Chapter 11- Ice Cream Wisdom
You guys rock some serious socks. Your very sweet and encouraging comments make my day. You just have no idea how much you guys mean to me. I'm so glad you're enjoying these prompts and their interpretations. Let's keep this thing going. This chapter's prompt comes from Feyfey123! She has been so patient and I'm very ready to bring this one to life.
Feyfey123: "I would like maybe Jay gets his wisdom teeth out and Will has to help him afterwards?"
Show of hands, who else has had their wisdom teeth removed?! I did way back in the day and I loved it. Five days of laying in bed, eating pudding and ice cream and watching TV? Sign me up. After all the heaviness of the last couple of chapters, I feel it's time to laugh. Let's get it started.
"How is it you've never had your wisdom teeth removed?"
"I don't know. It hasn't really bothered me till this week." They were sitting in the waiting room at the oral surgeon. Earlier in the week, Jay found himself waking up in the middle of the night with pain in his mouth. He figured it was TMJ or another cavity and shook it off, concluding things would resolve on their own. But over the next days, eating became next to impossible. He found himself on a soft food or liquid diet, downing copious amounts of Advil every four hours. He called Will out of desperation two night's ago and he practically shoved him into the dentist office the following day. The news was grim for the dentist fearing one, his wisdom teeth had broken through the gums' surface and needed to come out, pronto. Today was the first opening and Jay nervously claimed the timeslot.
They were a rather amusing sight. Amongst the sea of teenagers and young kids, there sat two grown men, polar opposite of each other. Will wasn't the pacing, nervous one but rather, took on the role of zen master. Jay couldn't stop squirming in his chair, would mutter things under his breath, or just get up and pace around. Will laughed at him, poked fun at his brother's hatred for the most mundane of doctors. People visit the dentist everyday and usually walk away unscathed. The good news was that Jay wouldn't remember a good chunk of the visit.
"Can you please sit? You're the oldest person here by a lot and everyone else is acting more mature than you." Jay rolled his eyes as he collapsed in his seat.
"I'd like to see you face your biggest fear in a calm, normal demeanor." Will exaggerated a groan while throwing his head back.
"It's a dentist, not a snake charmer. How can you be so afraid of this?"
"It's the whole needles around the face that bother me."
"We'll you'll be out before any of that happens."
"One can hope." Jay found distraction in his phone while Will picked up a very outdated magazine. The two sat in silence for a moment, an odd idea popping into Will's mind awhile later.
"How did you get away with not having them out while in the military?" Jay just stared at him, a look of disbelief and shock.
"What?"
"I thought they wanted people to not have their appendix or tonsils or wisdom teeth in. You know, common things that can sideline you." Jay cupped his head in his hands, very much perplexed over Will's moment of stupidity.
"I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that."
"So it's not a thing."
"It's the military, not some back alley chop shop. They could care less." A nurse stuck her head out the door now, everyone's heads rising, waiting to hear their name called.
"Jay Halstead, we're ready for you." He sprung to his feet, ready to get the torture session done and over with. He didn't hug Will or say farewell, trying his best to act like everything was cool and normal.
"Good luck sweetie," Will teased. Jay rolled his eyes, flailing an arm as if to tell Will to leave. Will watched Jay disappear behind the glass door and turn at the end of the hall, chuckling over the level of freak out that was taking place in that room. He sighed as he returned to his magazine, almost feeling sorry for the surgeon who had to deal with all of that.
…
It was so odd, walking into an operating room. For most of these entrances, people are either unconscious or on a gurney, too unstable to walk. So to just walk in was different and it made Jay on edge, just a little. He felt like he was willingly agreeing to being experimented on or something; or maybe he did.
Things were set up very similar to an operating room. The same table and trays of instruments were there along with the same sterilized people setting things up for a procedure. All that was missing was the surgeon. But even then he probably planned on coming in right before Jay was knocked out, totally keeping with the surgery norm. The anesthesiologist ushered Jay towards the bed, patting a spot for him to sit.
"Do I need to change," Jay asked as he got situated?
