1Reba
after Brock left to get the ice, I laid down and fell asleep. I was jolted awake when someone touched me. I looked up startled only to find Brock adjusting my leg to put the ice on my ankle. I relaxed.
"Easy, it's okay. Just the ice. Sorry I woke you. I was trying not too." he covered me with my blankets. I smiled. He picked up my ankle and set it softly on a pillow before putting the ice on it slowly. He remembered my reaction to cold. I jump. I smiled again, watching him carefully. He was so gently and steady. I felt safe. He looked up to meet my eyes and smiled sympathetically. What, do I still look hungover?
"I found a light to replace the burnt out one." he said pointing to my light.
"Thank you. I didn't have time to replace it last night." he laughed, standing to replace it.
"Doesn't surprise me. I'm surprised you have time to breath. This is the most I've seen you sit still in weeks." I shook my head laughing. I couldn't deny it though, I never had time for anything anymore. After he replaced the lightbulb and brought light into the room, he pulled my vanity bench over to the side of my bed and sat down. After my eyes adjusted, I looked at him questioningly.
"Can we talk?" I felt suddenly very nervous. I nodded, not knowing what to say. "Barbra Jean's hiding something." his eyes searched my face, almost like I knew something about it. I raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? Well have you asked her?" his eyes narrowed. I knew they really didn't speak much anymore.
"No, but she tells you everything. I thought you might know something."I rolled my eyes.
"She hasn't told me a thing. I tried to talk to her last night and this happened."I said referring to this morning. "I think it's her therapist. She keeps saying things like, 'I made a mistake' 'you'll never forgive me' and that type thing. I'm getting really worried, she's not acting like herself at all." he nodded silently. He looked really distressed.
"She's been acting weird too. I don't know what to do or what's going on. I'm really worried about her too. She's never been able to keep a secret. That's what's really worrying me." I agreed.
"She's just so distant. She's not even joking with us anymore. I can tell she forces what she does still show. I've been thinking a lot about it, do you think just maybe she's suffering with depression?" he gave me a weird look.
"I highly doubt that. She seems a little to put together for that. And even if she was, she would never take meds for it. You saw how she freaked out a few years ago when she found out about both of us on 'happy pills.'" he put finger quotes around happy pills.
"That's true." we sat there thinking for a minute. Eventually I started thinking out loud. "When I was depressed, I couldn't control it. I avoided communication of contact with anyone until the pills started to work. I wouldn't do anything with anyone. But Barbra Jean's still going out with us and spending a lot of time with all of us. Not as much as before, but she's got a lot going on. If she was depressed, she wouldn't be able to hide it." he nodded, staring hard at nothing in particular. He was quiet for a long time. I started to nod off. My meds from this morning were getting to me.
"We need to find out what's going on with her."I opened my eyes and looked at him. He was still staring at that nonexistent spot.
"I know that. But why is it so important to you now?" he looked at me. "You're more worried about this than you were anything else in your entire marriage."
"I worried about her during my marriage Reba. You know that." he said with an edge to his voice.
"But not once like this." he glared at me. "I twisted my ankle, I'm stuck in this hangover, and I'm laying in my bed and you're still here trying to figure this out." he sighed.
"I'm sorry. But this is why I came over this morning. To talk to you. I just have a really bad feeling about this. I feel like something bad is going to happen soon."
"Maybe she's just having trouble with all of this Brock, she's getting a divorce, it's not an easy thing to go through." part of me believed what I said and the other had a really bad feeling too.
"Maybe." he seemed a little off about something. I sighed, knowing I was going to have to play the part of therapist for him. Even with my dang hangover.
"Okay Brock, what's really going on here?" he looked at me blankly.
"Nothing." I raised an eyebrow. He sighed knowing I read him already. "I've been worried about you too." both my eyebrows went up in pure uneasy surprise.
"You don't need to worry about me." I said sternly.
"You're friends with us both, I don't want to loose my bestfriend again, but I don't want Barbra Jean to loose you either. I don't want you to have to choose between us and I think that may be where we're headed. I just hate this so much." I sat there in shock trying to think.
"You hate this for you, or for me."
"All three of us. But to tell you the truth, if I can, I want to be selfish and have you to myself. You are my one and only bestfriend." I laid there speechless. There was no response to that.
Barbra Jean
ring, ring, ring!
"Oh shoot." I said running into the living room to find my phone in my purse. When I found it, I answered it without glancing at it. "Hello?"
"Barbra Jean?" dang it, it was Brock. Should've just let it ring...
"Yeah? What do you need Brock, I have to go pick up Henry from soccer practice in ten minutes."
"I'll make it quick, why'd you get Reba so drunk last night?" he seemed angry.
"She wanted the drinks she got. I didn't do anything wrong." I angrily lied.
"Well thanks to you she had to call off work and sprained her ankle." my jaw dropped in shock and guilt. I sprained Reba's ankle... wait, maybe he's wrong about it. Yeah, maybe...
"How do you know?" he has to be wrong, there's no way she's really hurt. Physically anyway...mentally soon...
"She fell down the stairs. When I looked at her ankle it was obvious. So what in the heck could be so important to hide that you'd hurt you're bestfriend?"
"I'm not hiding anything." I said automatically.
