Face the Music (18 page)

He adjusted his wire-rimmed glasses and flipped through my chart.  “Everything looks good.  She should be back to normal in no time.”

She fixed me with a solemn gaze.  “You scared the hell out of me, Allie.”

The doctor’s beeper went off.  He glanced at it before looking back at me. 
“We’d like to keep you one more night for observations.  Assuming all goes well, which I have no reason to believe it won’t,” he added when Emily frowned, “you can go home tomorrow morning.  If you don’t have any more questions…”

“We’ll be fine,” Emily said.  “Thank you.”

“Where’s Molly?”
I asked after he left.

“Mrs. Johnson has her.”  Emily studied the monitors, but her lips were curved into a knowing smile. 

“What?”  Sometime
s I couldn’t keep up with her.

“You’ve been a busy girl, haven’t you?”  I had no idea what she was talking about, and my empty expression must have told her so because she continued.  “Really, Allie?  Two guys?  Isn’t that a little selfish?” 

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh, come on, like you don’t know.” 

My expression did not change. 

“Fine, let me spell it out for you.  Jake!  And Chris!  They were both here, all night and most of the morning.  They only left because Chris had to get to rehearsal and Jake had to go to work.” 

I shook my head; Emily was good at reading more into a situation than there really was.  “Seriously, Em, you need to take up a hobby.” 

She pretended to look insulted. 

“Jake and I are friends.  You know that.  W
e’ve been hanging out since the start of the show
.  Chris,
well
,
he’s probably just concerned about the fact that I’m
here lying in a hospital bed.  Besides, he’s a s
tar.  He’s the kind of guy a girl only dreams about.”  I closed my eyes,
feeling as though a vise grip was tightening around my temples
.  “And could you imagine, living that life?” I whispered.  “Whether or not he wins, he’s destined for fame.  Hell, he’s already there.  He won’t have time to get serious with anyone, and why would he want to?  He’ll be so busy with contracts and records and parties that…”  I realized it sounded like I was trying to convince myself, so I stopped.

Emily fixed her narrowed eyes on me.  “You are so thick-headed!  Let’s say it was me lying here, and there were two gorgeous guys hovering at my bedside and fretting over my every
little
twitch.  What would you think?”

“Emily…”

“You can’t tell me you don’t see it!”  She studied me for several seconds before continuing.  “Or, maybe you don’t want to.  Are you still hung up on Paul?”

I flinched

“Oh, honey!”  Her lower lip poked out as she pulled her mouth into a frown.  I felt like a pathetic little child.  “You need to move on.  Your ankle may be broken, but you’re not.  Not all guys are like him.”

Deep down
I knew she was right.  It was time to forget about Paul, but I couldn’t just
make
the hurt and shattered trust
magically disappear
.  “Emily, I know you’re trying to be helpful,” 

She groaned and paced the room.

“…and I love you for that
,” I continued.
 
“
Really, I do.  And maybe there is something, I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter.  I can’t go through that again.  I couldn’t take it.”

“So now what, you’re just going to live the life of a lonely, bitter woman?  That s
ounds like a tantalizing future
.”

“It’s only been six months!” I cried out.  “Paul and I were together for two and
a half years.  It still hurts.  J
ust give me some time, please!”  Tears spilled out onto my cheeks as I fought to keep things suppressed.  The me
mories were too fresh, though.
 

“Do you know what he said to me that night?  Before walking out?”

She shook her head.

“He told me he was bored.  He said I was sucking the life right out of him.”

Emily scowled.  “That’s the biggest load of crap I’ve ever heard.  I never liked that guy, Allie.  Something about him, I don’t know what.  I never trusted him.”

“There must be some truth
or else he wouldn’t have left. 
I had no idea he felt that way. 
I thought we were happy.  I was.  But he said I was suffocating him, and he had to get out.”

“Now you listen to me!”  Her voice was angry.  “Don’t you believe any of that, not even for a second.  If he couldn’t see how amazing you are, well, it just goes to show how little attention he paid.”

I turned my head to hide the fresh tears.

“I’m sorry,” she said gently.  “Please don’t cry.  I hate seeing you so unhappy.  I miss my sister.”  Her voice was softer, less frustrated.

“I’m not unhappy.  N
ot completely.  And I’ll be okay, someday, but you’ve got to stop pushing me to do things I’m not ready for.”

“You’re right.”  She sighed and looked at her watch.  “I gotta run.  I just wante
d to stop by and check on you.  I
’m so glad you’re awake.  I’ll be back later, okay?” 

