Till We Meet Again

Chapter Thirteen

"It's not that bad," I said, as my eyes travelled over Collin's scar. 

As Catherine had described to me before, it looked like an upside down horseshoe on the side of his head.  

"It looks much worse because my hair is greasy and gross," Collin complained.

 "Just spray some dry shampoo in it," I advised.

"You'll be good to go."  

"What?"  

I chuckled, taking a seat on his bed and peeking over at his laptop.

"What are you working' on?"  

"Absolutely nothing, I'm bored out of my mind."  

"Did you have speech therapy earlier?"  

"Yep."  

"How'd that go?"  

"It was long and depressing."  

"Collin, you have some visitors," Melissa informed him.  

"Who would that be?" he asked her, shutting his laptop. 

She shrugged.

"Want me to let them back?"  

"I guess," he said, with a shrug.  

"So any talk of discharge today?" I asked, as we waited for Collin's visitors.  

"Tomorrow morning," he said, with a smile. 

I reached over to high-five him.  

"I think I deserve a kiss for that."  

"Somebody is a bit demanding today, aren't they?"  

Dennis was the first one to enter Collin's room, and a smile spread across Collin's face.  And then Dennis was followed by about half of the baseball team.

"I wouldn't let the whole team come," Dennis informed Collin.

"Since you just had surgery and all."

I leaned back on Collin's bed, judging his reaction. 

His smile widened.

"Hey guys!"  

"What the hell is on your face?" Dennis asked him.  

"Jesus Dennis," I said, rolling my eyes.  

"Well, I am pretty awesome, but I wouldn't consider myself Jesus," he retorted.  

"They're glasses," Collin informed him, interrupting the two of us. 

Because we'd probably bicker for hours if he let us.  And I couldn't help but notice how Collin struggled with the S's in glasses as well, which was different from a couple of days ago.  

"Are they permanent?" Hayden asked, leaning against the wall.

"Don't know yet," Collin said.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Malik asked him, holding up three fingers.  

"He can see your fingers dumbass," Hayden informed him, reaching over to shove him.

"People with glasses don't see like ten fingers versus three."  

"So how are you doing?" Leon asked, interrupting the other two's argument. 

Dennis came over and took a seat on the edge of the bed, and I moved over closer to Collin and away from him. 

Dennis just smirked at me.  

"Discharge tomorrow," Collin said, shooting me a smile.  

"Discharge?" Hayden asked. 

 As I said, insult to a bag of rocks.

"I'm getting released tomorrow," Collin informed him.

"Like from the hospital?" Malik asked, his eyes wide.

"Dude, you just had brain surgery a couple of days ago."  

Dennis reached over and high-fived Collin.  

"I'll take a high-five from him," Collin said to me.  

"What?" Dennis asked.  

"You're so needy today," I said, laughing. 

The guys stayed for about an hour, talking and laughing with Collin.  

"How's he doing?" Collin asked Dennis.  

"How's who doing?" Dennis asked.  

"The new pitcher?"  

"You talking about Luke?"

"Yeah."  

"So now you're too good to say his name?"  

"Just tell me how he's doing."  

Dennis exchanged glances with some of the guys.

"You win some you lose some I guess."  

"What the hell does that mean?"  

"It means that we suck dude, we f*****g suck," Hayden piped up. 

Collin let out a sigh, clearly upset by the news.  

"Luke just needs some fine tuning," Dennis reasoned.

"We'll get there."  

"How bad is it?" Collin asked.  

"We haven't won a game since you left," Hayden informed him. 

Even I felt that blow.  

"What happened to you win and you lose?" Collin asked Dennis.  

"We just haven't made it to the winning part yet," Dennis defended. 

Collin made brief eye contact with his mom, and she nodded.  

"Alright boys," she announced.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to kick you out now."  

Each one of the boys came over and said their goodbyes to Collin, Dennis lingering as they all left.  

"So are you in speech therapy then?" Dennis asked Collin, once all of the boys cleared out.  

"What?" Collin asked him.  

"You avoided Luke's name," Dennis pointed out.

