Mr. Boss Man

Chapter 2 ~ The man behind the curtain

The curtain is slightly drawn between mine and Lana's bed but I can still easily hear the nurses through the thin material. They are telling her that she may be able to leave in about two or so weeks but by the tone of voice the nurses speak in, it's obvious that they aren't exactly enthused with this news. They probably hoped that it would be sooner rather than later, as had I.

Man I wish my best friend Tabitha were here with me. It gets too quiet around here without her bubbly personality to brighten the day.

Once the door closes I hear Lana cursing profusely under her breath, complaining about the rude people here to which I almost start laughing. But any sort of bubbling amusement halts as I hear the door open once again and a deep male voice fills every particle of the room.

"Lana. How are you feeling today?"

The sheer curtain is just thin enough that I can see the tall figure moving around the room gracefully. Finally he seats himself down in a chair beside Lana.

"Nick, hello." The smile in her voice is evident as she practically sings his name.

They continue to talk about mindless things which I don't bother to pay much notice to until, after a few minutes, something catches my attention.

"There's something I need to tell you." The man, or 'Nick' as Lana had called him, says in a quiet voice.

She seems surprised by this. "Oh? What is it?"

He pauses for a while before finally asking, "Do you think they're asleep?"

"Who?" Pause. "Oh the girl. Probably, why?"

He ignores her comment. "How long has she been here?"

"I don't know, she was here before I came." She tells him.

A chair scrapes against the linoleum floor and footsteps quickly approach. On a hasty last second decision, I close my eyes, hoping to look as if I'm sleeping.

The curtain draws back. I count to almost twenty seconds until it finally shuts again before I let out a breath and allow my rigid body to relax.

"She asleep?" Lana asks.

"Yeah. She's only young. Been here for a while you say?"

"I guess...why are you so interested? She's just some kid."

"I'm not I just," He sighs "There's something I need to tell you."

He sits back down on the chair. I can't exactly tell where he's looking at but I'm assuming his gaze is towards Lana, so I continue to stare at his dark figure behind the curtain.

"This...has seriously got to stop. I mean it, no more." His states in a forceful tone.

Interested, I lean up on my elbow and listen more intently.

"Nick, you know..."

"I don't want to hear it Lana." He cuts her off, "I've had enough of your games, so either you stop now or I'm cutting you off for good. Understand?"

"You're blaming this on me?" She hisses at him.

Nick scoffs. "Well no one else forced you to do it."

After a long stretch of silence Lana says, "You know why I did it don't you?"

Nick doesn't say anything, emitting an air of awkward silence and tension around the room. So long that my arm begins to hurt from the position I'm keeping so I quietly roll onto my back.

"All I want is for us to be ok again Nick." Lana finally says in a broken whisper. "Why can't you see that?"

He sighs heavily as if he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.