Beneath the Stars

✩ worry and care;;

The trio arrived at the hospital safely, and Joanie stopped in front of the entrance.

"Audrey, get Brandon inside. I'll find a space to park and join you guys. I'm sure there's lots of paperwork."

Without a word, Audrey got out of the car and made a circle around to get Brandon. He already had the door opened and his hand outstretched.

"I leave myself in your care, Audrey Hart," he said smoothly.

She blushed a little and took his warm hands in her colder ones. She pulled him up onto his one leg and she placed her hand on his back. Brandon shut the car door and his aunt drove away. Without Joanie, it was a little harder to move, but they managed with Brandon hopping on his left leg. They got through the front entrance (thank goodness for sliding glass doors) and Audrey put him down on a plastic chair before heading to the receptionist counter.

"Um ... excuse me?" The woman behind the desk gazed up at Audrey, glasses sliding down her nose, making her look like a strict librarian. Audrey fought the urge to giggle.

"My friend over there," she said, shifting to let her see Brandon, who gave a little wave, "fell down the stairs and he thinks he sprained his ankle."

The young woman smiled a little and reached her hand into a drawer, pulling out a stack of paper. Her blond hair was tied into a neat braid over her shoulder and they hung down gracefully as she handed the papers to Audrey.

"Is he eighteen?" Audrey shook her head. "Do you have a parent or guardian with you?" A nod. "Good. Fill out these forms and return them to me when you're done. We'll take him to a room to be analyzed straight after." Another nod.

Audrey thanked the lady (the tag on her white lab coat read Kristine) and made her way back to Brandon. She shoved the wad of paper in his face but he shook his head.

"You write. I can't write it on my leg, and there are no tables to use."

Audrey shrugged. She casted her eyes down to the papers in her hands and uncapped the pen Kristine had given her. She sat down next to Brandon and began to fill it in. Full name, Brandon Kurte Rivera, age, 17, birthday, October 19th. The red head checked her phone. It's September 19th; his birthday is a month from now. She wonders what she can get him for his birthday. The door slid open again and Joanie came in, out of breath.

"Any problems?" she asked them, and they shook their head.

Audrey gave her the sheets and she took them, sat down, and started scribbling things in the small boxes.

"How's your leg?" Audrey inquired, peering at him, worried.

"I'm fine," he reassured her. "I can hardly feel it anymore."

"That's probably not a good sign," she joked.

He smiled. Joanie handed the papers back to Kristine and she looked them over, nodding a few times to herself.

"He can come in," she says to Joanie, who was looking a little frazzled.

His aunt made a small gesture to his leg and Kristine called a nurse in with a wheelchair. Brandon made a face at it, but unwillingly sat down on it with the help of Audrey and the nurse.

"Are you comfortable?" the nurse ask, and Audrey couldn't help but notice how pretty she was.

Her curled brown hair cascaded softly down her back in a long ponytail. She had curves in all the right places and her face was kind and friendly. Were all the females in the hospital this gorgeous? Audrey looked down at her own body and scrunched up her nose a little, then raised her head to meet Brandon's eyes. He seemed to know what she was thinking, and he rolled his eyes as he got pushed away by the pretty nurse. Audrey and Joanie followed close behind.