Emerald Eyes

48 - Late Night Talks

I put my phone back into my backpack and turned to Anna: "I'm sorry, but can we hurry a bit? Looks like I need to go to the hospital later this evening. Martijn has apparently torn all his ligaments in his ankle and they need to fix that in a surgery..." "Of course we can.", Anna said and gave me a hug, "Don't worry, he'll be alright. He's a fighter." "Thanks girl, I appreciate it!", I said and we both grabbed something to eat before we sat down at a table by the windows. As we finished eating, I said: "Anna? I hope you don't mind too much that I'm doing so much with Martijn these days. I really don't want you to feel left out..." "Hey sweetie, don't worry. I don't feel left out at all and I can see how happy he makes you feel. You're basically smiling 24/7 when you are around him. What could a girl want more for her best friend than that? You should really enjoy it to the fullest.", she calmed me down. "Honestly, thank you so much. You really are the best.", I smiled. "Now go and grab your car keys so you can go pick up Martijn's stuff. And let him know I said get well soon, okay?", she said. "Of course, I will! See you tomorrow Anna!", I answered and hugged her goodbye. A few minutes later I arrived at Martijn's house and parked my car outside. As I entered the lobby, I greeted Jacob at the reception and then quickly passed by towards the elevators. It felt weird entering his apartment knowing he wouldn't be there waiting for me, but I quickly shook off the thoughts and got to work. I grabbed a bag and gathered a few important items in it. Then I opened his wardrobe and had a look for some clothes I knew he found comfortable to wear. Finally I grabbed his producer laptop from his studio upstairs, as well as his favorite pair of headphones, because the way I knew him these would be the first things he'd ask for in the hospital. I also picked up his phone and the charger for it from the kitchen table where he had left it in the morning. All set, I made my way back to the car and after a short while of driving, I arrived to the hospital. Watse was waiting for me at the main entrance: "Hey Line, how are you?" "Hey Watse. I'm alright, but how's Martijn? And how are you? Must be pretty exhausting to be here all day.", I asked. "Oh yeah it sure is! But I'm fine, don't worry. Marty is pretty much exhausted and they have the surgery scheduled for him for tomorrow morning. He literally managed to tear all his ligaments in his ankle. Nobody knows how he did that haha.", Watse explained. He then offered to help me with Martijn's bag and lead me to Martijn's hospital room. Before he knocked on the door, he said: "Okay, be prepared that he might not be in the very best mood right now. But I'm sure he will be happy to see you, so thank you for coming here so quickly!" "Of course. It's the least I could do.", I answered and Watse knocked on the door. We entered the room to find Martijn in one of these typical hospital beds staring out of the window. He didn't even look up to see who was entering his room. Watse stayed behind a little, so I walked over to Martijn's bed: "Honey, hey, it's me.", I said and placed a kiss into his messy hair, before I sat down on the chair next to his bed. He gave me an exhausted smile and said: "It's good to see you, baby." "How are you feeling?", I asked. "The ankle is alright.", he explained, "But to be honest, it sucks that I have to stop playing shows in the middle of the summer. I wish I had just taken a little more care during the Vegas show so I wouldn't have..." "Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. You can't change that anymore. And your health is most important now!", I stopped him. "I know, but I just...", Martijn continued, but this time Watse interrupted him: "Martijn, I have told you this a million times today, we all know how much you love doing shows and how you never want to disappoint. But with taking care of yourself, you are not disappointing people. You are actually doing them a favor, because nobody wants to see you on stage doing a mediocre show because you didn't let your ankle heal properly. It's your only responsibility at the moment to make sure everything heals and that you do what the doctors advise you to do. Understood?" Martijn rolled his eyes and said: "Yes, understood." "Good.", Watse remarked, "Then I am leaving you two alone for today. I'll see you again tomorrow morning before the surgery ?" Martijn nodded his head and said: "Sorry I'm being an annoying prick right now, but it all just fucks with my head. Thanks for being here Watse, I'll see you tomorrow!" Then Watse left the room and it was just Martijn and I left, as he luckily had been assigned a single room. I stood up to grab the bag I had brought for Martijn and then sat down on his bed next to him: "I brought you some stuff from home. Clothes, your phone and the charger. Oh and I also brought your producer laptop and some headphones. I reckoned you might want to have them here." Martijn let his head rest on the side of my body and said: "Thank you baby. You just know me so well." I gave him a questioning look and asked: "Are you really doing alright? You can be honest now that we're alone." Martijn sighed: "Well yeah, as I said earlier, it just messes with my head so much that I probably won't be able to play shows for at least six weeks. You know how much I need that experience of being on a stage and performing and how my perfectionism makes me think I disappoint people if I don't deliver something extraordinary. But other than that, I'm also quite scared for the surgery to be honest. I mean I know it's not that big of a deal and I am confident that these doctors know their craft, but still... I mean I told you back in Vegas how much I hate being in hospitals, it just freaks me out. Places like this are just filled with so much negativity and pain... I just..." "Shhhh... it's alright honey. It's only natural to be scared in such a scenario. But your whole team is there for you, your parents will be there and me too of course. We're all making sure you don't feel alone or anything. And you have to look at it the other way round: The doctors will take care of you so that this damn pain in your ankle will finally get better and they will make sure you can be back up on stage as soon as possible. Nobody's trying to hurt you or slow that process down.", I explained. Martijn squeezed my hand and finally gave me a little smile: "I don't even know what I would do without you. How can you be so freaking calm in a situation like this? That's so contagious. I love you, baby." "I'm not calm, I hate hospitals just as much as you do, as you can probably imagine. But seeing you hurt is even worse, so I guess some part of me switches to this sunny attitude and it's contagious for me as well. So don't you dare and do stupid shit, okay? I love you way too much for that.", I said. "Promise.", he said. We talked for a little while longer, before Martijn fell asleep in my arms. I kissed him good night and on my way back to the dorms, I wrote him a text that I'd be there in the morning before he needed to prepare for the surgery. As I arrived to the dorms, I hopped into my own bed as quickly as I could, so I would be rested for the next day.