Melted & Shattered (3 page)

“I’m pretty sure it’s taken care of,” Chris said, strolling into the room. I hadn’t even noticed she left with
Larry. My parents tended to be all consuming like that.

“
Chris.” My mother nodded to the woman, my BFF, who had taken care of me this whole time. I wished I had a mom who I wanted to take care of me, or one that I could stand taking care of me. As it was, I had neither, and there was no sense wishing for the impossible,
or that I was Mexican
I thought, looking at Fernie's mom, still deep in prayer.

“Mr. and Mrs. Skye. I'm so g
lad you were able to check in on Elle. I really appreciate you coming, as I’m sure your daughter does too.” What was Chris talking about? Every word out of her mouth was bullshit. Yet—she continued. “This has been a very difficult time for us both. I love your daughter like a sister, so seeing her laying here like this has just been terribly disturbing for me. I’m so glad you both came to be supportive. I don’t know if we could keep doing this alone.” What. The. Fuck. “Having you here means—” She was cut off by the nurse walking in.

The nurse
was an older woman, maybe fifty. Not
about to keel over dead
old, but
steady moving towards her golden years
old. She had kind eyes that held a twinkle when I looked at them closer. “My name is Wandra. I need to check a few things. Is that OK, Elle?” I nodded. She might’ve been old and a little portly, but she also didn’t seem like someone you messed with.

She walked over to my parents on the other side of the bed. “Mr. and Mrs. Skye, it’s so nice of you to visit. Such loving parents you are. I’m going to need Elle to myself for a little bit so I can check her vitals and redress her wound. Why don’t you go home for today. I’ll call you when she is ready to be discharged and you can come pick her up.” My eyes got wide. I didn’t want them taking me home! “A young girl like Elle needs her mama in times like these, but let us nurse
s take care of her for now, OK? Get some rest and I’ll call you when it’s time for her to go.”

“Oh thank you
, Wandra. I feel so much better knowing Elle has someone beside Chris,” she said my best friend’s name like it was a bad taste in her mouth, “to take care of her. Someone with our age and wisdom.”

“Of course, of course.” Mom and Dad said quick goodbyes and Wandra lead them out the door.

I turned to Chris. “What the—” Chris held up her hand and then one finger.

Wandra came back in the room and plopped herself down on the couch against the wall. “Whew, child. You were right. Those two are a handful. You shoulda heard the shit coming out of their mouth
s as I walked them down the hallway. You got one hell of a mama there, Elle.”

“Uh, yeah.” What was I supposed to say? “You gonna check me out? I didn’t think anyone was going to look at my sti
tches again until tonight.”

Chris walked over to Wandra, slipped her a twenty, and extended her hand. Wandra took her hand and let Chris help her up.

“Thanks, ma’am.”

“Oh no ma’am here. Just Wandra. Let me know if I can help out again. That was fun.
Oh, and the big one you keep fighting with, he paid all the bills. So neither of you needs to worry about that.” Wandra said this with that twinkle in her eye. Then she winked. She winked at me! “Bye, ladies.”

As Wandra left the room, I turned to Chris. I was speechless.

“I knew it was only a matter of time until your mom and pops showed up, so I started recruiting soldiers early.”

“You totally paid her off, didn’t you? Is she even a nurse?”

“Yeah, she’s a nurse! What do you think, I’d have the janitor up in here? She’s just not your nurse.”

“Who’s nurse is she?”

Chris laughed. “Babies. Neonatal.”

Now I was the one to laugh. “How the hell did you find her? Were you scoping out babies?” I could hardly picture Chris and a baby in the same thought.

“Nah. She found me. Your arrival was a bit dramatic. Wandra loves drama. She found me in the cafeteria.”

“She just walked up to you and offered to get rid of my parents
in exchange for money?”

Chris pulled the chair up next to my bed and sat down. She
was wearing her rarely seen serious face. “You were out of it for quite a few days. I was waiting to lay it all on you, but I guess now’s as good a time as any.”

She paused. And paused some more. “Come on, girl! Spill it already.” What the hell was she waiting on?

