Sticks and Stones

Chapter Three

When I woke up, my first thought was to find food.

            Thinking I was still at the party, I sat up, and to my surprise, was pushed back down by a doctor. My nose throbbed and when I reached my hand up to touch it I immediately flinched, hissing in pain.

            “Tyler Layne?” The man said. I looked up at him in confusion.

            “What’s the date?” He demanded.

            “The twentieth of June.”

            “What’s your middle name?”

            “Skye.” I said, blushing at its idiocy.

            “Alright, no signs of any damage to the brain. Tyler, were going to keep you here until your father shows up. In the meantime, I’d like to fetch you something to eat. Are you hungry?”

            “Yes, please.” I said, immediately, and he smirked. For a twenty-ish year old guy, he was kind of cute. I watched him leave the room, and looked at my reflection in the bathroom mirror opposite my bed. I made out a few bandages over my nose and one wrapping around my head. I suddenly remembered what had happened at the party. Sighing, I pushed myself up into a more comfortable position and glanced at my heart monitor, holding my breath and then breathing quickly, making it waiver at different speeds.

            “You’re middle name is Skye?” I turned quickly and flinched when my neck cracked and my head started throbbing underneath the bandage. I saw Malakai sitting in a chair, his head in his hands. From what I could see of his face, he was smiling.

            I frowned. “Yeah, so?”

            He looked up at me and smiled even bigger. I noticed that he had slipped on a gray shirt, fitting tightly on his frame underneath a navy blue jacket. He laughed and scooted his chair closer.

            “I just find it funny that your ‘rents decided to give you a boy name, but a girl middle name.”

            “My Aunt’s name is Tyler, and it’s not just a boy’s name. I know lots of girls named Tyler.” I lied angrily, feeling hurt.

            “Sure.” He replied, unfazed. “So, what are you doing here? I’ve never seen you around town before, you’ve got to be from out of state.”

            “My dad, he lives here. When he divorced my mom, their lawyers wanted me to switch off every six months between them. Maybe you know him? His name is Daniel Layne, and his girlfriend is—”

            “Stacie. Yeah, they come by the beach sometimes to grab a bite to eat. Too bad your only here for six months though, this place is really fun once you have people you know.” I shrugged and he laughed, turning his attention to a black cell phone in his hands. I watched him curiously, his face scrunched into confusion as he read whatever was on his phone. His hair looked darker than before, only shades darker than his tan skin. Why was he so tan? I wondered what he did for a living. He had said something about a beach—was he a lifeguard? I furrowed my eyebrows, deep in thought.

            “You’re cute when you do that.”

            I looked up to see Malakai looking at me, his phone now resting on his leg. I blushed and averted my eyes, finding myself looking at the heart monitor again.

            “Why are you here?” I asked him, turning back to look at him.

            He shrugged. “It was my party, I figured that I should take responsibility of whoever gets hurt there. Sorry about that, by the way.”

            “Wait—that was your party? Your Malakai Lockhart?” He nodded, and I cursed at myself under my breath. Way to go, Tyler, you just embarrassed yourself in front an A-list kind of guy.

            The door opened and the doctor came in, carrying a large tray with a bowl of oatmeal, applesauce, a banana, a cup of water and something that looked like Jell-o. He placed it on the table next to me and put down a spoon, smiling at me.

            “Sorry; you know how hospital food is. Not really anything that you can’t eat with a spoon.” He carefully touched my bandages and I winced, seeing Malakai tense at the sound of it.

            “You’re going to be sore for a while, but you should be fine. Nothing like a punch in the nose to start off your summer, huh?” He said, and with that, he left the room. I quickly grabbed the food and started eating, stuffing my mouth. The phone on Malakai’s phone started belching out a catchy tune, and he quickly pulled it to his ear.

            “Hello? Hey, Sir. Yes, I’m at the hospital. Alright, I’ll let her know. Thank-you, have a good night.” He put the phone down and stood up, stretching his arms and legs. Walking over to me, he reached and took the spoon out of my hand. I glared angrily at him, my mouth too full of oatmeal and banana slices to talk.

            “Your dad wants me to take you home. But first, I’m going to take you to a real place to eat. This hospital food is making my stomach hurt, and I’m not even the one eating it.” Malakai pushed the tray aside and grabbed my hand, pushing the emergency button on my hand. Before I had time to argue or even yell, the doctor from before came barging in, his face drained of blood and full of worry.

            “Don’t worry Doc, she’s fine. But, it’s time for her to go. I’m going to be the one driving her home tonight.” Malakai stood there with a look of defiance, daring the doctor to say anything different. The doctor looked over at him angrily, and then at me adoringly, and then back at him.

            “Alright, but I will need you to fill out a consent form. And Tyler, I m going to need you to come with me so I can get you to your real clothes.” He said, nodding towards the blue paper dress I was wearing. I gave him a sincere look and stood up weakly, almost falling before both Malakai and the doctor grabbed my arms. I blushed and looked down, waiting.

            “Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you, Tyler?” Malakai asked. I waited for the doctor to respond, but when he didn’t, I looked up at him myself.

            He was glaring at the doctor.

            “Nah, just go fill out the form so I can get the hell out of here.” I gave him my brightest smile, and he smiled back.

            “Gotcha.” He said, winking and running out of the door and down the hall. The doctor led me down the hall the opposite way and into a room as white as the last one. My clothes were sitting in a pile on a table across the room.

            “I’ll leave now, unless you think you’ll need help getting dressed.” He asked. I shook my head and blushed again, waiting for him to leave before slipping into my clothes from before. My white shirt had blood all over it, I noticed, sighing at my misfortune.

            I left the room and found myself at the front desk. Malakai was walking out of a room opposite me and smiled when he saw me.

            “Damn, you need a new shirt.” He said, and shrugged off his jacket to put it around my shoulders. I thanked him silently and we headed out, finding his white Ford truck at the edge of the parking lot. I climbed in and waited for him to start the car, but looked over at him when he didn’t.

            He was looking at me.

            “What?” I asked. I wasn’t sure if I still had blood on my face, or if the bandages made me look like a mummy. But when he finally turned his head and started the truck, backing out, he stated simply, “You better not get blood on my jacket.”

            Of course, Malakai Lockhart was that kind of guy.