Chapter
12 - Hats
When
Brian woke up after a long sleep, he felt a renewed sense of hope. The
hopelessness that had pervaded his soul ever since he had woken up seemed to
have lifted, and although his usual sparkle had not yet returned, his eyes had
regained a little of their luster. Life seemed to be returning to him, little
by little. A.J.’s words stayed with him, and it was as if seeing Nick and
Kevin, and shedding his tears had cleansed him somehow. Their undecided fate
still tore at him, but knowing that A.J. and Howie were right by his side he
felt he was better able to face it. Dr. Westin was amazed at this turnaround,
but at the same time he was delighted.
When
Brian’s family arrived that morning, he was eager for their company.
“You
look a lot better than yesterday,” Harold remarked, pleased to see his brother
up and alert. He had adjusted the bed so that he was in a sitting position, and
smiled at them when they came in. Mrs. Littrell shed tears of joy when she saw
him, for it was the first time that his smile had been genuine.
“Hey
Mom,” he said, chuckling a bit as she hugged him. “I feel a lot better,” he
told his brother.
“Ready
to go out and play basketball?” Harold asked with a grin.
“Just
bring me a ball. I was telling Howie that yesterday.”
“We
hear you went up to see Kevin and Nick yesterday,” his father said.
“Yeah,
I did.”
They
watched him worriedly, looking for his reaction. Brian sighed.
“I
broke. It was really hard. But A.J. helped me realize that it was either pull
through and be strong for them and myself, or lie down and die. And seeing A.J.
and Howie in there with me, I knew that wasn’t an option. I’m not exactly where
I want to be yet,” he added. “I’m pretty sure there are tears up there yet that
are going to come out whether I like it or not. Amazingly enough I’m not dry
yet,” he said with a lopsided smile. “But I think I’ll be ok. I just couldn’t
deal with it before.”
“I’m
just glad to have the old Brian back with us,” his mother told him.
“I don’t
know if I’m all back in one piece,” he admitted. “But I’m certainly not broken
all over the floor. And actually, there are two people that swept me up that I
need to thank.”
* *
*
Dr.
Westin had sentenced A.J. to bed rest after another examination. He was unhappy
with the healing of his ribs and his knee.
“You
shouldn’t have been out of bed so much if your chest was hurting you this
badly,” he’d said disapprovingly. A.J. had just shrugged at him. “Sorry,” he
said, not sounding the least bit sorry.
“If you
want to heal properly you need to cooperate,” he said sternly.
“I’ll
tell you what,” A.J. said. “If you can get me my leopard print cowboy hat, I
will cooperate with anything you say.”
Howie
almost choked on the water he was drinking.
“What?”
Dr. Westin asked, baffled at his request.
“Your hat?”
Howie exclaimed.
“That’s
right. I want my hat.”
Howie
groaned. “Oh God, we’re in trouble now.”
“I’m
not sure I’m following you,” Dr. Westin said.
“Ask my
mother,” A.J. said. “She said she’d be here around noon. She’ll know.”
Westin
stared at him for a moment, and then just shook his head. “I don’t believe
this. It had to be the Backstreet Boys,” he muttered as he exited the room.
Howie
burst out laughing after his departure, and then clutched his rib cage while
making a face. “Ow!” he grimaced. “I cannot believe you!” he said, turning to
A.J, who saw nothing unusual about his request.
“I
haven’t been able to do my hair or dress in any of my clothes in over a week
now. I’m tired of being a patient on their terms,” he said simply. “I’m stuck
in these damn hospital gowns, I’ve got more injuries than I can count, several
of which have messed with my tattoos, which needless to say really pisses me
off, and I can’t even walk. I want something to be my way.”
“Whatever
you say, A.J,” Howie said, deciding not to argue with him.
After
that, A.J. decided to take another nap. Howie picked up a magazine to pass the
time. He was surprised to see a picture of themselves on the cover. It hurt a
little to see Nick and Kevin’s smiling faces. It was one of their “happy”
photos where all five of them were grinning.
“Man,
we are all over the news!” he said to himself as he browsed a few of the other
magazines in the stack beside his bed. He couldn’t believe some of the
outrageous stories that had been printed. “I have got to have that press
conference and clear up some of this nonsense,” he muttered, disgusted. He
abandoned the magazines and picked up a book. After awhile, he’d had enough of
that too. I’m so sick of doing nothing! he thought to himself. “Maybe
they will let me go up to see Nick and Kevin again,” he wondered aloud.
“Mind
if I come with you?” a voice interrupted him. He looked up quickly to see Brian
in his doorway, accompanied by Harold pushing his wheelchair.
“Brian!
