Full Court Press (42 page)

C
armondy woke in the morning with something prodding her lower back. She opened her eyes. She was lying on her side. Beck was behind her, not quite cuddling her. His hands held her hips in his sleep, and one knee split her thighs. His upper body wasn’t touching her though. She glanced over her shoulder and saw his head resting on the pillow behind her. He murmured in his sleep and pulled her hips against him.

It was morning. He was a teenager. His erection was normal.

She wasn’t really in the mood though. She was tired and just wanted to fall back asleep.

Beck’s excitement prodding her back was making that impossible.

The clock on the wall told her she had at least an hour before they needed to get up for the Sunday shoot-around.

She tried to wiggle away without waking him up, but his hands tightened on her hips and kept her pinned.

She twisted her torso she could look at him. “Beck?”

He murmured again in his sleep, his leg pushing farther between hers.

“Beck,” she said a little louder.

His eyes blinked open slowly and he gazed at her. She could tell he was only half-awake. It took him a few more moments for his eyes to focus.

“Carmondy?”

She smiled at him.

“Why are you awake?” He looked at the clock. “It’s early.”

She glanced downwards, and he followed her gaze.

“Fuck.” He released her and slid backwards. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

She rolled over to face him. “It’s okay. I don’t mind. I mean...I do mind. I’m not in the mood. But I know it’s natural. I just wanted to go back to sleep.”

“Yeah.” He rolled onto his side so that his back was to her. “Go to sleep.”

Suddenly she wasn’t tired anymore. He seemed in a bad mood all of a sudden. She scooted a little closer. “Beck?”

“It’s early. Go back to sleep.”

She touched his shoulder lightly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to turn you down. Maybe later, when I’m more awake.”

“It’s not that.”

She propped herself up on her elbow, looking over his shoulder. “What is it then?”

“Can you just drop it?”

“No, I can’t. What’s wrong?”

“Leave it alone, Carmondy.”

“No.”

Abruptly, he got out of bed and headed straight for the bathroom.

“Beck? What are you doing?”

“I won’t keep you awake. Just go to sleep.”

She lay back and closed her eyes. She tried to go to sleep for a good minute and a half. Yeah, right. She got up and followed him into the bathroom. He had shut the door but not locked it, so she went in.

He was in the shower stall. Steam had already filled the enclosed space and fogged up the glass door and walls.

She could see enough of his body to see that he wasn’t showering. He just stood under the spray and didn’t move. Something was wrong. How could something be so wrong after the night before? She thought everything had been going great.

She opened the door. “Can I join you?”

He didn’t turn around, didn’t look at her. “What if I told you I needed some space?”

“Then I’d respect that and leave you alone. But I’d still like to know what I did wrong.”

“You did nothing wrong. I’m fine. I just need a second.”

“Why? You were fine last night.”

“Please, Carmondy.” His voice sounded pained. “I’m in a shitty mood. And when I’m in a bad mood, I’m an asshole.” He took a deep breath. “And I don’t like being mean to you.”

She looked at his back for another moment before nodding. “Of course. Sorry. I’ll go back to sleep. But you know I’m always here to talk.”

“Yeah. I know.”

She shut the shower door and went back out into the main room. The bed looked too big and too empty to sleep in alone. She lay down anyway and stared at the ceiling, telling herself that Beck was actually being nice, even if it didn’t seem that way.

Once the shoot-around was finally over, Carmondy met Beck outside.

She hadn’t spoken to him since that morning but he did seem to be in a better mood.

“Hey.” She tried to sound cheerful but not too cheerful.

He gave her a slight nod. “How long before you can be ready to leave?”

Yes! He hadn’t forgotten. He was going to take her see his sister. “Umm, an hour? Less if I need to. I just need to shower and get some stuff ready.”

“What stuff?” he asked suspiciously.

“Some stuff that I wanted to show her doctor. Just books, a couple movies, stuff like that.”

“You don’t need to take her anything. Besides, they have already tried those things.”

“I know. But I have a theory I want to talk with her doctor about. I can tell you about it on the way up if you want.”

