No Matter What

Changes

I was glad the hospital had an outdoor area. The cafeteria was just too bright for me right now. I grabbed my sunglasses out of the magenta void and sat down at the table across from Connor, then started playing with my squishy moon fidget toy.

"Doing okay? Are you comfortable?" Connor asked from across the table.

I nodded. "Feel like I should be asking you that, but okay."

"I mean sometimes I feel like I'm in a constant state of discomfort. Much better now that they help me up to go to the bathroom," he said, giving me an awkward laugh. "I can't wait to get out of here tomorrow."

"Me too. Wish you were going home instead of to the rehab center."

"But that's one of the last steps! Once I go there and learn to use my wheelchair, get the therapy I need...I'll finally be home free!"

I watched the way that he smiled. His smile wasn't the same. Some of his teeth were missing on his upper left after the fall. Tooth numbers ten and eleven, to be precise. The gap bothered me. I learned a lot about teeth helping out at my dad's office this summer.

"Hey, when you finally are all done, where should we go on a date? We should go somewhere special," I said.

"Hmm...how about...my bedroom?" he winked and I gave him the total stank eye. "Hey, if I still have the ability to go to the bathroom, hopefully I've got the ability to do other things. It's been over two months, babe!"

I wanted to be upset that his mind was in the gutter like that, but it had been a pretty long time, and we still had a ways to go. He looked different, but he was still the Connor I loved.

"Come on, be a little serious," I said, trying to keep a straight face.

"I dunno, you seem to agree," he said. "But on the other hand, how about our favorite spot?"

I swear, I lit up like a rocket going off the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center. I missed those date nights so, so much.

"Hell yes! I can't wait."

"Only six more weeks to go. Hopefully it flies by," he said.

I went over next to him and gave him a romantic kiss on the lips. We talked for a while until the nurse came to take him back to his room. Once we were there and back in his bed, we said our goodbyes and I texted Annie to come pick me up as I walked out to the main entrance and sat on one of the benches there.

I was happy that Connor was going to the rehab center, but it was much farther away from the house and my dad's office. I might not even be able to see him every week. This whole thing felt too stressful. Too many changes in too little of a time.

As I was scrolling through my phone, lost in my thoughts, I saw a young couple rushing up the entryway. And by young, I mean young. They couldn't have been older than Connor and I. The girl looked like a supermodel. A beautiful, but super pregnant supermodel. Her boytoy had an outfit on that made him look like he was straight out of BTS. He was pretty cute, too. He probably legit could've been a Kpop star.

"Almost there, Denali! It's gonna be okay!" said the Kpop star.

"Hudson, chill. I haven't had a contraction in a few minutes. I'm fine," said the supermodel.

Geez, what a ho. Ever heard of a condom, you two? I thought as they walked through the entrance. The doctors told poor Connor that he was completely sterile after the fall, but the both of us didn't even want kids anyway, so I guess it all worked out.

About ten minutes later, I got off the bench in front of the hospital. Annie pulled up in our mom's luxury SUV. It kinda bugged me that it was left to her instead of me, but at the time I didn't even have my permit, so I guess it made sense.

I walked up to the car, opened the door, and got into the passenger's seat. My sister gave me a smile. She had on another one of her flower-patterned scrub caps, since she came right from work. Once the door was shut and I was buckled in, then Annie started to pull away. She was always cautious after the accident.

"Did you have a good time with Connor?" she asked.

"Connor is amazing. I don't think having a bad time with him is possible," I said, my voice flat. It was true. He made my life worth living sometimes.

"Well, I'm glad you had a good time," she said. It was quiet for a few minutes as she drove. The ten-year age gap made things awkward between us sometimes.

"I saw something interesting," I said.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. It was a teen couple, both very good looking, but that's besides the point. They were headed into the maternity ward. Can you imagine?"

"You wanna know an interesting story?" Annie asked. "You know the Dinklebergs across the street from your house? My old babysitter used to live there with her grandparents. Her name was Jen. She got pregnant at sixteen, so she couldn't watch me anymore and I had to go to daycare."

"Oh. That's big yikes."

"Yeah...you wanna know even bigger yikes? I found out through social media that her oldest daughter got pregnant at seventeen, and her younger daughter had a baby almost two years ago. She's your age."

"Wow. That's...that's a lot."

"Yeah. Some story, huh?" Annie said. "Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Uh...sure," I said, playing with one of my keychains.

"I want you to be my maid of honor."

My eyes averted to the engagement ring on her finger.

"Why not Brittany? You've been best friends for years."

"Because, I want it to be you. I think it would be a special thing for us. I don't get to spend a lot of time with you, and you're my only sibling. If you don't want to, that's also okay."

"No no no. I'll do it. I can do it," I said.

I only said that because I didn't want to say no to her. How could someone ask you to be your maid of honor and then you tell them you're not interested. Too much guilt.

"Great! There's a lot of stuff you can help me plan, like—"

She started going on and on about this wedding. This was the big deal: Annie's dream wedding in the adirondacks. I'd already been hearing about it for months, and she didn't even have a venue picked out. I droned out everything she was saying. I had other things to worry about. 

***

Hmm...I wonder who that young couple was? I wonder if we'll see them in another story sometime...