Wow, I wasn’t expecting to see you!” he said happily. “Damn, you look a lot
better than yesterday.”
“Thanks,”
he said, flashing a smile as he lowered his eyes, embarrassed. “I feel a lot
better.” He hesitated, and looked down at his hands. “I’m not allowed to stay here too long, but I wanted to tell you
and A.J. thank you.”
“B-Rok,
you say it yourself. We are like a family. And we are always going to be there
for each other. You don’t have to thank anyone.”
“Yes, I
do. I should have been there for the two of you, and I wasn’t. All I could
think about was myself. I’m sorry.”
“Brian,
look at me,” Howie ordered. “You were thinking of Nick and Kevin. That’s who
you were thinking about. Don’t talk nonsense.”
“Like I
said before, I can’t argue with you Howie,” Brian said, although he still
wasn’t convinced. He decided to change the subject. “I guess A.J. is snoozing,”
he said, nodding toward A.J.’s bed.
“Yeah,”
Howie chuckled. “He fell asleep after telling Dr. Westin that unless he got his
leopard print cowboy hat he was going to quit being a good patient.”
“He what?”
“That’s
what I said. I don’t know about you, but I think he’s slept long enough.”
“What
are you proposing?”
“You
are the king of practical jokes, what do you suggest?”
Brian
smiled. “Well, I’ve got plenty, but I think he needs to heal a little more
first.” He thought for a moment. “How
about this,” he said, and cleared his throat.
“Sometimes
I wish I could, turn back time
Impossible
as it may seem
But
I wish I could, so bad, baby
Quit
playing games with my heart,”
Howie
was grinning, and eagerly joined in.
“Quit
playing games with my heart,”
“With
my heart,”
“Before
you tear us apart,”
“My
heart,”
“Quit
playing games with my heart,”
“I
should have known from the start,”
“You
know you gotta stop,”
“From
my heart,”
“You’re
tearing us apart,”
“Quit
playing games with my heart,”
Howie
yelped as A.J.’s pillow smacked him in the head.
“Oh
baby, baby, the sleep that I had was so good,” A.J. growled along with the
song. “And that really hurt my shoulder,” he complained, rubbing it.
“God that sounded awful.” He snickered, and was thrilled when Brian joined in.
Any irritation at being woken up vanished at the sight of Brian up and
cheerful.
“You
do,” Brian said with a smile. “I came to say thank you.”
“And
since you have,” Harold said, “You are now going back to your room, or Mom will
have my head.”
“What,”
A.J. said with a lazy grin. “You couldn’t have waited until a reasonable hour
of the afternoon to wake me up? It’s not even noon yet!”
Brian
laughed. And honest to goodness laugh. Howie grinned in response and thwacked
his stolen pillow against A.J.’s bed. “Go back to sleep Bone.”
“Make
up your mind, will you? Geez,” he grumbled. “Give me back my pillow.”
Howie
handed him the pillow. He would have thrown it, but was afraid that he would
hurt him. Harold pushed Brian out of the room and back into the hall. A nurse
walked by and grinned at him.
“If
y’all keep singing like that, you are going to alert the fans to where you
are,” she told him.
“Let them
hear,” Brian said, waving his arm weakly. His excitement was starting to catch
up to him, and he felt a little woozy. “I felt like doing some caterwauling.”
“I
could tell.”
“Seriously.
Let me music heal your soul, man. Woman,” he corrected hastily. Harold made as
if to bat the back of his head.
“You
touch me and I’ll have every teenage girl in this city on your ass,” Brian
warned with a drowsy smile.
“You’re
half asleep. You’d better stop talking before you hurt yourself.”
“Too
late.”
* * *
“Well
Brian is a relief,” A.J. said later after he’d had a satisfactory nap.
“What
do you mean?” Howie asked distractedly. He was reading from yet another of the
piles of get well wishes that had come from the fans.
“Well,
you saw him earlier. Hell, he started singing,”
“We
sang yesterday too,” Howie pointed out.
A.J.’s face sobered.
“That
was different,” he said quietly.
“Yeah,
I guess it was.” He was quiet for a moment.
“I guess seeing them and all did him a lot of good. I hoped it would.”
“Well,
it is a relief. He was really starting to worry me.”
“Me
too,” Howie admitted. “Oh,” he remembered suddenly, “Your mom said that she’s
taken care of your hat, and it will be here soon.”
A.J.
looked pleased. “Leave it to my mother. She can work miracles.”
“Can
she work one on Kevin and Nick?” Howie asked without thinking. A.J. stared at
him.
“Sorry,”
he said hastily. “I shouldn’t have said that. I wasn’t thinking.”
“You’re
forgiven, but only because I’m getting my hat.”