With a deep breath, Chris spilled, “So you figured out J shot you, aiming for one of the teens from the Center. I drove J here, with you in his arms. He was a mess, girl. I almost wanted to feel sorry for him, but I couldn’t. You were unconscious, and I didn’t know if you’d wake up. Next thing I knew, they were wheeling you into surgery. I’ve never been so scared in all my life. Not even when... well, you know.” I knew. Chris had almost been raped by her mom’s boyfriend when she was thirteen. I’d heard the gritty details one drunken night. Although he didn’t get his dick in her, he fucked her body and her head up enough to leave scars.

“Anyway,” she continued, “J and I basically had it out in the waiting room.”

“What?!”

“A few different times.”

“Oh shit. Ya’ll were fighting in the waiting room? You and the giant? That must’ve gone over well,” I said sarcastically.

“Actually, I made the fucker wear his cut most of the time. No one was about to fuck with a giant MM. Once you were out of surgery, they told us we had to wait for you to wake up.
The doc questioned your bullet wound. I pled ignorance and called J to stand with me. That was about all he was capable of. Despite the fact that I wouldn’t mind if his dick fell off, I can’t deny he was a hot mess, girl. Anyways, the doc took one look at him in his cut, and that was the last we were asked about bullets. I told J he could leave.”

“Did he?”

“After another lobby scene.”

“Damn. Sounds like it was pretty Jerry Springer up in here.” I clutched my side as a chuckle slipped out of my mout
h. Chris wasn’t laughing though, and instead she had a bit of a scowl going on.

“Sorry. That’s funny, but it wasn’t at the time.
You don't know what it was like. Girl, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t call anyone at first. If you didn’t wake up, I didn’t know what I’d do, how I'd just—I don't know, move on I guess. Eventually 1989 came up here.”

I shook my head at her Larry reference. It was more like 1993, but I wasn’t going to correct her. I didn’t understand though. “When did Larry get your number?”

“He didn’t. You didn’t show up for work. I never thought to call them. I think he said he checked your house, which by the way, does he have your house key?”

“No.”

“I didn’t think so. Well, ole boy somehow got up in your place and could tell you hadn’t been there. He was literally going from hospital to hospital looking for you. He finally found you here and that’s when the masses started coming. Once half the damn restaurant came, it seemed like everyone started coming. Your teens, your parents, Aaron, who by the way was hella pissed I didn’t call him right away.”

“You didn’t call Aaron? Oh, shit. I bet he was pissed.”

I saw her face fall. “I felt like if I called anyone, it would all be real. I wasn’t ready for it to be real.”

“Aw, girl. Come here.” She crawled into the bed next to me, making sure to stay on my right side, my good side.

“Fuckin' A, bitch. You scared the fuck outta me. You finally started waking up, but you were in and out of it. Not really awake. It’s like your eyes would open and you’d look around, but then fall right back into it. It was fucking creepy.”

“I was in a dark place. I remember trying to squeeze your hand, but I couldn’t move. I think it was the praying that woke me.” I nodded to Fernie’s mom,
still
in the corner with her rosary. How the hell did everyone manage to just ignore her?

“Yeah, Genesis came first
, of course, and brought her along,” Chris said, looking over at Fernie’s mom. She had stopped praying and was merely holding the rosary to her lips, eyes closed. Maybe she was resting? Shit, I didn’t know. “We squared things away before I let her tell the other teens. When you didn’t show up at the Center, she had to tell them something.”

“Fuck, so many lies. What’d you tell
her to say to the teens at the Center?”

“Basically what you told your parents. Wrong place, wrong time. They didn’t ask too many q
uestions really. You, me, J, Fernie, and Genesis are the only ones who know what went down.”

“What about the other guy with Fernie?”

“Skinny handled that.”

“Skinny? Who’s Skinny? And what did he handle?”

“He’s J’s boy and I didn’t ask what handled meant. I didn’t want to know.”

I guess she was right. I didn’t really want to know either. I mean I did, but at the same time, ignorance is bliss.

“So finish up with the Wandra story.”

“Yeah, so Larry and some of your cooks were here, so I took the time to go get some coffee. I’d been with you for days and barely ate. Folks kept shoving food at me, but I couldn’t manage to eat any of it. Wandra found me in the cafeteria with my coffee. She sat down and said
a pretty girl like you should be crying in her beer
not her coffee
. She’d heard about the scenes J and I made. I guess it had become hospital gossip. She told me to let her know if I needed anything, so I told her once your parents came I’d need help. She’s a really nice lady.”

