FromTumblr: Relief is on the way. Depending on your definition of relief.
Guest: Yes, yes, she does.
Catching up: Some dude named Howie. Lol. Howie is Aubrey's ex-fling from Sigma Beta Theta.
Mwallace: Sadness.
G: I didn't feel attacked. Had I felt attacked, I would have gone on a long Tumblr rant. She's holding it together at least around Aubrey.
Pixie1913: That is indeed what she is referring to.
SunDanceQT: That they are.
Dysrhythmia
These times are hard,
But they will pass.
- Safetysuit
"Hey, Beca," Julia calls to the bathroom.
Aubrey can hear the door open.
"Can you bring us the tissue box, please?" Julia asks.
"Uh, yeah." Beca walks around the bed and hands it to Chloe's mom, rather than Aubrey who needs it, then takes several steps back. "Should I leave?"
"No, stay," Julia answers, "I need help. Can you…?"
Aubrey isn't sure what Beca is being asked to do, until Beca is taking over keeping Aubrey's hair out of her face, freeing one of Julia's hands. Chloe's mom needs help with her. She tries to find the strength to tell them both to go away, but she can barely find the strength to breathe. She squeezes her eyes shut tight, denying their help inside her head. None of this would be necessary if she had access to both of her hands.
"Okay." Julia pulls a handful of tissues out of the box. "I got this," she says, nudging Aubrey's hand away from the container to take the tissues, "You wipe your mouth."
Aubrey does as she's told, and tries to be subtle blowing her nose. It's disgusting, and the only time she doesn't leave the room to do it is if it's only Chloe around – which is honestly really difficult when she's sick. This is so many levels of humiliating. She drops the tissues in the container and tries to take that back, but Chloe's mom gets up with it and goes to put it somewhere else.
Beca lets go of her hair, and goes back to sit down on her cot.
Aubrey feels like she's owes her an apology for forcing her to deal with that, but she still can't catch her breath.
Julia sits down beside her and gathers up the discarded hospital blanket that they haven't been using, in favor of the other one. She uses it to wipe away the sweat from Aubrey's neck, back, and uninjured arm before it can soak through her clothes, then drapes it over the back of the bed before she presses the button for the nurse.
"I would like both of you to leave," Aubrey finally gets out.
"That's not going to happen now," Julia replies, "I'm sorry."
Can't she see she's making it so much worse by witnessing this?
"I want to speak to the head nurse on duty," Julia requests when the same nurse comes back.
There isn't even an exchange of words. The first nurse leaves, and minutes later, another walks in.
Aubrey just listens in shame as Chloe's mom explains the issue with the first nurse, Aubrey's penchant for vomiting under stress, and asks if they can put the IV into her hand this time. She shakes her head and lowers her hand to her lap. She cannot be hooked up to anything else.
"You have to," Julia tells her, "You are smart; you know that this is dangerous for your body, and you're walking a thin line next to recklessness right now, trying to say no. Tell me why you're saying no."
Aubrey tucks her hand under her leg, even though the nurse hasn't even returned. Metal is not meant to be inside of her body. If it was, she would have been born with it in there already.
"Aubrey, is this your first time in the hospital?" Julia asks.
So what if it is? She has been to the doctor before. She has had needles in her before - just needles that put something in or take blood out; not ones meant to remain in her. This doesn't have anything to do with that. "Leave me alone."
"Seriously?" Beca asks, incredulously, "Not even the ER? Everybody has been to the ER."
Aubrey has never been sick or injured enough to warrant that. The Emergency Room is for dying people. Up until now, Aubrey has never come so close to death. "I said go away."
"You've never even visited somebody?" Beca asks.
"So, this is a whole new level of overwhelming on top of everything else," Julia comments, "I'm sorry."
Aubrey lifts her head just enough to wipe her eyes with her hands. It's fine. Everything is fine. She's just going to keep on repeating that until it is. It's fine. She isn't scared of the hospital. Terror is just coursing through her body like electricity in general, and she's already physically uncomfortable without something sharp sticking through her skin. Her forehead bumps the table as she lowers it back down.
"Here, if you want to sit up like this; the table is hard," Julia says, and tries to offer her a pillow.
Aubrey angles her body away from it. Who knows how many sick people have touched the pillows they're using? The bed? The table? She bunches up Chloe's mom's blanket and places that between her head and the table. It's the only clean thing in this room. She needs a shower now. A hot shower. What if somebody died exactly where she's sitting? She could check out AMA, find out who has the things from her bag, and leave. But how is she going to get Chloe home with her?
"Who has my wallet?" Aubrey asks into the blanket. If they found her note and her bags, they found her wallet in a bag – her ID, her debit card, everything she needs to board a plane.
"I do," Julia answers, "You don't need it right now."
Of course.
Of course, she does.
It couldn't just be with someone like Beca, who she could either outwit or wrangle it away from.
The head nurse comes back in and hooks Aubrey back up to the IV, this time placing it in the top of her hand, so she still has full mobility of her arm – and Aubrey lets her, for the sake of her own pride. "Do you need anything else?"
