"No, no, no!" He turns his key again. The engine comes on, then off again. "Damn it!" He gets out of the car and opens the hood. I get out.
"Battery dead?" I ask.
"Yeah," he clenches his fist. "I'm so sorry this happened. Can I have my phone back for a second to call my mom?"
"Sure," I take it out of my pocket and hand it to him. He walks away as he calls his mother. I look down at my ankle and it's now purple. I sigh and look back at him. His brown hair was swishing with the wind. He hangs up the phone then walks back over to me.
"She should be here in a few minutes. You should be sitting. C'mon, let's get you back in the car," he puts his hand on my back again as he leads me to the car door. I get in slowly and he puts his hand on my thigh.
"How are you feeling?" he asks, dragging his thumb back and forth.
"I could be worse, but I also could be better." I say, looking down at his hand. "Why are you doing this for me?"
"What do you mean?" he looks up at me.
"I'm obviously homeless, I smell, my hair is a mess, the only thing I have is my mother's old guitar, and I'm not the kind of person people like to help."
"That's not what I see. I see a beautiful girl who needs some help, and I want to be the one who provides that. I don't care if you smell, if your hair is a mess, and if the only thing you own is your mother's old guitar. I just want to help you get back on your feet. If that's okay," he grabs my hand.
"I guess that's okay, but I don't want to live at your house or anything."
"Oh no, that won't happen. My mom will never let me have a girl stay over even one night."
"Aw, are you a little mommy's boy?" I laugh.
"I'm only living with her right now to save money. Don't laugh at me," he smiles. I can't help but laugh a little harder. He stops smiling when he sees a royal blue mini van roll up to the side of the car. "That's my mom. I'll be right back." He walks away.
I watch as they both talk and then pull out a chord with a clip at both ends. His mom connects the two cars with it then starts talking and Kaleb points in the direction of me. His mom starts walking over to the side of the car, where I was.
"Hi! I'm Janet. Nice to meet you!" she held out her hand to shake mine. I grabbed her hand and shook it. She's so cheerful, it's kind of disturbing.
"I'm Jessica. Nice to meet you too," I smile.
"My son says you have a hurt ankle? Can I take a look at it? I'm a physical therapist."
"Sure, I guess." I lift my pant leg up to reveal my purple, swollen ankle.
"Oh my gosh! That looks like it really hurts! How long have you had this?" She asks, pushing down on it lightly.
"Ow. About a month. Ow." I wince at every touch.
"A month?" Kaleb interrupts. His mom looks over at him. "Sorry."
"So a month? How did you get this and why haven't you treated it?"
Kaleb looks at me. I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out.
"I'd, um, rather not talk about it."
"Okay, that's fine. Let's get you to the hospital as soon as possible. The car should be finished charging soon," she smiles, looking at me.
As soon as the car was done charging, Kaleb and I headed to the emergency room. One of the doctor's took me to the back for an X-Ray. After a while of laying there, the doctor finally breaks the silence.
"Okay, you can go back to the front. There they will tell you what is going on and what your treatment plan will be. Here are some crutches." He hands me a piece of paper full of words that I'm too lazy to read.
"Thank you," I hobble out with my crutches.
