1Reba
"Is she alive?"
"Yes honey, she's still breathing, see her nose?"
"Then why won't she wake up?"
"Grandma's got a hangover, that's why."
"Van!"
"What? I'm just saying! I don't think I've ever seen her this hungover before! I use to take care of her when I lived here. Poor Mrs. H." I grunted at the nonstop voices that seemed to be screaming directly in my ear. I put a hand over it to block them out.
"Grandma's alive!" I flinched at the high pitched voice in my ear. I felt a strong hand on my shoulder shake me gently.
"Mrs. H, wake up."I opened my eyes and groaned at the bright light. "Whoa, look at her eyes! They're so bloodshot!" Van said stunned.
"She's gonna hit you Van." Cheyenne warned.
"What do you want?" I snapped, feeling the drums in my head beating my skull.
"Good morning grandma!" Elizabeth said brightly... and loudly. I cringed in pain and forced a smile.
"Morning." I said through clenched teeth. I could've beat someone to death right then and there.
"Okay Elizabeth, why don't you go play outside now." Cheyenne said quickly catching onto my mood. Elizabeth ran out of the room at the chance to play. I laid face down in my pillow. Van shook me again.
"Mrs. H? What happened? You are completely toasted." I looked up at him angrily. Why won't they go away?
"Toasted?" he laughed and patted my back. I felt so old at the gesture.
"More hung over than a drunk after new years." I scoffed and smacked him in the face as best I could given my angle.
"Mom!" I looked at Cheyenne angrily.
"You want it next?" I snapped, feeling my pulse race in my forehead.
"Hey, we came over here to check on you. Not to be treated like this." she said standing. I felt automatically guilty.
"No, don't go. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you." I said trying to roll onto my back without my head exploding. I looked down to see I was still in last nights attire. Black loose tank top, tight jeans, necklace and earrings, but my heels were gone. Weird, maybe I kicked them off.
"No problem," Van said helping me sit up. "I'm use to you angry drunk women." Cheyenne glared at him angrily.
"So how did you get hungover anyways? Don't you have that drinking limit thingy?" Cheyenne asked. I sat back and let out a sigh as the world started to spin.
"I only had two Margarita's and a shot of tequila since Barbra Jean insisted." I said mockingly. I started to rub the bridge of my nose between my index finger and thumb.
"I've seen you put away Margarita's before mom. You don't get more than tipsy, and that was after three or four of them." Cheyenne said confused. I thought for a second before looking up at her.
"I know, so what the heck happened last night?" I asked thinking over the pain.
"Did you order your drinks?" Van asked.
"No, Barbra Jean ordered them." a light flicked on in all of our heads. "She ordered all of my drinks." Cheyenne and Van exchanged a look.
"Oh." they said in unison. Suddenly my stomach twisted and my eyes bulged. I pushed Van to the side and grabbed the little trash can before throwing up in the plastic bag.
"Oh my gosh eww!" Cheyenne yelled, jumping away from me in disgust. Van rubbed my back in a comforting fashion. I finished and sat back on the couch, laying my head against the back. I felt ten times better.
"Cheyenne, get out two pills from that bottle and one of those waters." Van said taking the can out of the room. He reappeared in the dividing window to the kitchen. ""and make sure se drinks the water." he said looking at me. He raised one of those goofy eyebrows. I nodded rolling my eyes and took them from my daughter.
"You've got a good man there Cheyenne. Takes care of all of us." she smiled.
"Yeah I know. I've never seen him fuss over anybody like he fusses over you." I was surprised.
"He fusses over everybody else too."
"he wouldn't do for Barbra Jean what he's doing for you right now. Unless you asked him too."
"Why's that?"
"He respects you more than he's ever respected anybody. He tells me all the time." I smiled, flattered that my son in law loves and respects me so much. Just then Brock walked in.
"Hi dad."
"Hey Cheyenne. Hey Reba." he looked at me and then did a double take. "What's with the get up Reba? Got a hot breakfast date?" he laughed. I laughed without humor.
"Mom got crazy drunk last night and slept on the couch. She still had her heels on when we got here." so that's what happened to those dang heels. Brock raised an eyebrow.
"Since when do you get drunk?" he asked stunned. I glared at him.
"Since none of your business." he held up hi hands in surrender.
"Just a question, geez." I rolled my eyes.
"Okay Mrs. H, all taken care off. You feel any better?" Van asked standing beside me. I smiled thankfully at him.
"Yes Van, thank you." he smiled. That boy is so good to me.
"What's taken care of?" Brock asked sitting on the chair.
"Mom got sick, Van took good care of her."
"Was this done willingly?" I glared at him.
"Yes Brock, I'm not the kinda person to force someone to do anything for me." everyone started to laugh. "I was being serious!"
"Reba, we've all lived here. You can't lie to us." Brock said between laughs.
"You guys are just rude." I said through near clenched teeth.
"Oh come on Mrs. H," Van said sitting beside me. "You know I do everything willingly, there's no other way."
"Thank you Van, at least someone knows me around here." he stuck his tongue out at Cheyenne.
"We know you too!" Cheyenne protested. Brock nodded in agreement.
"Not as well as Van does, he pays attention." I patted his leg. I looked down and realized I was still disgusting. "I'm gonna go shower now, I feel like a giant ball of dirt." I tried to stand, but as soon as my butt was off the couch I got dizzy and fell back onto it. On the second try I got to my feet but staggered. Still hungover I see. Van was by my side, holding me up by my arms. "Thanks Van." he nodded, not saying a word. He knew I was beyond embarrassed.
