𝔸𝕧𝕒
My ears are ringing and there's a throbbing, dizzy sensation deep inside my head that I can't quite explain. I'm so frickin' sick of this. I feel nauseous and can't decide if grabbing a snack would make it better or worse.
Is it just me, or is going to the doctor the absolute worst possible thing to make a person do when they're sick?
Seriously, I can use my phone to have food delivered to me in twenty minutes. I get a car in four minutes to drive me wherever I want. I can download a book in ten seconds. I can stream a movie almost instantly. All these things can happen just because you might be feeling lazy. But if you're genuinely in pain or really, truly feeling like hell, they have you make an in-person appointment. You have to physically drag yourself into the office, wait half an hour past your appointment time in an uncomfortable chair, then get poked and prodded and generally annoyed, only to then be told that you'll need to go get tests or medicine or something else that you almost certainly don't have the energy for.
Can't I just send someone on my behalf? My weight and blood pressure have never given them any incredible insights anyway.
Of course my appointment had to be at 9:30 in the morning. I'm exhausted enough at noon but this is just cruel. I hardly got any sleep last night.
I flash back to the dream last night, Kieran kissing me... Oh god. Can I just wipe that whole unfortunate fantasy from my brain now, please?
"Ava Reynolds?" a voice calls from the doorway.
I stand up and see the same blonde nurse who did my blood tests last time.
"Hey!" he says. "I remember you! Web designer girl!"
"Yep, that's me!" I say. "But that's my superhero name, so don't tell anyone my secret identity."
He laughs a bit more than my lame joke deserves.
"Don't worry, Ava," he says with a smile. "Your secret's safe with me."
He winks and leads me back to the patient room.
"So it looks like you're here to discuss some results with your doctor. Have there been any changes, any new symptoms we should make note of?" he asks.
"Um... I mean I keep getting these dizzy spells. My ears start throbbing on both sides and I feel nauseous. I'm not sure if they're worse or not, but they certainly keep happening."
Like, right now for instance. Uggh.
"Okay," he says. "I'll make a note in your chart. Anything else?"
Does the perpetual 'my body is on fire' sensation count? Oh no wait, that's not new.
"Just the same stuff," I say.
"Okay, Web Designer Girl," he says with a smile. "The doctor will be in shortly. You keep fighting the good fight!"
He steps out of the room and closes the door. As the pattering of his steps recedes down the hall, I swear I recognize a familiar voice. It sounds like Mike. I crack the door a bit and look out. Sure enough, I hear Mike's voice.
Why the heck is Mike here, anyway? Is he looking for me?
He's walking along the hall as a doctor talks to him.
"I'll put in that referral for the plastic surgeon," the doctor says.
Mike turns briefly as he rounds the corner and it's just enough to catch a glimpse of his face. He's covered in bruises and has surgical tape over his nose. It looks like it's broken. Once they round the corner they're out of view.
Holy crap, what the hell happened to him?
****
I sit in my car in the parking lot, rubbing my eyes as I struggle to overcome my dizziness enough to start driving. My phone rings through my Bluetooth-connected stereo.
"What's up, girl??" Jen's voice says from the other end of the line.
"Hey," I say, not exactly selling the I'm-totally-healthy-and-not-dying vibe I was going for.
"Awww," she says with sympathy. "Feeling bad today?"
"I'm okay," I lie—not for her benefit, but for mine. I'm just plain tired of saying I feel bad all the time.
"Then what's up?" she asks.
"Kind of weird question," I say, "but have you heard anything about Mike getting into a fight or accident or something?"
"Whaaatt??" she asks. "No! What happened to Mike?!"
"I have no idea. I just spotted him in the hospital just now and he looks like he stuck his face in a beehive. His nose was all taped-up and swollen, his face had a bunch of bruises, and he had giant swollen spots under each eye."
"Whoa!" she said. "You think Mike actually got in a fight??"
"I don't know, I only saw him real briefly but I heard him talking to the doctor about a plastic surgeon."
"Oh daaanng! He must be super fucked up!" she says. "Do you think he had a run-in with your boo?"
Eww. I hate that word.
"No," I say. "I do not think he 'had a run in' with Zane. It's not like they hang out in the same circles anyway. No chance they'd ever cross paths."
"What about Pike's? If Mike came looking for him that's where he'd go, right?"
"Oh, I mean," I pause. Could Mike have come looking for Zane? That would make sense if Mike thought I cheated with him.
"Shayna did tell me there was a big fight the other night over some girl. She's here, I can ask. Hold on."
Oh geez. Could Zane and Mike really have gotten into a fight?
I decide to text Zane.
Me: Did you get in a fight with Mike?
"Hey babe!" Jen says to Shayna. "Who got in that fight the other night at Pike's?"
Shayna's voice replies in the background, but I can't make out her words.
Zane: Did someone say I did?
Me: Answer the question, Zane
"If I showed you a picture could you tell me if it was the guy who got beat up?" Jen asks Shayna.
Zane: Did somebody hurt your pretty-boy ex?
I can't say I would think of Mike as a pretty boy, but I think that's just Zane's not-so-subtle way of dodging this question and throwing a dig at Mike in one go.
Me: Did you?
"Yeah, that's the guy," I hear Shayna confirm. "They put his picture on our Banned Patrons list."
"I'm putting you on speaker, 'kay?" Jen says. "Shayna, tell Ava what happened."
"Well," Shayna says. "I wasn't there, but I heard about it after. This dude was all up in the face of this other guy. I guess the other guy was pretty big with tattoos and whatnot."
Uh oh. This other guy sounds familiar.
"Anyway, apparently Scrawny here decides to stir up shit and says a bunch of inappropriate stuff about the tough guy's girlfriend and the guy goes off on him and beats his face in."
Oh my god. I'm honestly shocked Mike had the guts to say stuff like that to Zane. He must've been incredibly wasted.
I bury my face in my hands and cringe. I always thought guys fighting over me would be hot, but this is just embarrassing and stressful. What the heck do I do with this information?
Zane: I was a good boy, love ;)
Oh really?
He probably has no idea I'm getting the straight details from Shayna right now. I do not appreciate being lied to.
"It was quite the story around the bar the last few days. Your friend here apparently has balls of steel!"
"He's not a friend," Jen says. "More of an enemy, really."
"Ahh, in that case, you'll be happy to know that it sounds like this guy got a serious beatdown and is forbidden from the bar."
"What about the other guy?" Jen says. "Anyone we know?"
"Uhh..." Shayna pauses. "I know he's a regular and that's pretty much all I heard about him."
I can't believe Zane is lying to me right now.
Me: I've heard different.
Zane: Then you heard wrong. If pretty boy got in a fight, it wasn't with me.
Me: Why are you lying to me rn?
"Oh my god, I knew it!" Jen shouts. "It was totally Zane!"
"What?" Shayna says, shocked.
"This guy is Ava's ex-boyfriend!"
Zane: I'm not bloody lying to you.
"Um..." Shayna says uneasily. "I dunno..."
The two exchange heated whispers and I hear a click.
I think Jen just put me on mute.
"Guys?" I ask.
A call from Zane pops up on my screen, but I decline it.
"Guys?" I ask again. There's another click followed by white noise.
"Ava," Jen says. "Don't be mad but uh, Shayna seems to think the girl they were fighting over was there with them."
I feel anger building in my chest. My ex and the guy I thought I was dating were fighting. Over a girl. And that girl wasn't me.
Ouch.
Zane: We should talk. Come over?
Me: Be there in 10