"And it's you win some you lose some, not you win, and you lose. Plus, the word glasses sort of gave you away."

"Damn," Collin muttered.  

"So, what is it exactly?"  

"It's anything that starts with the letter S," I informed Dennis.  

"So, she gets to know," Dennis filled in. 

Collin opened his mouth to say something and struggled with the word for a few moments before closing his mouth again, quiet for a couple of seconds.

"They've been here."  

Dennis was silent for a moment.

"Fair enough."  

Both boys were silent for a moment, and I felt like I was intruding on a personal argument, so I looked over at Catherine, who was playing a game on her iPad, also clearly trying to keep out of Collin and Dennis's argument.  After a few moments I looked back at Dennis and Collin, who were still watching each other in silence.  And then Dennis reached out his hand, and Collin grasped it, and they did their bro handshake.  

"Discharged tomorrow morning?" Dennis asked him.

"9 AM," Collin informed him.  

"See you then," Dennis said, with a smile before leaving. 

Boy arguments are strange.  

"Are you feeling alright?" I asked Collin.  

"Just old man tired," he said, with a sigh. 

I offered my hand out to help him up out of his chair.  

"I can do it," he informed me, before bracing his hands on either arm rest. 

I was doubtful, but I hopped up out of his bed and waited.  He pushed himself up and made his way over to his bed, lowering himself down.

 "Get some rest babe," I said, leaning down and giving him a kiss.

"So you made it to one day of school this week?" Chris teased, as I worked on Collin's hair.  

"You guys probably suffered without me yesterday."  

"Terribly."

"Does it look any better yet?" Collin complained.

"So impatient," I reprimanded, before taking a step back. 

His hair was pretty matted and greased after so long in the hospital without a wash.  So, I'd doused it with some dry shampoo and ran my brush throughout it, trying to least bring some life back to it.  Collin had a certain way of styling his hair, something he spent at least 10 minutes on every morning.  And let me tell you, it looked nothing like that. But it at least looked better.

 "Here," I said, handing him a compact mirror that Catherine had pulled out of her purse.

"It looks pretty awful," Collin muttered.  

"But it looks better," I corrected.  

"I guess."  

"Let me get a picture of my baby before he's discharged," Melissa announced.  

"Oh my God," Collin muttered.  

"Smile pretty," I teased.  

"Alright, now you get in there Aubrey," Melissa ordered. 

Collin smirked at me. 

I climbed into his lap, kissing him on the cheek for Melissa's picture.  And then Collin tipped my chin up, catching me by surprise, and giving me a full-on kiss.  

"Collin Langford," I chastised, pulling away from him. 

His mother, sister, and Chris were all in the room.  He just offered me a cheeky smile.  

"You two are just too cute," Melissa gushed. 

I climbed out of his lap, taking a seat on the edge of his hospital bed and letting my feet dangle.  

"More like nauseating," Dennis muttered.  

"Do you feel left out?" Collin teased.  

"Shut up."  Collin stood up and made his way over to Dennis, planting a wet kiss on his cheek.

"There, better now?"  

Dennis just rolled his eyes. 

The nurse came back in, the discharge papers in hand.  

"Wahoo!" Collin cheered.  

"Ready to put some real clothes on?" Catherine teased.  

"But this gown is just too comfortable," Collin said, his voice full of sarcasm. 

Melissa handed him some clothes, and Collin headed over to the adjoining bathroom.  

"It's so weird," Dennis said to Chris.  

"What is?" Chris asked, looking up from his phone.  

"He had brain surgery earlier this week, and he's already back up walking and talking, you know? It's a strange thing to think about."

"Oh yeah," Chris agreed with a nod, "especially when you catch a glimpse of the side of his head. It doesn't seem possible that someone with a giant horseshoe of staples can be functioning as a human being."  

"Maybe the horseshoe will bring him good luck," I said, letting my feet swing back and forth as they dangled off the side of the bed.  

"That is true," Catherine agreed.  

"That is also stupid," Dennis added.  

"Your face is stupid."

"Good one."

