*** 1
She was standing in front of his door dreading the moment she actually had to come in. There behind the door lay Nick Mitchell, resting after his surgery. The surgery went well, a full recovery was to be expected, she must have been thrilled.
But she wasn’t.
She felt something resembling remorse for him and actual remorse for not feeling as bad as she should have. After all, he was in the hospital because of her. It was all her fault. And that wasn’t even the worst part — the worst part was that now she was in his debt. And he sure as hell was going to collect. Because Nick Mitchell was her arch-nemesis.
Say what? Who the fuck has an arch-nemesis anymore? Except for Sheldon Cooper, of course.
She took a hesitant step forward and stopped mid-knock. She was not ready to face him just yet. She would have to come back – eventually she would have to see him and thank him and endure the condescending advice about safety on the road. This would be his moment of glory, and he would take full advantage of it. But not now, not today. Abruptly, she turned away from the door and practically ran outside.
The hospital had a nice little green area with benches scattered around. She walked past two young men smoking under a “No smoking” sign and sat on the next bench. They were laughing and talking loudly, like they couldn’t be bothered with their surroundings. She glanced at them with a hint of disapproval, but mostly with envy for their carefree demeanor. She wished she could stop thinking of a guy who almost died and instead focus on some random guy who was.. smiling at her? Had she been staring too long? And now he was coming towards her. She smoothly adjusted her position to look more relaxed and tried to pretend she was deeply lost in thought.
“Ann? Ann Hannigan, is that you?”
Oh, the random guy turned out to be very much not random. He looked familiar, but it took her a few seconds to place him.
“Mark? Wow, it’s been ages!”
She stood up to hug her old classmate – Mark Rooffalo – who was nothing like the chubby little boy she remembered from high school. Here stood a tall and fit guy with a very trendy haircut.
“So, what have you been up to?” he smiled.
“Not much. Got my journalism degree and now I’m trying to make use of it. You?”
“Yeah, good. Been working for my father. And just moved into...” He was interrupted by his friend calling out to him, but he waved him away and finished “a new place on Green Street.”
“Oh, congrats!”
Come on, this conversation is boring as fuck. And let’s be honest – completely pointless. Who is this guy? A supporting character?
“Mark, let’s go. He’s awake!” his friend shouted, looking at him pointedly.
“Sorry, have to go. We are visiting a roommate of ours. He got hit by a bus today, brutal huh?”
She froze. No way. No, no, no. It is completely plausible that two different people got into a bus accident on the same day, right?
“Anyway, do you wanna catch up later? We’re having a party at our new place today...” He stopped suddenly and glanced at his friend, “at least we were until Nick got into the hospital. Shit, that’s probably not happening.”
Two different Nicks, both in bus accidents on the same day —still plausible?
“Yeah man, it’s kind of an asshole move to have a party while he is lying there with broken ribs and a mild concussion.”
He forgot to mention the bruises, the sprains, and the intensive surgery due to internal bleeding. The doctor’s words were seared into her brain.
“Yeah, no worries, we’ll catch up another time.”
“Wait, who are you visiting here?”
“A... my m-m-m.. a fri-end of mine,” she stumbled, quickly changing the subject. “I need to go. Find me on Insta?”
“Yeah, totally,” he waved and rushed to catch his friend.
The lie was unnecessary and ultimately stupid, because Nick would surely tell everyone who is to blame for his accident, and for sure, the story wouldn’t be flattering for her. So the chances of Mark not figuring out her real reason for being here were slim. But still, she wasn’t about to offer this information willingly. He’d find out later in the worst wording ever and will probably never text her again, but that’s okay. She was only trying to be polite anyway.
***
The next day, she was standing in front of the same door with the same dreadful feeling. But without giving herself time to hesitate, she knocked and, with the most composed face she could muster, walked inside. Despite everything she already knew about his condition, she wasn’t ready to see him like this. She was so struck she didn’t even notice the other visitor until the woman addressed her.
“Hello, sugar! Are you here to see Nick?” A good-looking, middle-aged woman stood up from her chair in the corner and approached her with a wide smile.
Never in her life had she been called “sugar” by a complete stranger, but she smiled back anyway.
“Yes. Yes, I am. Is this a bad time? Because I can come back later, no problem.”
She was already backing toward the door when Nick’s groggy voice made her pause.
“Ann?” He rose slightly on his pillows, giving her a puzzled gaze. “What are you doing here?”
She blinked. She’d figured he would expect her to come at some point, even if neither of them wanted that. Out of common decency, she had to thank him. But before she could muster a reply, the woman intervened.
“Nick!” She gave him a quick look. “Is that any way to treat your visitors? Come here, dear, don’t mind him. He’s just sulky because the doctor refused to increase his morphine.”
“I’m in pain,” Nick groaned.
