the half of it

chapter four

lunch time was at 1:00 on the dot, elles dad had left about twenty minutes ago and she was left alone watching a television show on her computer.

the window by the door looked out into the hallway, her blinds were up so she could watch the nurses come and go. as luck would have it she could also see grayson in his room.

the nurse brought her lunch and then went to graysons room, giving him a much bigger tray of food.

his brother obviously knew how to take care of him, grayson didn't have to say a word to let his brother know what to do.

aaron sat grayson up and rearranged his food in and odd way, elle didn't understand until he started eating.

he wasn't bad at it, just shaky. his fingers seemed to float over to the food and the crash down, struggling to grip something tight enough to make it all the way to his mouth.

aaron helped a bit by taking graysons wrist and guiding/supporting it as he moved it to his mouth. it was a creative idea so that aaron could help without having to feed grayson by hand.

she suddenly felt bad for making him go with her alone, she just thought he was an amputee but it was clear there was something else going on.

her phone buzzed beside her, a small vibration that had her scrambling for it. the lack of visitors had really gotten to her.

it was alec, her boyfriend of six months. she turned off the tv and pushed her food aside.

alec 🥰🥰

hey, what are you up to? - alec

they just served lunch, i miss you - me

good because i have a plan - alec

well not really my plan cause owen came up with it - alec

do tell - me

we're coming by, staying the night - alec

sneaking in? - me

one of my many talents - alec

is owen coming too? - me

and alice, sorry you won't get to see me naked - alec

too bad, what time? - me

10ish - alec

can't wait, i love you - me

i love you too - alec

elle set her phone down and looked back to grays room, watching secretly as his brother unpacked his stuff.

——

"mom gave me permission to kick your ass" aaron said as he placed graysons folded up hoodies in one of the drawers.

"hey, not a fair fight" gray joked, thankful to aaron for putting away his stuff, but worried as he watched his brother place the same article of clothing over and over again.

"sic buddy on me instead, a 12 year old dog might be a better match" aaron laughed at grays joke, happier than ever to see that his brother was doing better.

"buddy would rip you apart" aaron finished putting away the clothes and walked into the bathroom, putting stuff in drawers carefully lining them up.

"hey, take a break" grayson notices his brother getting stressed over the placement of things, it usually works to get his attention away from it.

aaron walks out of the bathroom and turns off the light, screaming at his own mind but losing and going back to turn it on and off three more times.

"remember when i tried to teach you to skate?" grayson asked, a smile spreading across his face as he recalled the memory.

the distraction worked and aaron went to go sit beside grayson.

"i fell on my ass so many times that day" he laughed, remembering the pain that came for weeks after whenever he sat down.

"that's where you met gracie" grayson said, aaron's face lit up at the mention of his girlfriend of three years.

"god i can't believe you guys were 13" grayson whispered but aaron wasn't listening anymore, his mind was taken over by gracie.

she never yelled at him for his routines, never treated him like he was freak. when grayson had his accident she was the only person who checked up on aaron.

"what are you guys doing for your three years?" grayson interrupted his thoughts, turning over onto his side as a nurse came in.

"jesus i have no idea, i guess i better start planning since it's only a month away" aaron stepped aside as the nurse walked beside grayson.

"visiting hours end in 10 minutes on fridays" the nurse said, in a nice way though which aaron appreciated. some of the nurses were total assholes.

"okay, uh i have work all weekend so i'll text you my hours" aaron gathered his stuff and walked out the door, grayson giving him a thumbs up.

after the nurse changed his colostomy bag dinner came, an ordeal that was much worse without his brother to help out.

the nurse who dropped off dinner left like usual and grayson knew that if he didn't finish he would get in a shit ton of trouble.

to make things worse he needed to eat this meal with a knife and fork, cutting things was very impossible. if it had been a sandwich like yesterday he could have managed but things never seemed to go his way.

after many failed attempts he gave in, pushing the call button and waiting for a nurse to come help him. it felt humiliating sitting there waiting for someone to feed him, all he could think of was how good everything used to be. when he was set to go to the olympics, on top of the world.

the male nurse walked through the door five minutes later, his name tag read eli. grayson didn't know eli too well but he thanked god it wasn't mary.

"hey, what can i do to help" eli came over to graysons bed, sitting down in a chair beside him.

"i can't cut it" grayson said, trying his best to take all his emotions and squash them down.

"i've watched your brother help for a second, i can try to copy him and don't be afraid to correct me" eli said as he turned the plate over to him, cutting up the food and sticking the fork into graysons hand while supporting his wrist.

"thanks" grayson said when he was done, eli took the plate and gave him a thumbs up.

"anytime" eli said and closed the door behind him. the blinds were open and through his window he could see elle, for a second he thought he saw her watching him.

suddenly his phone dinged, an airdrop notification from elle lighting up his phone.

he accepted it, the picture was a piece of paper with her phone number on it. she had perfect handwriting, the kind that looked like she had printed it off.

374-291-5616