Trouble (9 page)

The entire world becomes gray and unfocused, but Daisy saying my name reaches my ears. She’s stroking my face and my hair, telling me that she’s right there.

“I know, promise you’ll stay.” I manage to choke out, balling my hand in her hair. I see her nod once before I let my head fall back and I’m floating along in a sea of darkness.

***

I’m on my motorcycle, the wind whipping past me and the cool air chilling me to the bone. I’m wearing nothing but a pair of jeans, and the bugs are hitting me in the chest, like little razors slicing through me. I look down at my bike, prepared to see Ronnie’s face looking up at me. But instead of his face I see nothing but my own bike.

“Caleb?” I hear a familiar voice shout. I look to my left and see Daisy. Her hair is flying back behind
her, and her eyes are bugging out as she stares straight ahead. I don’t need to hear the Jake brake to know what she’s seeing. I can see the headlights washing over her face.

She’s riding on the Ronnie motorcycle, and just before I see her and the motorcycle slam into the grill I whip my hand off the handle and try to reach out to her. But she’s too far away, and I miss.

“Caleb, wake up!” Someone’s shaking my shoulder, yelling into my face. I can feel her breath on the skin of my nose and my eyelids.

There’s something soft and cool in my right fist, and I immediately let it go. I hear someone sigh in relief and open my eyes just enough to let the light in. My slit gaze falls on a male nurse standing just out of my reach, the front of his uniform wrinkled.

“
Mmm sorry,” I try to tell him, putting my hand on my face. Daisy’s leaning over me on the left hand side, her hand on my shoulder as she stares down at me. Her hair is falling into my face, and I inhale deeply to smell it, it smells like the strawberry shampoo I got her at the mall. Some kind of organic stuff that makes her hair extraordinarily soft.

“It’s alright, I guess.” The guy tries to smooth out his shirt and reaches out with a
stethoscope, which must have been what freaked me out in the first place. I let him take my pulse, listen to my heart and chest, and then he writes a few things down. My arm is wrapped up at the shoulder, and I wonder why he has to know my heart rate with just a dislocated shoulder.

Daisy seems to see the confusion on my face. “Because they sedated you, they have to make sure that you didn’t have any sort of reaction.” Her face clouds over as I push her hair
back from her neck, looking at the angry, purple fingerprints all over it.

I put my shaking hand over
the top of the marks and realize that my hand is just as large as the brute’s that hurt her.

“I was going to take you home and –” she puts a finger to my mouth and smiles down at me.

“Must be really good drugs for you to be saying that with your parents in the room,” she whispers, looking down at me with a warning in her eyes. I blink a few times at what she just said and raise my head to look around.

My mother’s standing at the end of the bed with a small flush to her cheeks and my father is busy studying the ceiling with his hands in his pockets. I’m so glad that my sister isn’t here, at least, I hope not. I glance around to make sure and relax when I realize she’s not. Daisy sits down in a plastic chair and pulls her hair forward to hide the marks again, her eyes downcast.

“Mom, Dad,” I don’t know what else to say. Last time I saw them I was trying not to flip out on Mrs. Needle. I took off with my sister on my bike and probably scared the crap out of them.

“I’ll, uh, go get some coffee,” Daisy mumbles, but I grab her hand and look her in the eyes.

“Stay,” I whisper, not wanting to be alone with my parents and unable to let her out of my sight. God help me if she walks out of this room I’m going to drag my sorry ass behind her. It’s not going to be pretty. She seems to realize that and sits back down in the plastic chair.

“Caleb, what the hell were you thinking?” My mother’s shriek is uncontrolled and has my ears ringing like there’s a mariachi band in there.

“Which part, Mom?” I’m not sure I get why she’s upset. I’m fine, Daisy’s fine, and she should care less about what I do with my life. I see her eyes flick towards Daisy’s downturned gaze and realize what she’s trying to say.

It’s
bad enough we’ve just been attacked, now my mother’s going to pour salt on Daisy’s guilt. I can tell she’s feeling it because she never looks down, not around me. It’s like the life has been sucked right out of her.

“Don’t bother telling me,” I hiss at my mother, grunting as I sit up further in bed until I’m at eye level with her. “If you’re going to blame this on Daisy then you can get the fuck out of my room.” My voice is level, deadly calm. I’m not sure any of them realize it, but when I’m not showing how I feel is when I’m the most dangerous. I may not be the strongest man on the planet, but I can forcibly shove my
parents right out of this room.

