Learning to Cope

Page 7

Andrew:

August suddenly swings his legs over the side of his bed, he grits his teeth "what are you doing?" I ask, still with food in my mouth. "The bathroom, chew your food" he tries to stand up but it's obvious it's causing a lot of pain. "Do you want some help getting there?" I set my plate down and start walking towards him "please, my weight would topple you" he chuckles then quietly curses in pain. "You'd be surprised how strong I am" I put my hands on my hips, He chuckles at my display. He gestures for me to come closer to him while smiling.

He puts his arm around my shoulder and I put my arm around his hip and puts a bit of his weight on me, He smells like Iodine and old blood. He's mostly using me as support. "Are you okay?" he sounds genuinely concerned "I'm fine, I can handle more weight if you need" he puts a bit more weight on me and we slowly walk into the small white tiled bathroom. I get him over to the toilet "I hate to do this but you have to leave the door open" He groaned and shooed me out. "Do you know if I can shower yet?" he asks "I'll go ask" I step just outside of the room and flag down a nurse. "Hey, can he shower yet?" She peaks at his chart just outside his room and shakes her head no before moving on.

I walk back in and turn my head away from the bathroom door as I walked past to give him as much privacy as possible. "Sadly, you have to be smelly for a bit longer" he loudly groaned "really? I smell like shit" I can hear the sink running, he's washing his hands. "So..." I ask "About that personal question...." I can hear him quietly giggling to himself "yes?" he starts limping out of the bathroom, using the handrails on the wall as support, I rush over and help him to his bed. "What exactly is off-limits?" He laughs "well..." he raises his brows "Don't ask about how I ended up here, My parents, or my sex life" He counts all three on his fingers "Cool, that leaves a lot of options." he gets a concerned look on his face.

"so, what is your work history like?" I ask "Y-you have so many options and you choose interview questions?" His stutter is cute. I nod and patiently wait for him to answer. "Well, I worked at a convenience store as a teen and then I joined the military at 18" "You were in the military?!" He looks down at his lap "I was dishonorably discharged 4 months ago" he shrugs. "Oh" I quietly sit back down and go back to eating.