Missy glanced at Collin. "It's not you," he said. "It's me."
"That's such a stupid line." Collin had never seen her show so much emotion. Her eyes were overflowing with tears, and her eyebrows were knitted together in anger. "Stop saying it. It's already overused without you saying it over and over. Am I just another one of your girls?" Maybe if she'd shown so much human emotion—other than physical attraction—while they were dating, he wouldn't be breaking up with her now. "Am I just another one of those girls who you toss off as if she's worthless? I bet I am. Oh, god! I was so stupid."
Collin stared, dumbfounded. "Maybe it's you," he replied. "You know, you weren't… very interesting."
"Interesting!" screamed Missy. Without further warning, she was barging at him, screaming. Collin was worrying that the neighbors might complain when suddenly, he felt an oddly-muscled arm hitting him against the wall. He felt an out-of-body experience as his head collided with the yellow wallpaper. He was barely aware that he was wounded. "Oh, god…"
Missy wasn't done yet. She reared up her leg and her arm, punching and kicking to her heart's content. Every blow was just another injury to add to the mess that she'd caused just with the first hit. "Missy…" croaked Collin, his heart squeezed inside-out with fear. "Stop…"
She let out a long line of explicitries that would make a sailor faint, and then turned in a flourish. "Jerk," she said finally. "You can't just use a girl like that."
Collin moaned, the pain wafting all through his veins. Who knew that such a prissy girl was so good at self-defense?
He lay there, moaning with the wrenching pain that welled up his insides. He couldn't help but begin to sob, wondering what had happened, how it had happened so fast. He clumsily reached for the phone, his fingers slipping multiple times before he hit it. He slowly dialed 911, reluctant to do so. He'd just been beat up by a girly-girl. It all felt so junior high except… much, much worse. "Hey, uh, I just got beat up." He proceeded to give his address, what had happened, and where he was wounded. They promised to be over within ten minutes.
Ten minutes was a lifetime while you were lying with wounds collecting on your skin.
- -
"Oh, god!" Judy instinctively grabbed onto John, gasping at Collin's broken-looking figure, lying haphazardly on the bed.
"Jesus Christ," gaped John. "Missy did this to you?"
"Sure's hell," croaked Collin. "Gave me a concussion, and a broken arm." He glanced at his leg and then added, as if by second thought, "Oh, and my leg, too."
"That's awful!" exclaimed Judy, rushing to his side and sweeping the unbroken part of him up into a hug. "I knew there was something odd about her."
"Yeah." John let his eyes graze over Collin's body. "You're broken, dude."
"I tried to break up with Missy," shrugged Collin hopelessly. "I guess she took some karate."
"Jesus. She's good at her job," frowned John, inspecting his wounds.
"Stop touching meee…" Collin demanded, wriggling out from John and Judy's grasps. "It's not comfortable," he explained.
John and Judy shrugged. "Fine," the two said reluctantly, in unison.
"Who's been taking care of you?" asked Judy worridly. "And are they taking care of you well?"
"A nurse. Uh, Nurse Lewis, I think? Yeah. Nurse Lewis."
As if on cue, a nurse entered the room. First, John couldn't help but stare. She was a good-looking person. Her dirty blonde hair, surpassing her shoulders by just an inch, was straight and clean-looking. Although she just wore simple tennis shoes, she looked great. Her hair was pulled back with a hot pink elastic, and the shirt underneath her scrubs was black. Judy nodded at her, raising her eyebrows. "Nice," she grunted, and John's grin spoke for itself.
"Hey, Lewis," smiled Collin playfully, suddenly in a joking mood. "How's life in the old death-house?"
She smiled, but shook her head. "Don't call it that. Call it a… life house. Welcome to the life house, may we please take your order?"
There were giggles all around. Then, Nurse Lewis shrugged. "And it's good." She began to test all of Collin's injuries. "God, that girl's a toughie."
"She says that every time," explained Collin. "It's sort of like a… personal joke." The two exchanged secret glances, then burst out laughing. John and Judy exchanged their own glances, smiling mischievously. Collin liked Nurse Lewis.