Plugged In

Chapter 6

I slept in the hospital that night. I was sure that my boss had heard of my accident seeing as this was a small town, news traveled pretty fast here, so I didn't have to concern myself with that.

My mother slept in the hospital with me. She curled up on the couch which looked greatly uncomfortable.

I can't believe she flew out here on such short notice. She was always a busy woman when I lived at home. Always consumed in her work.

Of course she worried. She always worried, I swear the stress she puts on herself will be the death of her. I watched her sleep, surprisingly, since she wouldn't rest until she was sure that I had fallen asleep. I was restless though, I felt uncomfortable in this hospital. I would much rather be in my small apartment, curled up in a warm blanket. I sighed.

Hopefully they would release me from here the next morning.

~~

I thought I was never going to get to go home. My morning consisted of checkups. Finally my doctor walked in with a prescription for the pain and instructions to stay in bed. He informed me that if I felt ill for any reason that I should come to the hospital. Other than that he said I should feel better in a few days.

I was bed-ridden unfortunately. I couldn't go to school let alone work. Everyone worried too much. How do people live with so much worry in their lives?

My mother took the doctors words to heart and used this as an excuse to stay and hover over me for the next few days.

~~

After a few days with nothing horrible happening other than my mom smothering me with her precautions and love, I was able to get back to my normal college life of school and work.

I had missed a day of school and two work days. My mother did not want to leave just yet, so she busied herself in my apartment while I went back to school.

She tried to walk me to school but I insisted profusely that I would be fine. I was getting tired of being treated like a fragile child.

I walked slowly to school. I had woken up early so that I could take my time and not be late to class.

On my way to campus I let my mind wander. My life here has been quiet up until the start of the semester at least. The summer I spent alone here was quiet at least. I enjoyed it, it was peaceful. The long walks i took through the town to get to know it better. The exploring through the outer rims of the woods. I wouldn't go deeper then five minutes in just because I was afraid of getting lost.

I daydreamed until arrive to my classroom.

 I took a seat and sighed. Should I get over my fear of socializing and ask one of my classmates what I had missed the previous day or just wait for my professor. I opted for the latter and waited patiently.

A head of curly brown hair emerged from the doorway. The boy looked around the classroom. When his eyes landed on me he smiled and walked towards me.

He pulled out the seat next to me and sat down.

"You're alive!" he yelled almost like he was auditioning for the part of Victor Frankenstein.

The few students that were in the class turned to stare at us and I started to feel very uncomfortable.

I didn't respond to him but rather I hid my face with my sweater. He chuckled as he looked around the class.

"Sorry." he spoke clearly so everyone could hear. Slowly everyone went back to their business and ignored us for the most part.

He smiled at me, "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

I didn't look at him as I shrugged. My face still hidden.

He sighed, his smile went sympathetic. "Anyways I heard about what happened. How are you?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I mean you did get hit by a car so that's pretty bad." he looked worried.

I shrugged, "Yeah I'll be fine in no time. I just have a few bruises here and there. I guess its a good thing I didn't actually see the car coming so I was more relaxed and had less of a chance to get seriously injured.

He chuckled, "Yeah I suppose so. I don't know much about that, sorry. Honestly I'm just shocked you said more than five words to me."

My eyes widened a bit and I turned away. I hid my face, which I could feel was burning up with embarrassment.

He laughed again, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you feel awkward."

I ignored him.

He touched my arm and I instantly moved away from him in shock.

"What are you doing?" I asked accusingly.

He raised his arms up with his palms towards me.

"Whoa, I'm sorry." he looked scared, like I was going to do something bad to him.

I moved back into my seat and continued to ignore him.

He's so weird, why is he talking to me?

He sighed and started fidgeting in his seat.

I looked at him from the corner of my eye.

He opened his mouth as if to speak, but the professor came in.

I payed extra attention to the lecture as an excuse to completely ignore Daniel. When the class ended I walked up to the professor to ask about the assignments I had missed.

He handed me a paper. " I heard what happened so I typed this out for you. I'm glad to see you're okay." He smiled at me.

I smiled back and thanked him. I read the paper as I headed out to my next class.

He had written some important notes about the lecture and an assignment that was due the following week.

"Hey." Someone jumped in front of me. I was startled as I looked up.

I sighed, "Oh, it's you."

He gasped, putting a hand on his chest. "If that's how you treat your friends I don't think I want to be your friend."

He huffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Good riddance." I muttered as I walked past him.

He caught up to me. " Hey I'm only teasing. Lighten up a bit, will ya?"

I ignored him.

He sighed, "Look I'm really sorry I didn't mean to like embarrass you or anything."

" Well you did, so..." I continued walking.

He followed after me, "Well then is there something I could do to prevent it then?"

I turned to him, "Yeah! Don't drag me into it. Any of it!"

I stormed off to my next class.

~~~

I couldn't even focus in class now. I felt horrible for how I had treated him when all he was doing is making sure I was okay and trying to be my friend.

I sighed and put my head in my hands. I'm such a jerk.

I kept overthinking things and feeling like shit. I was gaining a friend in this small town finally and I had found a way to mess it up. Like all my friendships. Maybe I really shouldn't have friends.

Too much of a hassle trying to please people and think about what you can and can't say. 

I sighed.

The professor excused the class. I gathered my stuff and walked out.

I tried to think, I'm pretty sure I had work today. 

I sighed I'll just head over there anyways.