Saber's POV
It was so nice to have everyone here. Little moving space had been provided, due to the fact half of Venice was crammed into my hospital abode. Tony had taken the liberty of sprawling himself amongst the chair so no one else could sit but Jay found a way for his own comfort by throwing himself all over the Mexican.
"Shit, Jay. Fuckin' homo." Tony struggled to push Jay away. Jay didn't budge but playfully stroked Tony's chest with his finger.
"But baby, you know how much I love it when we cuddle." Jay loved pretending to be gay. Tony was probably the biggest homophobe in all of California. "C'mon, Tony. You don't have to pretend anymore, everyone here knows about us boo."
"Fuck you, Jay. Get the fuck offa me!" He shouted, shoving his legs into Jayboy's stomach.
"I thought what we had was special! Did last night mean nothing to you?" Jay had cried out dramatically, drumming up a few crocodile tears. Jay should consider a career in acting.
Those two were good for a laugh. Stacy had been by my side through the whole thing. We, amazingly, had convinced the nurses to let him stay overnight with me.
"She doesn't do well on her own; she has a terrible case of separation anxiety"
"Well, she is staying in a hospital." The nurse stood firm in her decision.
"I don't need hospital meds, lady. I need my boy—I mean cousin. He's my medication."
She rolled her eyes. Bitch.
"Please? My dad nearly just killed me. Throw me a fucking bone here. Let him stay, please? I mean, what if my dad comes back? Then what? No one's going to be here to protect me and then I could really be dead." Damn I put up a convincing argument.
"Security is very tight around here, I assure you. But if you really need him to stay that bad well, just don't say I never helped you out."
Jay had given up, throwing his charade away. Now Jay, Sid and Tony were all pushing, shoving and pinching each other for adequate room on the small chair. Tyler completed the loving family by stretching himself across the threesome. Oh, lordy how I loved my boys.
Surprisingly enough, Ty's parents hadn't come to visit yet. They we're probably sorting out the legal details with Paula and the lawyer they had recently hired. I hope they get my dad for this. I refuse to go back with him, I absolutely re-fucking-fuse to go back to that shithole.
"Sabree, it's time for your pain killers," the voice of the nurse rang through my room and the faint wheeling of the medicine cart was becoming louder and louder. A tall nurse had walked in, with vibrant black hair cut in a stylish, long layered bob. Her name was Shelley and she was my favorite nurse in this dump. Me and her, we had sort of a black market going. She would smuggle me in my favorite energy drink, which I wasn't supposed to be drinking, and in exchange I would give her a few of my smokes. Shelley was truly bomb. I looked in the tiny paper cup, smiling at the sight of the tiny white pills resting in the bottom. Ah, what memories I had with these little guys. They were great to get high off of, even if pill popping wasn't your thing. To be truthful, swallowing pills had always been a fear of mine. I was always afraid I'd choke on them. But I suppose if swallowing these babies didn't kill me, the overdose would. I'd only overdosed once, though. Yet, despite my irrational fear, pills had become my favorite. My sister and I had popped them at our first and only reunion since Mom split.
I didn't remember much about our meeting but the memory of seeing my beautiful heroine was more than enough for me.
"I miss you so fucking much Sabree. It's completely different without you." Karlee confessed, blue eyes wide. My sister was beautiful. She didn't look like my mother, me, or my father. Long auburn hair fell down to the small of her back, sapphire blue eyes were always filled with a sparkle that no diamond could match. She had legs that went on for days, so it seemed, perfect for her dancers build. I, on the other hand, had more of an athletic, toned body but Karlee was never one for surfing like myself.
I had to blink away a few tears, "Yeah. . .how's Mom?"
She shook her head, looking solemn. "Not good, babe. Not good at all. She doesn't have a job. We're practically living out of the car, which we might lose soon. She's lost all motivation to do anything. She's fucked up, Sabe. Without Dad, it's like she's got nothing at all."
