Beep, beep, beep! Goes the timer in my head. It’s 8 o’clock and I should be in school. I shuffle around a little bit and my leg starts to hurt again, so I stop and remember what happened yesterday. That’s when I realize he’s next to me with his arms around me. I look up into his sweet, content face and notice he’s still sleeping. I nudge him in the stomach a little and he wakes up. He just smiles at me and I smile back. Then he realizes his arms are around me. He opens his mouth to say something, but I put a finger to his mouth to quiet him. He nods and falls back. I roll over and mouth to him, “It’s okay.” He mouths back, ‘Thank You,’ and kisses me on the forehead.
Brent lifts himself out of bed and says to me, “Let me go change quick and come help you.” So he goes to change and I just lay there.
I yell, “If we’re going to have lunch with your parents, go take a shower.”
He comes back in to the room. All he has on is his shorts and says, “Whatever you wish.”
I lay back down and rest. He comes back to the guestroom and is dressed really nice. He says, “ I called Laura last night and told her to bring over a dressy outfit so that we could go out to lunch. She dropped it off last night while you were in the bathtub. I also called my mom back and told her to meet us at Le Douceur. I called and made reservations and told them that you wouldn’t be in to work for a while.”
“Wow! All this for lil’ ol’ me? Well, I’m going to need some help getting into my dress.”
“Let me go get it and then I’ll help you into it.” So he goes and gets my dress and comes back. He stands in the doorway and doesn’t move. It’s like he’s transfixed in one position. He just stares at me as if he’s trying to picture something. Then he comes towards me and asks if I’m ready yet. I say ‘yeah’. He takes the dress out and I just say, ‘Oh.’ It was my dress from the Christmas Ball last year. It is made of black velvet and has long sleeves. The back dips down and it is floor length. He asks if I’m ready again. I nod my head ‘yes’. He hands me my dress and leaves. Then he helps me up, zips it up, and goes, “Wow! You look great...Here are your shoes and stockings.”
“Forget the shoes. Are you ready to go?”
“Yup. You want anything for breakfast?”
“Not really. I’m not hungry.”
“Okay. Your purse is already out in the jeep. Ready? Give me your shoes. Up you go.” He carries me down the stairs out of the house and puts me into the jeep. Then he goes back to lock up the house and grab his wallet. On the way to the hospital we get to talking about youth group and how we need to be discreet or they will figure out that we’re going out very easily. Not to mention that we need to set a good example for the younger kids.
We arrive at the hospital and he carries me to the elevator. We go up and he carries me to the door, where he sets me down and then opens the door and helps me to a chair. Then he goes and checks me in. The lady next to me whispers, “Wow! I wish I had a guy like that. Is he your fiancé?”
“No, he’s my boyfriend as of yesterday.”
He comes back and kisses me on the hand and says, “You’re all signed in.”
Within five minutes they call me back. He helps me up and supports me back. They ask my birthday and some other questions that I answer as we head for the x-ray room. I take my stockings off and he helps me onto the table. Brent leaves and goes to sit outside the door and wait. The nurse comes in and positions my leg under the camera. She takes a picture and moves my leg in a different position and takes another picture. She did this about three times and then goes and got me some crutches. When she comes back she tells me she’ll call me later with the results. I get up and Brent follows me back down to the changing rooms and helps me put my stockings back on.
In the car, we drive to Le Douceur. When we get there he asks, “Do you want to use the crutches or do you want me to just to ‘help’ you in?”
“I’ll use the crutches. We don’t want your parents getting the wrong idea.”
We head into the restaurant and find his parents waiting for us. He gives my friend, Hollie, our reservation and she takes us to our table. He pulls my chair out for me to sit down, then takes my crutches and leans them against the wall. Brent sits down in the chair next to mine. After all of us order and we have gotten our drinks, we just talk.
We end up on the subject of how sweet Brent has been to me. (His parents names are Ashlee and Dan.) Well anyway, Ashlee asks us, “So, Bethany and Brent, is there anything you would like to tell us?”
“Like what?” asks Brent.
“What! Isn’t there something going on between the two of you? We thought that was why you were being so nice to her, Brent, and spending all this time with her.”
Brent says to them, “Bethany and I have been friends forever and as I’m there for her she’s there for me. She’s fun to hang out with I guess, even though she can be annoying at times. Is there something wrong with a guy and a girl just being friends?”
“What do you think about that, Bethany?” asks Dan, “Don’t you find it odd that he is doing all this for you?”
“Not really. We are really good friends like Brent said. My parents are out of town as you know along with my grandparents and I can’t exactly get around real well right now,” I replied.
Our food is on it’s way and we sit there watching one another to see who would make the next move after our conversation ends. I am about half way through my salad when my cell phone rings. I answer it and it’s the nurse from the hospital. She tells me I twisted the Tibialis anterior. That is the muscle attached to your tibia bone, right below your knee. The nurse told me I was lucky I didn’t walk on it too much or I might have snapped the bone. She also told me that there isn’t much she can do about it and that I need to go to my regular doctor tonight and that he should fit me with an aircast. I’m suppose to wear them for the next four weeks and use the crutches for at least until the end of next week or if I have to walk a lot. I tell her thank-you and say goodbye.
I finish my salad and then tell them what she said. Then I call my doctor’s office and set up an appointment for that night. I tell Brent what time and ask him if he’s taking me or if I should call Laura.
“I’ll take you. I want to know what you did anyway.”
I finish my chicken and give his parents what we owe and say goodbye. He hands me my crutches and helps me with my coat. We say goodbye to everyone as we are leaving. Once we get to the jeep he helps me in again. After we are both in and he starts driving he says, “So what was all that about in there?”
“I told you what I did. I twisted a muscle in my leg and have to be on crutches for...”
“No not that. What was up with you? It was like you didn’t care what you said. I’ve never seen you stand up to my parents like that before. It was weird.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make it awkward.”
“No, it was amazing. Don’t be sorry.”

Then we drive back to his house to relax and finish watching Pearl Harbor. Then we decide we don’t want to get up so we play some games on his PS2. I actually beat him on the one game once. By then school is over and Laura stops by with my homework. She stays for a little, then has to go meet Lee and Veronica at the bowling alley. We say goodbye and she leaves.
“Hey Brent, do you want to help me with my homework?”
“Sure, what do you have?”
“Actually it doesn’t look like that much.”
“Do you have any math homework? I will help you with that.”
“Yes I do. I have calculus.”
“Well let me have that. You can do everything else. It can’t possibly be that bad. I mean it is high school math.”
“Fine!” So he helped me do my homework. That way it was finished quicker and was done for school tomorrow. An hour later we were completely finished and it was only about 4 o’clock. We decide to go up to his room and figure out what he should wear to the Christmas Ball. Then we both changed into something a little more comfortable and casual. We hung out and watched TV for about an hour before deciding to go for a drive before my doctor’s appointment. We hop into his jeep and drive down to the bay and then back to the doctor’s office. When we get there we go right in and he fits my air casts. One for my knee and one for my ankle. If I can’t move either of those too well I won’t pull my muscle any more apparently. The doctor writes me a note of absence for the last two days and one to get me out of school at noon for the next two weeks while I’m on crutches so that I don’t over do it at all.