Till We Meet Again

Chapter Twelve

It was close to half an hour before he was transferred to the ICU, and I finally go to see him.  

"Hello gorgeous," I said, reaching over and kissing his swollen cheek.

"Hey," he greeted, his voice deep and groggy.  

"How're you feeling?" I asked, taking the seat directly next to his bed.  

"Like I got my cut my head open."  

I see that he did not lose his sense of humor.  

"Well that's odd."  

He chuckled.

"How's the hair?"  

I peered at his now half-shaved head.

"You could definitely pass as a punk rocker."

 "My lifelong dream."  

"They said the scar looks like a horseshoe," Catherine informed me.

"An upside down horseshoe."  

"They wear sh-sh-shoes?" Collin asked her, legitimately confused. 

Catherine tried to control her laughter, and I just patted Collin's hand.  

"My head hurts right here," Collin informed me, pointing to his wound.  

"I can't imagine why."

 "I think it might have something to do with getting my head cut open," Collin mused.  

"That's a good theory."  

"You're precious," Melissa said, shaking her head at him.  

"I need to pee," Collin informed his mom. 

I looked over at Melissa, and she pressed her lips together for a few moments.

"Dear, you have a catheter in," she reminded him.

"Go ahead and pee."  

"Like right here?" Collin asked her. 

She nodded.  

"I'll close my eyes," I said, placing my right hand over my eyes.  

"This is probably the most awkward thing that's ever happened," Collin said, with a laugh.  

"You have the pee smirk," Dennis said.  

"It's hard not to," Collin argued.

"I'm peeing in my bed."

"I brought you a present," I informed Collin, once he finished peeing.  

"A present?"  

I nodded, reaching down and picking up my gift off the floor. I placed it right on top of him.

"Cool," he said, as he took out the tissue paper. 

Inside was a teddy bear wearing a baseball jersey, with Collin's name and number on the back.  

"You got it customized?" Melissa asked. 

I nodded.  

"Thanks babe," Collin said, flashing me a crooked smile. 

I reached down and gave him another kiss on the cheek, letting my lips linger for a few moments.  I was just happy that things turned out okay.

"Hello dear," Melissa greeted, as I entered Collin's hospital room. 

I'd left the hospital close to 3 AM, and it was now a little past 7.  

"Good morning," I said, with a smile. 

Collin was no longer laying in his hospital bed, instead he was sitting in a chair next to it, and Chris had taken over his bed.  

"Morning," Collin said, with a groggy smile.  

"How're you feeling?" I asked, kissing his cheek. 

He surprised me by turning his head and catching me on the lips.  

"Sneaky," I complimented, shaking my head at him.  

"Much better," he said, as I took the seat next to him.

"I feel like an old man that chills out on his front lawn; you know?"  

I laughed, leaning over and checking out his computer screen.

"f*******:, really?"  

"Twitter is no fun on a computer. I can't do little emojis."  

I looked over at Chris, who was half-asleep on Collin's hospital bed.  

"Good morning Chris," I said, with a laugh.  

"Morning," he mumbled.  

"Did you already eat breakfast?" I asked Collin.  

"Yeah."  I left him to his computer, heading over to talk to Melissa.

"How's his speech?" I asked her.

"Is it any better than yesterday?"  

"He still can't say any words that start with S," she said, shaking her head.

"And he's still complaining of blurry vision, so they're taking him down for some testing this morning. But other than that, he's doing really great."  

"If that's all we have to deal with after brain surgery, I'd say we're pretty lucky," I said, with a nod. 

She smiled, nodding her head in agreement. 

I went back over to join Collin, who was now playing Solitaire.

"Are you bored?" I asked him.

"Very," he agreed.

"We could play some Cards Against Humanity," I suggested. 

Collin agreed, and we played a couple of rounds with Melissa and Catherine before the nurse came to take Collin for some testing.

"So what are they testing?" I asked Catherine, once Melissa and Collin left.

"His vision," she informed me.

"They poked around his brain, who knows what could've happened?"  

That makes me incredibly nervous.

"Chin up," I said to Collin.  

"No," he retorted, grumpily.  

"They aren't that bad."  

"I hate them."  

"I think they make you look sexy."  

"I think they make me look like I can't play baseball."  

"Without these glasses you won't be able to see home plate," I pointed out. 

He just glared at me.  

"You look good in them," I promised.

"They make you look smarter."  

"I don't want to look smarter."  

"Well, someone is being stubborn."  

"I want to be-" his sentence stopped, as he tried to get his next word out, but it wouldn't come.  

"Well why don't you look at the bright side of things?" I asked, moving on with the conversation.  

"Right now, there isn't one."

"There is," I argued.

"First off, they gave you extra mac and cheese for lunch."  

He rolled his eyes.  

"And I brought you this McFlurry," I pointed out.

"Which means you got mac and cheese and some ice cream."  

He took a bite of his McFlurry.  

"See? There is a bright side."  

"I don't want glasses."  

"But you do want that McFlurry. So, everything worked out."  

He chuckled, his first smile since he got these glasses.  

"Alright," Melissa said, coming into the room.

"I've just talked to the nurse, and they're ready for you to try and stand up and take a walk."  

