Laced • Luke Dunphy

V

After getting Jamie to Mitch and Cam's house, which was closest to the park, they drove us all to the local hospital. Jamie fell asleep in the car (or fainted, I'm not sure) and Cam carried her to the emergency care, where nurses took her away on a bed.

Cam and Mitch told them that they're her parents, for simplicity purposes, so they got to sit next to her in her room while Manny and I had to wait outside. I'm practically asleep when Mitch emerges from the room with a sad smile on his face.

"It's just a fracture, she'll be fine," he tells us and I let out a breathe I didn't know I was holding in, "She has to change the bandages on her face everyday for a few weeks. She'll be living with us so we can help her."

"Is she awake?" Manny asks hopefully. Uncle Mitch nods and opens the door for us to enter. Jamie smiles wonkily, the left side of her lips trying not to move to much as I assume she's in pain.

"Wow," I chuckle, sitting next to Uncle Cam, "You're looking real beat up."

"Thanks," she says, rolling her eyes. It's good to see she's still the same. She looks pretty cool with her cotton swabbed face and bandaged arm.

The five of us sit and talk for a while, mostly Manny and I asking questions and mostly Mitch and Cam answering them. After a while, a doctor comes in and looks at the clipboard hanging on the end of the bed.

"You might want to use this cream once you get out of the cast," He tells Jamie, placing a metal tube on the bedside table, "It helps with the nasty scrapes on your arm." He flashes us a big smile before looking at his own clipboard and letting us know we can leave whenever we're ready. Jamie jumps up and grabs the cream as soon as the doctor leaves.

"Let's go," she says, messily trying to open the door.

"Woah, you might wanna slow down," Cam says, grabbing her shoulder. She frowns and he opens the door for her.

Manny, Jamie and I head to the car as Cam and Mitch stay at the front desk, getting some paper work done. We stand outside the car, waiting patiently for my uncles to come open it for us. Manny gets dropped off first and Jamie doesn't even need to get out of the car for Gloria to see something is wrong, immediately asking if we would like to come inside and have some coffee.

Jamie politely declined for all of us, telling Gloria that she's quite tired after the day she's had. Gloria nods frantically and tells her that she's always there if ever she need something, to which Jamie thanks her and we leave.

When I'm dropped off, she gives me half a hug and I smile into her neck. She always makes me feel so safe, yet here she is, all scratched up because of me being an idiot, flirting with other girls instead of simply asking her how she feels.

I watch as the car leaves and I see Jamie's figure waving thought the back window. I wave back before going inside.

"Luke, honey, is that you?" I hear my mom's voice coming from the kitchen. I answer with a loud yes and she stomps over to me.

"Where have you been?" She asks, hands on her hips (Mrs. Weasley moment). I quickly start explaining everything that happened to Jamie and she gasps.

"Is she okay?"

"Is who okay?" Dad asks, tripping over the broken step as he comes down the stairs. Mom tells him the short version of the story and he gasps as well.

"Is she okay?" Mom asks again, dad staring eagerly at me over her shoulder.

"Of course. We brought her to Mitch and Cam's, who then drove us to the hospital, where they bandaged her up. They decided she'd stay with them for a while until she heals, because she's somewhat handicapped now, and needs help changing the bandages."

"We should go visit them tomorrow, see how she is," Dad suggests and mom turns to look at him, nodding. I agree and go up to my room.

I'm such an idiot. Now that I think about it, Uncle Mitch or Uncle Cam could've probably helped me sort my feelings if I'd talked to them, but now she's living with them and it would be a bit risky to talk to them with her there.

•

Jamie's pov

I wake up to Larry kneading my stomach. I gently push him off and sit up, holding my aching head. I feel something unnaturally soft on my cheek so I go to the toilet.

In the mirror, I see myself, except I'm missing half of my face under a big cotton bandage and my arm is in a cast. For a spilt second, I've forgotten what happened, but it suddenly all comes rushing back to me.

I'm glad Luke's uncles thought it would be a good idea to take me in. I like them and living alone in a big house can get lonely. No matter how much time I spend away from my home, I always come back and every night, every morning haunts me.

I go back to the couch, where Larry is patiently waiting to snuggle with me.

"Goodnight," I say, giving him a small pat on the head, and he mews back.