million dollar high | joshler

39

"today, you have to try walking without the crutches or holding on to something." my physical therapist, julian, told me.

"great," i mumbled.

"that's not a great attitude to have. you've been making progress with what we've been doing. now it's time to make even more progress. plus, you're young so you're most likely to heal faster. how did this happen again?"

"you don't want to know."

"well, come on then." he said and helped me stand up as he took away the crutches and rested them against a chair.

he stood in front of me with his arms out just in case if i fell he'd catch me.

i hesitantly started walking forward as julian slowly walked backwards. it hurt, but i had to get better.

i bit my lip and forced myself to walk forward.

"we could stop." he said.

"no."

i stopped for a quick second and placed my hand on my hip, and we continued.

"alright, that's enough. we could celebrate a little."

my leg ached as i panted slightly. "what do you mean?"

"tyler, we made it across the room."

"what?" i looked around and saw that we were. "oh."

"yeah, it's alright. let me–"

"we can't celebrate until i walk back successfully."

"tyler–"

i took a deep breath and tried my best to walk back as normal as possible, but i was in so much pain. i was pushing myself too much.

julian walked alongside me, and i did make it to the chair, taking a seat. i was so out of breath even though this was probably the easiest task to complete.

"take five minutes and we'll do that again."

"are you out of your mind? do you not see how tiring that was?"

he passed me a water bottle. "usually when i help getting my patients to walk we take five minutes to rest before going again, but you decided to walk back without one. you'll be okay, and you'll walk on your own."

i didn't say anything and just took a long sip of water, leaning back and taking deep breaths.

five minutes passed, and i walked forward again, reaching the other side of the room and then back.

i didn't want to stop when i reached the other stop so my five minute breaks were when i got back to the chair.

julian and i did this three more times until our session time was over.

"good job." he said, patting my shoulder. "i'll see you in two days."

josh walked over to me and crouched down in between my legs, and i hadn't even called him yet.

"when did you get here?"

he gave me a quick peck on the lips. "maybe five to ten minutes ago."

"you saw me struggling to walk? i didn't want you to see me like that."

"i don't think any less of you. shut up." he stood up.

i grabbed my crutches and stood up with him. "i hate you."

"not anymore."

i hit his arm with the back of my hand.