Rain (8 page)

“Okay, I’m going to put the angiocatheter in now. Try to keep your arm relaxed. If you tense up, it will hurt more. It should be quick, and after the initial pinch, it shouldn’t hurt,” Nurse Michele explained as Dr. Arenstam observed us.

I just nodded and looked away. I didn’t want to see it, and I knew if I watched it would be even more challenging not to tense up. It still was difficult just knowing what was coming.

I felt the needle pierce my skin and slide in. Squeezing my eyes shut, I bit my lip. She then loosened the band on my arm and removed it. I could feel the warmth of her hand through her latex gloves as she worked, putting something else where she had pierced me with the needle before feeling tape placed on my arm.

“All done,” she chirped, bringing my attention to her again.

“That’s it?” I asked, having expected it to be way worse.

“That’s it.” She smiled. “See? That wasn’t that bad.”

My body relaxed, and I inspected my arm that now had a little plastic tube on it surrounded by medical tape.

“Now we just hook the IV line up to this every time we need to give you one,” she said, pointing to the end of the tube.

I felt a little silly getting so worked up over the catheter and IV; this was probably the easiest part.

“I just have to take a blood sample first and then I will hook you up to the IV,” she told me. I liked that she told me what she was doing so I was prepared.

She took out a syringe, but I wasn’t afraid this time since I wouldn’t be getting pierced with a needle again. That part was already over for now. I watched as she inserted the syringe into the tube and slowly pulled it back. Blood began to fill it, which was kind of odd to watch. It didn’t hurt; it was actually better than getting a shot. Once she finished getting the sample, she hooked up the IV and started it. I was now getting my first treatment.

I put the earbuds in my ears, selected Three Days Grace, put their songs on shuffle, and got lost in the music. I didn’t want to talk. I chose to focus on the lyrics and the songs I was hearing for the first time instead of the poison that was seeping into my veins.

***

Groggily opening my eyes, I saw Nurse Michele in front of me.

“Your first treatment is all done,” she said cheerily.

I tried to focus, but my brain still wanted to sleep. I was surprised that I’d fallen asleep; I hadn’t thought that I would, but then again, I had stayed up all night. My earbuds had fallen out, but the music was still playing. I hit the pause button on my iPod and looked around the room. The nurse was the only one in here.

“They went to get some food from the cafeteria,” she informed me, answering the question I hadn’t asked yet.

“I don’t feel any different,” I admitted.

She gave me a sympathetic look as she placed one of those ugly pink plastic puke containers on the table next to my bed. “You will,” she said.

“Great,” I muttered. I did have a rather nasty taste in my mouth.

The door opened just as I sat up, and my parents entered with food.

“We brought you soup and crackers,” Mom chirped as I saw that she and Dad both had burgers and French fries. The burger sounded way more appealing.

“How about we trade?” I asked, tossing out a smile.

Mom’s face faltered, and she looked from Dad to the nurse and back to me.

“She can eat it,” the nurse told her, and I silently cheered in my head. I liked her. “We want her to eat, so she can eat whatever she feels like eating.”

I didn’t plan to stop eating like she’d just made it sound, but I was good with getting to eat what I wanted. Dad handed his burger and fries to me.
Score.

“We will save the soup for later. Have mine and I will go get more,” he offered, giving me a reassuring smile. That was my dad—my hero, always making sure I got what I wanted.

“Thanks, Dad!”

Mom gave him a look that said she didn’t agree, but he just shrugged and left to go get more food. Nurse Michele followed him out, saying, “I’ll let you eat.”

I ate the burger and fries with impressive speed, and by time Dad made it back to my room, they were long gone.

“You were hungry,” he remarked with a chuckle.

There was a knock on the door, and Nurse Michele peeked her head in.

“There is a visitor here for you,” she announced, smiling.

“Okay,” I said. She disappeared, and a moment later, Liz bounced into the room and immediately started talking without preamble.

“I don’t have long. Mr. Clarke assigned this HUGE paper that is due tomorrow because we apparently weren’t paying attention,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Maybe if he said something interesting we would! Ugh. Anyways, school officially sucks without you already.” She gave me a pouty face. “I know it’s not your fault. Don’t worry. But I’m sleeping over this weekend. I miss you!” she exclaimed.