"Nope. I'm just going to stick a couple of monitoring leads under your shirt, but everything else will be around the face." She laid him down, motioning for his head to land on the weird, circle pillow at her end of the table. The super bright light was pointed in his direction as the monitoring leads were attached, raised beeps soon sounding somewhere behind Jay.
"Nervous," she asked? The nose mask for the laughing gas was already in place, fully blasting the calming drug into his system. His ears felt to be plugging and unplugging at a rather fast rate, delaying his ability to hear and concoct words. She laughed at his eventual head nod.
"Don't worry, it'll be over before you know it." Jay closed his eyes against the stinging of the IV needle insertion, praying she accidentally injected the miracle sedative right then and there. Alas, he was still awake. He was in full floating mode when the oral surgeon finally made his presence known. Jay recalls someone asking about the weather and he responded with a light hearted laugh. After that, it was unconscious bliss.
…
"Hey, it's all done." There was no way it took that quickly. The amount of time that passed felt to be an eye blink. Jay was still in that drifting, numbness mode, but the tightness of his mouth confirmed the voice's announcement. He couldn't open his eyes, but felt to be in a different place. People were coming and going while things were opening and closing, almost like they were taking down a command center. If he could, he would've yelled for them to be quiet, asked them to be considerate of his sleeping self. Jay rolled his tongue ever so carefully, feeling mountains of cotton balls and tasting the metallic flavor of blood.
"Ok," was all that could come out, but it was seriously muffled from the stitches and cotton balls. Will silently chuckled over Jay's stuffed sounding voice.
"It's ok, take your time," Will replied. A female voice stepped in now and began speaking numbers. She and Will conversed something about volume or centimeters and extraction measurements. In his altered state, Jay swore he heard them say they had to go back in, which finally made his eyes burst open, hands shaking in protest.
"No, I don't want to go back." Will looked towards him and smirked, really trying to hide his humor. The nurse failed epically, actually laughing at Jay as she left the curtained off area.
"They're all done and got everything." Jay wasn't buying it.
"But she said.."
"-No, it's the drugs messing with you. You're down four teeth, I promise. Do you want to sit up?" He got a half there nod. Jay quickly regretted moving to a different position, staring into nothing as the world swung around him. He closed his eyes and gently shook his head, somehow thinking that would solve the situation.
"Where are my shoes?"
"On your feet."
"Oh my word, I'm so out of it," Jay replied, allowing Will to laugh at his high demeanor.
"Do not record any of this or I will kill you." Jay had managed to swing his feet over the bed when the OR nurse returned, handing off post-op care instructions and discharge papers for Will to sign. A wheelchair was offered but Jay shook it off, wobbly standing and walking towards the exit, Will right behind in case of a collapse. He guided Jay to the car parked just on the other side of the door.
"Do you want the seat back?" Jay shook his head, just wanting to complete the impossible task of maneuvering from point A to point B while still coming off general anesthesia. He was out, resting his head against the seatbelt and window as they pulled out of the parking lot. The next few days were going to be a gas.
…
A television was in the background. There was yelling and a buzzer buzzing, and older, wiser, informed people talking over everything else. The world under him was comfy and slippery, a bit of a leather smell to it all. Upon opening his eyes, the world outside the window was pitch black, letting him know a large amount of time passed since he was last awake. He glanced to see Will sitting in the chair to the right of the couch, the stench of slightly burnt popcorn wafting from his direction. And then it dawned on Jay: how did he get from the car to the couch without him remembering.
"I'm up," Jay announced to the apartment, earning a quick glance over from Will.
"It's about time. It's nearing 11pm." Jay sat up, feeling the stiffness and swelling all over his head. The drug stupor was gone, leaving a good lull of pain in its' path. His vision guided him to the kitchen, the fridge calling his name.
"How did I make it up here," he asked, making his way to the kitchen. His head was fully enveloped in the fridge's light when Will noticed him missing.
"Well that explains a lot."
"Huh?!"
"When we got here, you were so out it of. I got you awake long enough to make it to the elevator and then you decided to fall asleep, and I mean pass out, on my shoulder. I all but dragged you in here and dropped you on the couch. It was like dealing with George Banks on Father of the Bride 2. You seriously have no memory of that?"