"I'm the one who's gotten less than 8 hours of sleep this entire week," I pointed out. "So sorry if my comebacks aren't exactly on point."  

"Some of us can't afford to miss class if we want to graduate," Dennis retorted.  

"Well maybe some of us should've paid a little more attention in class and little less attention to the baseball field."  

"Thanks mom," Collin said, coming out of the bathroom in a pair of gym shorts and a baseball t-shirt. 

Melissa took his hospital gown from him, folding it up and placing it neatly on the edge of the bed, next to me.  

"You look humanized," I said, with a smile.  

"That's not even a word," Dennis muttered.  

"It most certainly is," I retorted.

"Open a dictionary for once in your life."

"This I definitely haven't missed," Collin said, interrupting the two of us as the nurse set to removing the sticky pads from Collin's chest.  Collin let out a hiss as she ripped one off his stomach.

"Insta-wax," Dennis said, with a chuckle.  

"Every girl's dream," I added.  

"Not mine," Collin muttered, as she ripped another one off. 

Then she set to the tape on his arms, which had been used to hold the IV's in place.  

"Ready?" the nurse asked him. 

Collin nodded, his face already wincing.  She began to peel back the tape, and he let out a hiss.  

"I'm sorry," she apologized.

"These are always the worst."

 And then she got to the mass of tape in the center of his arm.  

"Just rip it," Collin advised.  

"Oh dear," Melissa said, covering her eyes.  

"One, two, three," the nurse counted, before ripping the rest of the tape off. 

Collin let out a loud groan.  

"I'm sorry," the nurse apologized again.  

"Look at that," Collin said, holding his arm out towards Dennis and me. 

The area where the tape had been completely hair-free.  

"At least you don't have any in your privates," Dennis pointed out.  

"Only you," Collin said, chuckling.  

"Just one more," the nurse said, getting ready to rip the tape off of his other arm.

"One, two, three."

He let out a hiss, his jaw clenched.

"That's it," she said, high-fiving him.  

"I can go home now?"

"Your mother has signed all the paperwork," she said, with a nod.

"I just have to grab the wheelchair and we can wheel you on out."

"What?" Collin asked, raising his eyebrows.  

"Hospital policy I'm afraid."  "No," Collin complained.  

"What if you turn around for a few seconds and by the time you come back, we're gone?" Dennis asked. 

I couldn't help but laugh.  

"That's breaking hospital policy," the nurse pointed out.  

"But if we disappear before you come back, it's not your fault," Dennis argued.

"It's on us."  

The nurse looked at Collin and then at Dennis.

"You have two minutes."

Collin let out a cheer, reaching over and high-fiving Dennis as the nurse left.  

"You two are full of it," Melissa said, shaking her head.

"Let's go."  

Collin reached his hand out towards me, and I intertwined my fingers with his.  And we walked out of the hospital together, hand-in-hand.

"I can already hear him," Melissa said, as she stuck the key in the lock. 

Scooby was letting out excited barks inside.

"I told him we were bringing you home today," Chris said to Collin, with a smile. 

Melissa opened the door, and Scooby came running outside, letting out happy barks as excitedly ran circles around Collin.  

"Alright, come on," Collin said, laughing as he headed inside, Scooby right behind him.  Collin couldn't exactly bend over, so Scooby hopped up on the couch and Collin began to scratch him behind the ears, accepting Scooby's kisses all over his face.  

"I know," Collin said, closing his eyes as Scooby licked his face.

"I missed you too, I know."  

Scooby let out more barks, his entire backside wiggling.  Chris tossed Collin a treat, and Collin fed it to Scooby, giving him a few more scratches before plopping down on the couch next to him.  Scooby immediately put himself in Collin's lap, his paws on Collin's shoulders.  

"Okay," Collin said, laughing as he shoved Scooby off of him. 

Scooby stretched out across Collin's lap, resting his head on Collin's arm.

"I missed you too buddy," Collin repeated, petting Scooby, and kissing the top of his head.

"I mean, who else is going to protect me from that evil bird outside my window?"