I found myself in and out of sleep the next few days orchestrated by Laurie and my mother. She would bring me my medicine and food that I left untouched. She urged me to eat because of the medication but I didn't care. I wanted the pain killers to keep me asleep for right now. On the fourth of fifth day of straight sleep, I heard a tiny knock on my door.
"Mother, I'm not hungry. Please, just stop with the food. It makes me nauseous."
"Rowan, I'm not going to make you eat anything. Your dad will be soon for your check up and when I tell him you aren't eating, he's going to be angry."
I begged my dad to come check on me so I wouldn't have to leave the house. He finally obliged when I told him I had cameras outside and no security to get safely to the car. He wanted me to come or go to an actual hospital but I refused. I was never this stubborn but nothing made any sense right now so I stood my ground like a three year old: whining and complaining. I turned my pillow over to the cooler side. Another gross side effect other than the nightmares and nauseous was the sweating. I laid my head back down and closed my eyes. A few hours later, I heard another soft knocking. It was Laurie and my dad.
"Hey, sweetie. How are we feeling today?"
"Like shit, father."
I covered my eyes when he flipped on the light switch. After taking my blood pressure and temperature, he took a step back and looked at my bruises and cuts. "Well, the bruising is better. They are slowly going away. Let's see those ribs." He slowly lifted my shirt to expose my broken ribs. "Looks better too. Remember deep breathes so you aren't restricting anything. It'll feel good too." I nodded and watched my dad take my wrist into his hand. "Slowly healing but getting there. Remember to move it and stretch like I said." I nodded again as he let go of my wrist. "Your pupils are small which means you are still taking the medication. Have you been eating?"
"Dad, I get sick as soon as I eat something. The only thing I can keep down is water and maybe juice."
"Ok, you need to take a multivitamin. Your body needs the nutrients to heal faster. I'll leave some with Laurie. You don't want to stay in this bed forever, do you?"
I looked at him and actually considered answering truthfully which was yes but I refrained and shook my head.
"Good, well everything else looks fine. Laurie told me while you were in Ireland you would get dizzy spells before the accident so I sent some of your blood out for bloodwork to see if there's anything else we need to worry about."
I told Laurie that? I don't remember telling anyone that. I must have if she knew. "Ok, thanks. Love you, dad."
"Honey, your mom and I need to talk to you before we leave."
Great. I was waiting for the reprimanding from them. I knew this was coming. My mother thankfully let me be all week but I knew this was coming. I closed my eyes as I heard my mother join him on the side of my bed.
"Honey, we want you to come home," I heard her say.
My eyes shot open. I studied both of them and realized they weren't kidding.
"Mom, I can't just leave. I have a job here and my life is here."
"We talked to Marc and he agreed to give you off the rest of the summer to get better," she continued.
"Why would you do that? Dad said I was healing. I can go back to work soon. I'm not taking the summer off to heal from some bumps and bruises. I just got this job. I can't just leave."
"Sweetie, we want you to talk to someone. This isn't the Rowan we know."
"Mom, seriously? Just because I don't fit into this mold you want me in doesn't mean I need to talk to someone. I fell in love with someone who was incredibly hard and easy to love at the same time. I walked in on him with another girl and I made a mistake by driving. It was stupid of me to do but at the same time I don't really care. I was the only one hurt and I'm still alive. I need time to heal mentally and physically, yes, but it doesn't mean I need to move home, quit my job, and talk to a therapist. Yes, I am shattered and hurt and broken but I won't be this way forever." I looked back and forth from the both of them, waiting for them to answer.
"She does have a point, hon, I mean this is the first time we have all dealt with this...this stuff," my dad said, looking at my mom. I took a breath and watched as my mother looked back and forth between her husband and her only daughter. Her eyes welled up.
"Mother, please stop. There has been enough crying in this house to last a lifetime. I am going to be fine, ok? Right now, I'm far from it but I'll be over it all soon and look back and thank God I made it out alive."
They both sat quietly next to me as I rubbed my head. "Look, I love you both so much and I am so sorry for what happened in Ireland and I have no excuse but I promise that's it with him. I will never put myself in danger like that again. Now, please, let me get back to some kind of life. Mom, go back home too. I am fine. You both have lives outside of me. Laurie is here and I have friends in the city. I will call if I need anything. I promise but right now I really would like to just be alone and rest."
