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18 Weeks of Twoey - 34. Week Five Saturday, October 4, 2014: Homecoming Dance
How much one cares for you is how you know.
After this morning's run I crossed the street as soon as I saw Gary go into his house, and ran over to Plum. Since the car was still there, I rang her bell. Twoey's mom invited me in and forced me to have breakfast.
“I'm sorry, I probably smell awful. I came directly from finishing my run. I couldn't be here last night because of the game and can’t tonight because of the dance.”
She laughed and said, “You know David, I'd rather smell a boy who's been running than have to smell one in a hospital room.”
“Twoey was awake a few times yesterday and had a smile on his face. If he gets a lot of pain he can push a button which releases a pain killer into his IV. But it's so strong it knocks him out for a couple of hours. He can't talk yet. I got him a little dry-erase board to communicate, and I'm going to give it to him today.”
She added something interesting. “He doesn't know what happened to him, but the doctors don't want me to tell him yet. They want to wait until he's recovered a bit. They're afraid the shock will make him remember things too soon and it will interfere with his recovery while he’s so critical.”
I don't know if she even knows about what really, really happened, but my lips are sealed! I began to wonder if the doctors were in on this military cover-up too. Maybe they don’t want black helicopters over their houses, either.
I told her I've been keeping Lanni up to date. She looked puzzled. I explained she was Twoey's date for tonight's dance.
She went, “Oh! OK. He had only told me about the dance on the day of his accident, but never told me the girl's name.”
I filled her in all about Lanni. She asked about my date and I filled her in all about Kathy, even about Cal and Greg. I even told her how Greg plucked me out of the fight with Biggy. I told her how I was sort of unwittingly made a boyfriend of Kathy, but was debating whether or not to end it after the dance. I think I told her my whole frickin' life this morning. She's a good psychologist! She gets me to spill my guts without even knowing it. I also told her about Tommy's mother not letting me see Dr. Keating and all about Pastor Enos Johnson and his circus of a church.
She was disappointed about me not seeing Dr. Keating. “David, I think he could do you a world of good, especially since you're very mature. I think you would be able to understand whatever your underlying problem is with his help.”
“I haven't given up on seeing him. It might take a little doing on my part.”
She raised her eyebrow and I think she was about to ask me how I planned to do that, but thought better of it ...hehe. She said it was time for her to go to the hospital.
“Tell Twoey I'm worried about him and can't wait for him to get out of ICU so I can visit ! Tell him all his friends are concerned too and also tell him Lanni is in the loop now.”
On my way home I noticed the weather was starting to get a little misty. Shit! My hair is gonna be a huge mess for the dance. Crap!
My father surprised me when I got home. He said he would drive us to the dance! OMG! where did this guy come from and where is my father? He said the weather might not be too nice. He even told me to give him a call if we wanted a ride home. I had to look at him more closely to see if it really was my father standing there.
I took a hot shower and even shaved! I don’t have much to shave. I wonder when I'll start to get serious facial hair. I also meditated again. I think this is starting to do me a lot of good. I centered my being and filled my mind with pleasant thoughts of Kathy and how great the dance was going to be. I've often found when I create positive thoughts like this, reality reflects it. Hey don't laugh ...it's worked a lot ...in the past anyway!
A little later I started preparing for the dance. The shirt, the tie, black skinny jeans, blue Vans and a dark blue jacket which went well with the shirt and tie and Vans! I was all coordinated with myself and with Kathy. Now I only had to work on my poor hair, which took like a whole hour and it still looked like shit. I can't do anything with it in rainy weather. It looks like I just crawled out of the lake! Maybe I should have it cut. Mmmm ...NOT!
Dad drove me over to Kathy's house and her mom took pictures ...Jeez, you'd think it was the prom or something! Anyway we got our ride right to the door, and a good thing because the 'mist' was getting a little heavier now.
The gym was decorated nicely. Gary and Mel had been delivered by his dad. I wondered if the dads got together on this driving thing. The dance was ...nice. Actually it was very nice. I danced a lot with Kathy, of course, and a few times with Mel. Lanni and Deena were also at the dance. I guess they came together. All in all, it was a pretty great dance. I noticed a lot of kids came stag. Everybody seemed to have a good time.
There was a period of time I lost track of Kathy. I had a fun dance with Terri while Ron was ...who knows where. I also decided to have a dance with Deena. I think she liked it. I must be growing on her ...haha. Still not seeing Kathy, I danced with Lanni. I didn’t expect her to be so much fun! She’s so shy in school, but really lets her hair down on the dance floor. When the song finished, still not seeing Kathy anywhere, I asked Lanni if she was up for another dance. She gave me a sly smile and it made me think of Danny.
Shit! I’ve gotta stop doing this!
Anyway, it was a slow dance and I’m glad because I was on the verge of choking up again. We danced closely and I’m sure she felt a few Danny tears hitting her shoulder because she held me yet tighter. Lanni’s squeeze actually calmed me down. When the song finished, I apologized but she said she understood.
Lanni kissed me.
Then she walked away.
I’m sure it was a healing kiss and not a romantic kiss. It was soft and short.
And sweet.
And from Lanni.
I finally spotted Kathy way on the other side of the gym dancing with Martin from my team. I wandered over and arrived as their dance ended. Kathy and I finished the last few songs of Homecoming Dance together.
All throughout the evening I made sure to congratulate my new football friends on their victory. Lots of people I barely knew came up to me and talked, some about Danny. It was a little sad but, in a way, it was nice to know they cared.
I think the only person at the dance who didn't eventually say something to me was Cal. Ha! Fucker. Well he came stag. I don't know who the cheerleader slut was, but she clearly wasn't with him tonight.
Cheaters never win!
Twoey
Sometimes Mom would be there when I woke up, but I was frustrated I couldn't talk to her. Finally one time when I woke up she put this real small lightweight plastic rectangle in my left hand and asked if I was able to lift it up to see it. When I showed her I could, she slipped a dry-erase marker into my right hand (I had to put down my pain-killer button). This was like the whiteboards at school except small, about the size of an iPad.
I immediately wrote the one thing which has been bugging me: “What happened” I had absolutely no idea why I was here.
She said, “You had an accident.”
I wiped the board and wrote: “hit by car”
She smiled. “Don't even think about it. I'll tell you more in a few days when you get a little stronger.”
It really confused and bugged the hell out of me.
“You have to stay in the hospital until your injury heals a bit. You had an injury to your neck and head severe enough to cause lots of blood loss. The pain you get will slowly lessen as you start to recover and in about a week the doctors think you might be able to start to speak. But don't even try to use your voice before the doctors tell you because you could set yourself back.”
I was trying to remember what happened before I woke up in here, but all I got was a shooting pain.
One of the times when I woke up, Mom was there holding my hand. She told me David has been stopping over to keep up-to-date on my condition and he's been relaying the information to all my friends, even to Lanni.
Lanni! I hadn't even thought about her. Poor Lanni never got to go to the dance! I started to feel even sadder.
She said David came over for breakfast after his run this morning. Mom also said David couldn't wait for me to get out of Intensive Care so he could come visit. Now I know I have to get better quick! My head was throbbing. The run! Jeez I wonder if this injury I have, whatever it is, will interfere with soccer?
Why am I even thinking about soccer? David loves me! I squeezed my button so hard! The pain lessened and I floated away...
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
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