Before You and Me ✔️(Wattpad Version)

Recovery is iffy

Mack

After coming home from the hospital, I got stuck being homebound because of my recovery. I also had to attend physical therapy, lucky me.

Since I couldn't attend class, I had to take incomplete for the semester. I also couldn't work. This left me frustrated because we had bills. Paige assured me everything would be fine. I swear that woman needs her head examined.

She also got everyone to help me when she wasn't home. Now she needs her head examined. What on God's great earth would she have people help me, as my friends? Is she insane? Does she have a fever?

Of course, we argued, and I told her there were other ways she could help me. She smacked me on the head with a pillow. I swear the woman has no sense of humor. I was the one that got the shit end of the stick for Christ's sakes, and I have needs, lots of needs. Like only ones that she can meet. Do you catch my drift?

Paige

I came home to yelling, and stuff threw at Bob. Mack was acting as a model patient as usual.

"Do you mind? I was only trying to help!" Bob yelled into the bedroom as I stood there.

"No way in the hell you're freaking touching me! I swear you have some weird fascination with me! Ruth and I need to have a chat about this," Mack yelled back.

"Mack! I was only trying to change your dressings and clean your wounds. Paige said not to let them get infected. Do you think I want to touch your Febreeze ass? No," Bob yelled back.

"Well, you aren't touching me, period!"

I stood there as I listened to them argue back and forth until I cleared my throat. Bob turned and looked at me, "Oh, hey, Paige."

"Bob," I said.

"Since you're home, I'm going to go now," he said as he walked over to me. Then he mumbled, "You talk some sense into him."

"I heard that you dipwad!"

Bob sighed in defeat.

"I'll talk to him," I said with a reassuring smile as he nodded and left.

I walked into the bedroom to see Mack sitting there, looking all innocent. He was far from innocent.

I went to the bathroom, grabbed the first aid kit, bringing it back into the room. I changed his dressing and clean his wounds. He hissed as I did so, "Damn it, Paige, that hurts."

"Well, you need to have them clean. If you stopped acting like a big baby, they would have gotten cleaned," I said as a matter of fact.

"I am not a baby. I prefer no one to touch me except you," he said with a smirk.

"Smartass. No, I'm still not going to do that," I told him as I finished cleaning his wounds and dressing them.

"You're no fun," he huffed.

"No, what isn't fun is the fact I found you on the floor, surrounded by blood. The fact I thought I had lost you. That's no fun," I said, trying not to let my voice crack.

I wiped my eyes as tears fell. Thinking about that night scared the hell out of me.

"Hey," he said in a severe tone. He reached up and touched my face, "I'm not going anywhere, and it will take a lot to get rid of me."

I nodded as I looked at him, "I can't lose someone else I love." At that point, my voice broke. I started crying. I had been trying to stay resilient through all this, that I finally couldn't hold back anymore. The dam burst and tears flooded as I cried.

Mack pulled me to him as I cried, and he held me. I needed him whether he knew it. My heart belonged to him, and if something happened to him, it would shatter.

"Paige, I know you're scared. Hell, I'm terrified, but I promise I'm not going anywhere," he reassured me as I held onto him.

People can say whatever they like about Mack, but the minute he comes into your life, it changes. It did for me.

Mack

After that day, I promised Paige to be on my best behavior. It was hard. Trust me, it was hard. There were times I wanted to throw stuff at Bob and the others, but I refrained.

I healed and attended physical therapy. It helped, except I noticed that I didn't have full movement of my arm or leg. I could only raise my arm so far, and I had a limp. No matter what I did, it remained the same and still frustrated me.

We finally saw a doctor and got some answers.

The two of us sat in his office as he looked through my chart and x-rays. Then he delivered the news I wasn't expecting.

"Because of the bullets used, they fragmented and caused irreparable damage," he explained.

"What does that mean, Doctor?" I asked, not feeling amused.

"It means that you will not be back to functioning completely like you were. With the damage you suffered, you lucky to be moving," the doctor said, delivering news I wasn't expecting.

"Are you telling me I can't work anymore?"

"Yes, Mack, you have limited use of your arm. Your leg has limited mobility. You suffered extensive nerve damage and blood loss from the gunshots. You're lucky to be alive," he said as I stared at him in disbelief. I refused to believe what he was saying. I got up and left with Paige chasing after me.

"Mack! Where are you going?" She yelled after me.

"To prove the schmuck wrong," I barked.

I made my way to the diner, surprising everyone, placed my apron on, and grabbed a tub. Then I went to work. I needed to prove the doctor wrong. Paige got to the diner as Bob and Miguel came out from the back.

They watched as I placed dishes in the tub and bussed tables. I went to pick up the tub of dishes, grunting, only to drop it onto the floor. Dishes went flying and breaking as people watched me. I tried to get down and clean it up, only to have difficulty doing so. I refuse to feel defeated.

Paige walked over and crouched in front of me, "Mack."

"I can do this," I said as I tried to do my job, but I was failing.

"Mack," she said as she reached for me.

I yanked my hand back and looked at her, "I refuse to believe I can't do this. I'm not the type that sits around, doing nothing. Paige, I can't give up," I said to her with a look that she knew all too well. I looked terrified.

"Babe, I know you don't want this to be a reality, but unfortunately, it is. I'm sorry," she said to me as I looked at her.

"That's it? It's over," I asked her, already knowing the answer.

"Yes," she whispered.

I sat back on the floor as Bob and Miguel cleared out the diner. I didn't need an audience. Not when I felt like an utter failure.

For once in my life, someone wrecked it. I had survived so many things, and it took one night for it all to come crashing down. I didn't know what was going to happen.