Lovely readers, you are in for such a treat :) this is by far the longest chapter, and I hope to make the rest around this long. We are DEFINITELY very close to big events happening in the story, and I'm SO excited!
REVIEW!
References to Poe, Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson and William Carlos Williams, all of whom I do not own. (P.S. if you don't know of William's work, Google him because he has some very unique poems and styles!)
And yeah, I know. It's like freaking early. Or late. Depending where you are. For me, early. More specifically 1.12 AM. GOODNIGHT! I can finally go to bed knowing this chapter is complete :)
When James woke up the next morning, he had a smile on his face. It was Saturday, and he was going to go visit his dad, then he was going over to Brylee's house for her birthday. And he had great plans. He had a great feeling about today, about everything that was going to happen today. There was just a part of him that felt like sixteen year old him again. He felt young and refreshed- something he hadn't in a long time.
He got up and pulled his t-shirt off as he walked to the bathroom, and let it fall to the floor in the pile with the rest of his dirty clothes. He turned on the shower, then took off his sweatpants before stepping onto the tile and letting the warmth take over him.
Brylee woke up, and the warm blankets surrounded her, creating this perfect cocoon for staying in bed all day. And that was her plan, well, until James got here, that was. She was going to go make herself some white hot chocolate, then come back up here and get under the covers and watch whatever movies were on TV today.
The brunette rolled over and picked up her phone off her bedside table, half expecting to have a text from James, but the screen was just her background, a picture of her and Lucy from late last night when she had gone to visit.
Her friend was doing a lot better now, and would probably be out of the hospital in a few days, which still let Christmas vacation open to go somewhere warm and bask in the sunlight and drink daiquiris and look like somebody's.
Last night, Lucy had given Brylee some presents and the girls gossiped and giggled, just like they had done for years before. They were sitting in her room, eating some cake that was there when Brylee showed up, just talking. She had to admit, her best friend could still get whatever she wanted, even with her being in the hospital. Then Lucy smiled, and got a bag off of the floor, and Brylee raised an eyebrow.
"You know," she said, crossing her legs, "I still don't know how you do this."
"Do what?" Lucy asked, pretending to be confused.
"Get all of this stuff, when you haven't even been out of the hospital for weeks."
"Oh, these presents I've had for months, but the cake? I've got my connections." She winked at her friend and made this face, and Brylee immediately knew she was talking about "Dr. Joe," as she liked to call him. She was pretty sure patient-doctor relationships were illegal or something, but she didn't think it was weird. Joe was only three or four years older than Lucy, which put him in his late twenties.
"Right," Brylee said, taking the large, pink bag her friend was handing over to her. Lucy rolled her eyes, and her brunette friend made a face. Then they broke out into giggles, and they kind of felt like they were high or something. Everything just felt so right, and Brylee had no thoughts about Jake or what he would say, or maybe do, when he returned.
The younger girl set the bag on the floor in front of her, then pulled out a wad of pink tissue paper, only to find a wrapped gift inside. She sighed, and Lucy smiled, then Brylee opened it to see the entire collection of William Carlos Williams poems.
"Oh my gosh, thank you so much!" she said, flipping through the thick book. She had taken a liking for the poet and his odd writing type back in the beginning of college when she had to take a poetry course. She had wanted an entire collection for years, to add to the ones she had for Shakespeare and Poe, and now she could. The only one she needed now was Emily Dickinson.
"I try," Lucy said, shrugging. The girl smiled again, then put the book down, despite how she wanted to start reading it now. There was something about poetry you couldn't get from short stories, like you could assume anything from the poem, unlike the strict lines of a story.
Brylee pulled out some more tissue paper to find something soft and quite lump. The woman made a face, then started tearing at the bright green wrapping paper. She was confused for a moment, then realized it was some sort of clothing. She took it in her hands, then picked it up by the straps, which were thin and white.
When she held it up, her mouth gaped, and Lucy giggled. "You bought me a nightie?" Brylee said, quickly putting the very short, very thin, piece of blue fabric down in her lap.
"Yeah," she said.
"You have not had this for months," her friend said incredulously, but the blonde nodded.
"I have. I was at the mall and saw it, and figured I'd get it for you so you could have something cute to wear to bed," she explained, and Brylee wasn't surprised. Lucy didn't go to bed in sweats and an old t-shirt. She wore silky pajamas from Victoria's Secret, long pants in the winter and short shorts in the summer. She even had a robe that matched. She was quite ridiculous, but the brunette had to love her. "But now that James is in town, you can put it to good use."
Brylee glared at her, and her older friend held in laughter. She had no intention of using something like…a nightie, a very short nightie to get James back. She had no interest in getting hot and heavy in between the sheets anytime soon. Just because she wanted a relationship with him again doesn't mean she wanted to have sex with him. But, it had been so long since Brylee actually enjoyed herself in bed, the last time being with James. But no, despite how much she wanted to, shall she say, seduce him, that would not be the thing to do in this situation.
"Don't push the idea away yet, Bry," Lucy said, trying to sound convincing. It had been so long since her dearest friend had been truly back, and she could see a little bit of spark, a little bit of liveliness come back since James had shown up again.
You couldn't ignore that sign, you really couldn't. Something was meant to happen between the two of them, Lucy knew it for sure.
"Alright," Brylee said, then was about to put the two things back into the bag when Lucy said there was one more thing in there. She dug around for a moment until she felt something on her fingers, and she picked it up.
Sitting in her hand was a little tiny, perfect foil square. "Lucy," Brylee sighed. "What the hell is this?" she asked, even though she knew damn well what it was.
Her friend snickered. "It's a condom," she said.