***

Jake and Emily came by the hospital Saturday morning to take me home.  “Hi
,
gorgeous!  H
ow ya’ feeling?” Jake asked as
he
helped me climb into the backseat of the cab.  I managed a smile but was too sore and doped up on pain medication to hold any kind of a decent conversation. 

He all but carried me up to the apartment.  Once in bed, I fell into a heavy sleep.  When I woke up later that night I was surprised to find them both in the living room.  Emily was kicked back on the recliner watching a late night movie, and Jake was sprawled out on the couch, sound asleep.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Emily said, looking up from the TV.

“Hi,” I said dazedly.  “What’s he doing here?”

“He insisted on staying and fell asleep about an hour ago.”  She grinned and got up from her chair, following me to the kitchen.  “You got flowers.”  

I hobbled towards the table to have a closer look.  “Why are you home?” 

“I took the weekend off.  My boss was okay with it when I told her about your, u
m, accident.  You’ve had
visitors, but I didn’t let anyone in since you were sleeping.”

I looked at the clock- it was almost eleven.  I had literally slept the entire day.  “Thanks.”

I removed the card from a cheerful vase of black and yellow sunflowers. 
Get well soon, Miss
Banks.  We miss you.  Love, Melody, Sam, and Riley
.  They sure were sweet kids.  I couldn’t wait to see them again.

A bunch of red carnations speckled with white baby’s breath sat behind the sunflowers. 
I’m so glad you’re okay
.  Your man, Jake
.  I looked up at Emily. 

“He feels really bad,” she explained.  “He sa
id he should have caught you.”

I frowned.  “That’s
ridiculous
.” 

The biggest arrangement was a heavy clear vase filled with pink stargazer lilies. 
For my favorite star.  ~Chris
.

I tried to hide my smile.

“Aren’t they gorgeous?” she asked.  “He stopped by after lunch, but you were still asleep.”

My heart did a little flip-f
lop in my chest.  He was so thoughtful.  They all were.  It was
comforting
to know that so many people cared.

Chapter 11

The doctor didn’t release me to go back to work until Wednesday, but a creature of habit, I woke up at the crack of dawn Monday morning.  Emily was in the kitchen.  “Morning,” she said, pausing to take a bite of drippy cereal.  “How’s the leg?”

“It hurts.” 

A crumpled grocery bag was on the table.  Inside was my dress.  The hem was frayed, and I picked it up to inspect the damage when one of Grams’s earrings fell to the floor.  I shook out the bag and the dress, looking for the other.

“You only had the one on when we got to the hospital,” Emily said.  “Sorry, I know how special those were to you.”

Without thinking, I reached up and touched my bare earlobe.  I was sick at the thought that I’d lost one.

I spent the day lounging around the apartment, trying to stay off my feet.  Bored out of my mind, I went back and forth between my laptop, my schoolwo
rk, and the TV.  By dinner time
I felt like the walls were closing in on me.

Something was definitely off about the show that night.  Riley
opened with
a karaoke-style
performance
of
Madonna’s
Express Yourself
.  Sam, Cynthia, and Melody all followed, but weren’t much better.  Everybody got all the words and didn’t miss their moves, but the routines were lacking something.  It was like everyone was exhausted and only working at half-capacity.

“I don’t know what the problem is,” Lucy
complained
, wrinkling her nose as a disappointed Melody left the stage.  “Is there a full moon or something?  Everyone sounds
so
flat tonight.”

T
he music of Hinder’s
Better than Me
began to play
.
 
Bright green lights danced around
the stage, and a
guitarist in the background strummed
the
soft chords
.  Chris’s stage presence
didn’t hold a fraction of its normal
vitality.  In fact, he looked about as good as I felt
.  He was pale and ha
d dark circles under his eyes, and it was almost as though the accompaniment
had more energy than he did
.
 
The chorus was vocally demanding, and
the strain was evident on his face as he
really pushed hi
mself to hit the higher notes.  He still sounded good, but
there was something different about his voice.

Stella
picked up on it right away.  “I was
worried about you tonight because I heard you’ve b
een sick, but you pulled it off.
  Your lower bass tones re
ally came through in this one.
”  The audience cheered.

“When did you first notice you were getting sick?” Bradley asked after the judges were through with their comments.

“Friday night, I guess.”  His voice was hoarse.  “
I went to bed with a sore throat
.”  He turned his head and coughed into his fist.

Bradley patted him on the back.  “Well, take it easy and
rest those vocal chords
.  It just wouldn’t be right to lose you to a cold.”