"Think you can make it up the stairs?" Cheyenne asked looking up at the steps worried.
"I'm fine. That's why they invented railings." Van helped me over to the stairs but let me go when I had something to hold onto. I got up three of the steps when the world started spinning and I lost my balance. I fell backwards and landed on the floor with a hard thud. Pain shot through my entire left side. All three of them were by my side in an instant.
"Are you alright?" Cheyenne said panicked.
"What railings are for huh?" Brock said mockingly.
"You've got to be careful Mrs. H.!" Van said. I could hear the fear in his voice. I got to my feet with their help and leaned onto Brocks chest. Van couldn't support me at his angle on the step. We would've gone down to hit the hardwood floor together. I was stuck with Brock. Brock held me sturdy to him without a word. My entire left side hurt like crazy.
"Are you alright? Brock asked a little nervously.
"Yes, I'm fine." I said pushing off his chest to stand on my own. As soon as I put pressure on my left ankle it shot pain throughout my leg. I staggered again and Brock caught me. My heart fluttered a little in it's beats. I ignored it.
"I think you hurt your ankle. You flinched at the slightest pressure." Brock said. I just looked down at my leg.
"I think so too. But I'm fine." I said trying to pull away from him again. I didn't even break contact. He held me tight in place. I sighed.
"Let me look at it." I sighed again and let him help me sit on a step. He took my foot in his hand gently and realized he couldn't see my ankle because of my jeans. "Cheyenne. Go help your mother change into sweat pants or something." he held my eyes. My stomach fluttered. Before Cheyenne could even respond, her phone went off.
"Hello?" she paused. "Right now?" pause. "But I'm-" she sighed. "We'll be there in a few." she hung up and looked at me. "We have to go to an emergency student council meeting at Elizabeth's school. Something's going on, all the parents of kids in student council have to attend. That was Stacy, a mom I'm friends with." my heart started to beat faster as I panicked.
"Who's gonna help me then? You can't just leave."
"You've got dad, and Barbra Jean should be out of her session in about an hour. I'm sorry mom." I sighed.
"I'll go get Elizabeth." Van said walking out the backdoor. I just sat there until they left. Brock looked at me. There was something in his eyes again.
"We should probably look at your ankle." I felt my cheeks flush.
"Help me up." I said quietly. He pulled me to my feet and held me up in one swift move. I barely made it halfway up the stairs. My eyes were filled with tears.
"You can't make it up the steps alone. I'll just carry you." my eyes went wide as his arm went behind my back and the other behind my knees. My arm went around his neck to hold myself up.
"Put me down, I can do this." I said trying to get out of his grasp.
"No you can't. I can see it in your face, it's killing you." he walked up the stairs and started down the hall. I looked at him angrily.
""I can walk down the hall, put me DOWN!" he just laughed. Feeling his breath on my face gave me butterflies. He was wearing the cologne he use to wear when we first got married. I immediately made my mind go blank and focused on getting free. We entered my room and he set me on my bed gently. His face was completely blank.
"Where's your shorts or sweat pants?" I pointed to my dresser. He got out my pair of blue basketball shorts Van got me for Christmas a few years back when we were playing basketball in the driveway a lot. That year my doctor told me I needed to be more active and join a sports team or something to keep my heart in good condition. I told Cheyenne and then Van took it to the next level. I laughed at the memory. "I'll turn around." he said as he did so. I got my pants unbuttoned and down past my knees. I got them over my good foot, but got nowhere with my right foot. I tried again but only got more pain. I needed someone to help pull them over. I sighed.
"Don't turn around yet, but the pants won't go over my ankle." his shoulders stiffened.
"You want me to help you?" he asked not moving. My cheeks burned red. This was so weird it wasn't even funny.
"Give me a second." I covered myself with the shorts. "Okay, yes. I need your help." he turned around not looking at me. He went directly to my ankle. He looked stressed out.
"I'm gonna pull them off okay?" he asked not looking at me. I held a breath in preparation. I nodded and he eased the pants off my ankle. His fingers brushed my leg and I felt a shock run through me, followed by goose bumps from head to toe. I'm just cold. I told myself sternly. When the pants were off he turned around quickly. He never even glanced up at me. Thank God for that. I slipped the shorts on and felt a little bit better. I looked up at Brocks back. The light bulb in my room went out before I left last night. I only had my little lamp. It made things dim in here. The irony made me laugh. "Okay, check my ankle." I said lightly. He turned around and met my eyes. We both looked away quickly.
"Okay. Let me see." he said taking my foot into his warm hands gently. He took my sock off slowly, trying not to move my ankle at all. Feeling his skin on my leg made me restless inside. "It's swollen."he said studying my foot.
"Badly?"
"No, if we ice it, it should be fine. Maybe a sprain at the worst." he looked up at me and laughed. "Do you remember the time you sprained your ankle when Kyra was little? I had to carry you everywhere." I laughed. "You would get so frustrated. You were so independent."
"That's true, but I didn't mind too much. It was a free ride, and it was cute." he smiled, setting my foot on the soft carpet. I flinched as it pressed into it.
"I'll grab you that ice real quick."I nodded as he headed for the door.
"And Brock," he turned to look at me. "Thank you... for everything." he smiled.
"Your welcome."