Chapter 8
Bodie stayed away from Ray's sight for a moment. He needed to gather himself. Bodie had dealt with many sorts of wounds and injuries... but this... god, and it was Ray... he had enough knowledge to be aware that if he made – if he already had made - one wrong move, he might ruin any chance for Ray's recovery. He might have done that already. But he had to do something... if only his head wouldn't hurt so much... It was hard to think, hard to concentrate... If only it wasn't Ray! He had nobody else, just that rugged golli, he mattered more than girls... he mattered more than anyone. Not that he would ever admit it, no...
"Bodie?"
Oh shit.
"Just a sec, Ray." Bodie tried to get his head clearer, to no avail.
But he had to return, so eventually he did that.
Ray saw straight to the door and despite his own pain, seeing approaching Bodie he now realised his mate wasn't in much better condition than he was himself. Bodie saw the fright emerge into Ray's face and suddenly realised how he must look like. He tried to sound cheerful.
"Kinda think this jacket is pretty much ruined, or should I use it at work? Giving the street credibility they talk about, eh?" Bodie managed to get the jacket off and searched for the first-aid kit he had packed in their belongings.
"Your head..."
"Oi, never mind that. It looks worse than it is. Just got knocked, and cut a bit. It isn't that bad. I'll deal with it once I've got you sorted out, mate. But we need warm water... and a bit of this and that... but you need warmth first. Just a sec..."
Bodie had managed to set his brain into practical again. Simple things... He moved the electric radiators closer to Ray, then walked into the kitchen, found a big kettle in seconds and filled it with water and put the kettle on a gas-stove. He washed his hands as well as he could, and tried to get rid of most blood on his face. Washing his face he realised how much he still froze and it hit him he had to get Ray changed into dry clothes, or at least get his wet ones off. And he had to try and check Ray... oh Christ...
Ok Bodie, calm down... one thing at the time... his head was spinning again but he breathed deep and promised himself to sit down once Ray was settled. But he had no time to lose... If only his head wouldn't hurt so much... Painkillers. Duncan said the old man had a bad hip so there might be some heavy duty painkillers if they were lucky...
Bodie set off to explore and his rummaging through cupboards and closets made shivering Ray open his eyes again from his half-doze. Bodie didn't find medicine in kitchen, but he found good scissors which he grabbed, and tea which made him use 15 secs to fill another kettle and get it on too. Next Bodie went into the bedroom and checked the drawers... oh la la! His fingers trembled when he grabbed the box he found... He rushed back to the living-room.
"Ok mate, this is starting to look a bit brighter. The old bugger has this... Indo-something and it reads painkiller... Just a sec..." Bodie had grabbed a mug of water but instantly when returning, realised Ray couldn't drink lying on his back that way, yet would it hurt more if he lifted the headrest? Oh bloody hell...
Bodie took a couple pieces of firewood and managed to sneak them under the headrest so it rose some inches from the mattress. "Still all right mate?" The flash in Ray's eyes told him that it would maybe never be all right again, but the curlyhead just grunted.
Bodie checked the dosage of the painkiller and instantly decided to double it. "Ok, here goes, take these first and I'll start to get those wet clothes off you, and check on you, and then we're going to have a nice cup of tea and some of that stuff we took with us and I'll look around a bit more. Oi, hey I think I saw straws in the kitchen... hold on..." Bodie rushed back to the kitchen where their tea-water was already boiling, and quickly set the tea to brew. And right, yeah there were straws deep in a cupboard behind cookies and sugar, probably left from some visiting kids. Those gave Bodie another idea, but it would have to wait until he was finished with Ray otherwise, so he took a straw with him to living-room, and served gently and carefully the tablets to his mate with water.
"Right-o, Raimondo... now we get rid of those wet clothes of yours. I try to be as careful as ever possible... I just go and get another quilt for you or something like that." Off to bedroom it was again, where he found another big, lovely quilt in a closet. The aroma of tea tickled Bodie's nose so he threw the quilt into the living-room and made quickly a mug of tea for his partner. At least Ray would get something warm inside. Oh and a lot of sugar...
Bodie left the mug beside the mattress until he got started with undressing his partner. With a lot of swearing he managed to push his hand under the backrest and pull loose the screwdrivers so that he got the seatbelts loose. Bloody hell he should have thought about it earlier... Then he started to pull Ray's boots. It proved to be difficult, the wet and slippery boots were as if glued and it was hard to work with them. But after a couple of minutes the first boot was tossed into corner and soon after that it's partner too. Then flew the socks and Bodie quickly brushed his mate's feet with a dry corner of the quilt he had had on him, and served Ray the tea while pondering how he would tackle the rest of clothing without moving his partner. Ray wasn't lying flat on his back but the lower part of the seat held his thighs a little upwards. It crossed Bodie's mind that it might hinder some circulation to Ray's calves and he started to wonder what he could do about it. He sighed. Better continue again.
Ray had thankfully swallowed the strong, sweet tea, it felt so good... so warm. He watched his silent partner and suddenly found it... overwhelming... to be so helpless, so at Bodie's mercy... His eyes filled with fear.
Bodie, unbuttoning Ray's eternal jeans, heard his friend's breathing change and looked at him. Ray avoided his gaze but Bodie saw enough to understand. He pursed his lips for a moment and then suddenly pinched Ray's toe as hard as he could. Ray's foot flinched a bit.
"What the hell you think you're doing?"
"Checking on you, sunshine." Bodie continued to work with Ray's jeans and touched Ray's foot again when his mate was not watching. Slight tickling seemed to cause no reaction but at least there was some feeling left... he would continue with it later. "Now Ray, here starts the part some of the guys would love to hear about... Close your eyes, lie back and think of England."
And astonishingly, Ray, startled by the echo of a feeling in his toe, and comforted by the flickering warmth on his face, didn't say a word but sighed and succumbed to the frightening humiliation of his mate's hand starting to nudge and pull the bottom of his jeans little by little.
