Learning to Cope

Page 5

Andrew:

I got dressed a little nicer than usual this morning, I mean, he's probably not gay and I'm not looking for a relationship at the moment but if he is as hot as Ashley said, I don't want to look bad. When I walk in, Ashley is at the reception desk scanning some papers or something. Her hair is up in a bun and she doesn't have makeup on today. "Hey!" I walk over to her "Hey Drew!" she practically shouts even though I'm pretty much in front of her. "He's in room 24A" she winks, I shake my head and walk down the hall.

"I don't need any visitors today" I hear a deep but shaky voice coming from 24A. The room looks quite small with a large window across from the door. The walls are a pretty blue and meet in the middle with a wooden molding that has thick handrails coming from it. There is a curtain in the small hallway that leads to the room. He has a really nice voice. "would you rather be restrained the whole day" the nurse making the bed says plainly but she has a smug look on her face. She looks to be in her late 40s with short gray hair and she's really tall, taller than me even. She's probably 6'3 I think?

As I turn the corner I see him. He's tall maybe 6'5? with dark curly hair that covers his ears and almost hides his eyes, he has full lips and pale blue eyes his features are sharp but also very soft. He has a lot of tattoos covering both arms, they all look to be just linework though. although the look on his face is definitely not a happy one. "H-hi" oh no, I stuttered, he's gonna know I'm nervous. He looks over to me and rolls his eyes "Hey" he said with an annoyed inflection. He hates me already, this will be fun.

The nurse checks his IV before leaving "be good, he doesn't have to be here" she sounds so parental, she probably has kids. "Yeah, yeah," he says waving her off. After she leaves, he reaches and grabs his phone from the table next to him. He's clearly stressed about whatever is on his phone. "So..... what do you do for work?" I ask, trying to make the silence less awkward. "I don't have a job." he says while staring at his phone, he gently runs his hands through the front of his hair and sets his phone down "do you have a phone charger?" he asks "oh, does a USB-C work for your phone?". He looks at his phone's charging port then nods.

His phone is charging on the table next to him, it looks like it's got a cracked screen, not too bad but definitely not great. "So" he states "What's your name?" he asks, he doesn't look at me when he speaks "My name is Andrew, you can call me Drew if you want" I smile "what's yours?" I ask, he looks at me with his thick eyebrows furrowed "haven't you read my file already or something?" "what? No. why would I?" I chuckle a bit "don't they pay you to be here? I thought you would have read my file" he looks down at his hands in his lap. "Nope, that's for your doctor and nurses, so?" "hmm?" he looks up at me "what's your name?"

"oh, it's August, but don't call me Auggie or Gus or any dumb nicknames like that." He looks away. "Okay, Augustus," I say while chuckling, his gaze snapped to me and his beautiful eyes narrowed. "If I could, I'd hit you" he says with a smile. He's got perfectly straight white teeth and his smile makes my heart swell.

We've been talking for hours, not a lot of information has been shared. He has threatened to hit me at least three times, but there is definitely no intent behind it. "So do you have a girlfriend" He asks while looking at his phone. I laugh "Ummm no." I state. He looks me up and down with an eyebrow raised "really? You seem like a lady killer" he sounds so sarcastic. I squint and stare at him, he laughs and then hisses in pain.

"Well, you used up your 'personal question' pass" I smile and cross my arms. "My what?" he glances at me for a moment before returning to his phone. "You can only ask one personal question per day, that's the rule" He sets his phone down "oh really?" he says with a smirk, his smirk is so freaking attractive. "I guess the same goes for you too" he says putting his phone back on the table "wait, I can ask one too?" I jump up getting excited and August gives a hearty chuckle "just nothing too personal, okay?" I nod and giggle.

My phone alarm goes off "I'm gonna grab your food, don't hurt yourself!" I shout as I run out of the room "Aye Aye Captain" he shouted. It was a good day