JC finished the call, and walked slowly back to the exam room.  This is not what he wanted to be doing on one of his free days.  JC was doubtful her arm was hurt too badly; she certainly hadn’t acted like it, until she realized whom JC was.  Now he was stuck here until they checked her over and released her and he could take her back to the center. 

With a quick roll of his eyes at how much time was passing and how much he was wasting by not getting anything done, he pushed the curtain back and entered the room. 

“Sorry, I took…what the heck happened to you?”  He finished at an almost shout. 

Laura was sitting in a chair beside the bed.  Her broken arm stretched out before her, cradling her head in her other arm lying on the bed.  A nurse or someone had cut the sleeve of her sweatshirt from her wrist to her shoulder so the bone that had pierced through the skin was clearly visible. 

“What do you mean, ‘what happened to me,’ I told you my arm was hurt, that’s why you brought me to the ER.”  She mumbled against her arm, not raising her head. 

“Yeah, but I thought…”  He hesitated to say he thought she was lying, as she clearly hadn’t been. 

“I know what you thought…Thanks for bringing me, but I can catch a cab back.  I’m sure you have other places you need to be.”  Her head came off the bed to look at him.  Pain filled her eyes that she couldn’t quite hide. 

“No way, I’m not just going to leave you here.”  He sat down, not being able to take looking at the bone poking through the skin anymore. 

The nurse entered the room again, not even looking at JC.  She handed Laura a pill, waited until she put it in her mouth before handing her a glass of water and repeating the process with the second pill. 

“The doctor has looked at your x-rays and will be in shortly to talk with you.”  She had just finished speaking when the doctor entered. 

“Well, Laura you have really done a number on your arm.  Unfortunately, you are going to need surgery to put it back into place and the quicker that happens, the better.  You will also probably need a pin put in to help hold the bone in place.”

JC looked between the doctor and Laura.  How do I get into these situations?  I didn’t even know her name until she told the nurse.  Now I can’t leave her here by herself.  Stop getting involved, JC!

Now watching as Laura bit her lower lip, she said, “Do what you have to do, the sooner the better, I guess.”

“Ok, we’ll get you prepped for surgery after you sign some forms and get you all taken care of.  I’ll see you in a bit.”  The doctor and nurse exited the room leaving JC and Laura alone again. 

***

Laura placed her head back on the bed as she fished in her pocket for her phone.  Without lifting her head, she dialed her parent’s house, forgetting that there was anyone else in the room. 

“Hello.”  Her father answered.

“Hey daddy, what’s going on?”

“Hey Laura, how’s it going in Florida?

“It’s going; the kids are pretty good most of the time.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be working right now?”  He asked.

“That’s what I’m calling about…I tried to break up a fight and ummm…broke my arm.”

“What???  How bad is it?”

“Oh, it’s not too bad...”  Just then, the phone was pulled away from her ear.  She lifted her face, too shocked to say a word. 

JC put the phone to his ear and introduced himself.  “Yeah, I brought your daughter to the ER.  Her arm is pretty bad, they are getting ready to take her into surgery and put a pin in.” 

Laura shot daggers at JC as he talked on her phone to her father. 

“No, I don’t think you need to come down.  I help out at the center and will see that she’s ok and I’ll even get her on a plane to head back home as soon as I can.”

“Yeah…yeah, no problem.”  Laura could only hear one side of the conversation, but she could just imagine what her father was saying. 

After one final “absolutely,” JC disconnected and turned back to Laura. 

“What do you think you were doing?”  Laura demanded, careful not to move her arm. 

“I was giving your dad your honest diagnosis.  From what you were saying, which was nothing, I knew he needed the truth.”

“You had no right!”

“No right?  I’m the one that brought you here, I’m involved now.  You didn’t even tell me how bad it was.  I thought you were lying about your arm.”

“I don’t even know you so why would I tell you anything when you made it perfectly clear you didn’t think I was hurt!  Is your ego really that big that you thought the only reason I ‘faked’ being hurt was to get you to take care of me?”  He froze at her words. 

She closed her eyes and sighed heavily.  “I’m sorry, that was completely uncalled for.  Please just forget I said anything or that you even met me.  Blame it on the pain of my arm.  Thank you for bringing me to the hospital, but you really don’t have to stay.”  She put her head back down on the bed.  It was too heavy to hold up any longer.