Chapter 37: Going Through Changes
Riley was amazed by how much people were concerned about her. Not long after Paul left, everyone from D12, 50 and Dre had all come in to visit before their flight left. She’d cracked up laughing as everyone walked in bearing flowers and ‘get well’ bears. She felt embarrassed that so many people were here just to see her.
“God, look at you,” Proof said, as he entered first, piling onto the end of the hospital bed. “Finished the show and ended up here.”
“She’s broken and she still performed better than you,” Denaun cracked with a laugh.
Proof just rolled his eyes and Kuniva dumped all the flowers on the shelves around the room. Bizarre handed her a teddy bear that was almost bigger than her. She took it and gave a silly smile in disbelief that they would go to such trouble for her.
Jammed into the tiny hospital room, they were all loud as they shared stories of when they had injured themselves on tour or at performances. They all made her feel better as she realized she wasn’t the only one who’d fallen off the stage in her career.
After everyone left to catch the late night flight, Riley was left in the hospital room, which was beginning to look like the Garden of Eden, Mark sitting by her side. Marshall had insisted on walking everyone out and seemed quiet. She could only wonder what was wrong with him. He seemed to be distancing himself from her. She felt heavy, like she’d done something wrong or he was mad at her but she couldn’t think of anything she’d done wrong. Maybe he was angry at her for ruining his tour…?
“That’s not a nice face,” Mark commented as he sat forwards in his chair. “What are you thinking?”
Riley cleared her throat and sat back a little, wincing as her torso stretched, putting pressure on her ribs. “Marshall is mad at me… and I don’t know why. Do you think he’s upset because I fell of the stage?”
Mark threw her a wild look, “He better not be. Paul said it himself, it’s not your fault.”
Riley bit her bottom lip, “I hope not…” She felt the pain in her side flare up again and she rested her head back against the pillows, trying to relax. Mark sensed that she was uncomfortable and stood up.
“I’ll give you some space. Get some rest,” He insisted. Leaning over he kissed her on the forehead, like she imagined her father would… if she knew who he was. She felt a pang of emptiness hit her. It was like she had a hole in her heart that she wanted to fill, but couldn’t find anything that fit. She knew that the fact that she didn’t know who her parents were, was the reason for her emptiness. There was nothing that could fill her disappointed soul.
Mark had a sad look in his eyes, as if he knew what she were thinking. Not wanting him to worry she gave him a weak smile, she looked up and saw Marshall standing by the door, staring through the window at them. He didn’t look happy. Her face dropped as Mark stepped back and left.
Marshall stepped inside the room, clutching another bottle of water. He crossed the room and handed it to her. Grateful, she thanked him and cracked it open, taking a sip. The cool water felt nice as it slid down her throat and somehow soothed the pain. He sat back in the chair without saying anything, chin resting in his palm.
“Marshall,” Riley said, not sounding fantastic from the pain. “Is something wrong?”
He sighed and shook his head, “Just a long day. Are you sure you’re okay? You’re not sounding good again.”
Riley swallowed and shifted, uncomfortably, “The pain is flaring up again.” Getting more comfortable, she waited for the pain to subside but it hardly did. It came through in waves, sometimes so strong she couldn’t’ focus on anything else but sometimes so weak, she hardly remembered she was injured.
Marshall stood again as if he were restless and didn’t want to be in the same room as her, “I’ll sort out some more pain meds for you.”
He was gone out of the room before she could even open her mouth to tell him to stay.
************
Marshall was far from impressed to see Mark still standing at the nurses’ desk, handing back a file to the woman behind it. He strolled up to the desk eyeing the woman. She reacted like most of the public did, stood there and stared.
He had to refrain from rolling his eyes, “She’s in pain.” The woman stared for a minute before blinking, as if to realize she had a job to do and nodded, scooting off to sort out some medication for Riley. Marshall gave Mark a hard stare. “What are you doing?”
Mark just shrugged, “Wanted to see the X-rays.”
He could hardly contain his acidic anger. “You know what I’m fucking talking about.”
Mark frowned, “What’s your problem?”
He felt his left hand curl into a fist by his side. “Me? What’s your fucking problem? What the fuck is going on between you and Riley?!”
Mark raised an eyebrow, “Look, there’s nothing-”
Marshall didn’t want to hear it. Before he knew what was going on, he’d thrown a punch straight a Mark, practically seeing red. Not seeing it coming, he hit Mark square in the brow, knuckles crashing against his skull. Mark stumbled backwards as Marshall yelled out, “Don’t give me that shit!”
Mark lifted his hand to his head, and felt blood seeping from his brow. “Dude, what the fuck.” Before Marshall could blink, Mark had him by his shirt, up against the hallway wall.
“Listen here, Mr. Big Superstar. That girl-” He pointed to Riley’s room. “-Is like a sister to me. Never once has anything gone on between us. And it never will. And if you pull your head out of your ass and smelt the sunshine, you’d know that she would never cheat on you.” Marshall shrugged out of Mark’s grip, as he stepped backwards.
“Honestly, I was beginning to think that you were good for her. But if you keep threatening me and acting like a goddamn asshole, you don’t deserve her.” Mark waved Marshall off and stormed off down the hall.
Breathing heavily, Marshall tried to expel his anger. He was hated how he’d lost his temper again. He hated the fact that he’d hit Mark. He hated the fact that he had overpowered him. He hated that he didn’t fight back. He hated that he was right. He hated that he’d been stupid enough to think that something was going on between them.
Sighing, he glanced back through the window to Riley’s room and noticed that she had her eyes closed as the nurse slipped out. She looked peaceful for the first time in a few hours and he was happy to see her resting. Mark was right… he’d been so wrong to jump to that kind of conclusion. And feeling like a shithead wasn’t his favorite.
Slipping back inside her room, he settled into the seat beside her bed. She turned her head, facing him in her sleep. He couldn’t help but smile a little. He was in disbelief of how angry he’d gotten about her being with someone else. They hadn’t been together that long and he was already getting jealous of Mark. The guy was right… he’d never seen them do anything slightly romantic. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he saw them as a platonic relationship. He could only guess that all those years with Kim had made him paranoid.
Letting out a big breath, he reached out and tucked one of Riley’s blonde curls behind her ear. He had to remind himself that their relationship was a polar opposite of his and Kim’s. He was still learning. The both of them were still trying to figure out how to make this work but he knew that he wouldn’t give up. He just had to adjust to the change.