I thought she only took about two breaths while she’d said all of that. My parents were looking at each other with wide eyes before they excused themselves from the room.

“Wow!” I laughed. She smiled, jumped up on the side of my bed, and hugged me. I couldn’t help but smile back at her. She was ridiculous, and I loved it. “How exactly do you plan on sleeping over?”

“I’m your best friend. They don’t have a choice but to let me sleep over,” she stated, winking at me.

“If you say so…” I wasn’t so sure it worked that way.

“I do,” she said, sure of herself, brushing her hair back behind her shoulder and smiled again. Her smile was still a bit off, but she was trying and I loved her for that. She embraced me in a hug again. “I’m sorry. I really do have to go, but I had to see you!” Some sadness had seeped into her voice.

“It’s okay,” I assured her. “I’m really glad you came.”

Me too!” Her voice bubbled again. “See you soon!” She winked, and just like that, she breezed out of the room just as fast as she had breezed in.

My parents reentered once she left. They must have been waiting right outside the door.

“That was fast,” Mom said, sounding surprised. “Did she say something about sleeping over?”

“Yeah.”

“How? Funny girl. I should give the nurses a heads-up then.”

I just shrugged. Must be a family trait.

Another knock came and once again Nurse Michele told me that I had a visitor.

“Uh okay,” I said, thinking it was probably Austin.

My parents moved toward the door, probably assuming the same when Kyle strolled in wearing his usual black jeans. But he was now wearing a dark blue t-shirt underneath his unzipped leather jacket. I was pretty sure my heartbeat sped up at his appearance. Dad stopped in his tracks and looked at me.

“Who is this?” he asked with concern as he scrutinized him, arching his eyebrows.
Oh boy. Not good.

“Dad, this is
just
Kyle. He lives across the street from us,” I explained, hoping it would make him back off. Kyle gave me a curious look before extending his hand to my dad.

“Nice to meet you,” Kyle said respectfully to my dad.

My dad apprehensively shook his hand before letting his own fall back to his side. The always-protective dad—the negative to being a Daddy’s girl. Kyle ran his fingers with one sweep through his messy hair. I wondered if it was a nervous reaction, even though he didn’t appear to be nervous otherwise. Mom started pulling Dad out of the room.

“Nice to see you again, Kyle,” she greeted in passing.

I just rolled my eyes. Once the door shut again behind them, I looked Kyle over one more time and smiled.

“What are you doing here?” I asked as he walked over to my side.

“
Just
Kyle huh?” he teased, avoiding my question.

“Well, you are Kyle and my dad was ready to drag you out the door,” I defended.

“Mmhmm. Well, I told you I would visit,” he said, going back to my question.

“I didn’t expect you to though,” I answered quietly as I ran my fingers through my tangled hair. I could only imagine what it looked like.

“I don’t say I’m going to do something unless I mean it,” he said seriously while he locked eyes with mine.

My heart stopped—or maybe just skipped. I wasn’t really sure, but Kyle had surprised me once again. I’d thought he was just another guy who didn’t think before he spoke when I first met him, but he kept surprising me, and here he was. He was a puzzle that I couldn’t figure out.

“Well aren’t you the surprise,” I teased.

“Good.” He winked and broke the eye contact to pull over a nearby chair.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” I asked as he sat down and leaned back in the chair.

“If I were sleeping, then I wouldn’t be here. Unless I sleepwalked and drove, and that wouldn’t be good… So no, I shouldn’t be sleeping.” He sounded quite serious.

I arched an eyebrow at him. I really didn’t know what to make of him. No obligations, yet here he was after I’d kept him up all night. “Okay… You are weird,” I told him.

All of a sudden, heat swept over me and my smile was gone. Nausea rolled through me, and I looked at Kyle in horror.
Oh no. I am not throwing up in front of him.

“What?” he asked, standing up, but I was already jumping off of the bed in record time and making a run for it to the bathroom.

Luckily, I was no longer hooked up to an IV.
No, no, no, no, no!

“Taylor?” Kyle’s concerned voice came after me as I shut the bathroom door.

