The Boy in the Gray Hoodie

2...

2…

Marley was happy again today. She kept telling me jokes and laughing. She giggled harder when I smiled, so I smiled a lot. I liked hearing her laugh.

            “My, oh my. My cousin would kill to have your teeth,” Marley admitted. “So white and straight. Perfect, really. You’re just…perfect.”

            I didn’t know what to say. So I didn’t say anything.

            “Outing’s on the calendar again,” she mentioned casually.

            “What?” my head shot up. I was sitting on the metal bed with my legs crossed. Her words set my whole body rigid.

            “Don’t look so surprised. James made you a promise. He likes to keep his promises. Makes him feel…manly,” Marley explained.

            “B-but I thought…w-what about the test?” my head was reeling. Excitement stirred in my center but I fought it. My hands played with the hem of my shirt to relieve some of the tension I was feeling but it didn’t work. I just ended up with a handful of twisted cotton.

            “I can see your bellybutton.” Marley stated with a snicker.

            I quickly released my shirt and smoothed it down. Heat rose to my cheeks. Marley wasn’t supposed to see that. Only the orderlies saw underneath my clothes, and only during scheduled disinfection.

            “Oh, stop looking so embarrassed.” Marley admonished.

            I glanced away, my face heating up.

            “The tests are still on the calendar too,” she added, trying to change the subject. The distraction worked.

            “When?” I asked quietly, unable to hide my disappointment. A part of me had hoped that the tests had been cancelled in place of the outing. But it was too much to hope for.

            “Tonight. When you and James come back.” Marley answered with a smile in her voice.

            I looked up at the glass and was surprised at how large my smile looked in the reflection. “We’re going today?” I bubbled. “When? Where? Is James coming to get me? Are you coming too?” The questions came all at once and I didn’t stop them. I was too excited.

            “Slow down, slow down. One question at a time,” Marley insisted with a hesitant chuckle.

“Sorry,” I chewed my lip and then remembered I wasn’t supposed to, so I stopped and started tugging on my shirt instead.

“James will come and get you in a couple of hours. We have to run some blood work before the test tonight though, so I’ll need your arm in the cylinder before you get too excited.”

“Oh, okay,” I said eagerly and hurried over to the door.

When I got there, I lifted my sleeve carelessly and winced when the cloth pressed against the bruised flesh of my arm. I looked down at it and cringed. Tiny purple puncture marks dotted the inner crook of my elbow, the marks running down my arm, the newer injection points surrounded by blue and yellow bruising.

“Maybe the other arm today. Looks like we should give o’l righty a little break.” Marley suggested.

I nodded and placed my left arm in the cylinder instead. I leaned awkwardly against the wall as the butterfly needle went in.