Chapter 7: Bad Call

(Two hours later at 5pm)

Kiva sat in a Coffee shop near to the Hospital sipping coffee and eating a croissant. She was still rather worried about rejecting Jamie's offer. But it was insane. A house with servants, workers already equipped to deal with both Coop and her own needs? Something was up. Jamie had told her that all he had to do was keep his job and pay off a loan within five years. Kiva immediately refused. She wasn't going to have Jamie stuck in debt because of Coop and herself. Plus Jamie had already contributed an undisclosed sum of money towards Coop's physical therapy already. Jamie was angry about her refusal but Kiva was staunch against accepting Jamie's offer. She could only hope that he didn't try Coop. Coop wasn't stupid but at the same time he wasn't exactly the brightest bulb either. But his pride might keep him from accepting Jamie's crazy offer. She could only sit, eat and hope.

(Following Day at 2:30pm)

Coop lay on the mat in the recreation room. His instructor had just finished exercising and massaging his muscles. She was now getting his wheelchair to wheel him back to his room. As soon as she returned, two large men helped Coop into the chair. Coop just remained silent and swallowed his feelings of pride, anger and shame. To make things even worse, his instructor Miss Debbie Francis was intent on talking to him as she wheeled him despite Coop's hope for silence and NOT wanting to talk to anyone.

"You must be so proud of your friend Jamie," Miss Francis said suddenly and those words caught his attention, "taking up a high paying job to help pay off the costs for both his contribution to your physical therapy and medical bills along with the house he got for you and Kiva through a private loan deal he made with his boss," she chatted, "don't tell Jamie that I told you," she whispered and laughed mischievously, "I only know because I'm going to be one of your physical therapists," she added and laughed heartily.

"Ummm So Jamie's really gone all out?" Coop asked and felt guilty about rejecting Jamie's offer yesterday.

"Oh yes," Miss Francis responded with a firm nod, "he no longer can afford his expensive apartment anymore," she told Coop.

"What!" Coop cried, "but it's his home!"

"Pish Posh!" Miss Francis disagreed, "even Jamie said that only his clothes and a few other possessions were really his," she stated, "the rest belonged to the apartment owners."

"Why didn't he buy an empty apartment then furbish it?" Coop asked more to himself than Miss Francis.

"Jamie blames himself for that," Miss Francis responded, "he was too lazy to go around buying and picking out furniture," she continued, "so he just rented a furnished apartment," she concluded.

"Oh," Coop said, "so where does he live now?" he asked.

"With me," Miss Francis told Coop who would've jumped if he could've moved, "he was going to live in an adjoined room by his new office but that's no way to live," she said defiantly, "especially while doing a job you don't even want," she added.

"What do you mean?" Coop asked in a stern voice but Miss Francis became silent, "Miss Francis?" he asked seriously when he still didn't get a response.

"Hello Nurse Betty," Miss Francis said in a VERY overly cherry voice when she saw the blonde haired nurse standing by Coop's room, "you can take over now, can't you?" she asked as she brushed back her light brown hair and ignored Coop's protests, "thanks, bye," she said quickly after the nurse nodded and Miss Francis quickly made her escape.

"Miss Francis!" Coop cried angrily but Nurse Betty conked him on the head, "Oww!"

"This is a hospital, Shhh," Nurse Betty told Coop who pouted but became quiet.

(7pm at a Bar)

"Another shot Jet," Jamie said formally and slid his glass across the table to the bartender.

"Hnn," Jet responded, refilled the glass and slid it back to Jamie.

Jamie drank the alcoholic beverage in one go. He knew that he was nearing being drunk. But he barely cared. He had just gone through another day of his job and he HATED it. He never liked the idea of a desk or supervisory job that always had this one guy or group earning this HUGE sum of money just to do some paperwork and or watch the large bunch of workers who had to be breaking their backs to get their jobs done while barely earning anything. Jamie admitted that his past job was NO drop in the bucket when it came to a paycheque. He did earn enough to keep his expensive apartment after all. At least he did until he took this job that earned him five times as much except for the fact that nearly all of his earnings now went to paying off loans that he had to get in order to get the hospital to let Coop continue staying there. He could bet his LIFE that Coop didn't realize that despite his condition the hospital couldn't keep there for more than TWO weeks unless he could come up with a large sum of money UPFRONT. And that was just the down payment to LET Coop stay in the hospital. Jamie used up his savings and got several advances on his paycheque and even some money his boss gave upfront which Jamie didn't have to pay back. That set him back really FAR. His boss also helped him get some of the loans he needed to get the other stuff he had gotten for Coop and Kiva and everything was NON-REFUNDABLE. Now with Coop and Kiva refusing to accept the offer, it seemed to have been all if not MOSTLY in vain.