"Nope." Will finally broke his concentration of the game, turning to see Jay grab a beer and ingredients for a sandwich. He sprung out of his chair, nearly dropping the popcorn bowl.
"Are you nuts? You can't have any of that." Ripping everything out of Jay's arms, he returned the banned products to their rightful places and came back with water and ice cream.
"It's just this stuff till the stitches come out." He received an epic eye roll, but Jay willingly took the items, slowing slinking back towards his spot on the couch. The two of them sat in silence, spooning food into their mouths while keeping eyes glued to the screen. It was the NBA playoffs, Raports vs. Warriors in Game 5. If you missed something, you missed the whole thing. Jay was using the game purely for distraction purposes. The tightness of the suturing in his mouth was bothersome, almost irritating. Everything spoonful and swallow, the little knots and excess strings rubbed against his cheek, reminding him of the terrifying ordeal that went down that day. He wished he could keep the cotton swabs in his mouth the entire time, making a barrier for his psyche. While he was glad to not be in that kind of pain anymore, he hated having that little reminder. He laid his head back against the top of the couch, closing his eyes as he breathed through the wave of pain eating had just caused. Will noticed his uncomfortable state, rising to collect ice and pain relievers.
"Here, this will help the swelling and pain." He tossed two Advil and Tylenol in Jay's hand, waiting till he finished to hand off the ice packs. Jay willingly took them, exhaling as the coldness numbed the sensitive area. He waited till the next commercial break to speak.
"When do the stitches come out?"
"In a week."
"And how long are you staying?"
"I took the weekend off so, through Sunday. You should be feeling a lot better by then." Jay looked down the hall towards his room, but the couch was calling his name. The idea of getting up and walking to his own bed felt to be too much of a chore.
"You can stay in my bed tonight. I don't feel like getting up."
"Um, no. I'm not the one that just had oral surgery. Do you want me to help?" Coverage was coming back on, so Will sped walked Jay to the room, throwing the sheets back and forcefully, but lovingly, tucked him in. He said something about hollering if he needed anything, but Jay was already dozing off. While some may see this situation as unbearable, Jay viewed it as vacation. Guaranteed time off was overwhelmingly rare and he planned on taking full advantage of it.
…
Over the weekend, Jay did exactly what he wanted: sleep. Will imagined that is what it was like to care for a newborn. Jay slept in four hour intervals, the exact amount of time the pain relievers lasted. Like clockwork, Jay would do his best to yell for Will at night, and slowly shuffled out to the living room at the crack of dawn, planting himself on either the couch or chair, whichever Will didn't sleep on. While Jay relished his time off, Will was counting down the seconds till he was back in the ED, living a normal day/night rhythm. It's not that he didn't enjoy hanging out with Jay and helping him, there wasn't much rest and relaxation for the care taker.
The morning Will left for work, Jay transitioned from pudding and ice cream to scrambled eggs, a very welcomed delicacy. The night prior, Jay half joked that if he consumed another spoonful of ice cream, he'd be producing milk. It's all that people brought. Friday was the surgery, Saturday and Sunday were visitation days. Everyone from Hailey to Platt and even Voight knocked on Jay's door, a smile on their face and gallons of ice cream in hand. By the end of day three, Jay's freezer door had to be jammed closed, full shoulder power required.
They all did the exact same routine. Will would usher them in, they'd march to the freezer, and then fully examine Jay's progress. Those to stopped by on Sunday got to see the full impact of the swelling around the jaw and, of course, offering loving jokes. In the beginning, Jay was touched by their gifts and presence. But by the fourth person, he was convinced something was up. Everything was happening too perfectly and found that hard to not be a coincidence.
"Is this some elaborate scheme to fatten us up," Jay inquired, going cross eyed while staring at the twelfth bowl of vanilla misery.
"Probably," Will replied. He joined in on the ice cream party. He didn't really have a choice. Freezer real estate was all but gone.
"I don't I'll be able to eat ice cream ever again."