I couldn't handle this. My mom had always been the strongest woman I had ever known and she'd been reduced to nothing because of my asshole father. She must have sensed my discomfort, planting a kiss upon my forehead.
"It's alright, little sis. We're managing. As soon as I'm old enough, I'm going to get a job and make enough money for mom and me." Karlee promised, taking my hand.
"But that's too far away," I reached into my pocket, pulling out a plastic zip lock bag full of assorted pills and pain killers. I knew Karlee would be up for it, she was introduced to drugs long before our family's demise, "So let's forget about the future and live for tonight. Who knows when we'll see each other again."
So I don't remember that night fully. I didn't need to. I was with my sister, that's all the memory I needed. Sadly, I haven't seen her since that night. Letters from her had long since stopped since I was taken to the Jones' residents.
I missed her. A lot. "Alright boys," Shelley began, checking at the clock on the wall, "it's time for Sabree's check up. Get out, the lot of you." Shelley was also British. She had the craziest accent that I was simply in love with. Stace gave my hand a reassuring squeeze, even though I wasn't scared.
His hand ran over my hair, causing me to glance up at his rosy cheeked face. His eyes looked amazing in the sun light, the ocean blue color almost translucent. "So, what do you want? We were all going to go out and chow down."
Oh, how sweet. But the boys and I were on completely different eating schedules. When they were all hungry, it was rare that I ever was and when I was hungry, they were stuffed. It made it quite difficult to satisfy everyone's wants, and the fact that I'm the pickiest eater in all of Venice didn't help in the least.
I knew all too well though that even if I politely declined his offer, he would insist that I needed to eat and regain enough strength to get out of this place. So instead I shrugged, "I unno. You decide. You know what I want more often than I do. Surprise me."
"Your wish is my command," That boy was just too kind. Any girl could easily take advantage of that. Kathy sure as hell did. That would be Stacy's downfall, I decided. He bent down to plant a sweet kiss on my lips. But as soon as he parted, I pulled him back for another and then one more.
The keys jingled in his grasp as he walked over to the door, waiting for the boys to say their goodbyes.
Tony muttered something to me in Spanish, I assume it was something along the lines of get well soon, and ruffled my hair. Jay and Sid has essentially told me the same thing, just in an assy-ier way.
When all the boys had left, Shelley had a ridiculous grin plastered all over her face. "How'd you get so lucky? You got all those blokes here that care about you enough to miss out on those waves. And that Stacy. Dayum, I could just eat him up for breakfast. My own mum doesn't even care that much about me, tell you what." She laughed, picking up my gown to examine the wounds on my body.
They said I had a broken rib. I didn't believe it. My side felt fine. I think they're just trying to keep me cooped up in this place so my dad couldn't get to me. I thought I was making good progress. All I seemed to have is a few cuts and brusies.
"So Shelley, when am I going home?" I asked, eagerly. I couldn't wait to get back to Ty's house. She stood silent for a moment, writing many things down in neat cursive, all the i's dotted with little hearts. Very Shelley. More moments passed in silence. "Shelley?" I asked again.
"Well, love, we don't exactly have a home for you yet. You see dear, if we send you back to that Tyler kids house, your father will find you quicker than you can imagine." What? I didn't get to go home?
No, no, no. I need to go back to Ty's. I have to. I won't go into another damn foster home. I won't. Shelley and I had gotten to know each other a little too well. Well enough to sense when I needed my alone time.
I threw myself back on the bed, covering my face with my hands. I hated my dad.
And then the last person I expected to see walked into my hospital room, clearing her throat loudly. A slit opened in my fingers to look through. Karen? What was she doing here?
She looked so bashful sitting there, a teddy bear clutched in her long fingers. Her cheek was swollen. Did Dad do that to her? Probably. If he was into beating his kids, what was stopping him from beating his wife? There she stood for moments longer, looking for the right words to say. She began by setting the teddy bear gingerly on my tray, next to my ice water.
