Take What You Need {L.H.}

The Pudding Cup

Luke hated hospitals.

He liked that they brought food on a schedule, but he wasn't a fan of how they smelled. It was too...sterile. ((Which is really ironic.))

Ashton didn't seem to mind. Which was good, because Ashton was the reason Luke was sitting in the hospital daybed next to the window.

"How did you break your ankle?" Luke asked, reaching over to steal Ashton's pudding cup.

"I was climbing out Lindy's window and her mom just like burst into the room. So I was like halfway down when Lindy let go of the ladder."

Luke thought the whole situation was hilarious. He had told Ashton many times to stop going down that ladder and ask her out on a real date. In public. Did Ashton listen? Nope. Not at all.

Luke was about to say something else when his phone started ringing.

"So how's Ashton? Tell him I'm sorry he had to see my room like that. It's not usually messy."

Luke looked over at his friend, who was in the process of attempting to grab the remote so he could call the nurse and get a new pudding cup. It wasn't working out too well, considering Ashton's foot was still strapped into the sling. Ashton's range of motion was extremely limited and it made Luke want to laugh more.

"He's doing just fine. He's in much better spirits." Luke chuckled, remembering how freaked out Ashton was when he first got to the emergency room earlier that morning. There may have been some occasional swearing but Luke didn't mind because he'd seen enough Teen Mom with his Ex-Girlfriends to learn how to deal with it.

His Ex-Girlfriends also liked to swear at him for dumb stuff that wasn't his fault, so that was just bonus practice.

"Also tell him i'm sorry that I hurt him more with my shitty version of a splint to keep his ankle in place. I didn't mean to make him cry harder."

Luke could hear the sound of jingling keys so he figured she was just closing the coffee shop.

That had been their new routine. As long as Annabelle wasn't too tired, she would call Luke and they would talk for hours. Occasionally, they would watch the same TV show, at the same time, and discuss the episode. Those were Luke's favorite nights.

"Yeah, he's not a big crier so it was weird for me too." Luke glanced at the TV. The only thing on was a Kung Fu movie that was poorly staged.

"Should I come back over there? I mean, my mom's on vacation with her friends and tomorrow's a holiday, so I don't really have anything to do... You can go home and I'll stay with him, if you want."

Luke no longer heard the sound of traffic in the background. Instead, it was filled with the sound of muffled music and some distant yelling.

"You can go home. Enjoy your time alone. You don't have to feel obligated to look after a guy who was too dumb to see this coming." Luke looked over to see Ashton finally grabbing the remote and pressing the Nurse call button.

There was complete silence over the line before he heard Annabelle.

"Please? I just really can't be alone right now." Luke barely heard Annabelle over the line, but he heard her voice crack, slightly, and that was enough to convince him.

"Okay. Yeah, sure. I'll even stay with you, if that's cool."

"Yeah, that'd be great. So what did the doctor officially say about Ashton's left ankle?"

Luke tried to remember the correct medical term, but it was too complicated. So he just went with the first idea he got.

"They said he's all right now."