"No shit." Jay seriously laughed at the blunt response. It was so not Will but perfect for the mood. Before parting ways for the night, the brothers exchanged the Tums bottle, moaning from the bloating as they swallowed the drugs.
The following morning, Jay woke to the sound of speed cooking, entering the kitchen overfilled with amazement. Will had pans sizzling and coffee brewing, singing the sounds of a normal meal. A plate of eggs were thrown Jay's way and he happily took them, not waiting for Will to join at the countertop.
"Bacon?"
"Nice try. It's for me. You're not ready for that level of chewing yet." Jay was a tad agitated, but elated to be tasting something salty. He inhaled the food, getting up to clean up as Will cleared his place and headed for the door. The Monday morning blues were ripe that day. He hated their brother bonding time had come to an end.
"See ya," Will called, standing in the doorway with the door halfway closed.
"Yeah," Jay replied, trying his best to communicate over the soreness and lingering swelling.
"Call me if you need anything. Seriously." Will listened as the kitchen sink was shut off, Jay rounding the corner not too long after.
"Ok." Will couldn't help but see his brother as a vision of misery. Perhaps it was the oversized nightwear, bed head, and gauze and bandaid on his wrist driving this conclusion. The swelling had caused his skin to redden, his eyes glazed over with tiredness and pain. He hated that he was leaving him on his own, but reminded himself Jay was an adult who had handled worse, this was a walk in the park.
"Do you want me to come back tonight?"
"I'm fine, but I'll let you know if that changes." Will nodded, getting that final snapshot before closing the door shut.
"Thanks, Will," Jay half yelled, not waiting to hear a response from the other side.
"No problem!" Will hustled down the hall, pushing himself back into the swing of things; even if he really didn't want to.
…
Same day of the week, but a very different result. This time last week, he was sleeping off the anesthetic. Today, his mouth was regaining its' freedom: stitches were being removed. After the week of soft, liquid-like foods, he'd made it to the end, already had his 'first meal' in his head. He was in that super awkward chair that moves into the oddest of positions. The round, rather bright, white light was hovering right over him. Jay was convinced it could give you a sunburn if you stood under it long enough. The nurse had just left the room to find the doctor, allowing Jay some alone time. He did a quick inventory, stopping on the tray housing scissors, a syringe, a vial of medication, and mouth expander. Out of all the things, that one scared him the most. He hadn't opened his mouth that wide since the surgery, so visualizing opening your mouth that wide for the first time is scary. The only thing that comes to mind is tearing and popping, two adjectives you never want describing your mouth. The door opened as Jay's eyes went wide, immediately pointing to the contraption to his left.
"You're not using that, right?" The surgeon chuckled.
"Only if you're up for it." Jay vigorously shook his head.
"It's fine, we can get it done without it." The doctor lowered the chair so that Jay's face was level with his chest, securing gloves before loading the medication into the syringe.
"I know you have a phobia…"
"Sorry."
"None taken. This is so you don't feel any of it. You'll feel the pinch of the needle, but that's it." True to the report, Jay felt nothing. He watched the scissors go into his mouth and come out with blue suturing. He heard the suction clear out the area, but didn't feel any of it. He was asked to bite down and he had to keep asking if he actually did. Nothing was felt and he wondered if this babying could be done at every visit. In no time at all, he was up and tightness free. At last, the dreaded wisdom teeth removal had come to a close. Farewells and a thank you were exchanged before Jay ventured out to the waiting room, holding a cupped hand under his mouth as he opened the door. Will found him and oddly stared.
"Am I drooling?"
"What?! No." The two of them exited the building, strolling to Will's car and strapping in.
"I was thinking of hitting up a froyo place…" Jay just glared.
"Don't even utter those words."
"I'm joking," Will laughed.
"What do you want?"
"Anything but that." They excitedly rolled out of the parking lot, destination the chewiest, meatiest restaurant in the city.
This wasn't meant to be a super long story. It's a light hearted prompt and I aimed for it to be just that. It was an amuse-bouche, a bit of a humorous cleaner to balance the heavy last few chapters. Don't worry, we'll shall be returning to that in no time. Thank you so much for reading!