There's A First Time For Everything

Waves

Roland woke in the morning to another missed message. This time it was from Charlton.

9:04 PM 

"Curt took a fall while running. He's at the hospital now getting patched up."

Roland felt a wave of panic. He immediately texted Charlton back.

"God, sorry. Just saw this. How is he?"

A couple of minutes later, Charlton replied.

"He's fine. We're at the studio now."

Roland sighed with relief. Curt was okay. Still, he had last night's uneasy feeling in his stomach. He felt he needed to go and see his friend, so he sent a quick text to Stephen and started getting dressed.

"Hi, darling. Can we please push the lunch back by an hour? Something's happened to Curt and I just want to check on him. I'm sorry."

Stephen replied minutes later.

"Hey you. Sure, no problem. Hope everything's OK."

Roland finished getting ready and headed out the door.

---------------------------

When he arrived at the studio, the two men were already outside, talking near the entrance. Curt had a large bandage on the upper right side of his forehead. Roland got out of the car and rushed over to him.

"Curt, are you alright?" he asked, placing his hands on his shoulders.

"Good as ever," Curt smiled, halfheartedly.

"For fuck's sake, what happened?"

"Roadrunner hit a bump."

Roland eyed him up and down, observing the smaller bandages on his forearms.

"You scared the shit out of me... I'm sorry I didn't come around sooner. I slept like a log last night."

Curt sighed.

"I'm fine, Ro. Really. It's just a few scrapes. I went with the family and was in and out pretty quick."

"I didn't even have time to visit before they were done," Charlton added. "He's lucky it wasn't much worse."

Roland gazed at Curt, thoughtfully. His friend seemed...dejected. He leaned in and planted a kiss on his forehead.

"Be more careful, okay?"

"I will," Curt replied. "I'm gonna head home, now. See you guys later."

Curt got into his car and drove off.

For a moment, Roland and Charlton were silent. Then Charlton spoke.

"You look like you're in worse shape than him. Everything okay?"

Roland looked into Charlton's eyes, benevolent and knowing. Of course he would know about everything. Curt always confided in him, and rightfully so.

"I don't want to hurt him, Charlton."

"I know," Charlton responded softly.

"I just don't know what to do. I feel like I've hurt him already. You saw how down he was."

"He's just reflecting on things," Charlton replied. "I think you should take some time for yourself to do the same."

Roland sighed.

"But Charlton, Stephen... He's here in L.A. He arrived a couple nights ago. He didn't tell me he was coming. Curt can't find out. Stephen can't find out. Just...ugh!"