23 enough

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T R U M A N

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T R U M A N

I wasn't wearing a watch, and my phone was shoved somewhere between the couch cushions, but the look on the nurse's face was enough to tell me that visiting hours were over soon. Sometimes I thought about hiding under the bed and staying the night with Katie. Maybe the nurse's wouldn't check there.

My fingers froze on the shirt's last button. Spending the night? At the hospital? I couldn't remember the last time I was able to spend more than ten minutes with my sister without crying. Just the sight of her laying there was enough to tug my heart up, through my mouth, then throw it on the floor.

I think the guilt was starting to fade. Or maybe my heart was starting to mend.

I finished the buttons and spun around to face Katie, stretching my arms out.

"What about this one?" I asked.

She didn't have to answer. I already knew she'd say red dress-shirts were strictly for old men. The kind that lurk in bars with the top button undone. The kind Eden would tell me about.

"You're right," I said, unbuttoning the shirt and throwing it onto the couch. I grabbed the pink one, put both my arms through the sleeves, then sighed and took it off. I could not pull off pink.

"What about the one I wore to prom?" I asked.

"You didn't go to prom," is what Katie would have said if it wasn't for . . . everything.

Instead of laughing with my sister, I took off the shirt, put on my hoodie, and collapsed onto the couch.

"I like the white one."

I nearly fell onto the floor, thinking it was Katie's voice. But it was only her nurse, Celia, standing in the doorway. She was smiling in her blue scrubs.

"Katie used to say white shirts were boring," I said.

Celia walked to her bedside. Reading over the chart, she said, "Sure, or they can be classic. What's the occasion?"

"My girlfriend invited me to her friend's wedding."

I think that was the first time I ever smiled in this building.

"Then you should find out what colour she's wearing," Celia said, "and match your tie to her outfit." She placed the chart back down, winked, and walked to the door. "Ten minutes, hun. Then you have to go."

When the door shut, I called Eden. She answered on the second ring.

"Hey," she said, breathless.

I stretched back on the couch. "What are you doing?"

"Santana bought all new furniture, we just finished bringing it upstairs. What are you doing?"

"I'm here with Katie. We're talking about how weird it is that my ex-girlfriend and current- girlfriend are roomies."

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