"No, I think we're okay right now," Julia answers her.
"I put in a request for a psy-"
"Thank you," Julia cuts her off quickly, then more politely, "Thank you." She rubs her hand up and down the length of Aubrey's back. "I really think we're good. Do you need anything, Aubrey?"
Nothing, aside from to see Chloe.
xxxxx
"Your boss is in the lobby," Julia says, stilling her hand on Aubrey's back, long after it must be tired from trying to comfort her, "I'm going to meet him, and bring him up here, okay?"
Aubrey nods into the blanket, which, unfortunately, has not smothered her yet.
"Okay. I'll be right back. Beca is still here." Julia leans over and kisses her head then stands up, and leaves the room.
Aubrey slowly lifts her head, and wipes her cheeks with the palms of her hands, then straightens her shirt like that's enough to make her look presentable. She's going to have to face that her boss is about to see her in pajamas, looking less than composed. If she were him, she'd fire her seeing her like this. She looks over at Beca, fully expecting Beca to keep staring down at her lap, rather than look up and make the silence between them awkward.
Beca scratches the bridge of her nose, then breaks the quiet – although Beca speaking never really makes things much better. "So, Chloe's parents…" she says out of nowhere.
Aubrey tilts her head.
"Dude, how is everybody in that family so attractive? None of them are even related."
What?
"You can't tell me you don't think Chloe's parents are hot," Beca says.
Aubrey shakes her head. Sure, they're very attractive, but, also, "Chloe's parents are basically my parents. You sound like a teenage boy." Can she not see that Aubrey is already upset?
"Well, if you look at it that way, Chloe is basically your sister," Beca says.
Aubrey checks to make sure Chloe's mom has actually walked away.
"But you are from the South, so…"
Aubrey grabs the pillow from the bed and chucks it at Beca as hard as she can. "Don't talk to me anymore, like ever." She wipes her face again, making sure her cheeks are dry.
"That's going to be difficult, seeing as we're about to live together."
"I can't hear you anymore." Aubrey works on folding up the blanket with one hand, which is not very easy, just to show she's no longer listening.
"Well, good, I guess that means I can talk all I want."
"I said, stop talking to me."
"Well, you can't hear me, so…"
"Stop talking."
"I don't know why you're still responding, seeing as you can't hear what I have to say. You shouldn't even know I'm talking."
"I can see your mouth moving," Aubrey responds.
"Then don't look at me," Beca retorts.
"Leave and I wouldn't have to," Aubrey points out.
"Where would you like me to go?" Beca inquires.
Aubrey stills her hand on top of the blanket and looks at her. Does she really need to answer that out loud?
"Do I get to leave after you get there?" Beca asks.
"I'm going to tell Chloe's mom you think she's hot," Aubrey threatens her.
"I'm going to tell her you hit me."
"I did not hit you." Aubrey frowns at her.
"You hit me with this pillow." Beca holds it up.
Aubrey rolls her eyes. "That's not actually hitting you."
"She seemed really unimpressed last time you threw something at me," Beca reminds her.
"Give me my pillow," Aubrey demands.
"No, you threw it at me."
"Give it."
Beca hides it behind her back. "You didn't want it."
"I want it now," Aubrey decides, "Give it back to me."
"No."
Aubrey is about to tell her she's going to come take it from her, when there's a knock on the door. Well, now she has to be on her best behavior. She shoots Beca one last look before the door opens, and Chloe's mom and her boss step inside – along with Brian. Her breath catches a little bit as she tries to adjust to something else familiar besides Chloe's family. "What are you doing here?" She must look really awful, because it takes him a moment to recover after seeing her.
"Hello to you too. I'm doing well, thanks for asking. In case you forgot, I work for our boss – who also happens to be here," Brian answers, "He does have two interns. The tall, beautiful one, and…you."
Beca snorts.
Aubrey is tempted to throw something at both of them.
"I'm sorry this happened, Aubrey. I thought you might like a gift," Aubrey's boss interrupts them, "But I am regretting it now."
Aubrey looks at Brian.
"Oh, if you think it's me, you're wrong," Brian tells her, "Although, I do think of myself as a gift."
Aubrey furrows her brows.
"I cannot believe you would push all the buttons and try to abandon me in the elevator, struggling to get out, Brian!" Conrad yells from somewhere down the hallway, "You forgot there is an emergency stop button!"
"Do you know what nine hours on a plane with that man is like?" Brian asks.
Aubrey doesn't have a whole lot of time to think about it – or understand any of this.
"You don't know either; you slept all nine of them," Conrad claims, pushing past them into the room, "That was the longest nine hours of my life." He walks straight to the bed, mindful of Aubrey's injuries, but not at all of her personal space, as he immediately scoots her over and collapses against the bed next to her. "I had to spend all that time huddled under a little blanket." He grabs Aubrey's blanket, unfolds it, and pulls it over his head to demonstrate. "Because you're not supposed to text on airplanes, but I was bored, and I needed dick pics to keep me entertained, since the dick next to me was sleeping." He yanks the blanket down and looks at Aubrey. "And do you know what happened to me?"
