Thanks to the wonderful reviewers Adrienne, Tommy4eva, bookworm0408, LittleZurawski, Duddley111, HRInuyashaFan16, riotgirllina, pixiestix16, RockerChick13, melodie568, and GiliwasCoolas always.
"Tom? Are you okay man?" Shay asks. I glance around anxiously; I'm still in the backseat of his car.
I look at him, a little confused. My stomach's churning…my head's spinning…my vision's blurry.
"Tommy?" Shay calls, sounding far away.
I shake my head slowly, and I feel better for a few seconds. And then I blackout, or something like that because the next time I wake up I'm in a hospital room, my head throbbing.
Shay is snoozing on the sofa in the far corner of the room and Jude is reclining in a chair beside my bed, watching an old 90's sitcom with the volume turned down low. She's grinning at some sarcastic remark the little kid has said, when she finally glances over at me.
"Hey,"
"Hey yourself," she says, quietly, sitting up in her recliner.
"Um…what happened?" I ask, warily.
"I'm not exactly sure…but let me go get the nurse or doctor is that okay?" she asks, jumping out of her chair and out the door before she waits for a 'yes' or 'no'.
This kind of puts me on edge since she just didn't tell me what the hell's the matter with me.
Jude comes back in after a few minutes with an extremely tall man in a white lab coat.
"Hi, Mr. Quincy!" he says, extending his hand to me. "I'm Dr. Winthrop."
"Nice to meet you," I reply, politely, trying to examine his teeth. I can't decide if I'm still a little woozy or if he has replaced his teeth with Dentyne white gum.
"So I'm guessing you're wondering what you doing here," he smiles, and I flinch a little bit. He slightly resembles Mr. Ed, with his extremely large teeth. He must have those dental veneers.
"Uh huh," I mutter, trying not to stare at those choppers.
"Well, we're not sure what's the matter with you either," he laughs. Oh. My. God. Please stop laughing man. I'm fearing my life here, those teeth look like they're about to come on out and eat me or something…I think they've got me on some drugs. "But you passed out and you're friend over there," he says, jutting his enormous mouth over to Shay's direction. "Brought you in a few hours ago. Apparently you blacked out, and earned yourself a little concussion."
"So right now it just looks like you're suffering from heat and exhaustion, but we'd like to keep you for another 24 hours or so…that okay?"
I nod my head, "Yeah, I'm good."
"Okay, a nurse will be in here shortly to draw some blood…" he says, walking toward the door. "And if you have any other questions just ask him."
As he exits, Jude slaps me on my hand. I look at her like she's crazy.
"You are so rude," she says, shaking her head disbelievingly.
"What?" I ask, genuinely confused.
"You were staring at his teeth the entire time," Jude points out, trying to conceal her smile.
"What? He looked like jaws…hell I was scared for my life," I chuckle, turning onto my side.
"Whatever," she sighs.
"You seen them things Jude. It's the last thing you want to see when you first wake up," I remark, causing her to launch off into a laughing fit, which only encourages me. "They look like little miniature drive-in movie screens or something."
After a few more rude analogies and bursts of laughter, Shay finally arouses from over on the sofa across the room.
"What's so funny?" he asks, sitting up and stretching.
"You're snoring problem," I explain.
"What? I don't snore," he says, offensively.
"Yeah, you do buddy."
"I wasn't going to say anything," Jude shrugs, trying to cover her smile again.
"Whatever," He says, waving us off, and checking the time on his watch. "Damn, it's almost midnight. I need to get heading back to the hotel." He mutters, standing up and walking towards my bed.
"You all right, man," he asks, genuinely worried.
I shrug. "I guess…they think its exhaustion and dehydration."
"I don't see how you haven't been doing anything for the last couple of days," Jude scoffs.
I throw her look. "Whatever."
She shrugs, and starts biting her nails. Aw, that means she's nervous and what would she be nervous about? That would be me in the hospital with an IV sticking out of my arm.
Shay looks at us, weirdly for a few seconds.
"What?" we both ask in unison.
"Nothing," he shakes his head, heading for the door. "I'll see you tomorrow at the awards."
"See you," Jude calls, waiting until after he leaves to hug me.
I hesitate before wrapping my arms around her. When I embrace her even the stench of the hospital fades away.
She finally looks up at me her eyes are moist with tears. She's not half the hard ass she thinks she is.
"You okay," I ask her, I gently, stroke her hair.
"No," she sighs, "My producer passed out today, and the doctors think it's exhaustion but they really aren't sure yet."
"Really," I nod. "Well I think your producer is and will be fine. It's probably because of low blood sugar, since he hasn't eaten anything all day really, or perhaps it's because of that sting he received yesterday while trying to kill this bee in his favorite artist's room."
"Or maybe not." She chuckles, her voice cracking.
"Okay maybe not," I shrug. "Maybe it's the old age catching up with him."
"Maybe that's it," she grins, climbing on the bed beside me. "You know this really should be me comforting you."
"Yeah it should be that way shouldn't…" I taunt, earning my self another slap on the arm.
"What is up with that?" I ask her, talking about her new abusiveness.
"Natural reaction?"
"Right…"
"My coping mechanism?"
"What are you trying to cope with?"
She sighs and rolls her eyes at me. "I'm stressed, kay?"
"So take it out on a wounded man in hospital bed…that sounds about what I would do…"
"Shut up," she laughs, snuggling closer to me, laying her head on my chest.
"I'm glad you think its funny," I tease, "I mean I don't think it's funny, since I am the victim…"
"It's not funny," she says quietly, her serious tone stripping down the playful mood we had going on.
"No, I'm just kidding. You can be the one to comfort me next time uh," I bargain, kissing her temple.
"Alright," she sighs, "I don't know what I'd do with out you…you know that right?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah…I know girl. That's why I won't be croaking for a while," I comment trying to lighten the mood again.
"That's not funny," she whispers.
"It's 'my coping mechanism'."
She sits up in frustration. "Can't you be serious for like two seconds?"
"Yeah…but Jude, you're upset over basically nothing. I'll be out tomorrow in time to see you win your award for best female rock vocalist…and to see you and Avril scrap on stage--"
"Just stop it okay," she snaps, irritably, turning on her heel, and heading for the door. "I'm going to go see if I can scavenge up something to eat." She says, over her shoulder as she exits the room, letting the door slam behind her.
Damn. I don't know if I'm missing something or is she just overacting. I'm just going to go with the "I'm missing something" option because I usually am anyway.