The next morning started in a grueling fashion. I was back in the gym and ready for the first day of the offseason. Naturally, I thought that I was ready for the conditioning, but the session had already proven that I wasn't.
Part of my thrived in the offseason. There was nothing to worry about, no expectations to meet or people to please. Everything was about how I could improve and go into next season even stronger. Which was usually fun until it actually became time to get stronger, and then it was hard.
The gym catered to professional athletes, surfers being the prime clientele. My own training group consisted of two other guys my age, both of which had already made it onto the CT a year or two ago.
Finishing my last set of box jumps, I groaned and wiped the sweat off of my face with my shirt. The other two guys were finishing up some balance work on a bosu ball and their medicine ball throws, respectively.
Kaleo, our trainer, called us together to finish out the session with some ab work. Eight minutes later I stood up, wondering if I may never do another plank again. The guys discussed where they were going to surf today, and I made my way over to the showers. I had already gotten my surf in for the day; anyone who was trying to paddle after working out for an hour and a half was crazy.
I drove with the windows down in an attempt to let my hair dry on the way to the hospital, although there was only a twenty five percent success rate happening there. Either way, it wasn't as if a trip to the hospital required the level of hair care that my photoshoots did.
The clock read 3:54 as I entered the room, getting an eyebrow raise and a look at the clock from Will, who I promptly made a face at.
"I'm six minutes early, I don't know what you're upset about."
"He's been complaining about being left alone all day," a nurse who appeared to be disconnecting his PICC line from the IV responded. "I'm glad that someone came to save him from his loneliness," she joked before leaving the room with a smile.
"I have not-" Will protested.
I raised my eyebrows at him, "Mhmmm, sure."
Thankfully, the physical therapist chose that instance to walk into the room, sparing us from any additional bickering. He greeted us and began his usual routine of taking a look at Will's legs and starting the massage. I took my phone out and began to scroll through social media, knowing that this would take a few minutes.
"Nothing, nothing, nothing..." Will spoke. I continued to like videos that the World Surf League had just posted of some girl surfing a monster of a wave at Nazaré.
"Nothing, nothing, yes, yes, yes..."
It took me more than a few seconds to notice the shift in Will's dialogue. In fact, I probably spent half of a minute responding to comments on my most recent post before I comprehend what he was saying.
I looked up to see him absolutely grinning at me. My expression was probably just one of shock as I watched the therapist massage his calf while he continued to nod his head.
"Are you saying yes, as in?" I was too afraid to actually say the words, just in case they weren't true.
Will's dimples got even more prominent as his smile widened, which seemed impossible at this point. "I can feel it."
My hands shot to my mouth as I looked on in a mixture of shock and joy. The therapist laughed and leaned back when I came rushing over to the side of the bed, wrapping my arms around him. "I'm so, so happy right now," I whispered in his ear.
His chest vibrated against mine as he laughed. "Me too."
Realizing that I should let the therapist continue with his professional agenda, I returned to my seat and watched as Will admitted to having feeling all the way up to his quads. His feet were falling behind, but there was still time for that to come. And while we realized that he was still far from walking, this was a huge step in the right direction.
They progressed from the massage to using electrical stimulation therapy, which got his muscles moving again, even if it wasn't Will's doing. He still had no control over the muscles even though he could feel them, but the hope was that this exercise would remind them of what movement felt like.
Eventually, the two men left to go to another room with more therapy devices, leaving me behind in the hospital room. I took the time to catch up on my email. My manager had alerted me of a few new offers for sponsorships and other shoots, and I had to decide if any of them would line up well for me. Nothing seemed too inspiring yet, but some might not be too bad. There were worse things in the world than free smoothie bowls.
Will returned an hour later, already complaining about his starvation after the exercise. "Let's go get dinner," he prompted.
"You're wearing a hospital gown," I raised an eyebrow at him.
"In the cafeteria, idiot. But when I'm allowed to leave we're out of here," he emphasized.
I shrugged and followed him as he rolled himself back down the hallway and to the elevators. He had been complaining more recently about being stuck in his room, and it appeared as though the cafeteria request was just one small way of getting some new surroundings.
The cafeteria was bustling with people, but we were able to find a table in the corner. I moved one of the chairs to the side so that Will could slide in with his wheelchair before leaving to grab the food that he had already requested.