“Caleb,” Daisy starts at the same time my father finally looks down at me with heat in his gaze.
If he wants me to be nice to my mother, she has to be nice to Daisy first.

“No, it’s no one’s fault but that asshole who hit me with the baseball bat. I don’t know why everyone seems to have jumped to the conclusion that it’s your fault,” I retract my hand from Daisy’s and use it to raise her chin up to look at me.
“But they’re wrong, and so are you.” Her chin trembles against my fingers and I forget all about the fact that my parents are in the room until my father clears his throat and puts an arm around my mother.

“We’re not blaming anyone, son,” he says bravely.
It looks like my mother might bite off his fingers if they get close enough. He can’t speak for the both of them.

“
I’m exhausted, and I’d like to go home. When can we go?” I look over at Daisy and ignore my parents at the end of my bed. She looks from me to them and seems to understand that a storm is brewing. When the lightning strikes I don’t want her anywhere near. Now is not the time to let the thunder rumble.

“You can go home now if you want.” She tells me, standing up and flipping up the collar of my jacket.
Something inside of me warms at the thought that she’s still wearing my clothes; it makes me feel like she
wants
me.

“You should stay in the hospital for a few more days, get your head straight!” My mother begs, putting her hand on my foot under the sheet. I don’t move my foot, but if looks could kill I think I might commit murder in this moment.

“I’m going home.” I grit my teeth and manage to swing my legs over the bed. Daisy takes my good arm and slings it around her shoulders, trying to support me. I’m a little wobbly on my feet, so I’m going to have to call a cab.

My mother is about to argue and my father tightens his grip around her shoulders, looking down at her meaningfully. At that point, I
completely block out the fact that they’re present and stuff my nose into Daisy’s hair. It’s like its own sedative.

“Do you know where my stuff is?” I whisper to her, and she grabs my cellphone and wallet off a nearby chair.
She leans down, grabs my clothes in a plastic bag near the end of the bed, and keeps her eyes off my parents as she pulls the clothes out. My mother turns around as I start pulling on my pants, and then I manage to get my shirt on.

“Where are you going?” One of the nurses comes bustling through the door
, and my mother turns around.

“He’s not in his right mind, you can’t let him leave!”
She cries out, her shaking hands at her face. Her eyes are wide with fear, and I sigh.

“I’m
fine, it was a dislocated shoulder that’s feeling pretty good right now. I’m going to pay my bill and get out of here if that’s alright with you.” The short, female nurse with a blonde bob and green eyes takes one look at my mother and then looks at me.

“You
should probably stay until morning, but I can’t make you.” I shrug my good shoulder and pull out my wallet with my left hand. She waves her hand.

“We’ll send you a bill. Would you like to use our phone to call a cab?” My mother huffs and looks like she might throw a lightning bolt, so I start walking behind the nurse quickly.

“I think Daisy can call one outside on her cell.” I point the next sentence at my parents, and I mean it. “Thanks for coming, but I’m fine. I’ll let you know if I’m not.” Daisy keeps her gaze straight ahead. Her jaw is set as she helps me from the building. My mother tries to hug me as the cab pulls up to the curb, but I stand there like a solid tree trunk.

Daisy tries to say that she’s sorry again and I put a finger to her lips, shaking my head.
There will be no more apologies from her, especially when I’m the one who should be apologizing. I should have told her to
never
call my parents with something like this. My mother tries to make mountains out of mole holes, and she’s gotten worse since I moved out.

I let
the brunette next to me tell the driver my home address and lock eyes with my father. He nods once as if he understands what I’m doing right now. It may seem cold, but I’m sparing my mother the fighting words that are running through my mind. I’m choosing to flee rather than to fight, for now.

“Caleb,” Daisy takes my hand in hers and kisses my knuckles gently. I look at her and try to focus on nothing but the different shades of chocolate in her eyes. We stare at each other the entire ride back to the apartment complex. My car is nowhere in sight, but right now I don’t care about that.

I have a woman to cuddle in bed, and I mean just that. There will be nothing beyond cuddling until I’m sure that she actually is okay. The drugs are wearing off rapidly now, and my shoulder is beginning to ache. But I’m steady on my feet as I walk up to my apartment door and unlock it with my keys. I push it open, and flick on the lights, remaining outside until I’m sure that it hasn’t been compromised.