He considered it for a moment before nodding. “Fine. One hour, I’ll meet you at your place.”

“I can come to your house. I mean, we have to take my Jeep and your house is on the way...”

He nodded. “That’s fine.”

She smiled. “Okay, I’ll be by your place in an hour then. I’ll come sooner if I can.”

After they parted ways, Carmondy went straight to her house and took a shower. She threw on jeans and a T-shirt. Normally, if she was going to be spending time with Beck, she would make the effort to put on something a little sexier, but this didn’t really count.

She grabbed her backpack and emptied it of her school stuff. Luckily, her mother had brought down a bunch of her stuff from home, at least in the way of books and DVDs. She went to the back of her bookshelf and found a Young Adult series of five books that she used to like a lot and put them in the bag. She grabbed a couple other books she liked, including
Pride and Prejudice
. Next, she went to her DVD collection and picked out a few movies that she liked as a thirteen-year-old. She also picked out a couple of her favorite animated movies that were still cool for a teenager to watch, like
Happy Feet
and both
Ice Ages
. If Lily liked the book series that she was bringing, she could bring the movie to match next time. Hopefully there was going be a next time.

She stowed her backpack in the backseat of her Jeep before heading toward Beck’s house. She prayed that this was going to be a success. Carmondy really felt for the girl, not just because of her condition, but because of the seemingly non-existent relationship she had with everyone in her family except for Beck. Beck didn’t even really count because as far as Car could tell, Lily didn’t grasp the meaning of family. No one should have to go through what she was going through alone.

The moment she drove into Beck’s driveway, he stepped out of his house. She smiled at him when he climbed into the front seat of her Jeep.

“You didn’t want to drive, did you?” she offered.

“No, it’s fine.”

She pulled out of the driveway and headed toward the mountain. “The stuff I’m bringing is in the backpack back there. You can look if you want.”

He grabbed the bag from the backseat and opened it. He peered inside for a moment. “Teen angst and kid movies?”

“Those aren’t kid movies. I watch those all the time. If the doctor approves them, I think she’ll really like them. There are a couple non-animated movies in there too.”

He nodded and put the bag back.

“I know it’s not ideal to have her watching a bunch of TV, but I didn’t know if she ever got outside, or into a gym or something.”

Beck shook his head. “She never leaves that room unless she’s sedated. She can’t handle it.”

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly.

“I’m just glad that she hasn’t ever really known being outdoors. That way, she can’t miss it.”

“Maybe someday, when she gets a little better, she can be outside like a normal teenager. Maybe she can even find a sport that she likes,” Carmondy suggested.

“Maybe.”

“I know I kind of conned you into this, but I really want to help your sister. I really do.”

He shrugged. “You couldn’t con me into anything if you wanted to. I might not seem happy about it, but on some level, I know it’s a good thing. And her doctor agrees so who am I to argue?”

“I think it’ll work out well, and if not, if Lily just doesn’t like me, I won’t push anything.”

He nodded. “Good.”

It took a little longer than it should have to reach their destination because of the road conditions. They sat for fifteen minutes in a line of cars while the Department of Transportation performed some controlled avalanches along the highway to prevent real avalanches. It was cool to watch. Carmondy had tried to engage Beck in conversation, but failed. He wasn’t so much in a bad mood as he was just being quiet. She couldn’t really blame him.

They arrived before noon. She wasn’t sure how long Beck usually stayed.

Before she could turn around, Beck grabbed her backpack for her and slid out of the car.

She frowned and got out, hurrying to catch up. “I can carry that.”

“I know,” he said, walking through the automatic doors.

They went straight to the front desk, bypassing the waiting area that Carmondy had spent time in before. There was a man behind the desk this time. “Hello, Mr. Nicholson, here to see your sister?”

“Yes, but I’d like to see Dr. Beckett first. Is he available?”

The man checked the computer. “It looks like he’s not with a patient. Let me phone his room to make sure. One moment.”

Once they got permission, they took the stairs to the third floor and Beck led them in the opposite direction of Lily’s room. The door to an office was open and Beck stepped inside. Carmondy followed and saw the same doctor she had seen Beck talk to the first time around.

