(I apologize for the long delay in continuing this story. My classes and work schedule have been a bit crazy. While there is no sex in this chapter, all notions of sex are between characters of a legal age to be participating in sexual activities.
If you are unfamiliar with the story so far, I invite you to read chapters 1-3, as parts of these chapters are referenced in this one. However, it is not imperative that you read them and you will still be able to understand this chapter in its entirety.
As always, I welcome any and all feedback.)
***
As I came to my senses, I noticed a dull pain at the back of my skull. I tried to lift my head and the pain sharpened immediately and intensely, causing me to moan in pain and abandon that effort. At my moan, I heard someone stir, sounding close by. The noise of motion quickly changed location and I could tell that whoever was next to me was moving. Before I could even open my eyes, the person had left the room. The sudden burst of bright light from the room I was in aggravated the nagging pain I was feeling and I let my eyelids fall back into place, blocking out the light, but not before getting enough of a glimpse of the room I was in to know that it was not my dorm room, nor my bedroom at home. The lights were brighter than I was used to and the walls a slightly gray-white color. I also caught quick looks at some equipment made of metal, but could not discern what these instruments were.
As I lay on what I assumed was a bed, I took stock of the rest of my body. I could feel something on my left index finger. It was fairly large, and was applying just enough pressure to where I could tell it was there, but not so much to where it hurt. Also on my left side, I could feel something sticking out of my lower arm. The covers had been pulled over my lower body and I felt almost naked, realizing that the familiar feel of my boxers was non-existent. In addition, my upper body was elevated slightly and at an angle to my lower body. Putting the pieces together, I realized I was in a hospital, but I knew not how I got there.
Just as I figured this out, I heard movement again, then someone speaking. "Wade, are you awake?" said a kind, female voice that I assumed was of my nurse.
I raised my right hand, giving a thumb-up as a muttered a weak "Yes."
The person who the voice belonged to began to move about the room and I assumed she was checking the various monitors, IV drips and anything else that I may have been attached to. "Can you open your eyes, hun?" the voice asked, this time closer to me. "No" I replied "it hurts my head too much." This caused some more movement around the room, including a change in the lighting that I could sense even with my eyes closed. "I'll be back in a bit to check on you and bring you some water. There's a remote next to your right hand that has a big button in the center of it. Just press that if you need me sooner." She left the room and I was again all alone.
I started thinking about Matt. I could not remember how I ended up hurt enough to be in a hospital with my head throbbing as hard as it was. However, I did remember the sexual escapades I had had with my hunk of a roommate, including him being dumped by his girlfriend and asking me out. I began to wonder how much of this, if any, had actually happened and how much of these "memories" were just elaborate dreams that I had constructed while unconscious. I resigned that all of what I thought has happened was merely wishful thinking that had played out in my dreams while in an unconscious state and that Matt and I were only friends and roommates. This made me depressed and started to think about other thoughts as my mind dimmed.
*****
I must have drifted back to sleep because I was woken by someone touching my arm. I moaned in protest and raised my arm to try to shoo the hand away. The voice from before spoke up, "I brought you some water" and I soon felt a straw touching my lips, which I wrapped around the straw and sucked in a little of the water that I was offered. The cool liquid felt good to my dry mouth and I realized just how thirsty I was. After a couple more sips, I released the straw and the cup was pulled away. The faint sound of it being set down was barely audible and had the room not been so quiet, I may not have heard it. "Can you try opening your eyes again for me, hun? I've turned off the lights, so they won't aggravate your head as much." To this, I opened my eyes again, much slower this time than the last. When I realized that the lights were really low enough and my head wasn't brought into instant pain, I opened my eyes to full, before my lids fell back to about half. "There you go" came the reassurance from my nurse. She was dressed in the typical nursing garb, which for this hospital was a set of green scrubs. I could also tell that she had on a pair of glasses and had her blonde hair tied up into a pony-tail, but wasn't able to determine much else. "Head doing better I see" she said, almost as a question, so I uttered a quick and soft yes. She seemed pleased by this as she pulled the tray beside my bed so it was over my body. Resting on that tray was the cup of water with a straw leaning against the inside of the cup. She then asked if I was in a state to allow visitors, to which I also replied yes.
A couple minutes later, I could hear footsteps coming down the hall to my room. I expected it to be my parents and was happy, but not surprised, when they walked in. However, they were not the only figures that entered my room. A third followed them right in and I recognized him right away, my roommate, Matt. This shocked me and brought my feelings for him to the front of my mind. I quickly sequestered these feelings back into some of the deeper recesses as my parents began to talk.
"How you feelin'?" my dad asked. I saw my mom hit his arm, slightly aggravated by him asking a question to which he very well knew the answer to. I pretended not to notice.
"About as good as someone with a throbbing headache and no idea how he got it or ended up in the hospital could."
