-Luke-
I hated my life so goddamn much. Troy's weekend was now ruined because that stupid knee of mine. Fucking hell, who would've thought that my sad suicide attempt would come back to kick me right in the face after such a long time? If I hadn't been such a stupid, messed up coward back then, the impact with the enemy player today wouldn't have been a big deal. It would've been just a bruise.
I was pumped full of medication almost immediately, and the pain was slowly fading away. Mom was there with me on our way to the hospital, while Gwen stayed behind. Once we got to the hospital, I had to wait for quite a long time before they could take an x-ray of the knee, and the entire time I was just lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. I had a lot of time to hate myself.
It got so bad that once I was finally taken to get the x-rays done, I was sure Troy hated me as well. I had failed him. I couldn't even take him to the arcade like he wanted. He told me he wanted to get the fuck away from Stephanie, and I couldn't even do that. I had the feeling I would have to stay the night at the hospital – last time I had to stay for three nights – so...
I ruined his weekend. In the end, it was me who ruined his weekend.
After the x-rays were done, I was taken into an empty room, and soon my doctor stepped in. I groaned when he showed me the x-ray. I had seen plenty of images to know it was not good.
"You can see here – your patella broke into four pieces," he said, holding the picture in front of me, pointing at each of them individually. "We need to operate on it to get the pieces back together. Again. I saw your previous x-rays after your accident two years ago, and it has broken almost exactly the same way as last time. My guess is it never healed well, and now the impact broke it apart again."
I listened with half an ear while he went through the procedure with my mom. She was staring at me the entire time, and I knew she had a couple of questions ready for me. She waited until the doctor left the room before she spoke.
"Did you notice anything weird about your knee before this?"
"It hurt now and then," I shrugged. "I didn't think it was anything serious."
"It hurt? Why didn't you say anything?" she asked with a slightly raised voice. "He said your kneecap seemed fragile in the pictures! The screws from the last operation were all over the place!"
"It didn't seem like a big deal," I said in annoyance.
"You stubborn boy!" she sighed in frustration. "Stubborn, stubborn boy... I should've listened to your doctor when he said it wasn't wise to let you play," she added with a mutter. "I should have listened to him..."
I laughed shortly. "I wanted to play. That is why you let me stay on the team. It's just a knee, Mom. It will heal eventually."
She stopped to look at me with wide eyes. She didn't say anything at first, but when she did, she had a small smile on her face. "Would you look at yourself? You're taking this awfully well."
"I'm screaming internally, don't worry," I said, and sighed right after. "I don't really care about the fucking knee. They can cut it off for all I care. I'm just... I fucked up... This was Troy's weekend. He wanted so badly to get away from his dad and Stephanie. He doesn't want to go home..."
Mom sighed as well and sat down on the edge of my bed. "He can stay with us, if he wants, but Gwen is worried they won't let him come with us... because of her."
"It's not her fault. Troy's old man is just trash if you ask me," I said.
"That's not a nice thing to say," Mom said quietly.
"Well, Troy's dad isn't a nice man," I retorted. "Tell Troy that I'm sorry for ruining his weekend."
"You didn't ruin anything. Accidents happen, and I'm sure Troy will tell you the same exact thing," Mom said, patting my shoulder. "But Gwen is on her way here, and Troy's with her, so you'll get to try to tell him that yourself. They should be here any minute."
I immediately felt better after hearing that, even though I was afraid to see Troy. He was disappointed, and I wasn't sure if I could live with myself after seeing that expression on his face, knowing it was my fault.
Stupid knee...
It really didn't take longer than five minutes before someone knocked on the door. Mom went to open it, letting Gwen and Troy in.
"So is it broken?" was the first thing Gwen said.
"Yeah," Mom said. "They are trying to schedule surgery for him as soon as possible."
Troy walked to me and sat down on the edge of my bed. Without saying a word, he kissed me shortly. "How are you holding up?"
"Hmm?" I could only think of the warm greeting I got, instead of answering his question. When I got my head working again, I shrugged. "It's just a busted knee. I'll survive."
"And if you turn off that manly-man attitude?" Troy asked without a blink of an eye.
I stared at him for a moment and then sighed. "It hurts so fucking much... The painkillers aren't working well..."
"My poor dude," Troy said gently, and kissed my forehead. "Can they give you stronger pills?"
"They were pretty strong already. I'm just getting immune to them..." I said, thinking about all the pills I had to take every day just to stay sane.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "Is there anything I can do?"
"Stay with me," I whispered.
"Of course I will," he whispered just as quietly. "They'll have to drag me out kicking and screaming to get rid of me."