I gingerly step inside and leave Daisy standing by the door with the deadbolt locked until I’m sure that there’s no one inside. Someone has been stalking either one of us or both of us.
How else would one of Big Man’s goonies be outside conveniently the restaurant I was dining in tonight? When I glance at the clock on the stove I realize it was last night, it’s close to three thirty in the morning.

“Are you tired?” I ask Daisy when I walk up to her. She has her back against the door, her face downcast.
I put a finger under her chin and lift her face up until she looks at me. “Don’t cry,” I tell her, but that seems to just make it worse. She starts to cry again and puts her face against my t-shirt. I’m not sure how long we stand there, but my legs begin to get weak, so I hobble over to the couch and keep my good arm around Daisy.

The curtains are drawn
, and all of the lights are now off. As the first rays of sunshine begin to beat against the curtains, my eyes close and I feel Daisy’s soft, gentle breathing against my neck. Sometime around two in the afternoon my phone buzzes in my pocket. I ignore it, push Daisy’s hair away from her face and neck, and look up at the ceiling.

One tear manages to leak out of my right eye and slide down my face. It gets lost somewhere in my hair and I close my eyes against anymore falling. I don’t dream for the rest of the afternoon.

***

I’m not sure what time it is, but it’s dark. The first thing I realize when I wake up is that I didn’t dream about motorcycles, and Daisy is still sleeping on my shoulder.
Her breathing seems lighter though, so when I move she immediately opens her eyes.

“Good evening,” I tell her with a grin. I’m amazed that every time she wakes up she has a smile for me. Even after what happened the previous evening.

My stomach rumbles and hers follows as if they’re communicating with their own language. I test out my shoulder and find it stiff, but movable. If it had been severely dislocated it would have needed a sling, but I think with a few days of taking it easy will be enough.

“I’ll order dinner, pizza?” Daisy asks, moving off my
good side and standing up to stretch. She pulls her hair into a loose braid down her back, and I watch her deft fingers move through the strands. I have to remind myself I’m out of commission, but watching her move around the apartment is like being inches away from the cake and not being able to eat it.

“Pizza,” I affirm, leaning forward to swipe the remote off the table. Then my pocket buzzes again
, and I pull out my phone to see who is calling. It’s Carl. “Shit,” I mumble, swiping the phone to the home screen and scrolling through my contacts to find Carl’s face. I click on it and put the phone up to my ear.

“Hello?” It’s not Carl’s voice
. It’s Delilah’s. I should have known.

“Carl there?”

“Carl’s here.” I hear Carl’s voice as he takes the phone from Delilah and lean forward on the couch. My right arm rests gently on my leg.

“Carl, it’s Caleb.” I hear him inhale like he’s going to start yelling and push forward quickly with my words. “Listen, there was an incident while I was out with Daisy, she’s banged up but okay. That’s why neither one of us came into work today.” There’s a snort on the other line.

“Wow, you on pain pills kid? It’s Saturday. You don’t work today.” I blink a few times and frown at the blank television.

“Oh, why’d you call then?” I’m confused; maybe those pain killers they gave me at the hospital seriously screwed me up.

“I called because Daisy called last night to tell me what happened. I came by last night
, but you were out. I just wanted to know if you were home yet, kid.” I smile at my stupidity and try to lift my left arm to run my hand through my hair, but a sharp pain has me hissing.

“You alright?”
I hear from on the phone and the kitchen. I look up at Daisy and then tell Carl that I have to go. I hang up the phone and put it down on the table.

“No, I’m a fucking cripple, I’m not alright.” I tell her in a
deadpan voice. Daisy just stares at me with the menu in her hand, her eyes beginning to narrow.

“Feeling bad for
yourself is not attractive,” she tells me, crossing her arms over her chest. I lean back on the couch and motion for her to sit next to me. At first she hesitates, and then she shuffles over to sit down next to me.

“Then I guess I’m one ugly man right now because I feel doubly bad that I’m not up to making you pay for that comment.” I brush back the hair from her neck with my
good hand and put the other one on her hip. I can’t pull her towards me, but I can move towards her. I put my lips to each one of her bruises, kissing them gently. When she shivers under me, I smile as I nuzzle her ear.