If I had known this would happen I would've just gotten his down payment dealt with and left him and Kiva to pay everything else on their own. Bet they'd LOVE that. (Jamie's thoughts)

"Drinking away your troubles?" a voice asked suddenly and Jamie twirled around to see Kiva, "don't worry," she said, "I've learned my lesson of drinking alcohol," she told him as she sat next to him, "but are you about to learn YOURS?" she added seriously as she eyed his empty glass.

"Just water this time Jet," Jamie said and slid the glass again to the bartender, "why are you here Kiva?" he asked emotionlessly.

"Oh, Um, well," Kiva responded surprised by Jamie's straight forward (to the point) question, "I was in the neighbourhood and I decided to drop by and um…" she continued as Jamie caught his glass before it passed by him and slowly sipped at the chilled ice water.

"Miss Francis blabbed and Coop told you about it," Jamie said after Kiva drifted off unable to say anything more.

Kiva looked away guiltily. Jamie had caught her red handed.

"It's okay," Jamie told her.

"Don't lie to me Jamie," Kiva responded seriously, "I spoke to Miss Francis a few hours ago and she told me that everything wasn't refundable," she revealed.

"So what do you want me to say?" Jamie asked, "that I was dumb to offer my assistance?"

"You should've asked us first Jamie," Kiva said, "you could've avoided possibly making a mistake," she added.

"I'll definitely remember that next time," Jamie responded sarcastically.

"Don't be like this Jamie," Kiva begged.

"Like WHAT!" Jamie exploded and not only Kiva but several other patrons in the bar as well gave him shocked looks, "I'm sorry," he apologized, "but seriously Kiva," he continued, "what am I like?" he asked her pointedly.

"Oh Jamie," Kiva said almost desperately, "you just don't think sometimes," she told him, "your heart's in the right place but well…you just don't think everything through thoroughly and end up making things harder for yourself if not also for other people," she explained.

"Oh so I don't think thoroughly," Jamie said calmly, "so me rushing to pay off Coops bills was a thing that wasn't thoroughly thought through?" he asked her.

"Please don't be like this Jamie," Kiva pleaded, "I'm just trying to tell you the truth," she added.

"Truth," Jamie said, "truth hurts," he said frankly.

"Please don't be mad Jamie," Kiva pressed.

"It's alright Kiva," Jamie told her, "I'll just sell the mansion and find alternate jobs for all the experts and servants that I hired," he said with a shrug but made a point to not look at her.

"Oh don't do that," Kiva reprimanded him, "Coop and I…"

"Coop doesn't want to move so far away from where he's currently living," Jamie told Kiva, "and I can't blame him since everything and everyone he knows and loves is right here in this town," he said, "and I don't want you to agree just because you feel bad about me and the loan," he said before Kiva could protest, "besides, you won't have to worry about Coop's medical expenses and therapy since that's ALL paid for," he reminded her, "and you DID say that even without that money you and Coop could manage," he added.

"Yes I did," Kiva said regretting that she ever had a mouth that she could open, "please don't do this just because you're angry at us," she said suddenly.

"Anger isn't the problem Kiva," Jamie told her honestly, "I'll pay off all the loans in five years," he stated, "it's no big deal," he said simply.

"But you HATE your new job," Kiva persisted, "you shouldn't HAVE to work at a job you hate."

"We all have to do something we hate at some point in life," Jamie said indifferently, "I'll just imagine this as another type of High School work," he joked but Kiva didn't laugh.

"So you're not giving us the mansion?" Kiva asked.

"You guys don't want it," Jamie said dismissively, "I'll just give it to someone who does," he said.

"Yeah," Kiva said sadly, "I have Goat waiting outside so I'll just go now," she said knowing that her talk with him was just a waste of time.

"Tell Goat I said Hi," Jamie said as Kiva rose to her feet, "bye Kiva," he added but didn't look at her.

"Goodbye Jamie," Kiva said softly and left the bar.

End Chapter 7

Reggae: Well I updated. Hope you enjoyed this new chapter. And YES! MEGAS XLR has FINALLY been added to the cartoon list! Yay!