One Life

12.

I had woken up late the next morning. I must've been in a deep deep sleep, or, at least that's what Sal told me. He told me about how the blood work people came half an hour early and were having such a difficult time finding a vein. He cringed as they fished around to find a vein that would give them just enough blood to complete the lab work. He continued on to tell me about how they finally got a good working vein on the fifth try, and how it wouldn't quit bleeding afterwards. Apparently it was such a good vein that they used more than just two bandages to calm it down. Sal, apparently, had to hold onto my hand to keep it from starting to bleed again, which I found sort of funny for some reason.

Sal was already up when I woke up. It wasn't too late in the morning, just past nine o' clock. Sal, of course, was on the phone with the other guys. I could hear Murr's laugh on the other line as Sal told him about some lame joke he had read online the night before. I couldn't really understand what their conversation was about since Sal was laughing his fool head off once again, but I didn't mind. I'd rather hear Sal's laugh than hear some conversation between him and his best friend. Besides, they were probably talking about some Impractical Jokers punishment made for Q or Joe.

When Sal noticed that I was awake, his smile grew larger. He waved over to me and covered up his speaking end of the phone.

"Hey, cutie, I'll be right there," he whispered to me before blowing me a kiss. I rolled my eyes impatiently as I grabbed the kiss and placed it on my cheek. Sal smiled happily as he uncovered the speaking end of his phone and finished up his conversation with Murr. Once he had hung up, he ran over to me and attacked my face with kisses.

"Hi, precious," he whispered, rubbing my cheek with his thumb gently. "How are you doing today? Better?"

"Well, I-"

"If not, you will," Sal interrupted me with a smile as wide as could be. "The guys are coming to visit! Joe may bring Cannoli with him!"

I giggled as Sal took my free hand and waved it around in the air. A thought struck me, which made me become less happy about them coming.

"Did you miss them?" I asked him suddenly, looking up at him. "And tell me the truth, Sal."

Sal thought for a second before shaking his head. "Honestly, babe, there's Skype and all that, so I can literally call them or see their stupid faces whenever I want to. Plus, all I have to do is turn on an episode of our show and there they'll be. It's actually hard to avoid them, honestly."

I rolled my eyes with another small giggle. "Sal, I'm being serious! Did you miss them?"

Sal stared at me for a second and shook his head. "I would rather Skype them than have to Skype you. I wouldn't be able to brush your beautiful hair behind your tiny ear over Skype, and I would miss that more than anything."

I bit my lip gently and grinned happily. "Fine, I just don't want to be holding you back from your friends. You know I'd never let you do that; I am not that type of girlfriend."

Sal huffed a little as he nodded his head as I spoke. "Yeah yeah yeah, Mickey, I know this. We've been through this like seven thousand times, and I get it. Stop feeling guilty. If I really wanted to see them, I already would've. But honestly, like I said, I would rather see you in person and them over a screen."

I couldn't wipe my damn grin off my face and it was starting to hurt my face. I didn't mind, though.

"You mean it?"

"I never say anything I don't mean," Sal reassured me, kissing the back of my hand. "Do you believe me?"

"I believe you."

Sal stared at me for a minute before a smile crossed his face again. "Good. Now, the guys will be coming over in just over an hour. Jenna left for work half an hour ago, so she won't be back until tonight, if we're still here. Do you want breakfast?"

Curiously, I looked around the room, expecting a tray full of food. "Sal, didn't they deliver the breakfast already?"

No answer.

"Sal, did they give out a breakfast already?"

Still nothing.

"Salvatore Vulcano," I said louder, turning to find his hands covering his face. I giggled and shook my head. "Did you eat my breakfast already?"

"They were really fucking good waffles," Sal said after a minute with a giant sheepish look on his face. "You should've tried them, they were super."

I didn't know what to say, so I just slapped his arm playfully with my free hand. Sal pouted as he climbed back into bed with me and gave me a gentle kiss.

"I wanted something else for breakfast," Sal whispered in my ear, his one hand roaming down my hospital gown while his other hand grabbed my ass. "But.. you were asleep, so.. I didn't want to be creepy or mean by waking you up."

I stared at him for a minute and slapped his arm again. "You already were mean," I whined. "You ate the waffles I never got a chance to even try!"

"They were really fucking fantastic," Sal said, rubbing his belly. "I would totally get them again."

I couldn't help but giggle as he talked all about the waffles that I would never get the chance to try out. He told me about how fluffy the waffles were, and how there was nothing about them that he didn't like. He also complained about how there was less syrup in the tray than there was the other morning with the French toast. Sal thought it was outrageous how two little French toast sticks could require so much syrup, but two reasonably sized waffles only could need such a little amount of syrup. He was going on and on about it, but I couldn't help but smile at how adorable he was being about it. This was the man I had fallen for, and honestly I wouldn't want it any other way.

"Okay, okay, Sal, shut up."

Sal looked at me with his brow raised. "I'm sorry," he said when he realized how far in he was going with this rant. "I was ranting about food." He stared at me for a second before bursting into laughter about everything he just ranted about.

I simply rolled my eyes and giggled with him, unsure of what else to do.

"Sal, sweetie, can you please get me something to eat before the other guys come? Maybe.. waffles of my own?"

Sal pushed in the chair he was sitting in and kissed my forehead gently. "Sure, babe. Anything on or in it?"

"Blueberries?"

"Of course, dear."

As Sal left, I stayed in bed with the television on quietly. I guess he was watching something which had gone off, because he normally didn't watch Dr. Phil. Dr. Phil had a guest on about how she was paranoid that her boyfriend would leave her because of all the medical issues she was going through. That was a fear I had always had, so I quickly turned it off before I could hear anymore of it.

After throwing the remote to the side, I decided to check my phone since it hadn't been checked since I fell. I had a lot of emails about applying to this college and that college, but I really didn't feel like going to college at the time. With the whole surgery thing going on, college was the last thing on my mind. I also got a few messages from my mom asking what had happened and that she would keep in touch with Sal. I didn't really believe her, since he already didn't like him due to our age difference, but I just replied to her and told her I was fine. None of my friends even bothered to get in touch with me since my fall, so I didn't even bother to tell any of them.

Sal interrupted my thoughts when he came into the room.

"Hey, guess who I ran into?"

I looked up from my phone and smiled at him. "Um, Justin Bieber?"

Sal rolled his eyes and chuckled quietly. "Come on, babe, be realistic."

A tall figure in jeans and a plain black tee shirt came into the room and interrupted me before I could guess anymore.

"Hey, Mickey. How are you doing?"