“Hello, Beck.” The older man smiled politely. “Have a seat.”

“Hi, Dr. Beckett.” Beck sat down, motioning Carmondy into a chair. “This is Carmondy Hamilton, a friend.”

Carmondy shook his hand before sitting down.

“Not girlfriend?”

“No. Just a friend,” Beck said. “Is that a problem?”

“No, it’s a good thing. I would have asked you to refrain from showing any affection for each other while visiting with your sister. She could become confused or even jealous.”

Beck nodded. “Right. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Good. Now, you wanted to speak to me about something?”

Beck lifted the bag. “Carmondy brought some stuff she wanted to see if Lily would be interested in.”

“Ahh, I see. May I?” He stood and reached for the bag.

Carmondy nodded, and Beck handed him the bag. The doctor opened it and pulled out one of the books. “This is a popular teenage book series right now, correct?”

“Yes, I know that you tried some other books with her.”

The doctor nodded and looked at the other books. “She did not seem interested in reading. Some of the books even upset her.”

“What kind of things did you try?”

“We tried genres that have been successful with other patients. Classics, nothing horrific. Even children’s books.”

“But...she’s thirteen.”

“Yes, in most ways. Some concepts she understands as a thirteen-year-old would, others she doesn’t understand at all.”

“Okay. Just, when I was thirteen, I didn’t read classics or children’s books. I mean, I’m not the professional here, this is totally just my opinion so tell me if I’m way out of line, but...it seems to me that all sorts of things can set her off, even boredom?”

“That’s correct.”

“Well, for a thirteen-year-old, classics would be boring, simply because the themes are too complex for her to understand. Children’s books might be the opposite, just too simple. She can read perfectly well, right?”

“Yes, her reading level is normal for her age. I have never thought to expose her to pop culture though.”

“It’s not really pop culture just because a lot of people like it. I mean, it’s a fairly simple storyline with easily understood dialogue and descriptions. I just don’t think that you should give up on books altogether because she didn’t like the ones that you tried. It sounds like she doesn’t have a lot to do and reading could be really good for her.”

“No, I agree. Of course you can offer these to her. We’ll be monitoring at first to make sure, but I’ll be very interested if she likes them. The same goes for these movies.”

“I wasn’t sure if she had access to a DVD player.”

“We have portable players for all the rooms. You understand why we cannot leave them in the room all the time.”

Carmondy nodded. “Of course.”

The doctor smiled and put the things back in the bag. “So, if you don’t have any other questions...”

She shook her head and looked at Beck.

“I think we’re good,” he said.

“Great.” They stood up and the doctor handed Beck the backpack. “Like I said, we’ll be monitoring from the viewing room in case anything goes wrong, but we can have a nurse accompany you if you like.”

“No, thank you,” Beck said, shouldering the bag. “I think we’ll be okay.”

“I think so too. Oh! I almost forgot. Something interesting happened today.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes. Lily asked for you.”

“She did?” Beck sounded delighted.

“She knew that she had a visitor today and wanted to know when you would arrive. To be honest, I don’t know if she was looking forward to it because it was you or just because you are a regular visitor. But either way, the fact that she is looking forward to and remembering your visits in a positive way is a good sign and great progress.”

“That’s awesome.”

Beck led the way back out into the hallway and toward his sister’s room. A nurse met them just outside of the room. She had come from the viewing room.

“Hello, Mr. Nicholson.”

“Hi.”

“A second visitor today?”

“Yep.”

“That’s great. Lily is drawing right now. She seems to be in a good mood.”

“Drawing?” Beck repeated, peeking into the window.

“Yes. We’ve given her large pieces of paper and crayons. She made us take back all the ones that weren’t red or yellow though. Those are the only colors she will tolerate.”

“She didn’t get upset with the other colors?”

“She threw them all on the floor first. When I asked her why, she said they were ugly colors. I asked her if she was sure she didn’t want them and she started to get a little upset, but when I took them away she was fine again.”