Our Debts

4.

I asked the nurses about her. I wasn't sure if they even knew who I was talking about I just wanted to see 'the girl'.

"My name is Carter," I said quietly just as she was already halfway out of the door. She heard me and jerked her head my way. She walked back into the room and extended her hand out to me. 

The nurse gave me back the clothes I was wearing and my wallet. On my ID, it said my name was Carter Dick (I know. Embarrassing.) and I'm 24 years old. 

"Astrid." She still had her hand out waiting for me to shake it. I couldn't help but admire her. 

Her dark brown hair was layered reaching the middle of her back. Her hair looked so fluffy, I wanted to run my hands through it. Her eyes were fierce but cute, the sparkle in the pool of amber could memorize you if you stared for too long. Her skin was tan and smooth, well it looked smooth. I could tell she was mixed race, white, and Asian, I think.  Perfect lips. Perfect nails. Perfect body. Perfect everything.

I met this girl for what, an hour? I was already down bad. 

" Oh, I guess you can't remember. When someone reaches their hand out, you're supposed to take it. And then you're supposed to shake, but not too aggressively. It's called a handshake. Or sometimes, guys dap each other up" She grabs my hands and guides it to her own while explaining to me. 

I remember what a handshake was, my brain wasn't totally messed up. However, if it meant she was going to be teaching me hands-on, I'll forget everything. 

❀♔⋆♥⋆♕❀

Astrid

Grandma came to the hospital every day to visit Dad. She just sits there and talks to him all day long. Grandma Lori has heart disease, old people problem as she called it. It was hard to tell her what happened to her only son, we cried together and tried to make the most out of the situation.

Us Callaways, are like stone pillars. We endure the fire, the water, the earth, and the air when nature turns against us. People lean on us for support. That doesn't mean we're irresistible. With enough force, we can break. But pillars, you never see it alone. We bind together and we take away each other's load because we're family. So cry to me, Astrid, you can be weak with me and I'll do the same. 

I can recite those words perfectly. Grandpa said the same thing to Dad and Dad used it on me. He always taught me to stand up tall even when my knees are begging me to sit down. He taught me to let others lean on me and support them even if they don't have the same support for me because, in the end, we both will fall. 

I told Grandma about Carter, the mysterious guy next door. I left out the " he could be on the cover of People's magazine for the Sexiest Man Alive 2021" bit, of course. Grandma, being the social butterfly, managed to get some information out of the nurse. We learned that he was basically a John Doe, the police couldn't track any of his past. They said something about him being from Canada which I believe was bullshit and they were too lazy to actually do their jobs.

"Astrid, go bring these snacks over to the boy. He probably only tastes two flavors from the hospital food, salty and shit." I laughed at my Grandma's joke, lovely lady, right? 

"Let's just give it to the nurse. It'll be weird to him, for me to just randomly show up." Truthfully, I was extremely nervous to talk to him. He had this dominating aura around him, he's the type of person to walk into the club and the whole club pauses. 

"Poor, boy. Can't even enjoy a nice snack because Ms.Astrid is too stubborn." Jolene joins Grandma's antics, showing me a very unconvincing frown.