Discharged

A Chapter by Zoey Balderston

Chapter 30 of Banished for Love

I drift out of sleep and stretch my arms over my head with a tired groan. I hear Brittney’s matching groan from the other half of the sectional couch.

“Morning,” I say to her, standing and stretching out the rest of my body.

“Morning,” she responds around a large yawn. "Or afternoon I guess, considering it's 2 PM."

“Clearly we were up late. You hungry?” I ask, padding into the kitchen.

“Is that a joke? You know we don’t get hungry,” she replies, slipping onto one of the bar stools lining the counter.

“You know what I mean. Do you want something tasty in your mouth?” I rephrase the question. She shrugs noncommittally. I roll my eyes and turn to the fridge, taking out milk, butter, eggs, flour; all the ingredients needed to make crepes. Brittney watches silently as I combine the ingredients in a mixing bowl and ladle small circles of it into a frying pan. In no time at all, I have a nice stack of crepes. I pull out strawberries and whip cream for us to fill them with. Brittney eyes her first crepe skeptically.

“Just eat it. It won’t bite,” I tease, waving my fork at her. She daintily places the first forkful in her mouth, chewing slowly. Clearly she likes what she tastes because she finishes off the rest of her crepes with more vigor.

My cell phone’s muffled ringing interrupts our eating and I hop up to dig it out of the couch cushions.

“Hello?” I inquire, pressing the phone to my ear.

“Kelsey?” Jeremy’s voice on the other end sounds tired and peeved.

“Jeremy! How are you? Are you feeling better? I'm sorry I didn't call sooner. Did they get your ribs fixed? When are they releasing you?” I pause to breathe and Jeremy chuckles.

“Well if you’d take enough of a pause for me to answer.” I press my lips together and wait for his answers. “I do feel better, still very sore. This hospital food sucks and if one more nurse asks me if I need anything I am going to explode. They said I can go home any time now. Any chance you want to come get me?” I hear a muffled voice in the background. “No, I’m still fine thanks,” Jeremy replies testily to what I assume is another nurse asking if he needed anything. “And quickly?”

“Of course, let me just change out of my jammies and we’ll be right over,” I reply, motioning to Brittney to get dressed.

“We?” Jeremy inquires cautiously.

“Well,” I fiddle with the shirt in my hand. “Brittney spent the night.” Jeremy’s stunned silence is thick with questions. “See you soon!” I say and hang up before he can ask any of them.

“Do you want to tag along to the hospital with me to get Jeremy?” I ask Brittney, bagging up the leftover crepes and shoving everything in the fridge.

“Actually, I think I’ll just head home. I don’t want to intrude on his homecoming. Besides, we both know he doesn’t like me much and wouldn’t be too thrilled if I came with,” she replies, gathering her things.

“Are you sure?” I ask, turning to her.

“Yeah, you go ahead. I’ll catch up with you later. Tell Jeremy I say hi,” she says, walking to the front door. I wave goodbye and sprint upstairs to change before heading out to Jeremy’s car. I speed along the road and pull into the hospital parking lot. The glass doors glide open smoothly as I approach them. The same girl I had seen last night sits behind the desk, looking extremely burnt out at this point. She looks up when the doors open, recognition flashing in her tired eyes.

“Here to discharge your boyfriend?” she asks, rifling through some paperwork on her desk. I nod and sign the discharge form she sets in front of me.

“Thank you very much, and he is in the same room he was in last night, 240,” she says, filing the form away.

“Thank you,” I smile at her and head down the hall.

“Knock knock,” I say as I walk in the door. Jeremy is out of the hospital gown and back in his normal clothes. He looks up at me with relief from his spot on the bed.

“About time,” he smiles, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. As he shifts his weight to stand up, his torso jerks and he hisses in pain. I rush to his side to help him to his feet.

“Are you okay?” I ask, concerned.

Jeremy gives me a sour look. “Broken ribs tend to be sore when moving around.”

I wince. “I’m sorry. I’m glad you’re feeling better, you know I just worry about you.” I put the arm on his good side over my shoulder and gingerly help him up.

“Let’s just hurry and get me home before another nurse asks…” Jeremy is cut off.

“Do you kids need anything?” a nurse interrupts from the doorway. I suppress a smile and try to smother my giggles.

“No, we’re just leaving,” I say, tugging Jeremy out of the room before he has a chance to explode at the poor woman.

“Where is Brittney?” Jeremy asks, realizing that I am alone to pick him up. “I thought you said she was with you.”

“She decided to go home, wanted to give us our space.” I try to ignore how relieved he looks upon hearing this.

“So, did you throttle Devin for me while I was incapacitated? Or is that something I have to add to my to-do list?” Jeremy asks as we make our way out to the parking lot.

“Oh don’t worry, it’s already at the top of mine,” I respond, helping him into his car.

“Good,” he responds, sucking in air as he twists to put his seatbelt on.

I hop in the car and drive as gently as I can toward Jeremy’s house. Moments before we arrive, Jeremy lets out a huge yawn.

“Sounds like you could use a nap,” I say, swinging into the garage.

“I couldn’t possibly nap with you awake,” he replies, unbuckling and exiting the car.

“Is that an invitation?” I respond flirtatiously, turning to him and batting my eyelashes.

Jeremy spreads his arms out in front of him and grins. “RSVP right here.”

I giggle and step into his arms, hugging him gingerly. “I’m so happy you’re alright,” I murmur, nuzzling his chest.

“Hey now,” he responds, pulling back to meet my eyes. “I’m one tough cookie,” he says jokingly.

“I know you are,” I reply, pulling him back into me. “You just seem to get into a lot of trouble over me.”

“There’s no one I’d rather get into trouble for,” Jeremy takes my hand firmly in his own and leads me into the house, kicking our shoes off by the back door.

“Still,” I say as we hike up the stairs. “It seems to happen an awful lot.” I look up into his absurdly understanding eyes.

“What can I say,” he shrugs, pulling me down to lay beside him in his bed. “You’re a girl worth fighting for.”

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