"That's good Ali, just do one more," the nurse rooted Ali on as she worked on one of the weight machines to build up her leg again. "I..I..I can't." Ali cried, sweat dripping off her forehead. "Yes you can, just one more, and you can have a break," the nurse coaxed. Ali managed to do one more, and the nurse let her rest for a few minutes. She limped over to a bench with her crutches and sat down and wiped her forehead.
Justin came up behind her and covered her eyes, “Guess who?!" he said happily. "Justin, don't," Ali replied angrily. "What's wrong?" Justin asked, worried. "It hurts, Justin! My knee hurts like hell and they're working me like crazy! I can't take this, I'm going back to Illinois!" she cried breaking down into tears. Justin took Ali in his arms and let her cry. "I know it hurts Ali, but it's all a part of getting better," Justin replied. "No, you don't know, Justin! You don't know how bad this hurts, don't say you do!" Ali yelled angrily again. Justin sighed in anger at himself, “I know I don't, I'm sorry Ali. Do you want me to leave?" he asked. "Yeah, I gotta get back to work anyway," she said. "Okay, I'll be back to pick you up later, okay?" he asked. "Yeah," she said, not even looking him in the eye. "Bye," he said turning her around and kissing her on the cheek. "Yeah, bye," she said limping away.
"God, why am I such an idiot? Why do I say I know how much it hurts? That's the last thing I should say," Justin said angrily to himself on his way home. He'd noticed how cranky Ali had been since she got to Orlando. He figured she was just homesick, or still felt guilty about leaving when her parents didn't want her to. He decided to try and talk to her about it later, when she cooled off some.
"Hey, where's Ali? I haven't seen her since I brought her home," Justin asked his mom later that night. "I think JC took her somewhere," Lynn answered looking up from the newspaper she was reading. "Okay," Justin replied. He walked to the living room to see JC watching tv. "Hey, have you seen Ali?" Justin asked him. "Yeah, she had me drop her off at the beach about a half hour ago. She took my cell phone, and she's gonna call when she wants me to come get her," JC replied. "Oh, okay," Justin said heading for the door, “I'll be back later."
*Chapter 20*
*Previous*
*Back to Main Page*