I wake up slowly and groggily. My right arm has been shoved into a light blue cast while I was sleeping. I've never been one to cooperate well in hospitals, so I must've been knocked out or too delirious with pain to object.
No one is in my hospital room, which is large enough to hold my entire family and then some. It's dark and quiet, how most of my other rooms were. Maxx must've taken me to a hospital I've been to before. They had to remember me. My antics and frequent visits aren't that easy to forget about.
I hope they didn't delve too deep into my file with him.
I have an IV in my left arm, which is bandaged from my wrist to elbow. A little of dried blood seeps through the white, but, as far as I can tell, there's no sign of anything fresh, which is good. I sit up slowly and sorely. Anything I seem to do anymore is slow and painful.
There's a light on a stand next to the bed. I can't reach it unless I lean almost completely out of the bed.
I do that, and jump back afterwards. I failed to notice Maxx in the darkness, but now I can see him clearly. My whole body shakes as I yell at him. "What the heck?! You could've said something instead of scaring me to death!"
He shakes his head, like he's pulling himself out of a daze. "I'm sorry." He gets up and moves his chair closer to the bed. In the better light, I can see that his cheeks are wet. He must've been crying.
Crying over what? Me?
"So what's the verdict?" I ask him. He opens his mouth to reply, but closes it again. He opens his mouth again and Renee barges in, Addison in tow. "So you ditch Addison to go somewhere which is probably highly unimportant with this..." She waves franticly over at Maxx. "...weirdo and end up getting in a wreck and breaking your arm in the process! Do I have to lecture him on what exactly killed your boyfriend? A car wreck? Because that's what happened." She directs that last sentence at Maxx. I flinch at every word she said. No one but Maxx notices.
Surprisingly both Maxx and Addison haven't uttered a word. It's just Renee blasting me with every hurtful memory of these last few weeks that she can find. She didn't mean to hurt me as much as she did, she's not like that, she's just trying to find a way to knock some sense into Maxx and me.
Maxx clears his throat and stands up, towering over Renee. "I know what happened to Nathan and I highly suggest you stop acting so tough, because we all know you're faking."
He leans against the wall at the end of my bed. Renee takes a few steps back, pushing Addison back as well. "I'm quite sure I know how to drive. And if you can't already tell, we have a worse situation than trying to make me feel bad. Believe me, I don't need any help in that department."
Renee regains her composer a few seconds later. "Right. So, what's the verdict?"
"Funny," Maxx butts in. "That's exactly what Abbi said."
Renee ignores him. "So, how long do you have to stay?"
I shrug. "Don't know. Maxx might, though." All three of us look over at him. "Don't use your freaky girl voodoo powers on me."
