FINDING ME - FIXING YOU SEQUEL

09

Justin quickly grew frustrated by the crutches and the pain that he's in. It hurt me to see him hurting. But the more he practices with the crutch the better he'll get at it. It doesn't help that he is refuses pain medication. He feels every bump and ache.

We were in the corner, away from the few people who were enjoying their own meals.

Things feel the same yet so different between Justin and I. As if I'm on a first date with someone I used to know. Justin was once loud and crazy, the center of attention. The man sitting with me now is calm and mellow. There aren't any drugs running through him to blame for his mood. I don't get the feeling he's in a hurry to get into the next party or club the way that I used to.

I used to think that I too had to be the life of the party to keep up with him. I assume that is how we got lost in it all.

I asked, "how long have you been here?"

"Where?" His shoulders shrugged slightly as he smiled at me.

"Here." I laughed, "like in this town." I gestured to the big window across the room from where we sat. Its curtains were drawn. I was referring to the town outside of it.

"Oh," he realized. "A few months, maybe? I've been to a lot of places in the last year. I was gonna keep on going but I somehow ran into Stella. That day was crazy." He sighed with a grin on his face. "Where the hell is Stella? I haven't seen her since before I went under for surgery." Justin suddenly wondered just before shoving a spoonful of chocolate into his mouth.

"She left last night," I told him and quickly popped a bite of my strawberry ice cream into my own mouth.

I knew that at some point he would bring Stella up. I had decided that I would not sit there and to lie his face. "I asked the front desk when you were sleeping earlier."

"She left?" He furrowed his eyebrows. Clearly confused as he shook his head, stabbing his spoon into his ice cream. "Why didn't she say anything to me? I have to call her! Where's my-" he took a deep breath and let it out, realization dawning on him. "I lost it in the wreck." He mumbled to himself more so than to me.

"I could ask the front desk for her number? If you don't know it. They-"

"There's no point. She wouldn't give them a real number to contact her with anyways." He grumbled and leaned back against the wooden bench.

"When I talked to her that night she told me that felt terrible about the accident. She said that it was all her fault. That it was her idea to do whatever you guys were doing." I quickly explained it all to him. "She didn't say what. But she did say that she was going to finish it the moment she got out of here."

"She's an idiot. She'll probably get herself killed! I have to go now! Why are you just now mentioning this to me?" That calm and mellow man was out the window now as he panicked about Stella. He was trying to stand up when suddenly he hissed in pain. As he fell back down on the bench, I rushed around the table and sat down beside him.

"You can't just get up and leave!" I quietly snapped at him, helping him find a comfortable position to sit in. "You're hurt. Stella wasn't. She was rolling around the hospital in a wheelchair for no reason! Who does that? Anyways," I laid my hand on his chest and spoke in a calmer tone. "You have to focus on getting better. Your leg took a direct hit. Things could have gone very badly, Justin. The doctor said that you're lucky to even have that leg today. He's talking about physical therapy. If you want to walk around without a crutch or a cane some day than go ahead. Worry about Stella, but I don't think that should be on your mind right now, babe."