Second Chances {ACM}

Chapter 37

"Hello there." The doctor took one glance at my towel covered hand and sighed. "So I take it it's not baby problems this time?"

I shook my head. "A sliced hand."

She carefully unwrapped the towel from my hand and I took one look at it before turning away. "Oh, that's so gross." I moaned.

"Lemme see!" Taylor got up and looked at it. "That's awesome!"

Awesome was hardly a word to describe it. It looked deep, swollen, bloody, and was about three inches long right across the palm of my hand.

Dr. Taylor inspected it. "I think you're going to need stitches there, Emily."

"Oh joy." I said sarcastically, causing the doctor to chuckle.

"You'll be fine. I'll be right back and we can stitch that right up." She left the room.

"So, looks like there will be no hand holding between you and Austin for a while." Taylor joked, but I glared at her.

"Not funny. And I do have another hand, you know!"

"Aw, come on Emily. Why can't you two just make up already? He's coming home today."

"I'm not mad. I'm miffed."

"You're mad."

"I'm furious." I growled and then sighed. "Why does he have to be so damn nice and say yes to everything?" I whined.

Taylor shrugged. "Beats me. But hey, I was nice to bring you here."

"Yes, but you're still evil in many other ways." I told her. "No offense."

"Hey! I don't have an evil bone in my body!"

"Oh that's right. Just 206 of them, right?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Exactly! God, get it right," she said.

I shook my head and Dr. Taylor came back with the supplies, freezing my hand first.

"So, no Austin today?" She asked, making small talk as she worked. Too bad she had to bring up the touchy subject.

"No." I muttered quietly. "He's in Texas." Austin left to go to Texas to go see his family, after I got out of the hospital.

"Oh, I see. How's he liking it there? I assume it's for a family thing or something?" She said, sticking the needle through. I had to look away. Just the fact that she was sticking a needle through me was gross.

I nodded. "Um, yeah, he's having fun. We're not on speaking terms right now though."

"Oh, sorry! I'll stop." Dr. Taylor said quickly.

"It's okay." I assured her.

It took about ten minutes to stitch my hand and after the doctor wrapped it and gave me medicine for the pain for when the freezing wore off, Taylor and I paid and left.

She dropped me off at home. "Thanks Taylor."

"No problem." She said. As she pulled out of the driveway, she yelled through her open window, "Make up with Austin NOW!"

I flipped her off, but she just grinned and waved before driving away. As I headed inside, I saw my phone sitting on the counter and realized I had forgotten to take it. I checked to see if there were messages from my mom, but there was none. He was at a guitar convention, and wouldn't be back for a while. There were messages though.

9 missed phone calls from Austin, three voicemails, and 14 texts.

Well. Looks like he didn't stop after all.

I sighed and listened to the messages, not even bothering to read the texts since whatever he had to say was most likely in the voicemails.

"Hey Ems, it's Austin. Look, I know you're pissed at me and don't want to talk to me, and I don't blame you, but I'm really sorry! Please talk to me, I miss you!"

I rolled my eyes and went to the next one. "Emily Smith! Pick up your damn phone and stop being so stubborn!" Number Three: "Emily, please!"

After listening to the messages, I called Taylor. "Hello?"

"Austin left me three voice mails."

"Honestly, Emily. You guys have to make up, this is getting ridiculous. It's been two days!" She sighed. "Look, I'll be honest, you overreacted."

"Hey, you're supposed to be on my side!" I exclaimed.

"Emily, you're my best friend and you know I love you, but you know how Austin is. He's a good guy, he's horrible at making decisions, and he hates saying no to people. Justin said he really wanted to come back on Sunday, but he knew you'd be upset about him staying longer, so he put off telling you until last minute when it was too late for him to come back."

I sighed. She was right. "I guess thinking back on it, I didn't give him a chance to explain or say anything, really. Damn it. I feel like an idiot now."

"Talk to him when he gets back," Taylor suggested. "I'm sure he'd rather sort things out in person than over the phone."

"Yeah, I will. Thanks, T."

"Anytime. Good luck, girl!"

I hung up and sat there for a second before going upstairs. Since it was around three o'clock, I assumed Austin would be home by nine or ten, so I decided to go for a nap since I couldn't do much with one hand.

I wish pregnancies didn't wear you out so much.