Chronically, Me

Four

Emerson

I swear if I hear another person talking about 'seeing the brighter side, I will rip off my cast and shove it down their throat.

But one of his friends did.

And, no,  Emerson did no such thing. Instead, he smiled at them and nodded along. He felt his facial muscles twitching in pain from smiling all day.

The entire football team had somehow squeezed themselves into his room. One of his legs dangled from the edge of the bed while the other wrapped in the cast was sprawled in front of him.

The moment the word came out that Emerson Kingsley was home, his team didn't waste a single second. When he saw them rushing in with markers in their hands, he had sighed. It was going to be a long day.

A few pizza boxes littered around his room as the voices around him got louder. Different opinions clashed and eventually, an argument broke out. If it had been any normal day, he would've joined. He would've laughed and joked along with them.

But it was not a normal day. He glanced at his limp leg on the bed. The cast ran down from his thigh to his bruised calf. He had been on the bed all day long. He wondered-

No, no, absolutely not. Don't think about it. You're fine. As your friends said, just think about the brighter side.

But he wondered what the brighter side was. Or if there was any. He couldn't think of the brighter side when a guy had tackled him to the ground, his leg twisted at an awful angle. He couldn't think of a brighter side when he had clutched at his leg and cried at the blinding agony.

He stopped himself from having an internal monologue. There was no point in having it. He was fine.

He looked around, taking in his boys. Their smiles were carefree and they laughed boisterously. They did not let his injury, a major setback for the next game, let them down.

So maybe he could do the same.

Someone tapped on his shoulder. He turned to find his best friend smiling at him. "We should get going."

Emerson just nodded and tried to ignore how his best friend's hand stayed on his shoulder a bit longer. He again plastered a smile, as each of them gave him a farewell as they filed out of the room.

He released a deep breath when he heard the door click shut downstairs. Mindlessly, he pulled himself back on the bed but gasped as a dart of pain shot from his knee.

Still not used to being careful, are you?

Emerson clenched his teeth and lifted his leg again. More carefully this time. When he was settled properly, he relaxed. He was about to close his eyes when his phone on the nightstand vibrated.

He picked it up and saw a text from Drew.

D-Sorry, can't come today.

Along with that short text, she attached a photo of an animated bull.

He just shook his head at it and replied.

E- It's fine. Don't worry about it.

He tossed the phone beside him and pulled the covers over him. It was fine that she couldn't come today. He was not in the mental capacity to answer her questions anyway.

But as he dozed off to sleep, exhaustion taking over,  he could barely acknowledge the twinge of disappointment.