Choices (Book Four)

Chapter 20

Shawn

"There you go," Mikayla encourages me as I finish the last of our stretches for the day.

It has been four weeks since my surgery and I have been making great strides in my recovery. My daily routine is pretty mundane. I wake up, attempt to take a shower but struggle with my gimp leg, one of my teammates shows up and takes Rupert out for an hour while I work on some stretches on my own. Then usually Rupert and I snuggle on the couch while we binge whatever series we are on at the moment, next is lunch which thankfully the guys girlfriends are still take pity on me and drop off meals every week. I imagine that won't last much longer though unfortunately.

Mikayla shows up everyday right on time at four o'clock and stays for about an hour to hour and a half as we work on stretches. I'm supposed to go back into the doctor later this week to see if I can start bearing weight on my leg and I could not be more excited for the chance to be crutches free.

Mikayla starts to pack up her bag with the resistance bands we used today as I lift myself from the floor up to a seat on the couch. Greg drew the short straw of walking Rupert again today but he should be back any minute now with him.

"You go in to see the doc on Friday right?" Mikayla asks.

"You bet," I reply as I try to hide my excitement.

"You must be excited," she comments as she looks over at me with a knowing smile.

"I'll be excited if he tells me I can lose these crutches," I tell her truthfully.

She giggles lightly and I smile over at her as she zips up her bag then stands to her feet. I rise up from the couch with much more ease then I had four week ago and follow her as we make our way to the front door.

"Any fun plans tonight?" She asks as she starts to get her shoes on.

"Oh yeah definitely," I reply with an exaggerated nod. "I will be snuggling on the couch with Rupert, attempting to cook something for dinner, and continuing to binge Love is Blind on Netlfix."

Mikayla bursts into laughter and I smile at her as we both stand at the front door. She has a great laugh, I've grown rather fond of hearing it the last few weeks and try my best to crack some jokes for her during our sessions.

"You mean to tell me you're actually watching Love is Blind?" She asks like she doesn't believe me.

"Oh yeah, I am invested. I have two episodes left, so don't spoil it if you know what happens to everyone," I warn her playfully.

"I wouldn't dare," she says as she laughs in amusement.

"What about you? And don't be embarrassed to compete with my plans for the night, no one stands a chance," I tease and she shakes her head at me playfully.

"I was actually going to go to the grocery store now to get supplies for dinner, I'm making fajitas," she says excitedly.

"Oh God don't tell me that, I love fajitas," I groan out and she laughs at me again.

She pauses for a moment, like she's hesitating on what to say next. Her eyes drop to the floor for a few seconds and I watch her curiously before she looks back up at me, biting her bottom lip nervously before she speaks.

"You know, I could cook everything up here and we could eat together if you'd be interested," she offers shyly.

Before I can respond the door flies open and Greg is pulled into the house by Rupert. Mikayla's attention turns to Rupert as she bends down to greet him. Greg doesn't try to hide the fact that he's checking out Mikayla as she bends over. When he looks up to find me glaring at him, he mouths a silent 'what?' to me as he acts innocent and I shake my head at him. Mikayla stands up again and the room is silent and awkward as we all stand in the front foyer. Greg must pickup on the tension because he speaks first and hands me Rupert's leash as he makes some excuse to get the hell out of the house, vanishing quickly and closing the door behind him. Mikayla shuffles side to side on her feet as she remains frozen at the front door and I know I need to answer her still.