That Girl in the Diner

18 - Bubbles

18-bubbles 

It had been four long days in the hospital for Julian. Julian hated hospitals on a normal basis. The food was disgusting, it smelled like disinfectant all the time, the nurses were cranky and people kept dying. It just wasn't a good place to be overall. Especially when he was the patient. His parents had arrived and woken them both up around noon when they finally got into town (way too early according to Julian and Maddy's accounts, considering they could have been very contented with a few more hours of sleep after their eventful night). His mother was nearly hysterical, and his father was half angry, half relieved that he hadn't managed to seriously injure himself or worse. Maddy had taken the opportunity to go get them both something decent to eat, rather than the jello and glop of... was that supposed to be omelette? She didn't want to leave him but she'd figured it would be way too awkward listening to him get a lecture while she was there. And boy, did he get a lecture in between sobs and 'are you okay's.

Drinking that much was not his crowning achievement and by the end of that, he was sure he'd never want to taste another drop of liquor again. Before they'd come he hadn't ever wanted to see another bottle of vodka again, but if anything was going to make him feel guilty enough to never drink again, it was what his parents said. His mother had brought him flowers and a bunch of sweets though, and Madeline was able to fetch a bunch of their stuff. Clothes and ipods and toiletries, etc. She also brought him his guitar for when he was feeling better, which helped a lot. Once he was able to sit up without nearly killing himself with the pain, he was at least able to work on some music. He even went down to the pediatric ward once or twice to entertain some of the kids, who instantly loved him and drew him pictures and gave him handmade get well cards made out of construction paper. Madeline didn't leave his side the whole time, only leaving for forty minutes each day to give Julian some time to be bathed (by the nurses since it was too painful to do on his own) and to rest while she fetched them some real food and fed Fluffy. She took the whole week off school and work to care for him even though Julian insisted she didn't have to. He was glad she did though, anyway. The worst part was being so bored. He hated being cooped up and the cabin fever was really getting to him. He could have nearly jumped for joy when the doctor told him he could go home at long last.

Of course, he didn't actually go home. Madeline convinced him to stay at her place while he recovered, just long enough until he could do daily chores and all that without being in excruciating pain and feeling so wiped out all the time. Plus, she added, he would have some company with Fluffy there while she worked all day. He couldn't argue that he wouldn't want to be bedridden in his little apartment all alone for a week or so. He just wouldn't be able to deal with that, he'd go insane. So, he was made comfortable at her place under the agreement that this was only temporary and he would have to go back to his place until he found a job.

Which, he had been working on. He'd been out of the hospital for two days now. It had been almost a whole week since his accident. He was on some serious painkillers- three a day, and they made him kind of out of it but he had little choice. He was easily exhausted and he couldn't really bend over, and he had a hard time concentrating and remembering details from the concussion. Other than that, he felt fine and he was really eager to get out there and start looking for a job. He didn't want them having any more stupid arguments over that, and quite frankly, he had to redeem himself for scaring Madeline so much after the accident, and kind of breaking her heart a little bit beforehand. He wanted to man up, it was high time for that. And, of course, when she had squeezed in beside him on that hospital bed when he was tired but kind of scared because he knew he'd almost been killed and he was hooked up to so many wires and all that... When she fell asleep curled up next to him, when he woke up to that pretty face of hers... How could he not want that every day? This whole accident thing was really a turning point for him. He was going to chance. Nobody could fault him for having so many good intentions and so much heart. They could however, fault him for maybe being just a tad overzealous considering his condition...