apologies // hemmings

prologue

Alexis sat up in the hospital bed, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings. She had been doing a remarkable job of staying out of the hospital ever since she had moved to Florida a little more than two years prior. But to no avail, there she was, surrounded by the medical equipment that she had grown to despise over the past few years.

A knock sounded on the door, signaling a nurse or doctor was coming in. She looked up from her hands and saw a young, perky nurse stumble through the door with her cart which held a computer, the stand on the bottom taking shape of an elephant's face - a tacky children's hospital decoration, no doubt.

"Oh, good, you're awake!" The cheerful nurse exclaimed, already making Alexis roll her eyes - probably setting a new record of how fast she had become annoyed. "I'm Kayley, your PCA for the day," That explained why she had looked so young, student nurses are always overly cheerful. She grabbed the blood pressure cuff and motioned for Alexis to lift her arm. "How are you feeling?" Kayley asked.

I'm in the hospital how the hell do you think I'm feeling? Alexis thought, but instead answered with a simple, "tired."

Kayley nodded and lifted the thermometer to Alexis' head, and the blood pressure monitor beeped. They were good at multitasking, nurses. If Alexis were one - which she never would be considering she didn't have the patience to be around the kids at school, much less needy sick people - she would never want to be in a room with a sick child for too long. Kayley jotted down Alexis' vital signs before quickly running through the procedure of giving Alexis her meds, then checking her IV fluids to make sure everything was set.

"Do you need anything else, sweetheart?" Alexis simply shook her head before mumbling a quick "thanks." as Kayley ungracefully dragged the computer cart out of the room, leaving her in complete silence for approximately 40 seconds.

There was no such thing as quiet in a hospital.

"Alex!" The door swung open as her best friend, Luke barged through the door. Shit. Anyone who would've seen the boy would've never guessed he was angry; despite the lip ring and dark clothes, he had had the softest blue eyes and his pout resembled one of a child, making it nearly impossible to be angry with him. But Alexis knew. She knew he was angry and she could see it in his eyes and well, why wouldn't he be angry? She had been keeping an enormously important secret from him during the course of their entire friendship.

Luke looked more hurt than angry as he mumbled, "How could you?" his voice cracked.

Alexis knew this would be hard, but she didn't expect him to react so hastily. Anyone who knew of her disease, or even had it would know how incredibly embarrassing it is and she wasn't going to just slip it into a casual conversation. "Hey, Luke, just letting you know I have a chronic disease that makes me shit," Yeah, that would go over well.

Alexis sighed, "Luke, look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I had my reasons!" She argued.

Luke shook his head, "I don't want your apologies, Alex. I'm not mad that you didn't tell me; I'm disappointed that you didn't trust me enough."

~~

hi this is confusing but it'll make sense i promise i'm really excited ok bye