The woman — who introduced herself as Mrs. Robinson, Nick’s godmother — ushered her in and pointed to an empty chair before returning to her corner to pick up her knitting.
“How are you?” she hesitantly asked to break the silence.
“Just peachy,” came the immediate reply. “You?”
She couldn’t hold his gaze, so she focused on the reddish bruise on his right cheekbone.
“I’m very well, thank you. Just finished the last episode of “The Handmaid’s Tale”, season five. Quite an intriguing ending.” She realized she was rambling and forced herself to stop.
Nick didn’t offer his opinion on the show and was giving her the same puzzled look, as if he couldn’t comprehend what was happening. It was time to cut to the chase. She glanced at the woman, who didn’t seem to be paying attention to them, and turned back to Nick.
“So, I am here to…” She’d practiced her speech on the way here, but stumbled at the very first sentence. “Obviously, to check on you. And to give you this.” She handed him a bag of fruit, which he accepted in silence.
Quit stalling, Jesus. Just say the words and go home. Thank you for saving my life. Have a nice recovery. Bye! How hard is that?
“Well, I wanted to…”
A short knock interrupted, and Dr. Miller stepped in.
Of-fucking-course.
“Oh, hey Ann! How are you feeling?” he kindly smiled at her.
“Hello, Dr. Miller,” she beamed. “I’m fine. I told you I heal fast.”
“How do you know my doctor?” Nick demanded.
The question was a bit random, but she answered politely: “He treated me as well. I only had a few scratches, of course…”
“Which still needed checking,” Dr. Miller finished for her, stepping to the bed to check the vitals. “How are you today?”
“Let’s see. I haven’t eaten anything but crappy Jell-O since this morning, my whole body hurts, and I still have no idea how I ended up here. So… peachy.”
She turned to him so fast she almost broke her neck. He didn’t remember the accident? Did that mean she didn’t have to produce the thank-you speech?
“Temporary memory loss is quite common after such an accident. Don’t worry, it should all come back to you soon,” the good doctor said, killing her idea. “Anyway, Ann is here, so I’m sure she’ll fill in the blanks for you. Okay, everything looks good. I’ll check in again in a few hours. Now, rest.”
He left, leaving her standing there like a deer in the headlights after that quick remark. At least now it made sense why Nick was surprised to see her.
“So?” Nick looked at her expectantly. “Are you going to fill me in?”
“Well,” she fidgeted with her sleeve, “you got hit by a bus.”
Smooth, very smooth! Good job.
“You were… WE were on a crosswalk…” For some reason, the words felt like a knife in her throat.
“Why were we together?” Nick asked suddenly.
“Because of the assignment…” She paused. “You don’t recall our project?”
He shook his head. That was strange; they’d been working on it for almost a month. That memory shouldn’t have been affected.
“What’s the last thing you remember?” she blurted out.
She had no right to ask him that really. They were not friends, not even close. She was just clinging to the possibility of delaying her thank-you speech for a few more minutes.
“I remember you crying…” His voice dropped to a near whisper, holding her gaze. “Because of me.”
She felt exposed and defensive. “Oh, I wasn’t crying because of you,” she caught Mrs. Robinson’s attentive gaze. It wasn’t judging but she felt judged anyway. “I mean, obviously, it was for you, too. I was in shock and in pain, you were covered in blood… blood was everywhere and…”
She was rambling again, so she forced herself to take a breath. She felt shy about crying over him, weak for admitting it, and guilty for feeling weak. It’s okay to cry over someone who saved your life, regardless of how you feel about them.
Nick was silent for a moment, looking almost shy himself, before admitting: “Um, I was actually talking about another situation. You were crying in the bathroom at work. You’d just broken up with your boyfriend.”
For the first time in her life, her jaw dropped. Literally. Even the embarrassment of him seeing her at her lowest couldn’t cut through the massive shock she’d just experienced.
“Honey, what were you doing bothering a girl at a moment like that?” Mrs. Robinson joined in, giving her a moment to collect herself.
“I wasn’t! It was an accident,” Nick said quickly, glancing at her. “I was already in a stall when you walked in, so I waited until you… well, until you stopped crying. Sorry,” he added after a pause.
“Yeah, no worries,” she kept her voice calm. “Um, Mrs. Robinson? Do you mind stepping outside for a moment with me?”
She must have overestimated her poker face, because Nick reacted immediately: “Why?”
“Well…”
“What’s going on?” he asked suspiciously.
He was still recovering from the surgery. Even she understood that he needed calm and rest, not more shocks. But he was looking at her pointedly so she dropped the bomb.
“I broke up with my boyfriend almost a year ago.”
Both he and his godmother stared at her in silence.
“So… I’ll probably go get Dr. Miller back, yeah?” She backed away toward the door to escape into the hall.
