wil's confusion switches abruptly to shock when he finds me inches from his face. He wrenches back so hard he falls off the side of the couch causing everyone to laugh alongside Jess and me.

I hop over the couch and take his place before he can get back on his feet again. Wil half-heartedly glares at me from the ground and I answer by sticking my tongue out. 

“So are you good to go?” Jess asks as we watch Wil pick himself up and head over to stand with Jay and Cowboy around the coffee table. Both are packing the little pockets lining their bullet-proof vest with extra magazines and first aid things.

“Yeah, Phil gave me the whole there and back speech.”

“I’m sure he also implied letting the others take on most of the workload,” Jess says and I roll my eyes at the comment but nod in response. Her laughter isn’t as playful this time and when I glance over I see her biting the side of her thumbnail.