Chapter Thirty-Five
Nick looked around the hospital room. He was still pretty
drowsy from the meds he had been taking for the last few
days, but it was a feeling he had been used to for most of
the summer anyway. He was hoping that the doctor would come
in this morning and tell him that he was okay to go home.
He was getting so sick of hospitals and being cooped up in a
room it was starting to make him feel crazy. It also didn’t
help that they had kept him so sedated that the only time he
got out of bed was to use the bathroom.
Nick decided that he wanted to sit in the chair
next to the bed. He was so tired of laying down that his
back was feeling sore. As he stood up, his legs started to
shake a little. Nick ignored it and sat down in the chair
and turned the television on. He got about two minutes into
the program when he felt his eyelids growing heavy again.
Nick couldn’t fight off the sleepiness and nodded off.
Jess woke up when her phone rang. It was the
hospital telling her that Nick had been approved to receive
some close family and friends for visits. It was the best
news she had heard in five days. She thanked the nurse and
wasted no time in dialing up Brian’s number. As usual, his
answering machine was on again.
Jess drummed her fingers on the bedstand as she
listened to Brian’s dull answering machine message: “Hi, you
have reached 497-6695, please leave your name and message at
the tone, thanks.”
Once again, Brian must be screening his phone
calls, Jess thought. It was not unusual for them to do so,
“Hey, wildcat, are you listening? This is Jess.” Jess
waited to see if Brian was there. There wasn’t an answer so
she quickly finished her message, “Nick can start having
visitors. Call me at 497-8681 if you get this. Bye.”
Jess then hung the phone up.
Jess jumped out of bed and went to grab a quick
shower. She left the bathroom door open in case Brian
called back. Just as she had applied shampoo, the phone
rang.
“Damn it.” Jess said as she let the answering
machine pick up the phone. She strained to listen to the
caller’s message. As she had suspected, Brian was calling
her back. She decided to call him after she got her hair
rinsed off.
Jess got out of the shower and wrapped a towel
around her body. She dailed Brian’s number and once again
listened to his boring answering machine message. Once she
asked Brian to answer the phone, he was on instantly.
“Hi Bri, I got great news!” Jess told him
excitedly.
“And what would that be?” Brian asked.
“Nick is allowed visitors today!” Jess spoke
quickly, she was so excited it was hard not to shout it.
“That’s excellent!” Brian sounded truly happy.
“Yeah, I’m getting ready to go, do you want to
meet there or do you want me to stop by and get you?” Jess
asked.
“Naw, that’s okay, I’ll see you when you get to
the hospital, it’s closer to me so I imagine I’ll see you
there in about three hours?” Brian asked.
“Well, I gotta finish my hair and getting dressed
and---”
“Okay, I’ll see you in five hours then!” Brian
interrupted.
“Hey! It won’t take me that long.” Jess laughed.
“I’ll see you there in a couple of hours, okay?”
“See you then. Bye.” Brian hung the phone up.