"Whoo-f*****g-hoo," Collin commented.  

"Can you not be sarcastic for five seconds?" I asked him. "This is important."  

"I know that" Collin muttered.  

"Good."  

The nurse came in, bringing the gray hospital socks with the special grip.  

"Now you really could be a grandpa sitting on the front lawn," I commented, with a smirk.

"These really complete the look," Collin agreed, with a half-smile of his own. 

The nurse took his arm, and Collin slowly stood up.

"Yay!" I cheered.  

"Yay for Collin," he cheered, smiling at me as I gave him a look. 

He slowly shuffled his way out of the hospital room, and I felt a smile spread its way across my face. Collin had brain surgery yesterday, and he was already back on his feet. Modern medicine was something to be marveled at. 

Collin made his way down the hallway, the nurse holding onto his arm.

"How're you feeling?" the nurse asked him.  

"It feels weird," Collin informed her.

"Like I'm retraining my brain."  

"Well, that's essentially what you're doing," the nurse reminded him.

"Put one foot in front of the other," I sang.

"And soon you'll be walking 'cross the floor."  Collin chuckled.

"You put one foot in front of the other, and you'll be walking out the door."  

"Is that from that old Christmas movie?" Melissa asked us. 

I nodded.

"That really badly animated one that Collin loves."

"You two love to rag on my favorite movies," Collin informed us.

"Hairspray and Santa Claus is Comin' to Town?" I asked him.

"Can you really blame us?"

"Hairspray?" the nurse asked us.  

"The musical," I said.

"The one that stars Zac Ephron."

 "John Travolta," Collin corrected.  

"That movie is cute," the nurse defended.

 "Thank you," Collin said. 

I'm sure if he could turn his head to look over at Melissa and me, he'd be glaring.  Melissa and I exchanged glances, and the two of us busted up laughing.  We made a lap around the hospital floor before settling back in Collin's hospital room.  

"So how was that?" I asked Collin.  

"Nice," he said, with a nod.

He opened his mouth to say something else and struggled with it for a few moments before dropping it, letting out a frustrated sigh.

"Baby steps," I reminded him, kissing his cheek.

"I'm proud of you."

"Proud of me?"  I nodded.

"You had brain surgery yesterday. And today you're back up on your feet and walking and talking again."  

"Half-talking," he corrected.

"I can't..." he paused.

"I can't pronounce half the words."

"Yesterday," I reminded him.

"You're too impatient."  

He jutted out his bottom lip in a pout.  

"I love you Collin Langford," I said, taking his hand and kissing the top of it.

"Even if you can't say my name."  

He chuckled.

"I love you too Ms. White."

"Hey Aubrey," Kimberly greeted, as I stepped onto school campus. 

I'd wanted to be back at the hospital with Collin today, but I'd already missed two days of school.  And while Collin had a legitimate excuse, the school didn't accept Being Collin Langford's Girlfriend as my excuse.  So here I was, with my phone in hand so I could receive updates from Catherine.  

"How is he?" Kimberly asked me.  

"Recovering," I said, taking a seat at our usual morning table.

"He's doing remarkably well actually for just having surgery."

"Any talk of discharge yet?"  I nodded.

"They say before the end of the week, hopefully tomorrow I think."

"Wow that's fast."  

"I told you, he's doing remarkably well. It's the little things that are holding him up."

It's really just his speech at this point. He starts speech therapy today, but I can tell that they're worried about it.  

"Anything drastic?"  

I thought about it for a moment as I checked my phone.  No new texts.  

"The glasses," I said, looking up at her.  

"Glasses?"

I nodded.

"Collin got glasses as a result of the surgery. But other than that, nothing major."

Other than the fact he's having some speech issues. But I'm not sure I should spread that one around.

"I bet he was pissed."

"That's the understatement of the century."  

I looked across the pavilion, making eye contact with about half of the baseball team. They were practically all staring at me, whispering amongst each other.  Probably trying to pick who was going to come over and ask me first.  I didn't make myself the most approachable to Collin's friends, mostly because they're all about as perceptive as a bag of rocks.  And that's insulting to a bag of rocks.  But I stood up, excusing myself from my friends before making my way over to the baseball jocks. 

I may not necessarily like them, but they all love Collin. And I at least owed it to Collin to give them a quick update.  

"Hey Aubrey," Hayden said, as I approached their clan.  

"Hey," I greeted.  

"How's he doing?" he asked. 

Let's just cut right to the chase.  

"Really well," I said, with a nod.

"He's walking and talking and they're talking about discharging him before the end of the week."

Smiles erupted across the faces of his fellow teammates.  

"We were thinking about visiting him today," Hayden informed me.

"Good or bad idea?"  

"It would definitely be a surprise," I said.

"But I think Collin would like the change of scenery."  

"Anything we need to be aware of?" Carlos asked me. 

Other than the glasses and the speech issue? Not at all.  But I don't know if Collin would want me to mention that to them, or if he would want to tell them himself.  Why can't we have telepathy?

"Not that I can think of off the top of my head," I said, after a few moments of silence. 

The boys nodded, and I made my way back to my friends. 

I hope that was the right decision, though the boys are definitely in for a surprise later today.