Overly Energetic

7: Cranberry Juice

The cold hospital chair stuck to Evelyn’s bare legs. The overhead air conditioning blasted above her and she shivered in her shorts and T-shirt. She could hear Allan’s parents at the hospital desk, arguing with a spindly looking man about insurance.

Gace walked over and handed her a cup of coffee she had picked up from a complimentary coffee dispenser near the waiting chairs. Her red hair was pulled into a side braid that rested over one shoulder and she looked beautiful, even in the hospital’s fluorescent lighting. Evelyn felt a pang of jealousy and took the coffee from Grace, the thin paper cup felt flimsy in her hands.

“You know you freaked me out when you called me.” Evelyn said, taking a sip of the bitter coffee and frowned at a clump of powdered creamer swirling around in her cup.

Grace took a seat next to Evleyn and leaned her head back against the grey hospital wall behind her. “I honestly thought he was run over,” she kept her gaze up towards the hospital ceiling. “I mean, he was ran over. Well, ran into anyway.”

Evleyn downed the rest of her tiny cup of coffee and crumpled the cup in her hands. Allan had been crossing the street towards Grace’s church when a car turned a corner and hit him. Apparently, the driver had been texting and didn’t notice that the walk signal was on. If the driver hadn’t slowed to turn a corner, Allan would be in the hospital for a lot more than stitches on his head right now.

Allan’s mom turned from the hospital help desk and walked towards the coffee dispenser. Her dark hair was fluffed around her shoulders and a pair of purple under eye bags hung below her blue eyes. She filled up her own tiny cup of coffee and gave a tired glance at Grace and Evelyn sitting in waiting chairs. “You girls can go in and see Allan if you want,” she said, handing them a small folded paper from her blue purse with a room number scribbled inside. “He just woke up and is pretty hopped up on pain medicine, but the doctor said he can have visitors.”

“Are you sure it’s okay?” Evelyn asked, taking the paper.

Allan’s mom nodded. “He hit his head pretty hard when he fell which is why he blacked out. He has a concussion and a few stitches but other than that, he’s fine.” She gave a nod towards her tall lanky husband still arguing at the counter. “Peter and I already talked to him and he was saying some pretty funny stuff. I wouldn’t mind taking home a bottle of whatever they put him on.” She gave a playful wink. “It would sure make getting through the work week a lot easier.”

Grace and Evelyn thanked Allan’s mom for the room number and headed toward the elevators to the second floor. The hospital was a maze of patient rooms and labs. Evelyn wondered how many patients actually filled these rooms, there seemed to be enough to house the whole down. After stopping to ask for directions twice, she and Grace finally reached Allan’s room.

The hospital room was a fairly large size with a large window on the far wall. Allan sat propped up in his bed and was sipping out of a comically large styrofoam cup with a equally large bendy straw. The loose curls that had dangled above his eyebrows were gone and his hair had been cut short, making it look more wavy than curly. Allan nodded at his friends and turned to set his cup down on a raised table beside him, revealing a patch of shaved hair and a line of stitches about half the length of a pencil.

“You guys came!” Allan’s voice sounded drawn out and tired, almost like he had been drinking.

Grace took a seat at the end of his hospital bed and fingered his thin woven sheet. “Of course we came.” Her phone dinged and she took it out from her small purse to respond.

Evelyn picked up the large stairform cup and shook the contents, curious about what was inside. “You think we would miss out on a chance to see you all hopped up on drugs?” She set the cup down and eyed Allan’s pale blue dotted hospital gown. “You really gave us a scare Al.”