Teach Me To Behave

18. Hold Your Breath

"Justin." I turned my head to the passenger seat, then back to the road. His eyes opened, then began to close again. "Justin!" I took one arm off the steering wheel and pushed his shoulder. I continued to keep concentration on the road and only turn to him for a split second. He finally turned in his seat, "You can't sleep right now, we're almost at the hospital," his eyes remained opened this time.

The rest of the car ride was dead silent. I tried to continuously switch lanes so that Justin wouldn't fall asleep. I knew from living with him that he was a pretty heavy sleeper, but swerving lanes every now and then kept him awake for the most part. We finally arrived at the Emergency Room entrance. I parked valet so we could get in faster.

The paramedics strolled a wheel chair over to the car and tried to help Justin out, of course he fought, "I don't need a wheel chair." He stepped out of the car to the curb.

I bit my lip, "Just sit down will you?" I asked him as the paramedics glanced at each other. Justin rolled his eyes, but finally took a seat. "I got it from here." I said to the paramedics. I tipped the valet boy a few dollars.

Justin sat dreadfully in the wheelchair and made it pretty obvious to the entire hospital that he was in pain and didn't wanna be there. He'd mumble and dramatically sigh while throwing his head back as I rolled him to the front desk of the urgent care section. As if we weren't getting enough stares from his bloody face and clothes.

I filled out the short paper work and the nurse immediately led us to a small room. She lay out the hospital gown and a plastic bag for his bloody clothes. She gently asked what had happened and Justin snarled at her like he was a pit bull. I apologized to the nurse for his behavior before she left us be.

"Would it kill you to show some courtesy . . . or how bout human-like characteristics. Let's start with that." i crossed my arms against my chest.

Justin stood from his wheelchair, wobbling on his two legs, I immediately grasped hold of his arm and helped him over to the hospital bed. "You gonna keep lecturing me about manners or teach me how to behave in this revealing gown?" He smirked half heartedly on the patient bed holding up the hospital gown he'd been given.

"You know what? If I didn't feel so sorry for what you're going through right now, I'd tell you to kiss my ass," I said.

"And if I wanted to be a dick, I'd say you were asking me to kiss your ass because you remembered how much you fucking loved it when I did." Justin finished strongly.

I felt my cheeks go pale and then heat up dramatically. I rolled my eyes, turning away and walked out of the room. I stood against the wall beside his door. I hoped that he could actually get into that gown on his own and wouldn't need my help.

A new nurse came back around to the room with a clipboard in her hand. "Hello ma'am," she politely said shaking my hand. "The other nurse had a hard time talking to this patient-"

I knew it was rude but I interrupted her with a quick apology, "I'm so sorry. He's not usually like that he's-"

Was it still wrong how I was defending him?

She returns my action by interrupting my sentence, "It's fine honey. We get patients who aren't in the mood to talk all the time. We can tell by his condition that he's already had a pretty rough night. So, would you mind telling us what happened before the doctor comes in?" I nod my head and explain to the nurse that it was a motorcycle accident. I told her lost control and his head hit a metal light pole. Not a complete lie I suppose.

The nurse walked into the room and closed the door behind her. I waited in the hall and checked my phone.

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