“Who charges?”

Chris laughed half-heartedly. “I said she was nice, not that she wasn’t a hustler as well.”

“Was she serious that I’m getting out soon?”

Chris stretched out on the bed. “Not sure. I think she made that up. You know I ain’t letting your parents take you home. Shit, have a 'lil faith in me, girl.” She yawned. “It looks like you’ll be paying me back that twenty bucks though if J really did pay off your bills.”

“Damn, bitch. Hustlin’ a girl in a hospital bed?”

“You know it.”

“That’s why I love you.” I winced. All the action was making my side hurt. “I’m ‘bout to hit this magical
morphine button. You gonna pass out?”

“Just for a sec. I can move.” She went to get up, but
I held her back.

“
Nah. Lay with me ‘til I fall asleep.” I knew she’d be out about the same time as me. Plus, I was lonely. Despite all the people that had been coming though, I was the only one inside my head, and it was an overwhelming place to be alone. Although Chris couldn’t crawl in my mind and help me sort things out, I could at least feel better having her by my side.

“No prob. I love you.”

“I love you too, Chris.”

And with that we both drifted off.

Chapter
4

It was another four days before they let me go home. I’d been in the hospital almost two weeks. As promised, it was Chris who took me home, not my crazy parents. We owed Wandra big time for that one. Larry and Jesse were there when we pulled up to my apartment, like there as in
inside
my place, not waiting on the steps. I had to find out how Larry was getting in my apartment.

The guys came outside and took my bags, while Chris helped me inside. I still had sti
tches in my side. The doctor said I’d have to go back in a month to get the stitches out, and for now to just keep my scar covered with ointment and a dressing as much as possible so the wound would continue to heal properly. He said this would also reduce the scarring, which to be honest, I didn’t give a fuck about. The scar inside of me was much deeper and would never heal right. At least, that’s how I was feeling as Chris helped me onto the couch.

“Jesse and I stocked your fridge,” Larry told me once we were all settled in my living room passing a joint. I was on the couch with Chris, Larry was in the recliner, and Jesse sat on the floor.

“What’d you stock it with? I can’t drink alcohol while I’m on the antibiotics.”

“Give us some credit. We got TV dinners, frozen pizzas, crackers,
and chips.”

“So guy food?”

“Whatever,” Larry huffed.

“Sorry. I appreciate you hookin’ it up. And this too.” I held up the joint. Larry managed to get a half ounce of nuggs for me.

“You can thank everyone when you come back to work. We all pitched in and José had the connection.”

I realized I hadn’t seen José around yet. I tucked that away to ask Chris about once Larry and Jesse were gone. There was no reason for them to know I’d noticed José’s absence. Fuck, Larry would have a field day with that.

“Think I can get a couple of them pain pills before you pass out on us?”

I snapped my head up. Shit, I was about to fall asleep. “Wow. Those b
itches are no joke. I’m fuckin’ floatin’ over here.”

“Yeah, and I wouldn’t mind floating too,” Larry shared.

“Sure, sure. Chris hook him up,” I said waving my hand in the air. I turned my head to see Chris on the other side of the couch passed out.

“She already had a few,” Larry informed me.

“Well shit, then you’re gonna have to get them yourselves. I don’t even know where she put them. Check the bathroom, I guess.”

Larry hunted around the bathroom. I heard him wander into my room. “Get out of my panty drawer, Larry!” I yelled. I had a feeling yelling should have made my side throb, but as it was, I didn’t feel a thing.

“I was just making sure all your bags were there,” Larry said, coming back into the room with the pill bottle.

“Sure you were. Wandra somehow made sure I got plenty of refills, so have at it.”

“Who’s Wandra?” Larry asked, pouring a dozen or so pills into his palm.

“An angel. She’s a freaking angel.” I saw Larry go to pocket the pills. “You ‘bout to offer Jesse any?”

“Finally, I thought you guys forgot I was even here,” Jesse said.

“Whatever. You want some fuckin
' pills?” Larry asked.

“No.”

Larry threw his arms in the air. “Well then why all the pissing and moaning?”

