I tried to keep my spirits up. It'd been a long week in the hospital and I still had another week or so to go. The accident still remained mostly a blur of motion and noise in my mind, but the after-effects were clear as day. Bed-ridden, with my arms spending twelve hours a day raised in suspension while my wrists healed.
At least the other twelve they were free to lay at my sides and even with my wrists and hands swaddled in bandages I could use the exposed ends of my fingers to feed myself and, almost more importantly, relieve myself.
Even so, half the day stuck with nothing to do and no way to even scratch my nose took a toll. I was a bored twenty-six year old. Bored bored bored.
Which was why I was so excited, at first, to see Cassie and Gloria. Two of my oldest friends, there through thick and thin, we had spent many nights out drinking in college and having far too much fun to recount fully.
Despite all of our debauchery over the years, we'd never, any of us, had anything close to a sexual encounter between us, in any combination. It just hadn't really come up. We'd all been in relationships with other people, on and off, and we were just such good friends I don't think any of us wanted to risk it. That isn't to say either of them wasn't physically attractive.
Cassie stood short at just over five feet, with long black hair cascading down her shoulders and a full voluptuous frame.
Gloria seemed to tower over her at five-seven, thin and wiry from years of track and field in school. She loved her short blonde hair, not even the length of a bob.
The privacy curtain around my bed yanked back hard, the metal hooks holding it to the bar above rattling loudly, and they both smiled wide.
"This is why we don't leave Tom alone," Cassie told Gloria, shaking her head. She flashed me a quick grin. "Look at you."
"I know, I know," I said.
"And yet," Gloria jumped in, "here we all are, as you wither away and die. You are going to die, right?" she joked. "And I get all your stuff."
"I'm not going to die," I said, giving Gloria an exaggerated sigh, "I'll be out of here in another week or so. Then it'll just be some rehab for my back and my hands and I'll be as good as new."
"You weren't as good as new before this," Cassie quipped.
"Yeah, decrepit dude, as I remember," Gloria piled on.
"I could take either of you in a fair fight, hell, an unfair one with me blindfolded," I said.
We all laughed, and things felt so much better, my world getting lighter by the second. I'd missed my friends. After school we'd drifted apart for a little bit, the way people do, but reestablished connection fairly quickly and made sure to hang out at least once a month, just to keep in touch.
With all three of us together the world just felt better.
"It must be hell having your arms stuck like that," Gloria said.
"It's just for half the day. Evenings, and while I slept, they're down," I said. "But yeah, there are times it's rough during the day. Like, honestly, right now? My nose itches something terrible."
"I couldn't cope with that," she said, and reached out to scratch my nose. I directed her to the right spot and she happily took care of it. "How did you look so calm, just laying there with a nose itch?"
"You can get used to anything, with enough time, I guess."
"Not me," Cassie said. "I'd be going crazy."
"Well if you both keep bringing in tup and making me think about it..." I shook my head at them.
"Sorry, sorry," Gloria said quickly.
"It's fine, honest," I said, "I'm just glad you both came by." Sadly their talking about noticing things like itches and my own body had, in fact, made me more conscious of it and I noticed a familiar pressure in my abdomen. "But uhm, could one of you go get a nurse?"
"Are you in pain?" Gloria asked, reaching a hand out to put on my bare shoulder.
"No, I just," I stopped, wincing a bit in embarrassment, "I have to, you know, go."
"Go where?" Cassie asked, then caught herself. "Oh, you mean like to the bathroom? We can help you walk there, I'm sure."
"It's not that," I said, "I just, could you go get a nurse, pretty please?"
Gloria nodded and left, tugging the privacy curtain closed behind her on reflex.
"So what," Cassie asked, "we can't help you stand up?"
