Chapter 3
When James opened his eyes again, he wasn't at a beach or floating in the sky or in the clouds or floating anywhere.
He was lying down on a hospital bed.
Reality hit him, and without the morphine washing over him, everything else seemed to instead.
He had gotten checked into the boards, on his face. He had just had tooth surgery. He was going to have stitches on his face.
He was going to be ugly.
His hand almost instinctively reached to press a certain red button, but there was nothing there. There were no tubes attached to him, no more drug running through his veins.
He was all alone.
And in that moment, he felt a pang of loneliness he had never felt so strongly before. Of course, his parents were usually too busy working or fighting to be around much, and when his three friends weren't by his side James wasn't all too thrilled, but this loneliness was like nothing he'd felt before. It was a gut-wrenching ache that permeated through his whole body like poison, like a drug running through his veins that didn't make him feel better but made him feel horrible. An ache that hurt way worse than his jaw.
He was just laying on this white sheet, no family or friends around him, no one around him, wishing he could be drugged up again. He was just a boy, a normal boy, an ugly boy with black stitches on his face.
He was nobody.
The moment was interrupted when his three friends rushed in, his mom and dad following behind them.
He wasn't alone. But it still ached.
"Oh, honey, how are you?" Brooke Diamond, James's mom, rushed over to James's side, practically shoving Kendall out of the way. The blonde boy gave her a dirty look, but Logan nudged him in the side to wipe the look off before Brooke saw.
"Mom, I'm fine." James mumbled, immediately wincing at the pain he felt from talking.
"Are you hurting, sweetie? Maybe you shouldn't be talking." Brooke asked, her fake lashes blinking at him. She stood so close James could see the mascara on her eyebrows, the foundation under her eyes. He knew these things because his mom owned a cosmetics company. James nodded, almost hoping they'd attach the IV back into his arm.
"Did they give you anything for the pain?" James's dad, John, asked. He usually didn't talk much when his mom was worked up like this, preferring to stay back and not say anything at all.
Brooke turned to face him. "Oh, of course they did, John. You think they'd put him through surgery and not give him anything?"
"I'm not an idiot, I was just asking." John shot back, looking like he regret every having spoken up in the first place. James let out a small sigh, a twinge of pain in his jaw at the movement. His parents couldn't go a minute without arguing, even with their son in the hospital, even with his friends standing around.
Carlos, whose parents probably had never disagreed about anything ever in his entire life, glanced at the fighting couple with wide eyes. Logan shifted uncomfortably, and Kendall cleared his throat.
"They gave him some morphine after the surgery but they're going to discharge him on some pain tablets." He butted in, clearly trying to stop their arguing. Kendall was good at defusing tense situations; defusing his parents seemed to be no exception. James wished he could do that, that he could do something to stop their constant bickering.
Brooke turned back to James, rubbing his arm. "Okay, that's good. We don't want you to be in pain."
"Pain tablets?" James said, using only the corner of his mouth to speak to minimize pain.
"Yeah, hydrocodone and Tylenol. It's supposed to work pretty well, except they said it can make you drowsy and/or constipated." Logan explained, sounding just like Dr. Yu.
Coincidentally, Dr. Yu walked in right then with a nurse, a clipboard in his hand. "James, how are you feeling?" He asked, giving him a friendly smile. James tried to smile back, but it probably ended up looking more like a wince.
"Hurts a bit." James replied softly.
Dr. Yu chuckled. "Yes, you'll be in some pain for a couple of days. The tablets I prescribed you should hold you down until the pain lessens. After that you can take some Motrin or Tylenol if you still feel any pain. There's also some antibiotics I want you to take for 7 days so you don't grow an infection. I'm going to have you come back in after that and see how you're doing. Sound good?"
James nodded, processing all the information in his head. Pain pills. Motrin or Tylenol after a couple of days. Antibiotics for 7 days. Come back for a check-up in 7 days. "Yeah, thanks." Logan probably had it written down somewhere, anyways, being the future doctor that he was.
"But our son's going to be okay, right?" John asked, a worried look in his eyes. Brooke nodded, for once agreeing with him.
"There's not going to be permanent damage, right? If James is going to take over the cosmetics company, his face can't be all messed up like… like this." She gestured to James's face, covered in bandages. James internally groaned; he hated when his mom brought up his meticulously planned, seemingly inevitable future. She had practically groomed him to take over for her when he was older.