I smiled, but I couldn't ignore my guilty conscience any longer. "I'll have to stay here for the night... I ruined your weekend, and–"
Troy put a hand over my mouth. "You didn't ruin anything," he said sternly. "It was an accident." Behind him, Mom raised her eyebrows like saying I told you so.
Troy removed his hand so I could speak, and I didn't stay quiet. "But everything is still ruined," I tried to say, but he put his hand back on my mouth.
"Nothing's ruined," Troy said sternly. "I'll get to be with you."
"I think we should give you two a moment alone," Mom said suddenly, and I saw her dragging Gwen out of the room, closing the door behind them.
Troy gave me a smile and leaned in to press a longer kiss on my lips. When he sat back up, he brushed his hand through my hair with a warm smile on his lips. "So... What's going to happen next? They said your knee is broken?"
"Yeah... It was too fragile..." I said quietly. "I should've tried to dodge him... I saw him coming after me, and I tried to fool him, but I guess he saw it. The idiot just slammed into me."
"I saw it happen. It looked pretty bad," he said sympathetically.
"Bad enough to break my kneecap into four pieces. They'll have to operate right away because it's pretty bad. It's not just the kneecap that's busted. There's something wrong with some of the tendons as well... Hopefully they'll get to operate it tomorrow, and I'll get to go home after that."
"Aren't they going to keep you here longer than that?" Troy asked with a frown.
"Most likely not – they'll probably just put a cast on it and send me home with painkillers," I explained.
"Oh, okay," Troy said, and was quiet for a moment. "That'd be good. Then I get to comfort you," he smirked.
I grimaced when I remembered what he said about the game. "How did it go? The game?"
He wrinkled his nose. "You might not want to know..."
"Fuck's sake," I breathed out. "We lost, didn't we..."
"Yeah... But like I said – I'll comfort you as long as you wish," he said, leaning in to kiss me for the third time. "But for the record – you really were an amazing quarterback. We learned that after you were gone."
"I was..." I repeated his words with a chuckle. "My last game and I didn't even get to finish it."
"I'm sorry you didn't get to be there," Troy said quietly, moving his hand on my cheek. "I think we would've won if you were there."
"I don't think so," I laughed. "I don't care. Really... You told me to have fun today, but... I don't think football was ever fun for me. My shrink once suggested that I get a hobby. I just followed his instructions, that's all."
Troy's smile turned sadder when I spoke. "Is there..." he trailed off for a moment, before he continued. "Is there something else you do for fun? I don't even know that..."
"For fun?" I said, taking his hand in mine. "...no."
He nodded shortly, and his expression turned sadder. I cursed myself for bringing down the mood. That was the only thing I was good at.
"Is there something you'd want to do for fun?" he asked.
"You," I said before I could stop myself. He started smiling at first, looking a bit shy for a moment, before his smile turned into laughter.
"I should have..." he laughed, shaking his head.
"I guess I'll need a hobby now. Last time it took months before my knee was back to normal, so I need something to do," I said, and for the first time in my life, I was actually thinking about it. Having a fun hobby. I just had no idea what could be fun.
"I'll help you find something you'll love to do," Troy said. "Besides me."
"That'd be great," I said, wrapping my arms around his shoulders to pull him on top of me. "I'm sorry I can't take you to the arcade now... This was supposed to be your weekend."
"Our weekend. We will have plenty of those in the future," he said.
I loved the sound of that.
-Troy-
It was weird to stay at Luke's while he spent the night at the hospital. It was late when we arrived at their home, so all we did was eat a little before going to bed. Someone had already made me a bed in Luke's room. Probably the man himself. I smiled at the sight of it. I couldn't help but imagine that he, too, had wanted to have this weekend with me.
Getting sleep was not easy, though. I kept checking my phone in case Dad had tried to call me. I had it on mute, so I'd miss the call, but it didn't stop me from staring at the corner of the phone for the tiny light for notifications. The only times it started blinking was when Max texted me. We talked about Luke, then about the game, and then about Luke again.
I think I fell asleep around two or three in the morning. Luke's surgery would be at seven, but he had made us swear not to come until he was expected to wake up from anesthesia, so it was eight in the morning when Mrs. Frost came to wake me up.
"Good morning! Did you sleep well?" she asked when I pushed the covers off me.
"Yeah," I lied. "Any news from Luke?"
"Not yet, but it's still early. I'm guessing he's still under the knife," she said. "I'm making breakfast – there's a clean towel in Luke's bathroom if you want to take a shower before coming down."
I nodded, and she left. I still found it odd to be there in their house without Luke. And what was even more odd was that I didn't have to make my own breakfast. Or that someone had wished me good morning...