The food was about as appetizing as expected, but thankfully the busy scene of the cafeteria provided some distraction from that. Will nodded at one family sitting together in the corner. "I played with this guy named Trevor in high school, he was a senior when I was a freshman, so you probably didn't know him. That's his little sister sitting with their parents. She's been in and out of the hospital for years now with leukemia."
I nodded, vaguely remembering the story. The girl was bald and looked to be around fifteen, but her eyes shone brightly against her pale skin. A few minutes later I looked up to see the mother walking over to us.
"Hi honey, you're Will right?" She spoke, looking down at him with a motherly smile.
He froze for a second before holding out his hand to shake. "Hi, yeah, that's me."
"I noticed you over here and thought that I should come say hello. I saw you on the news the other day, and I remembered that you used to play ball with Trevor. Your talent stood out even then, I'm so sorry to hear about what happened. I can't understand everything, but I can understand more than most," she said with a sigh.
A frail figure emerged from behind her and took a seat next to Will. "I'm Olivia, and I used to do gymnastics before I had to stop when I was ten. I still miss it every day though."
I could see the rawness in the sad smile that Will offered her. "It's an honor to meet you, Olivia. I'm sorry to hear that, I know that I miss baseball every day, too."
"I know that you'll get through it, through. You're stronger than me!" The younger girl perked up slightly as she offered the words of encouragement, jokingly poking his arm.
"I'm not any stronger than you," he said softly, "In fact, you could probably teach me a few things."
The three talked a bit more about their respective health issues and recovery plans before Olivia and her mother excused themselves. Will and I had both finished eating, and we began the journey back up to the fifth floor.
It was almost seven by the time that we got back, and we were both exhausted. Will put on a movie while I sat in the chair next to him. We were thirty minutes into Baby Driver, and I kept moving around to try to find a new position in the small chair.
"My legs are so stiff," I groaned, extending them out in front of me.
"Must be nice," Will mused.
"I'm sorry, that wasn't the coolest. It's just that we did a lot of leg stuff this morning and they're super uncomfortable."
"I'm joking, Riv. I can move over if you want, then your legs can at least be extended. Or I can sit in my chair," he said, sliding to one side of the bed to make room.
"No, no, I don't want to take your space, and I especially don't want to make you move."
I shifted again, bringing my legs up into my chair and wrapping my arms around them, only to release them a minute later.
"Alright, that's enough ridiculousness for tonight, get up here," Will said, hitting the spot beside him.
"Fine, have it your way." I climbed into the bed next to him, both of us leaning against the back that was positioned in a sitting position. I made sure to give him his space, but it was nice to have the space to extend my legs.
"Chill, I don't bite. And hopefully I don't smell that bad, they made me shower this morning," he joked, elbowing me in the ribs. I laughed, realizing that he might be mildly offended by my resistance to being near him. I was always uncomfortable with being very close to people, and even though I had known him forever it still felt weird to me.
Eventually, I was able to relax. My eyelids started to flutter and I slid down slightly, resting my head against his arm.
A minute later a light turned on and I blinked quickly, shading my eyes from the light. A figure stood a few feet away, and it quickly became clear that it was Will's mom.
"Hey, I'm sorry to wake you honey but visiting hours are over. The nurses are making us clear out."
I blinked a few more times before sitting up, realizing that I needed to pull my right arm out from under Will's left arm. "Rachel I swear, nothing happened," I said, blushing and slightly flustered.
She laughed lightly, "River, it's okay honey. It was a cute sight to come into, and besides, it's a hospital bed. I'm not too worried about it. And like I said the other day, I love you both."
I shook my head again, carefully moving off of the bed without waking Will. He still tended to sleep like a rock on days where he did a lot of therapy. "No really, I promise, literally nothing happened. He just moved over so that I could sit and extend my legs because they were really tight," I explained.
"I believe you. I'll try not to make it into a bigger deal than it is, although I will say I wouldn't be opposed to the idea of you being with Will."
"Okay, so, visiting hours are over. We can walk out to the parking lot if you want, how was your day at work anyway?" The words rushed out of my mouth and I saw her smirk at my discomfort with the conversation, but thankfully she moved on and began talking about the events of work.
At this rate this is going to be the slowest burn of all slow burns.