Always

Chapter 66

Nearly two weeks had gone by since Colt’s awful accident.  Two weeks of constant worry, curiosity, and speculation.  We had been told he would be fine, but it was so hard to believe when the last time we had seen him, he had been bleeding profusely on the pavement.  We still hadn’t gone to see him in the hospital, despite Harry’s cautious suggestion that maybe I could go alone which I had immediately declined.

What had happened with Colt was a tragedy, but it didn’t change the fact that he had said some truly awful, unforgivable things to both Harry and me.  Harry was quick to forget that in his lingering guilt, wanting to be sure we did everything we could, while Colt’s nasty words repeated themselves in my head even at the mention of his name, restoking the angry fire in my gut. 

No, I was not going to go out of my way to go see him now that I knew he would be okay; the hurt he had caused was still too fresh. 

It was between a break in my morning classes before we went to lunch when I saw him again.  Coming around the corner with Harry, giggling at something he was saying, I nearly dropped the books in my hands when I say Colt’s large, heavily bandaged figure stumbling up the hallway, accompanied by crutches and what appeared to be some kind of physical therapist. 

My laughter and walking ceased immediately, causing Harry’s suddenly confused face to look away from me to quickly discover what I was staring at.  I had frozen into place, Harry beside me as my jaw hung open.  I could feel his eyes shifting back and forth between me and Colt as he got closer, but I could only stare at Colt. 

His face was still deeply bruised, dark purple circles surrounding both eyes and radiating down his cheeks.  His left leg, the one that I had seen bone sticking out of, had a thick plaster cast covering nearly its entire length.  Several smaller wraps wound around various areas of his arms, sealing some of the shallower cuts.  Overall though, despite the scary bruising and alarmingly large cast, he didn’t look too terrible. 

As he drew closer, I could hear the physical therapist next to him talking and giving instructions for how do go about the school using his crutches, showing him certain areas he should avoid and other areas that would be more accessible. 

My heart clenched in my chest when he finally noticed Harry and I standing there; it was hard to read his expression beneath the damage as he abruptly turned his path towards us.  I gulped as Harry’s hand lightly touched my forearm, providing a gentle soothing feeling despite my rapidly increasing heart rate.  Colt stopped in front of us, eyes flicking back and forth between us before he turned to the man accompanying him.

“Can I have a minute to talk to these two?” he asked.  The man nodded, indicating he’d be down the hall waiting.

Colt stared at us both, not saying anything as his eyes quickly darted down to where Harry’s hand was on my arm.

“So,” he started, returning his eyes to my face.  “I owe you guys an apology.”

I felt like I had been hit with a semi.  That was the absolute last thing I expected to hear from him.  I blinked at him and tried to reign in my jaw, which was probably on the floor by now.  He cleared his throat before continuing.

“Before my… accident… I know I said some awful things to you guys.  On more than one occasion.  I don’t remember all the exact details because that’s all a bit fuzzy but I know the gist of it and I need to apologize.” He paused to let that absorb, waiting patiently for one of us to say something.

“What?” I blurted out, unable to stop myself.  I could feel Harry’s scolding look burning into the side of my face at my rudeness.

“I don’t blame you for being… confused or whatever, ‘cause I know I’m a dick, but I need to say I’m sorry.  I don’t know, just… the past few weeks sitting in the hospital really made me think about stuff and all the shit I’ve gotten into lately.  Like I almost killed myself ‘cause I was too stupid and drove drunk.  That kind of thing makes you think and I need to turn myself around so I figured apologizing to you two, who I seem to fuck up the most with would be a good place to start,” he finished his speech, looking apologetic as he slumped against his crutches.