Dr. Yu wasn't fazed. "We are foreseeing no permanent damage. For now, we put something in called a metal stent on the top row of your teeth. It's basically like braces and it's going to make sure your teeth stay nice and straight while they're recovering. That's probably going to stay on for 2-3 weeks."
James froze. "B-braces?" He stuttered out. He'd gotten braces when he was 13, but they'd been those invisible plastic-looking braces no one could see. Now he was going to have metal in his teeth? That meant whenever he opened his mouth, people could see.
"Yes, they're very similar to braces. But they're just on for a couple of weeks, and they're barely noticeable." Dr. Yu assured him, reading his mind. James nodded, taking a deep breath to calm himself.
It was barely visible. It was fine.
Dr. Yu spoke with his parents some more and then he was gone. His three friends stood a few steps behind his parents, trying not to get in the way (even though James would much rather they be close by than his parents). His dad helped him out of the hospital bed and into his jacket and shoes.
"You boys need a ride home?" John asked, always buddy-buddy with all of James's friends. The three glanced at each other and nodded simultaneously. They were close enough that sometimes, they didn't need words.
"If you don't mind, that would be great." Logan replied. Logan was often their "spokesperson" when talking with adults, because he was so polite and always seemed to know the right words to say to get them on their good sides.
James sat in the middle row of seats to he wouldn't have to sit in front and be in the middle of one of his parent's potential arguments. Carlos and Logan sat in the back, and Kendall sat in the seat next to James.
"So how long will I be out?" James asked, turning to Kendall. He hadn't really thought about hockey until now, with the morphine and surgery and all. Even though he'd gotten hurt, he still wanted to go back as soon as possible.
Kendall shrugged. "The doc said maybe not until a week after you take off your braces."
James let out an almost inhuman shriek. James's dad swerved the car a little. "James, no yelling while your dad's driving." Brooke scolded him.
James looked at his friends. "How do they look? Do I look like a freak?"
Logan rolled his eyes. "Dude, you look fine." He leaned back against the seat. James looked at him, deciding whether or not to believe him. He decided not.
"Give me my mirror."
"It's in your bag. Which is in the trunk." Logan deadpanned, gesturing to the trunk.
"Then give me your phone camera."
"Dude, just wait until you're home."
"No! Give me your camera!"
"Ugh, fine." Logan pulled the camera onto his phone, shoving it towards James. "You're beautiful." He said sarcastically. Logan was never polite with them. Kendall and Carlos bit back their smiles.
James lifted his upper lip carefully, navigating past the white bandage that was still on his face. The bandage could be taken off in a couple of hours, but the braces-
Then he saw it. It was a small metal… thing, on top of his teeth. It spanned about 4 of his teeth, but it was definitely there.
It was definitely noticeable. James shrieked again, earning another scolding from his mom. "I can't be seen like this!" He turned, panicked, tossing Logan's phone back at him. "I'm hideous!"
Kendall sighed. "James, you look fine. You're not hideous. If someone's not looking for it, you can barely see it."
"Yeah!" Carlos piped up. "It totally doesn't look weird." He said, making the statement sound exactly the opposite of what it was. Kendall and Logan both turned to give him a small glare.
Carlos often blurted out things that were better left unsaid. He was the poster child for ADHD, and often said and did things that got him (and sometimes his friends) in a lot of trouble. But for once, James appreciated Carlos's unintentional honesty. "You guys! It's terrible!" He cried, groaning dramatically, slumping in his seat.
"James, sweetie, it looks great." Brooke called from the passenger seat. "Stop being dramatic." At James's stricken face, Kendall put a hand on his shoulder.
"Seriously, James. It'll be off in two weeks and no one will remember it was there. Okay? And we'll beat up anyone who messes with you." He said firmly, staring James right in the eyes.
James let out a loud sigh. "Okayyyy." He whined. "I hate this." He added, as if it wasn't clear already.
"It could've been a lot worse, James. We're lucky it was just an easy surgery and a metal stent." Logan reminded him, sounding a lot like his mother. James wanted to smack him.
But instead, he just leaned his head back against the headrest. Of course Logan could say that. He wasn't the one who had to live with stitches and braces on his face.
He wasn't the one who had to walk the halls of Eastview High looking like a zombie. He wasn't the one who had always been beautiful, handsome, and kept up appearances perfectly.
Until now.
A/N- Hello again everyone! Thanks for the support so far with the story. Please let me know what you think of this chapter!
- AS