Sinking to the cool, tiled floor in front of the toilet, I tried to convince myself not to throw up. Everything I had eaten made a reverse dash out of me and into the toilet instead. Maybe the burger hadn’t been such a good idea.

The door opened, but I couldn’t move. I was acutely aware of Kyle coming behind me, but I couldn’t do a damn thing about it. My hair was hanging loose around my face, some sticking to my cheeks. Kyle began to gently gather it and pull it away from my face just in time for another round of vomit. This was officially my new most embarrassing moment. Ever.

“Should I get a nurse or your parents?” he asked.

I shook my head
no,
too afraid to try to talk. I did not need anyone else seeing me like this. When I felt like I could get a word out I whispered, “Water.”

Really needing water, I was also hoping to get him out of the room for at least a minute. He hesitated before tugging the hair elastic off of my wrist and tying back my hair that he had gathered in his hands. It was impressive how gentle he was and how he managed not to pull any of my hair while he did this. It was like he did this on a daily basis. Who was this guy?
Stranger
certainly still fit him, that was for sure.

He left, and I flushed the toilet, not wanting to see the contents of it anymore. He returned faster than I’d expected and handed me a glass of water. Once I accepted the water, he moved to the sink and turned the water on, placing a washcloth underneath it. I brought the plastic cup to my mouth and took in some of the cool water but did not swallow it. I swished it around in my mouth before spitting it out into the toilet. Raising the cup to my lips once more, this time I actually took a drink. The cold liquid slid down my throat easily, fortunately bringing a little relief.

Kyle handed me the wet washcloth, and I gratefully accepted.

“Thank you,” I rasped, cringing at the sound of my voice.

“No problem.” His voice came out smooth, and I disliked how he could always do that at this particular moment.

Bringing the washcloth to my face, I closed my eyes and wiped it. Cleaning my face made me feel a lot better. I still felt gross, but being able to clean my face helped a lot. The nausea subsided for the time being, and I hoped it stayed away.

“Your shirt,” Kyle said, and I looked at him, confused, before looking down.

Oh no.
I’d managed to get throw up on my shirt. Gross. Embarrassment had found me again along with the desire to rip my shirt off.

Kyle must have seen my panic, because when I looked up at him again, his jacket and shirt were off and he was handing me his shirt. The sight of him with no shirt on hit me. Holy hell, what was he doing? His chest did not have a single flaw on it, and muscles stood out that I never would have expected him to have. They were subtle, but well defined, opposite to Austin’s muscles, which were overbearing and stood out even underneath his clothing. I found myself gaping at him as he stood like that, just waiting for me to take his shirt.

“Take it,” he said.

I clamped my jaw shut and then reopened it. “Why?” I asked, extreme heat returning to my body. This time, it wasn’t because I was going to vomit.

“You need to change your shirt, and I don’t know where your clothes are,” he said reasonably.

“You need a shirt.” I still stared at him numbly.

“I’ll be fine. I have my jacket.” He winked and then left the bathroom, shutting the door behind him without another word.

I peered at the door, still trying to process what had just happened. I blinked a few times to clear my head, which didn’t actually help that much, and then I finally pulled my soiled shirt off over my head and tossed it to the side. Quickly scanning myself to make sure I didn’t have anything else on me, I slipped his warm t-shit on. It was soft, and I could smell his cologne on it. I stuck my nose closer to it and took in a deep breath through my nose, inhaling the scent. It smelled like the rain, and I liked it.

Slowly getting to my feet, I looked at myself in the mirror. I didn’t look as bad as I’d expected. Kyle had done a pretty good job putting my hair up, so I left it how it was. I saw mouthwash on the counter and wanted to dance at the sight of it. I grabbed it and twisted the top off before pouring some of the liquid in my mouth, swooshing it around, and gargling it. Once I’d spit it out, I repeated, really wanting to clean out my mouth and get rid of the nasty taste. That taste alone was enough to make me sick again.

Once I was satisfied and felt like I could face Kyle again, I opened the door and went back into the room. Kyle was standing near the door. He had his jacket on again, but it was unzipped, showing his naked stomach. I forced myself to look away.