The man introduced himself, rolling my right pant-leg up past my knee. "I'm Lee Cooper, and I graduated college with a Master's degree in medicine. Uh, so I can, let's see... Oh boy. Sit still." His fingers press the spot below the kneecap. It's hard thinking straight, or about anything at all. I avoid looking at my knee. "Does this hurt? What about this?"
I strain against his touch, gripping the thigh that's attached to stable leg with both hands, nodding four times. At least, I think it was four times. Did I mention it's hard to focus on anything? "Yes- gosh, yes, it hurts. Like, really bad."
"June?"
Lee uses the back of his hand to press the underside of my knee. I let my head fall forward, but that, like this entire night, is a mistake. The move pulled something in my back, and as I pull my head back up, ready to cry, Coven kneels by my side, eyes wide. I force a weak smile. "How're the nachos?"
"You're so... so... dumb, you know?" He punches my arm, too forcefully. I frown, leaning away from him. Is he really shaming me for keeping a positive disposition? "Learn to listen. Ben was going to pay. This wouldn't have happened if you listened. God, what an idio-"
"Get out of the way." Toben's shaky voice says from behind me. Coven stays, and I shake my head. And he says I need to learn to listen. Ha. "I know you heard me. Move."
Lee stopped working on my leg.
A few seconds later, Toben decides he's had enough. He shoves the ignorant man, watching as he falls flat on his back. Once Coven goes to the truck, he sits by Lee, taking in the situation. "Is it broken?"
"By the looks of it, yeah. I'm trained in medicine, though, not physical wellness. Did you drive her?" Lee watches my friend's face like it's one of an angel's. When Toby nods, so does he, and even though my leg is probably broken, I want to laugh. "You should bring h-her to the emergency room, they can be better at helping her. Uh, I mean, they can actually give her stuff to fix... this. Yeah. I'm Lee."
Toby rubs his forehead, looking at my face for the first time since coming to my side. "Toben Marazo. Thanks for... whatever you did. I'll take it from here." They shake hands, parting. My friend takes my hand, ducking down and wrapping his other arm around my waist. "I leave for five minutes and you break your leg. Remind me not to invite you next time."
I put my arm over his shoulder, the one farthest away from me, grasping his sweatshirt and balling it up in my hand. At this point, I really hope he's joking. It's ridiculous, blaming someone for accidentally breaking their leg. "Sorry."
"I'm joking." I sigh, trying to smile. The pain is too overwhelming, and it doesn't help that my knee looks like it's popped out of place. Most of the veins are split, too. Wonderful. "Unless you purposely broke it. Then I hate you. Here- lean on me."
"I'm like 600 pounds, dude."
"Come on, you're light as a feather."
"Last time I checked I was almost 150. That's not light." I raise an eyebrow, noticing that the girls had gone back to the truck without stopping to check on me. Oh, well. The one I care about stopped, and that's all that matters. "But weight doesn't matter. It's not worth flipping out over."
"You're right-" The previews end, and the first movie starts. "Weight's just another one of those things no one'll remember when you're dead."
"Shh."
"I hate you, June Pontainous." His tone is playful.
"Thanks."
The girls get out of the trunk when they see us. Coven moves all the way to one side, and Toben helps me settle into the other, shushing me when I make little noises because of the pain. Once I'm in, he sits in the middle of us. I whisper a thank you, laying my leg as straight as I can muster. Coven isn't someone I'd love to talk to right now.
I unwrap a butterscotch sucker, starting on it and swatting away the mosquitos I can see. Luckily, I wore long pants and a jacket over my One Direction shirt, just in case it were to be cold or overloaded with bugs. The news said it was going to be warm and rainy, but that didn't stop anyone from showing up.
Why would it? The news always predicts stuff that doesn't happen.
One time- I don't remember how long ago- Copin was going to take me to The Zoo for a birthday. I was young- six, maybe? Anyway, we were dressed up all pretty. I had my Little Mermaid shirt on, a big purple bow in my fluffy hair, and slick white Crocs on my tiny, babyish feet. Copin agreed to bribe the employees so we could pet the dolphins. It was going to be awesome!
Then the news reported said a tornado was brewing, and The Zoo closed. Copin and I didn't want to mope- it was my birthday, for crying out loud- so we had a little party at his house. Toben and his dad came over, and we made personal pizzas and baked cookies. Toben gave me one of his Nerf guns, and right when I thought the night was over, the three guys revealed their guns and started shooting at me. I grabbed mine, loaded it with foam bullets, and ran to my bedroom, laughing like a ninny. Sun shone through my open window, and I didn't realize it then, but the news was wrong. It rained for an hour, but none of us heard it. The news apologized later that day for the false alarm and let it go like they hadn't ruined thousands of plans.
But my day wasn't ruined. It was glorious.
I smile to myself, chewing on the paper stick that had a sucker on it before I started daydreaming. Cinderella is at the royal ball, at this point, dancing with the prince.
"Everyone's looking at you." The beautiful princess breathed.
I swat at a daring mosquito that landed on my nose. Okay, that's enough.
-+-
I fell asleep in the passenger seat of the truck, legs close to my chest. The mosquitos couldn't get me with the doors shut. All the lights turned on when I opened the door, but besides that, the process was almost painless. My leg feels better when it's somewhat bent, oddly enough.
I barely awakened when the boys got in the car. Someone put their jacket over my legs. Soft talk and country music sang me to sleep for the second time that night.