“I just wanted to be included.” I laughed at Jesse’s reply. Oh, sweet Jesse.

“It’s all good, Jesse. I appreciate you being here, even if Larry is bogarting the pills. You guys mean a lot to me. I don’t know what I’d do without ya’ll.” I was fading into sleep again. “I’m so glad to have you in my life.”

My eyes were heavy. I finally let them close, but heard Jesse say to Larry, “She’s not dying. She’s just fucked up, right?”

“Yeah, man. She’s gonna be fine. She’s just high as a kite.”

That was the last I heard before I followed Chris into a state of sleepy bliss.

******

The first week I was out of the hospital, I did little more than lay on the couch. Chris stayed with me, and when she went to work, she always managed to find someone to
take her place. I’m not sure why she felt the need to have someone there all the time. It’s not like I was fully incapable of movement. She helped me shower, but otherwise, I pretty much got around just fine. I guess I didn’t mind though, the company kept my mind occupied.

It was towards the end of that first week that José finally came around. Chris was at work, and Larry and I were playing a round of cards. He was actually a decent Spades player, much to my surprise. He answered the door when José knocked, reminding me I still hadn’t asked how he was getting in my place. It seemed like I only thought of it when other things were happening, and when it was just him and me, I forgot.

“Elle, what’s goin’ on?” José walked in, all six feet of him. He had another inch I think in his Timberlands. Did I not notice how hot he was before, or was I just high? Because when he came sauntering into my living room, I swear I saw Benjamin Bratt. I’d never seen him in real clothes. And those real clothes were looking mighty fine. I wiped my mouth for drool—just in case.

“Hey stranger. Where’ve you been?”

“I was letting you heal, girl. Plus I knew Larry’s been over here nonstop. I see enough of him in the kitchen,” José said punching Larry in the arm.

“Fuck you, man. I
’ve been taking care of our girl here. You’ve been taking secret meetings outside of the restaurant.”

José turned his megawatt smile on. “Me?” He feigned innocence. I had no idea what they were talking about, but I did remember something else.

“Larry, how the fuck did you get in my place?”

“With a key?”

“What key?”

“The key I made.”

“Dude!”

“What?” Larry acted like he didn’t know what I was talking about.

"Larry." I gave the look, you know, the one that says
you better start talking, and quick
.

“I had a key made after you picked me up from 1
st
Down.”

“How the hell did you get my key? You were drunk as shit that night.”

“I found a spare in your junk drawer.”

Oh hell no. “You went though my junk drawer?!” I was kinda pissed.
No, no, I was hella pissed!

Larry held his hands up in his defense. “I was drunk.”

“Well, where is my spare key?”

“I put it back.”

“When?”

“The next time I came over.”

I clutched my side and leaned forward. “What the fuck, Larry? I pick your ass up drunk. You rummage through my junk drawer, steal my key, make a copy, and then slip the original back the next time you’re here? Did I get that timeline right?”

“Jeez, you make it sound creepy when you put it like that.”

I threw my hands in the air. “It is fucking creepy!”

José
finally weighed in to this conversation. “Whoa, people. Larry, that shit
was
creepy, and Elle, calm down before you pop a stitch.”

“You can have your fucking key back,” Larry grumbled.

“Keep it, you fucking bastard,” I grumbled back.

“Now there’s the love,”
José said, clapping his hands together. “So, who wants to get high?” he asked pulling a blunt out of the inside pocket of his jacket.

“Don’t gotta ask me twice,” Larry replied.

“Yeah, just make sure he doesn’t make a copy of it,” I mumbled.

“I offered you the fucking key back!” Larry yelled.

“Whatever. Pain pill, José?” I held out the bottle to him. Wandra had seriously hooked it up. Chris refilled the prescription twice already that week, and no one seemed to care at the pharmacy.

“Don’t mind if I do,”
José said, putting out his hand.

“Give him some pills, Larry.” I motioned to the bottle on the coffee table and mumbled, “Key thief.”

Before Larry could retort, José was shoving the lit blunt in his mouth.

“
So Elle, how’ve you been? I got the general idea from Larry and Jesse, but really, are you doing OK?”

“Yeah. I
’ve been pretty high all week. Stitches come out in three weeks. I think next week I’ll go back to the Center. I’ll have to sober my ass up though.”

