It's You : Spin-off Stories

Disoriented

I hear Eddy groan loudly as he puts down his violin. My brows furrow in worry, he's been making a lot of sounds of pain lately. "Hey, you okay?"

He smiles at me, "I'm fine. My... my shoulder is killing me though. It's like it's shattering the more pressure I put into it."

I frowned, "Do you want a massage? A professional massage maybe?"

He walks over to me and sits on my lap, "What's wrong with your massage?"

I move on the couch, making him settle between my legs, "I might make it worse."

He leans on me, his hands making their way to my hair, "Never."

"Eddy..." I sigh, taking his hands and moving them down to my neck.

He pulls me toward him and kisses the tip of my nose, "I'm fine, Brett. Don't worry about –"

He cut himself off with an ugly cough – the kind of sound you'd expect from a smoker. Except Eddy has never smoked in his life, so his cough should not sound like that.

"That's another thing," I say out loud, "You've been coughing like that for a while now. How much longer before you go see a doctor?"

"Hey, it's not like I'm –" another ugly cough.

I rub his back and smack it lightly, careful not to hurt his shoulders, "Love, please. Let's go to a doctor. Something is wrong."

He pouted as he shook his head, "Nothing is wrong. I'm fine. I'm just getting older."

I sigh, "Love, twenty-five is not that old. At least, I don't think that should be old enough for you to be in this state."

"But love –"

I cut him off by kissing him. I do it slowly, gently, waiting for him to be the one to deepen it. And when he finally did, I taste blood.

I pull away immediately, checking to see if I had bitten my tongue or cheek or something. But then Eddy starts coughing again, and then it hits me. 

I watch him stand up and run to the bathroom. I watch him cough into the sink. I watch his spit slowly turn red – blood red.

I go to the kitchen and grab a glass of water. I take out my phone as I return to the bathroom where Eddy was weakly leaning against the sink, the water running to wash away the evidence of his health being much worse than we had thought.

"Love, we are going to see a doctor. No objections." I say as I hand him the glass and dial his doctor's number.

"Doctor Schwartz's office, how may I help you?" a woman on the other line said.

I clear my throat, "Yeah, I... Is doctor Schwartz open to see some patients at this time?"

There was a brief moment of silence before the woman said, "Yes, of course. Doctor Schwartz will be free to see patients until eight o'clock in the morning. He will be here the whole time."

My heart leaped in my chest, a sigh of relief escaping my lips, "Oh that's good. Is there any available time to come see him?"

Again, there was a brief moment of silence before the woman said, "His first scheduled appointment is at five o'clock AM. So you are free to drop by anytime, sir."

Another sigh of relief escaped my lips, "That is excellent. My name is Brett, the patient's name is Eddy, we are partners. I'd like to schedule an appointment for..." I look at the clock and mentally start calculating how long it would take us to get there, "Eight o'clock tonight, please."

"Duly noted, sir. Please do not stress over coming in later than scheduled, the doctor is quite at his leisure." the woman said, a warmth to her tone that helped me breathe easily.