If Not for You (Completed)

Chapter 6: Kale

6 Kale

Whatever drug they had given me had worn off by the time I woke. My entire torso felt like someone had taken a hammer to it. Or a Honda....

My breath sucked sharp as I pushed my hands into the bed and sat up a little, saw Kazzi asleep. Someone had pulled out the chair into a skinny, horribly uncomfortable-looking bed, and she was sprawled atop it, arms wrapped around herself. Even in her sleep, I could see her shivering, which made me mad that the nurses hadn't been considerate enough to even offer her a pillow and blanket. But maybe they hadn't noticed she'd gone to sleep.

Pushing my own blankets off, I slid my feet over the side of the bed and stood. Pain the likes of a thousand suns radiated through my torso, making my breath catch as I pressed a hand over it. Yep, pain meds had definitely worn off. Groaning under my breath, I tugged the blanket off my bed and padded slowly across to Kazzi. She didn't wake when I laid the blanket over her, but I saw her snuggle beneath it with a subtle sigh, and it made me remember a time when she'd given me the coat off her back as I'd slept. It was time to return the favor.

My night shift nurse came in as I turned away from Kazzi and frowned when she saw me out of bed. "Kale, you shouldn't be up."

"I was just giving her a blanket." I explained but took the help she offered and crawled painfully back into the bed.

Moving across the room, the nurse opened a cupboard, from which she pulled down a pillow and another blanket. After handing me the blanket, she took the pillow to Kazzi and gently shook her shoulder.

"Here you go, honey."

Kazzi mumbled some sort of half-dazed thanks before smooshing the pillow beneath her head and falling back to sleep. With a small smile, the nurse came back to me, whispering now as she spoke.

"How are you feeling?"

"Pain." I groaned as I adjusted to a semi-comfortable position.

"Scale of one to ten?"

I shrugged. "I'd say eleven, but... I don't want to sound like a baby, so I'll go with a solid nine-point-eight."

The nurse, Dolores, I think her name was, offered a small smile. "Let me get your vitals really quick, then I'll get you some more pain medicine."

I nodded, waited patiently while she ran through her routine, then let out a long sigh when she finally left and came back with my meds. She plunged them into my IV, then left me. For several minutes, I laid awake, waiting for the medicine to take effect enough so that I could sleep. With my head laid limp on the pillow, I watched Kazzi.

My memories of her were as opposing as they could get, and equally conflicting. Half my brain remembered all the times she'd slapped me or spit food on me at lunch; all the insults she'd thrown, dicks drawn on my locker, and a new coat she'd shredded. I remembered how much she'd hurt me, for so long.

But on the other side, I thought of the Kazzi that had sat with me under the bridge, her touch gentle as she'd examined the cast on my arm; the one who'd washed my hair and saved me from getting beat up in the woods by Brad, the one who'd cornered me in a classroom just to see if I was ok, and the one who kissed me, so tenderly, even knowing everyone was watching.

It was that Kazzi I saw as I watched her. Though our past was complicated, and I'd done just as much, if not more, to hurt her, she was still there. She was right that I needed her, and she stayed by my side, not begrudgingly, not even out of obligation, but because she wanted to. I loved her for it. I loved her, period. And I'd never stopped, no matter how hard I'd tried.