"Look Barbra Jean, you have your own life now and I respect that. But when you hurt Reba to protect a secret, that's where I draw the line. You have two choices. Either you tell me, or you explain it to her." he was furious with me. I just want everything to go away, that everything that did happen wasn't because of me, that things were the way they were because they were suppose to be.
"This isn't any of your business Brock."
"You've made it my business."
"We aren't married anymore. You can't tell me what to do."
"I may not be able to tell you what to do like a husband anymore but dammit Barbra Jean, you will fix this." he hung up and I just stood there staring at my phone. Everything was steadily falling apart around me at a quicker pace. What am I going to do now? After almost ten years I'm finally starting to sink in and get lost in all the lies and secrets...
Reba
I lifted my head from the pillow to look through my open door. Brock was out of sight. I smiled with a little more evil than sweet to it. Brock made me stay in bed for three hours. Just laying here doing nothing. I. NEED. A. SHOWER. NOW. I flung the blankets off of me and kept my eyes on the door. I lifted my legs off the bed one at a time. My ankle hurt but the ice made it numb, so I was okay for now. I bit my lip as I tried to stand. I soon realized I wasn't going to be able to stand on my own, so I moved my lamp to the back of my dresser and scooted across the dresser. I held onto the bathroom doorframe letting out a breath. I stood there for a minute to steady myself. I started into the bathroom at a slow pace.
"What are you doing?" Brock yelled running into the room. He came to me and held me up by my arm and waist.
"I want my dang shower!" I said trying to break free from his grasp.
"Not in this condition you aren't." I scoffed.
"Let me go Brock! I need a shower!" he put both his arms around my waist and lifted me off the ground from behind. My eyes went wide with shock that he would sink so low as to pick me up. I smacked his hands angrily. "Put me down!"
"No!" he tried to lay me on the bed nicely but I resisted, so I landed more with a PLOP. I turned onto my back with a little bit of a struggle and tried to get up. I will get my shower even if it kills me! He held my flailing arms down by my head as I tried to hit him in the face. He used his leg to hold mine down so I couldn't hurt him or me. "You have to calm down!" he said in a panic.
"No! Get off of me!" he continued to hold me down as I struggled. I was completely aware of just how close his face was to mine. It made me uneasy. It was one of the reasons I wanted to get away so much. the smell of his after shave from this morning filled my nose and I felt butterflies and got a little unnerved.
"You'll just get up! You can't shower on your own Reba, you have to wait for someone to help you." my jaw dropped in angry disgust.
"Nobodies helping me shower Brock, I'm not in my eighties!" I tried to kick him but instead ended up hitting my vanities stool hard with my bad ankle. I heard a loud crack. My eyes went wide and I bit my lip to conceal the pain as tears filled my eyes. Brock looked panicked, he loosened his grip.
"Did I hurt you?" I shook my head no. "then what just happened?" he was worried, I could hear it in his voice. I had my eyes closed tight to keep him from seeing the pain I was in.
"I hit my ankle." he started to get off of me. The tears ran from the corner of my eyes into my hair.
"Mr. H? What are you doing?" I opened my eyes to see a horrified, angry Van standing in my doorway. Brock jumped off of me. This didn't look good at all.
"She was trying to get up." Brock said honestly, but it did sound like an excuse. This was bad. I just laid there, afraid to move at all due to the giant snap in my bone. Van came to stand between me and Brock protectively. He pushed Brock further away from me. Not hard, but not gently either.
"So that's why you'd force yourself on top of her and she's crying. That just justifies everything!" he was reeeeally mad... He sat beside me and helped me sit up before he put his arm around me.
"Van, that's not what happened." I said through tears and pure, raw pain.
"Mrs. H, I know you're a proud woman and all but that just didn't look okay." he spoke softly to me. He was really something. My daughter picked a good man.
"I would never hurt her, you know that Van." Brock said honestly.
"I got up and tried to shower, Brock caught me heading for the bathroom and I fought him. Honestly, if he didn't pin me down, I'd be in the shower right now."I said letting out a pained breath. Van wiped the tears away. He hated to see me cry. In all honesty, I think it scares him to see me cry. It's not something he's really ever seen me do.
"You swear to me that's what happened?" he asked looking at me with worry and fear. I looked him directly in the eye. That was one way we knew to trust each other.
"I swear to you that's what happened Van." he studied me for a second before letting out a breath.
"So why exactly are you crying then?" he asked wiping a fresh batch of tears away.
"I hit my ankle hard. I heard a crack and it hurts like hell."his eyes went wide.
"Did you break it?" Brock asked stunned? I shrugged, fighting the pain as I looked down at it.
"We have to get her to the hospital now." Van said to Brock, still not very pleased with him. "Go get the car set up with some pillows and a few bottles of water. I'll set her out a clean shirt." Brock nodded, not wanting to step on anyone's toes. Van waited until he left to stand up and get me a shirt. He pulled out a simple gray T-shirt. He smiled when he saw I was in the basketball shorts.
"You still have the shorts." I smiled a little through the pain.
"Of course I do. We still have to have that rematch." his smile grew some, still not touching his eyes.
"Not all that soon, you probably just broke your ankle." my smile fell.
"Yeah..." Van left the room to let me change my shirt. When I changed, I called for Van who helped me out to the car. From there we headed for the hospital. The tension between the two men in the front seat was unbearable. I let out a sigh. Somehow, this was NOT what I had planned for today.