My father nodded to my mother and she looked back at me with tears in her eyes again. I knew it was hard for my parents to see me like this which was why I wanted them to leave. I felt like I needed to protect them from my stupid mistake. I knew it was dumb to think that way but my parents did a great job raising me and as they sat there looking at me, I felt guilty. I knew I was being hard on myself considering this wasn't all my fault but I didn't like making mistakes. I hugged them both a long while before they left and reassured them I would call if I needed anything. I heard Laurie close and lock the front door behind them before she came back into my room. I didn't move when I felt her sit down on the edge of my bed.
"Your mom is cool but I totally forgot how anal she can be sometimes."
I didn't say anything. My head was throbbing. It felt like someone was dully hammering into my face.
"Need anything?"
I reached my hand over to her, palm up, waiting for my daily dose of pain killers. My dad made sure I was prescribed something to help with the queasiness and lowered the dosage to help with the nightmares.
"Row, you should really eat."
I groaned. "Please just let me have them so I can sleep. If I eat anything, it will get thrown up. I think I am dying, seriously."
"You are so dramatic. You're not dying. I will give you the meds if you eat just a couple pieces of toast."
"Fine but if I get sick, I am throwing up on you."
"Deal."
I rolled over very carefully onto my side and took a deep breath. I felt my ribcage expand and it hurt but not as bad as it did yesterday. I impatiently waited for Laurie and the toast. A few minutes later, she came in with toast, orange juice, and an apple. Laurie wandered out my bedroom and I heard her in the kitchen. I gave the food a look but took a bite of the toast and sipped the juice. It was very sweet as it hit my taste buds. As I swallowed, it was as if my body was waking up from a coma. I was instantly ravenous. I downed the toast, the apple, and the juice. Laurie came back in with a glass of water and my medicine and gasped when she saw the empty dishes.
"Thank God. Can I make you something else? More toast?"
I shook my head and motioned for the medicine. "Let me take these and I'll eat when I wake up later."
Laurie seemed pleased with that answer as she handed me the things in her hands. As I swallowing, her right hand caught my attention. "Oh my God, Laurie! Your hand!" I reached for it as I carefully examined it. It was bruised purple and had three small cuts. Her knuckles were a little swollen too. I looked up at her, confused about the cuts.
"His teeth. I guess I knocked him right in the mouth and his teeth cut my knuckles. I don't think I knocked any out though. Bummer."
I snorted and ran my hand over my face. "Wow. I don't think in a million years you would have punched someone I dated. I mean, I could see you punching someone. Just not Har-him..." I was silly to think I could say his name out loud yet as I looked down at my hands. I lifted my head and looked out the window. I felt my chest get tight but I took a deep breath and it went away. Laurie, sensing I was in thought, leaned into my shoulder with hers.
"What's going on in that head of yours?"
I shook my head. "A whole lot of nothing right now. Hey, where's my phone? I have to text Marc and tell him I'm coming back as soon as I get better."
"Ya sure that's a good idea?"
"Laurie, I got cheated on and got into a car accident. It happens every day, more than once, mine was just more public. I want to get back at least by next week or the week after."
Laurie got up and disappeared into the front. She came back and handed me the phone. It was off. I held the button down until it sprung to life.
"I, uh, kept it off for you."
As soon as it was fully on, I realized why she had turned it off. "Someone really wanted to talk to me, huh?" I said, showing Laurie the endless amounts of missed calls, voicemails, and text messages from him. I quickly selected each voicemail and text and hit clear all. Laurie watched with wide eyes as I deleted my call logs, all my social media, and deactivated my personal email. I quickly emailed Marc and George to let them know when it was ok for me to come back to work.
"Damn, Row, you really are, like, done, done."
I looked over at her and laughed. "Well, why wouldn't I be? He cheated on me. That's kind of unforgivable."
She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, I thought you two were going all the way kind of thing."
"Tell me, if Alec cheated on you and you walked in on it, would you forgive him? And if do remember, you were the one who punched him."
"Yes, because you can't hold grudges against the dead." It took me a second to figure out what she meant.
"Good one, Laurie. But honestly, would you forgive him?"
"Probably not. No, you're right. Cheating is the worst you can do to someone."
I nodded and laid down. My stomach felt full even with only toast and an apple but it helped me sleep and along with the medication I fell back into a dreamless sleep.
(Yay for double updates! Comment and vote xoxo)