Page 42 of One More Round

“Don’t be alarmed if they still have him strapped to the bed. They’ve had to restrain him several times. Also … I know you don’t do it on purpose, but please don’t upset him.”

I sputter my reply, but she knocks and opens the door and heads inside.

“Hello, Todd. Good morning, dear,” she says in a clearly over-the-top tone.

He looks up at my mom. Then, instead of looking at me, he looks out the window. Wonderful. Already off to a good start.

He looks battered and worn. He looks drowsy, like he hasn’t slept in days. His eyes are droopy and bloodshot. His hair is greasy and hanging around his face, which is unlike the short length he usually wears. His left shoulder is wrapped in thick, white bandages which I can see through the hospital gown.

He refuses to acknowledge me. So, I stay planted next to the wall near the door. His room is bare and pretty much void of everything you’d normally find in a hospital room. I'm left to either stare at the unsightly vison of my brother or out the window like he is.

“Todd, honey, did you see? Gia came to see you,” Mom tells him with excitement. She is sitting in the single chair in the room that she’s pushed up near his bed. She is facing me, so I can see the pure delight on her face when she tells him. Still, he doesn’t acknowledge it.

“She came in late last night. Simon, remember him? He came with her.”

Still looking out the window, I see his eyebrow arch slightly. But this time he replies.

“How great for fucking Gia, Mom.”

To give my mom credit, she doesn’t react, but I see the slight look of worry in her eyes when they shoot across to me.

“Todd, she didn’t have to come but she did. Be nice,” she says with a lack of authority, apparently not wanting to upset him.

“I don’t know why she bothered. I don’t fucking want her here, I told you that already, Mom. Several times,” he says nearly growling it at her.

I don’t have to take this. I’m just going to excuse myself, but before I have a chance to say something, the door opens, and a doctor and nurse walk in.

“Oh, sorry about this, but we need to run a couple of tests on Todd. I’m sorry to cut your visit short, but they really can’t wait,” the doctor says to Mom.

“Oh. Well, alright,” she says, standing up from the chair.

“If you’d like, I will talk to the staff in charge of visiting hours and allow you a quick thirty-minute visit with Todd later. Maybe right before lunch?”

“Oh, that would be lovely. Thank you.” My mother smiles kindly at the doctor. She breezes past me, but I’m frozen to the floor where I stand because I’m being pinned with a pair of eyes that are just like my own.

“Come by yourself,” he says, then turns back to face the window.

I hear my name from the hall, my mother calling me out of the room.

Shit. He is being fucking creepy.

~~~

Returning to Simon, immediately walking into his embrace, I relay the details of my visit to him. He agrees with me that the ignoring and then the near threating command did seem creepy.

“You know you don’t have to go back in there,” he says. “And you don’t have to go in there alone. Just because he is in this,” he uses air quotes, “‘fragile state,’ doesn’t mean he gets to call the shots.”

I nod and worry my lip. His “fragile state” is how Mom referred to it, as though she was defending his reaction to my visit.

“As far as I’m concerned, you call the shots. We can leave whenever you want.”

I cup his stubbly cheek and thank him as I lean in to kiss him.

“You know what? I call the shots. Let’s get out of here,” he says against my lips.

“And what would we do?” I whisper back.

“I can think of several things I’d like to do with you,” he says before placing another kiss to my lips.

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