I had to take a moment before getting out of bed. This was what having a real family was like, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to know that. It hadn't even occurred to them to make me go home last night. When Luke had been taken to the hospital yesterday, Gwen had stayed behind to wait for me. For me specifically. She could've followed the ambulance to the hospital and been with her son, but she stayed and waited for me... When we were in the car, she asked if I was hungry, if I wanted something to eat before going to see Luke. When I told her no, she promised to make me something to eat once we got home – their home.
I told her I could go home, but she had only one word for me: nonsense!
I went to take a quick shower before putting on clean clothes and going downstairs. I nodded awkwardly at Gwen, who had a laptop in front of her. She gave me a smile and gestured for me to sit down next to her.
"Did you sleep well, dear?" she asked.
"Yeah," I said, and fell silent. I was not good at communicating so early in the morning, especially after a sleepless night.
"We'll leave as soon as we've eaten," she said. "We might be a bit early, though."
"It's fine," I said.
There was a short moment of silence in the kitchen, while Mrs. Frost continued making waffles – my god, they smelled great. Then, she turned around to look at me shortly.
"I'm curious – why would anyone fly all the way to Singapore just to stay there only for two nights?" she asked.
"They are having a business meeting with a stockholder or something," I explained. "They were supposed to leave yesterday, but something came up."
"Another scandal to sweep under the rug, I assume..." Gwen muttered, and Mrs. Frost nudged her lightly on the shoulder in a disapproving manner. Gwen glanced at me and muttered, "Sorry..."
"It's fine – I'm not an idiot. I know my dad's company is rotten to the core," I said.
Gwen gave me an amused smile, and for some reason, I had the feeling she liked me even more now.
We ate mostly in silence, and as soon as everyone was ready, we left to see Luke. I wanted to believe we were going to pick him up, but it was too soon to have such a wish. He most likely would be able to come home already, if there weren't any complications.
Once at the hospital, we had to wait for quite some time before we were able to see Luke. I waited anxiously to see him, even after his doctor came to inform us that the operation had gone well and he would indeed be able to come home later today.
When we were finally escorted to Luke's room, he was still a bit disoriented after the anesthesia. I walked to his bed, smiling down at him, while he tried to focus his gaze.
"Hi," I said quietly – there were three other patients sleeping in the room.
"Hi," he replied and gave me a tired smile.
"How are you feeling?" Mrs. Frost asked gently.
"Right now, I'm not feeling anything at all," Luke spoke slowly, focusing on every word he said. "So... How did it go? Can I come home?"
"Yes, but not yet. You need to rest for now, and later, you need to meet a specialist who will tell you what you can and can't do," Mrs. Frost told him.
Luke stared at her for a moment before he smiled. "Home – got it."
I laughed lightly – it was obvious he hadn't understood anything except the part that he was allowed to come home. I sat sideways on his bed so I could see him and took his hand in mine. He squeezed my hand lightly, looking drunk as fuck, and he kept smiling like he was high.
"My poor dude," I whispered, kissing his fingers. "You're so brave."
"I'm literally just lying on a bed," he chuckled.
"You just had surgery, remember?" I smiled at him.
"I hope not," he giggled. "I don't need that kind of trauma in my life..."
"You're not being funny," I said, but I had to laugh.
"Maybe a little funny?" he said.
"Very little," I replied.
"I'll take that," he said, closing his eyes. He was still smiling, and I felt happy little butterflies in my stomach. I had not noticed how nervous I had been, not until now that I could actually breathe again after seeing him doing well.
"I hope you have some games ready for later," Luke suddenly said without opening his eyes.
"Don't worry – I came prepared," I said.
"Good. See you in the morning then," he said, drifting back to sleep.
"Oh God," I chuckled, but he was already asleep. "How adorable can you be?"
"This is a side of him you rarely get to see," Gwen said quietly. "Although lately, it hasn't been so rare anymore," she added with a happy voice.
"He's so handsome when he smiles," Mrs. Frost added in a heavy voice.
"He is," Gwen whispered, and patted my shoulder. "I'll go talk with his doctor and I need another cup of coffee. Is there anything you want, Troy?"
"I'm fine, thanks," I said, keeping my eyes on Luke, playing with his fingers.
"Okay," Gwen said.
"I'll come with you. I can see our son is in good hands," Mrs. Frost said, and I hid my awkward smile from them. "We'll be back soon."
"Okay," I said, still staring at Luke. I never took my eyes off him, even when I heard his parents leave the room.
I smiled and brushed my hand through his curls, enjoying his warmth. For me, being next to him was all I needed for my weekend to be perfect.