Big Red shrugged. “That’s the rule.” She left.
“Fuck!” I yelled, sounding like Hartley. I looked at my watch. He had his Monday afternoons free, because that’s when he should have been at Hockey.
No. Sitting there half-dressed, I was not going to call Hartley. Anyone but Hartley. He was the last person who I wanted to see me with unwashed hair in this awful hospital gown.
Unfortunately, Dana had Italian class until two every single day. I texted her, asking me to call when she had a second. Pretty please.
Two o’clock came and went, with no call. I texted again, and she didn’t reply. If her phone was dead, I’d never reach her. I couldn’t think of what to do. If the E.R. doc who had admitted me was working today, I could try to find him and explain my problem. But that involved wandering the hospital half-dressed, with an IV tower at my side.
I dialed Dana again, putting my phone to my ear. It went right to voice-mail.
“Damn it!” I hollered. I would have stamped my feet, if only they worked.
— Hartley
“Is there a problem in here?” I asked, fighting a smile.
Corey’s head whipped around to find me in the doorway to her hospital room, leaning on my crutches. “Arrrrgh!” she cried, curling over herself. “I just want out of here, but they won’t let me go.”
“Because you don’t have someone over eighteen to escort you off the premises?” I crutched into the room.
Her mouth fell open. “How did you know?”
“I ran into Dana after lunch, and she told me you were here. So I thought that might happen. And Bridger had to spring me after my knee surgery. So why didn’t you call?”
Something passed across her face that I couldn’t read. “Because it’s a long crutch from McHerrin.”
“It wasn’t too bad. So let’s get out of here. Didn’t you ask them to remove that IV?”
The look on her face threatened an imminent explosion. “ONLY TEN TIMES!”
I held up both hands. “Easy, Callahan. Watch that blood pressure, or you might end up in the hospital.”
At that, Corey deflated. “Would you please come here a second?”
“What do you need?” I made my way over to her.
She held out her left hand. “Press down on the IV tube.”
Uh oh. “Why?”
“So I can take it out, Hartley. And change my shirt. And leave. And get on with my life.”
“You are a piece of work, Callahan.”
“Just press here,” she instructed. Trying not to notice the way the little tube poked right through her skin, I trapped the plastic under my thumb. Then Corey removed all the tape. “Okay, you can let go. Thanks,” she said.
Before I could look away, she yanked the little catheter out from under her skin. Gross. “Now you’re bleeding from the wrist. Isn’t that, like, dangerous?”
She looked at me with suspicion on her face. “Seriously, Hartley? You’re squeamish?”
I turned around and grabbed a tissue off of the counter, handing it to her, keeping my eyes trained on the wall in front of me.
“Wow. Tough hockey star faints at the sight of blood.” I heard her giggle as she dabbed at the blood.
“Hey, I haven’t fainted since the fifth grade.”
The giggle bloomed into a belly laugh. “What did you do after your knee surgery? Weren’t there bandages?”
There were, and it wasn’t pretty. “I changed them myself. With my eyes half-closed.”
For what it was worth, embarrassing myself had one benefit. At least Corey was smiling again. “And you say I’m a piece of work. Turn around so I can change my shirt.”
“What, I can’t watch? I just saw blood for you.” Chuckling, I faced the wall.
I heard her wrestling with her clothes. “I’m good with gore. You can always ask me to change a bandage. Not that we’re ever coming back to this godforsaken place.”
“Sing it to me, sister.”
“All done,” Corey said.
A nurse with unnaturally red hair walked in then. “This is your escort?” she asked, eyeing my cast and crutches, a sneer curling her lip.
Corey whirled on her. “Don’t tell me you’re discriminating against him,” she snapped. “We’re leaving now.” Corey wheeled around the end of the bed and bore down on the nurse. The poor woman lumbered out of the way, and Corey sailed out the door. If a wheelchair could squeal its tires, hers would have.
The nurse stuck a clipboard in my hands. “Sign here, sir.”
“Don’t mind if I do.”
By the time I found her, Corey was holding the elevator door open for me.
Because my leg was aching, we called for the gimpmobile, but they told us it would be a thirty-minute wait.
“Fuck it,” I said. “Let’s walk.”
For Callahan, it was an easy roll towards campus. But for me, it was slow going. When we were about halfway back, I needed a break. Crutching over to a bench outside the medical school, I sat down. “So how did you end up in the hospital, anyway?”
She bit down on her lip. “It was just a stupid little infection. I was a little careless, and everyone overreacted.”