"And why was this necessary to put in my gift bag?"
"Because you may need it. I got it the other day."
"From where?" the brunette asked, shocked that she actually asked someone for it.
"We're in a hospital," she said, gesturing around. Brylee's eyes widened as she thought about whom exactly could've given her this.
"You didn't ask doctor-"
"Hell no! Why would I ask Dr. Watson about that?"
"Don't even get me started on naming the reasons," Brylee said darkly, and her ill friend sighed.
"I got it from one of the nurses. I didn't tell her who you were or anything. I just said I needed one for a friend."
"You make things so awkward."
"True. But now if you do get James in your bed, you won't get pregnant," Lucy said brightly, and Brylee buried her face in her hands, trying to hide the blush on her face.
Brylee got out of bed, then headed downstairs to the kitchen. She got out a large mug from the cabinet, then turned on her fancy coffee machine and waited for the water to get hot. In the meantime, she warmed up some pasta dish leftovers in the microwave. Yeah, it might be an odd combination, but she loved the two things, and it was her birthday. She should be able to do what she wants. And no one was here to judge her, so it was the perfect opportunity.
James was dressed and out the door with Ashley ten minutes ago, and they had just gotten to the hospital, and they were talking about what James was going to do for Brylee's birthday.
"Did you get her a present?" Ashley asked as they walked through the parking lot, their shoes crunching random bits of snow on the ground. It had snowed plenty last night, and the thick clouds that hung overhead were a sign it was going to do it again. James smiled, remembering how much Brylee adored the snow, especially when it fell a lot on her birthday.
James nodded, actually quite proud of his gift. He had found Lucy in the hospital, and asked her if there was anything Brylee had really been wanting, and she had told him what she had been wanting for a while now.
"I got her the entire collection of Emily Dickinson poems," he said, feeling rather smart for just saying her name. He had taken a quick glance at a few poems after he had bought it last night, and he wouldn't be the first to admit he didn't know what the fuck this lady was talking about.
But that's how he knew Brylee would understand. She was brilliant, and understood anything she put her mind to.
He had also gotten her a few other things, but they weren't very important
"I'm impressed, James," Ashley said as they went to check in and get guest tags.
"Hey, I'll do anything for her," he said, but didn't mean to say quite that. Although it was true, he hadn't said anything like that out loud for years, but it felt right.
The shorter girl grinned and nodded, and they headed up to their Dad's room, excited to see him today.
They were chatting and laughing on the way up to the room, and they had stepped off the elevator with smiles on their faces, something they hadn't truly done in a while. They walked down the hall, past the ICU desk, and turned right to go to their Dad's room. They were halfway there, halfway to the door, when they saw Logan coming the other way.
He smiled and hurried his pace to meet them right before their father's old room. "He woke up," was all he said, and the siblings exchanged a look of surprised, happiness and utter incredulousness.
"What?" Ashley asked. Logan nodded.
"Early this morning he woke up, and although he's still pretty weak, they moved him to the recovery unit."
"That's fantastic!" James said, smiling brightly. Now he could really tell his dad about Brylee, really tell him how he felt now.
Logan smiled. "I know. You can go see him. It's one level up, his room is 1678." James clapped a hand on his shorter friend's shoulder, then said a quick goodbye before going to see his Dad.
Brylee spent all day in her bed, drinking hot chocolate and watching cliché romance movies on Lifetime, until she glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost four fifteen. She cursed at herself for being a sucker for a movie, and how she almost lost track of time completely, and James would show up and she'd be in her pajamas.
She hopped out of bed, and then made it quickly, pulling the sheets and comforter tightly, before heading into her closet in search of something to wear. Did she want to wear a short skirt with leggings, to make James drool, or did she want to wear a low cut sweater to make him stare?
Stop it, Brylee, she scolded herself.
She found a pair of clean, dark washed jeans, and a red sweater that showed a little bit of cleavage. Why the hell not? It was her birthday. There was a sudden knock on the door, and her eyes widened.
"Shit," she mumbled. How did she lose track of time that badly, to waste ten minutes looking at her clothes to try and impress James? "Be right there!" she called loudly, hoping James would hear.
Outside on the porch, James stood in the chilly air, coat and scarf wrapped tightly around him, as he held a bag in one hand, a box in the other. He had spent as long as he could with his dad, catching up and filling him in on what had been happening. Their mom, Ruth, showed up when they were about to leave, and she was ecstatic to have her husband back.
He smiled, realizing now how fantastic his parent's relationship really was. He wanted that. He wanted to know that someone was always thinking about him, and if anything bad happened to him, they'd be at his bedside every possible moment they could. He liked to think he had that with Brylee all those years ago, and he would admit he wanted that now, forever. He wanted to feel loved.
After quickly throwing on her new, clean clothes and running a brush through her hair, Brylee threw her dirty clothes into her closet, then ran down the stairs to get the door. She walked over to it, and opened it, to reveal a gorgeous James, in a black coat and scarf. He held a small bag in his right hand and a white box in his left. He smiled at her.
"Hi," she said, sounding out of breath. She smiled back at him.
"Hi," he said, just standing there. It was only then Brylee realized she had been blocking to doorway.
"Oh," she laughed, stepping aside. "Sorry about that. Come in."
James laughed. "It's fine." He stepped into her warm house, then slid off his shoes and followed her into the kitchen.
He set the two things down on her counter, and noticed a pink bag sitting on the further island stool. He smiled, knowing it was the book Lucy had bought for her friend. The man pulled off his coat and scarf, then draped them over the chair.
"Happy birthday."
Brylee smiled. And happy she was.