“Center?” I told
José about my volunteering. Larry listened and huffed, probably because he didn’t know anything about my volunteering and I was choosing to tell José as if he weren’t even there. Ha! That was for the key.

“Well
damn, homegirl. So that’s why your Spanish has been improving. Me and my cousin used to hang out there back in the day.”

“Yeah, it’s cool.” I didn’t realize when I brought it up how sad I’d get. I missed the kids. “Hey, do you think you could do me a favor next week?”

“Course. What and when?”

“Anytim
e, and I need a ride somewhere.”

L
arry chimed in. “I’ll take you.”

I gave him Chris’ dagger eyes
look. He leaned back in his seat before I could make anymore key thief insults.

“I got Thursday off next week. Where we going?”

“County.”

“Whoa.”
José sat up straighter on the other end of the couch. “Why you going to the
cárcel
?” I looked at him blankly. “Jail, homegirl. Jail. Why you goin’ up in there?”

“I gotta see someone. Can you find out visiting hours and stuff?”

“Alright. I’ll take care of it. You seen the guy who did this to you?” he asked, pointing to my side. I wasn’t really trynna answer questions, but I knew it was inevitable. I was surprised Larry hadn’t already asked. I knew he went to beat up J, and the shiner he received was finally starting to fade. Maybe Chris told him not to bring it up. Lord knows I’d told her I didn’t want to talk about it.

“Nah.” That was all I was giving him. I wasn’t sure how much more information
José was looking for in regards to J, but I wasn’t about to open that door too wide. Having everyone around all week helped keep things light. Mostly Chris, Aaron, Larry, Jesse, and I just got high, played cards, and watched TV. There was a lot of passing out in chairs and on the couch as well. Chris had the foresight to kick Larry out each night though. Thank God. He was my boy and all, but by the end of the day, it was time for him to go. If I was with it enough, Chris would help me bathe. Although I ain’t gonna lie, I went a few days here and there just washing my face and slapping a bandana on my head in lieu of a shower and doing my hair. This too, Larry must have felt unwise to mention, and I assume that was Chris' doing as well.

“I’m not supposed to be driving myself. D
o either of you have off Wednesday night? Maybe I’ll swing by the Center before going to see Fernie on Thursday.” I thought for sure Larry would jump on this, but he worked.

“Yeah, I’m off.” So
José would be my driver for two days. Right on. I could stand to look at something a little more attractive than Larry for a few days.

******

Aaron came by early the next week. He said he’d hook up some food for the kids Wednesday.

“
How are you doing, chica?” Aaron asked, helping himself to the communal pill bottle on the coffee table. I had been weaning myself off the things. They made my head a little fuzzier than I cared for. Mostly, I was just taking one at night.

“OK. Sleeping is still a little rough. I can’t get into a comfortable position without my side hurting. And then it ain’t really comfortable anymore
, now is it?”

“Still got
your attitude, so I’ll take that to mean you’re doing just fine.” I smiled at Aaron. He’d been my source of humor for the past week.

“So tell me about your latest fuck, cuz lord knows I ain’t gettin’ any.”

“Oh, he was beefy! Arms like BAM!” Aaron said this while holding his hand a few inches out from his own bicep. “He had those arms gripping my shoulders, ramming it into my ass like a—”

“Whoa.
Rein it in cowboy,” as Chris would say. “No butt action. Just give me the general gist of things. Not that I have anything against you gettin’ shit shoved up your ass. How you get off is fine with me, but you know I don’t really need to hear quite such graphic details about it. Cliff notes, darling. Just the cliff notes.”

Aaron h
uffed. “That’s no fun.” I shrugged. “Fine. So we were
doing things
.” I nodded. That terminology would work. “And I swear it was about the best orgasm I ever had. He reached around and made it happen for us both at the same time. It was beautiful.”

“Oh, so you’re going to see him again?” I got excited. Aaron wasn’t one to go back for seconds.

“Psst, no.”

“What?! I thought it was beautiful?”

“It was. But that doesn’t mean I’m gonna marry the guy. There are plenty ‘o fish in the sea, chica. Maybe I’ll come back to him in a few weeks. Or a month. If I can’t find anything better.”