Aubrey is still trying to process the first part of this – and his presence in general.
"The flight attended thought because I was under a blanket that I was sleeping too, and she did not give me peanuts. So I said, 'Excuse me, Ma'am, you forgot my peanuts'. I might have accidentally said 'penis' after all those dick pics your mom sent to me, but I don't know, they both sound the same. She understood. And she said that that airline doesn't serve peanuts, because of those people allergic. Epipens were invented for a reason, in my opinion. But in her opinion, pretzels were an acceptable substitute. You can't substitute pretzels for peanuts, Aubrey. So, I had no people and no food for nine hours. And as an eccentric, extroverted person who owns a bakery, can you believe?"
Aubrey stares at him. "I-" What is an acceptable response? Clearly, nobody in the room knows.
"You brought food in your bag," Brian says.
Conrad sighs. "It's not the same as airline peanuts. I can make my own food every day. The only place you can get airline peanuts is on an airplane. You can't just wake up and think, 'I guess I'll make some airline peanuts today'. Unless you work at the airline peanut factory."
Aubrey sinks back into the bed. There are factories out there with people who work in them, and their sole job is to package airline peanuts… What a sad life.
"Do you think they fired all of the people at the airline peanut factories to hire new people who were skilled in airline pretzels?" Conrad asks, "I'm going to research this." He gets up and pulls out his phone, then walks over to one of the chairs, and sits down in absolute silence.
"How are you, Aubrey?" her boss asks.
"Great." She's great. Out of nowhere, her throat feels too constricted to talk. Aubrey looks over at Conrad, suddenly very interested in knowing a lot more about airline peanuts - and also very confused.
"I'm going to give you some time to…adjust. I just wanted to drop these guys off tonight and let you know I'm here; they're your problem now. We can talk in the morning."
Oh. Okay. Aubrey nods.
"I need to go ask some questions to these people." He points back out the door. "Aubrey."
Aubrey looks at him.
"I don't know what happened yet, but I really am sorry."
"Thank you," Aubrey mouths, unsure of what else to say.
"Go get 'em, Judge Judy!" Conrad yells, not looking up from his phone, as Marc walks back out the door.
"He's not a judge," Brian points out.
"Bologna!" Conrad replies, "Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining."
"Stop quoting Bianca." Brian sits down on the edge of the bed.
"Oh, this guy is only a mile away," Conrad says, still staring at his phone. He shows it to Julia. "Yes or no?"
"I thought you were looking up peanuts," Aubrey reminds him.
"I told you, peanuts and penis sound exactly the same," Conrad says, "I got distracted."
Julia takes his phone to get a better look. "He's cute, but he needs to do something about those eyebrows."
"Like just shave them off and start drawing them on," Conrad agrees, "It's fine, I don't have to look at his face. Aubrey, I love your mom."
"I never pictured your mom as someone who would look at Grindr," Brian says, "I thought whoever gave birth to you would be more…prude. Honestly, I can't picture anyone who parented you ever having sex at all. This better explains how you were actually born."
"Mom," Aubrey tries to get her attention – not trying to draw it away like she feels the need to do when she's talking to Beca, but this is so embarrassing.
Julia hands him his phone back. "Yes, Baby?"
Baby?! There are people here. Aubrey just stares at her, her cheeks flushed a light shade of pink.
"Ah, I am all too familiar with that look. Okay," Julia says, then walks over to Aubrey and tucks her hair behind her ear, "I will let you guys be."
No, Aubrey doesn't want her to leave.
"I'm going to go sit with Chloe," Julia says.
Hearing her name makes Aubrey's stomach twist up again. She nods.
"I'll come back later." Julia places her phone on the table. "Text Dad's phone if you need anything." She kisses Aubrey's face several times, too many times, like she wants to embarrass Aubrey in front of her friends. "Bye. I love you." She gives her one last kiss on the cheek.
Aubrey frowns at her.
Both Conrad and Brian are making kissing faces at her, and Beca is smirking, and Aubrey can't even hit any of them, because Chloe's mom is there and because there is an IV in the back of her hand now.
"Have fun. Don't get into trouble." Julia walks out the door and leaves.
Aubrey wants to go with her.
"Well, now I want to get in trouble," Conrad says, "She can't ground us all."
"No, she'll ground the three of us and just ask Aubrey if she's okay," Beca comments.
"So, there's no reason for Aubrey to try to stop us," Brian replies, "Well, fuck, let's go."
"We can't leave," Aubrey panics, and tries to look for an excuse why not, other than that this just does not sound like an intelligent idea at all, and, also, Chloe's mom will not be happy, "I'm attached to the wall." She holds up her hand.
"You're attached to a pole on wheels," Brian points out.
"Like a mobile stripper," Conrad says.
"Wow," Beca mumbles.
"Stop fucking around," Brian tells her, "It looks like the time clock on your sanity in here is ticking. Your mom is gone, Mommy's Girl. Get up, and let's go."