The Red String | ONC 2024

11. Fractured

Emma was still mentally reviewing everything she knew about Logan Harris when he finally walked into the cafeteria. If she thought she'd felt guilty on her drive home after the accident, it was nothing compared to how she felt seeing him now. Even from across the room, she could see the bright white cast that stretched from his shoulder down to his fingertips, though it would take her a few minutes to actually realize that.

She'd been staring vaguely across the room, lost in her own thoughts when he walked in. At first, she hadn't actually noticed the cast; it was being blocked by his body as he made his way over to the lunch line. Emma's eyes followed him, and she wondered if maybe she should go up to him and see how he was doing. She hadn't actually talked to him at all since the accident. Despite the frankly absurd amount of time she'd spent with him recently, she'd never bothered to get his number. She'd regretted that ever since the ER staff had wheeled him away. She put her hands on the table, ready to push herself up out of her chair.

But she didn't.

Instead, she stayed firmly planted in her seat, wondering what she would say to him if she did go up there. It wasn't like 'hey how are you?' was really going to cut it; it was way too casual. She should acknowledge what had happened yesterday, she told herself. But 'how about that accident – crazy, right?' didn't sound any better.

She continued struggling for what she should say, running through endless possibilities as he inched forward in line. Each idea was worse than the last. Finally, he stepped up to the counter. That was when she'd noticed that he only had one arm in his jacket, the other sleeve empty with his arm tucked in close to his chest. It struck Emma as odd, and she watched him fumble to get his wallet out of his pocket with just the one arm. As he struggled to get his money out one-handed, that was when she'd finally caught sight of the cast.

"Oh, wow." Emma gasped. She knew the accident was bad, but she hadn't realized it was that bad. Emma's expression must have been good, because Abby took one look at it and returned her fork to her tray, head tilted slightly to the side.

"What?" Abby asked. Without waiting for Emma to respond, she turned around in her seat, trying to figure out what was bothering her friend so much. But Logan was in the process of picking up his food; his back was to them, cast temporarily hidden from view. When he turned around, he was holding one end of his lunch tray in one hand, and balancing the other end precariously on top of his cast.

"Oh, my god – what happened to him?" Abby asked, pointing in the most unsubtle way possible.

As he made his way across the cafeteria, Emma stood up. This was all her fault. Logan saw her and nodded a hello before walking over. Emma couldn't take her eyes off the sight of that cast. She thought about going over and offering to help with his tray, but she wasn't sure he'd appreciate her making him look so helpless in front of the whole cafeteria. Especially when they weren't even friends in the first place.

She probably shouldn't have stood up so suddenly like that. Because now what was she supposed to do? It felt even weirder to sit down than it did to rush over to him. So she stood with her fingertips tapping nervously on the table as she waited for him to approach.

"Are you ok?" she asked as soon as he was within earshot, even though he obviously wasn't. She dragged her eyes up to meet his as she said, "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. It's not your fault." he said with a half-shrug and that typical grin of his. Then, he turned serious. "I'm doing ok. How about you?"

"I'm fine." Emma told him. She ran her hand absentmindedly along her collarbone as she added, "A little bruised, but nothing that bad."