Road Doc
Chapter 26
When Theresa walked through the doors of University Medical Center she felt as if she had never left. After spending her residency there, the smells, the sounds, the
simple feeling of the place was a memory that was renewed in an instant.
The waiting area of the emergency room was packed with people, some obviously
waiting to be seen by physicians, others obviously hoping to catch a glimpse of Nick or any of the other Backstreet Boys that might show up.
Walking up to the reception area, Theresa saw Dave, her longtime friend and now head of emergency medicine at the hospital. She waved her arms to catch his attention and he immediately ran over to her and gave her a big hug.
“Where is he?” Theresa asked, pulling away.
“We’ve got him down in room two. Come on, I’ll take you down there. We had to get extra security in, this place is a zoo tonight” Dave led her down a wide hallway and into a large examining room.
A group of nurses and doctors surrounded the table on which Nick was lying. Theresa made eye contact with Dr. Autumn Phillips, whom she had known during her residency. Dr. Robbins gave a few orders and then walked over to where Dave and Theresa were standing.
“Good to see you Theresa” she said, holding out her hand to shake Theresa’s. “I hear this is a patient of yours”
“Yes he is” Theresa said. “What’s going on? What happened?”
“From what the police are telling us he was attacked outside of a bar” Dr. Phillilps said, nodding in the direction of several large uniformed police officers.
“What are his injuries?” Theresa asked, moving to get a better look at what the medical team was doing to Nick.
“Possible fractured clavicle, probably some fractured ribs, lots of abrasions and a few lacerations to his face and scalp. We’ll do a few x-rays to check for any internal injuries, but probably won’t find any” Phillips said quietly.
“Can I talk to him?” Theresa asked. Dr. Phillips nodded and Theresa made her way
through the doctors and nurses.
“Nick” she said, standing above his head, looking down at him. “I’m here”
Nick opened his eyes and tried to speak, but an oxygen mask over his face made it difficult to understand what he was saying. Theresa asked one of the nurses to remove the mask and Nick began to cry before he could start to say anything.
“Nick” Theresa said, stroking his hair. “It’s okay. You’re going to be just fine.”
“No I’m not” Nick snapped. “This is going to be everywhere. Everybody and their
fucking dog is going to hear about this. I’m fucked. I am totally fucked.”
“Nick, look at me. Tell me what happened.”
The nurses and doctors were slowly dispersing, as Nick was deemed stable and the x-rays had been taken. Dr. Phillips told two remaining nurses to leave and left Theresa and Nick alone.
“I went out. God, can’t they take this fucking neck thing off of me?” he said, pulling at the bulky collar at his neck.
“Not until they get the x-rays back. Now tell me what happened” Theresa said, gently pulling his hands away from the collar and laying them on his chest.
Nick closed his eyes and tears rolled down the sides of his face.
“I went out with this guy I met. We met at the casino. He said he was a fan.”
“Okay. Go on” Theresa said, continuing to stroke his hair.
“We talked for a little bit and he asked if I wanted to go have some fun...you know....he was kind of flirting and shit so I said sure.” Nick started to sob.
“Shhh....don’t cry. It’s okay”
“He said he knew a place where guys like us could go and hang out and have a little fun so I’m figuring what the hell, he’s good looking and obviously gay or he wouldn’t be touching my arm the way he was and shit. So I told Billy to get us a cab, that we were going out and then told him not to wait up, that I didn’t need him anymore tonight.”
“The cab dropped us off at some club but we didn’t go in. He told me that the place we were going to was a block down and that we could just walk the rest of the way so the cab driver wouldn’t know we were going to a gay club. I thought that was a pretty good idea because the last thing I need is for rumors to get started and shit.”
“So we’re across the street from this club and he points to it and says there, that’s where we’re going. There were a bunch of guys hanging out outside, some of them dressed up in stupid leather outfits....so obviously gay it made me kind of scared to go in. I figured what the fuck and started to walk across the street when he tells me to wait, and he pulls me into an alley.”
Nick stopped talking while a nurse came in and took his blood pressure and checked to make sure he didn’t need anything. Theresa studied Nick’s face. He had a small cut just below his right eye that they had butterflied and his nose and both eyes were bruised.
“So he asks me if I want to kiss him and he’s leaning up against this building in the alley and I wanted to so I told him yes. He asked me if I...” Nick broke down and cried again.
Theresa could tell that this was difficult for him to talk about, but she knew that he had felt comfortable enough with her to confide in her before. She only hoped that anyone else who heard his story would be as understanding as she was.
Dr. Phillips came in with several sets of x-rays and pulled up a stool next to Nick.
“Looks like you’re going to be okay Nick” she said smiling. “Nothing is broken. You’ve got a bunch of bruised ribs and a couple of cuts that weren't really bad enough for stictches, but other than that you’re fine.”
“Take this off me please” Nick said, again pulling at the collar around his neck. Theresa helped him sit up and adjusted the bed so that he’d be more comfortable. She took off the neck brace and cleaned up the dried blood that had run beneath it.
“I’m going to write you out a prescription for some pain medication because you’re going to feel like you’ve been hit by a Mac truck for a few days.” Dr. Phillips said, handing Theresa the prescription. “I’ll have Dr. Franklin here take over from there and keep an eye on you. Deal?”
Nick nodded, as did Theresa and Dr. Phillips left saying she’d send in a nurse with
discharge papers and follow-up instructions.
“Okay Nick” Theresa said, sitting down on the stool next to Nick. “Go ahead and finish telling me what happened.”
Nick leaned closer to Theresa and spoke softly.
“He asked me if I wanted to....you know....get him off. I was getting turned on because I’ve never done anything dangerous, you know? So I told him yes and started to lean in to kiss him when I got hit from behind. I remember him telling me to take my faggot ass and my faggot boy band friends back to wherever it was we came from and I remember him kicking me in the ribs. But that’s all I can remember until I got here.”
“Shit Doc, what am I going to do?” Nick said, desperation filling his voice. “What are people gonna say when they find out I got the shit beat out of me in an alley behind some gay bar?”
“Let’s not worry about that right now Nick” Theresa said, taking his hand in hers. “Let’s just get you back to the hotel. We’ll call Marty, he’ll know what to do”
“I can’t tell Marty I’m gay!” Nick shouted, then whispered “Jesus, Theresa! I’m not ready for this! I can’t do this right now. Things are going to good for us. I can’t risk having this blow up right now. Shit!”
Nick covered his face with his hands in frustration.
“Nick, I know you don’t want to do this, but it is something that is going to have to be done sooner or later. And with this happening, unfortunately it’s going to be sooner. It doesn’t matter how long you wait, whether it’s 24 hours or 24 years, it isn’t going to be easy.”
Nick nodded slowly and began getting dressed.
27