"Sabree," she started, "I don't know what to say. I didn't think your father would almost kill you."
Was this her way of trying to kill her guilty conscience? That was my top choice, but I'm almost positive that beneath the skimpy clothes and cheap hair dye there was a kindly woman who just lost her way in life and got caught up in whatever wave came her way.
Again she cleared her throat. "I'm leaving your dad." I gave her a deer caught in the head lights look. Leaving my dad? The words hit hard, almost as if I had literally been blind sighted by an eighteen wheel truck. It was the best news I could have ever heard however, the words made my stomach clench painfully. Uncomfortable silence filled the room. Karen had tried to speak but I silenced her immediately.
"Please just leave." She stood dumbfounded. Yet she had a look of genuine hurt and disappointment slapped on her soft, almost reassuring mother-like face. At first glance, Karen looked like a fucking angel. I was sure she had a son my age but I've heard stories about him being killed in some gang war. A wrong place, wrong time situation, his name was Dylan. He had never had any direct gang connections himself. I also knew she had a daughter who had simply taken off after her word of her brother's death.
No wonder the poor woman had turned into a drug addicted life of gold digging and house wrecking. The whole reason I began smoking pot and drinking alcohol was because my 'stable' family crumbled right beneath me. Maybe we were more alike than I could have guessed.
She swallowed hard and nodded. The door shut softly behind her. I fell back into the hospital bed, sinking into the over fluffed pillow. I need a fucking nap.
…..
Too many hours had passed since the boys had returned, bags of greasy fast food I wasn't allowed to eat clustered in bunches in their hands. They had gone all out, ordering everything off the menu. From hamburgers to milk shakes to chicken sandwiches, they had it all. We scarfed it all down in a matter of minutes. Never has a hamburger tasted to good to me.
Again, the tiny room was filled one side to the other with the Dogtown surfers, waiting to hear the unpleasant news. This is just not a good chapter of my life….I'm damn sick of all this bad luck.
"So. . . " I look around the room, at everyone's face, searching them individually. None of them had a clue. I take a relaxing breath, "There's no possible way for me to go back to Ty's. They said it's too easy for my dad to track me down again." The room was quite. They all looked discontent. Better than heartbroken, I guess. "They don't know where they're sending me next."
The boys were still oddly pretty chill about this news. Upset, sure. Ready to break down into tears? Not a chance. I guess they sensed my need for a huge reaction, they all shrugged in unison.
Had they been upset I wasn't going back to my home? Possibly. They probably figured I wouldn't be moving to another state. The odds of a foster family from Washington or something wanting a grungy street girl from the ghetto were extremely, extremely slim.
"Well, duh Sabree." Tyler grinned a crooked grin. "It doesn't matter where you move, dude, we'll find you somehow." He winked at me. I couldn't help but smile at this. He was right.
"Yeah, chicka, we're family. There's no one out there that can separate us." Tony laughed his trademark laugh that could cheer and charm any girl. . .except me, that is. "But just in case. . ." Tony faces the wall, digging deep in his pockets, pulling out multiple packages of cigarettes, condoms (HA! Tony use condoms? Yeah right. They were probably just in there to make the girl think Tony was a safe guy.) and lighters before he found his desired item: a blunt. Okay, now I seriously forgive the boys for their lack of a reaction. Tony could always score the dankest weed. Always. He handed the blunt off to me along with a green lighter.
I know Stace could care less about me smoking weed in front of him but I still felt a twinge of guilt and awkwardness as I put the blunt between my lips and hit it hard. I know I've done a lot of illegal things back in the day but I'm almost positive that blazing up in a hospital room, of all places, tops the charts at number one. They say weed is the best medicine, though.
It passed around the room, skipping Stace and Ty, three times but I was flying high after my first hit.
Needless to say, I don't remember the rest of the night.