That Pivotal Moment

Chapter 7

The Courtship

Gabby came to the hospital five times that week. She never said a single word to me while she was here. She would come in, put her headphones on, and either read or do homework. Whenever I tried to get her attention, she would pretend to not even hear me. Occasionally, when she noticed I was out of JELL-O, she would leave and return with a new one. Sure, she threw it at me every time, but it was progress.

I was growing irritated about being stuck in bed. My surgery had been very successful and since it was healing nicely, they took my cast off yesterday and had me in a brace. I still wasn't allowed to get up, but I was getting incredibly restless. I needed to get out. To do something. I threw the blankets off me and sat up slowly. Taking a deep breath, I turned to the side of the bed.

"What the hell are you doing?" She asked.

I looked up at her. "Oh, you can speak? I thought you went mute."

She ignored my sarcasm. "You can't get up. The doctor said you have one more week before you can start rehabilitation."

"Yeah, well I'm going crazy in this bed. I need air." I tried to stand and nearly fell before she jumped from her seat and caught me by my shoulders.

"I told you not to get up," she snidely stated.

I leaned against her as I tried to catch my breath. The pain was excruciating. But I had to get out of this room.

She tried to lay me back down and I refused and pleaded, "Please, Gabby. I need air. I need to get out of this bed. Just for a little while."

She gave me a look before letting out a sigh. "Fine. Five minutes."

She helped me walk towards the door and I saw her grab the headphones that she took out of her ears when she came to assist me. Damn those things. I hated them. She put them in her ears, and we continued out of the room. We moved incredibly slow, and it hurt like hell, but it felt better than staying in that bed. Up ahead I saw a pitcher of water on a cart outside of a room. When we got next to it, I reached and ripped her headphones out of her ears and threw them in the water.

Her response was just what I thought it would be. "What the hell, Hayden? I was using those!"

I didn't want to mention the fact that that was the first time she said my name. And it sounded damn good coming out of her mouth. Instead I grunted from the pain as we continued walking. "I hate those fucking things. I can't talk to you when you have them on."

"Talking was never a part of the deal. You asked me to come here and sit."

I shrugged and said, "Now, the deal's changed. I want to talk to you." I could tell she was pissed off. She was basically fuming. "Gabby, please. Why do you have such a problem talking to me?"

Her response was immediate and almost robotic, like she's rehearsed it. "I don't like you."

I scoffed. "Really? It didn't seem like that when you kissed me at the bonfire."

She stopped moving and I felt her body stiffen. Fuck. "Gabby?"

"Nurse? Can you please take this man back to his room? A family emergency just came up."

The nurse Gabby spoke to came over right away. Gabby helped the nurse take over with assisting me before heading back to the room to most likely get her stuff. "Gabby, wait."

She didn't. When the nurse got me back to my room, Gabby and her stuff was gone. The nurse helped me back in the bed and the doctor walked in. "Hayden, I told you not to get up yet. You need to stay off it until your rehab."