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Day 4 Prompt: Hospital
Gina couldn’t believe this had happened. And on camp, too.
They’d been there for a week, and rehearsals were in full swing for the musical. She had finally gotten cast as the lead, and so had EJ. They had both come a long way from their HSM scheming days and had earned their roles fairly and they were both ecstatic. That was until this afternoon.
First rehearsal block back from lunch, the pair were working on their major dance number for the show. The routine was pretty full-on, with some lifts and slides thrown in as well. They’d been through it a couple of times already today with no troubles, but first take back after lunch, things had not gone as smoothly. A part of the dance required EJ to lift Gina, then bring her down and dip her. The lift had gone fine, and even bringing her down was no problem, but EJ’s hand had missed the centre of Gina’s back when dipping her, causing her to fall. She’d tried to slow herself by putting her hand out but had landed on it awkwardly, so it didn’t completely stop her and she’d hit the ground, shoulder-first, with a thud.
Thankfully, her shoulder seemed fine, just possibly bruised, but her wrist had continued to be a pain as the afternoon wore on. She initially thought it was just sprained, so after a short break and trying to reassure EJ she was fine, they’d started rehearsing again. As time went on though, the pain wasn’t going away, and slowly she was finding it more difficult to grip things. And of course, EJ had noticed this when her grip wasn’t as strong as they held hands during the dance. When he questioned her, she’d tried to deny anything was wrong, but then EJ had given her that look and she knew he knew, so there was no point hiding it.
After going to see the camp nurse, she determined they should probably get it X-rayed just in case.
So here they were, in the small consult room, waiting for the doctor on call to see them. Gina was sitting in the main chair designated for the patient, her sore wrist resting against her stomach keeping it still to reduce the pain.
EJ sat next to her in a smaller chair, staring off into the distance, knee bouncing and hands fidgeting with nervous energy. He’d been pretty quiet through the afternoon since the fall, and Gina knew something was off.
“You know I’m going to be ok, right?”
“Yeah I know, you are Gina Porter after all.” He said with a small smile before looking down at his hands.
“So, what’s wrong?” She asked gently.
“It’s just… this was going to be… is going to be your first summer with us, and me, and I was really looking forward to it. I guess I just didn’t see ourselves sitting in Emergency cause I dropped you during a rehearsal.”
Gina felt her heart break a little. Anyone else would have missed what was left unsaid between the lines. But Gina knew EJ. She leaned forward, being careful of her wrist, and with her good hand, she reached over and interlaced her fingers with his.
“Hey, look at me,” She waited till his eyes met hers, and for the first time since the accident, she realised just how caught up he was over this. “This is not your fault, ok? I’ve had plenty of dancing mishaps over the years, by myself, with partners, in groups, it happens. Some are more serious than others but it’s just a part of the sport. But, we’ve also had a crazy week, so I’m kinda surprised we got this far without something happening.” That got the smile she wanted and slowly she could see him unwinding. “And regardless of whatever happens tonight, I’m really, really glad you're here and I can’t wait to spend the rest of camp and the summer with you.”
As she finished, Gina brought up their linked hands to her lips and placed a soft kiss on the back of his hand. EJ kept his eyes locked on hers, as he sat back in the chair, letting out a breath that Gina hadn’t realised he was holding.
They kept their hands linked until the doctor finally walked in a couple minutes later.
She introduced herself as Dr Evans, and after a bit of questioning, paperwork and some poking and prodding, she agreed that Gina would indeed need X-rays done. Before she left, she gave Gina some painkillers then stepped out of the room momentarily to contact the X-ray technician.
“You doin’ ok?” EJ asked, gently resting his hand on her knee, rubbing his thumb across it.
“Yeah, the meds are helping. I’m a little tired and hungry though. What time is it?”
EJ quickly glanced at his phone. “Just past 6 o’clock.”
“Mmm.” Gina sat back in the chair and closed her eyes. All she wanted to do was get back to camp and crawl into bed, but unfortunately, they would be stuck here for a while yet.
She felt EJ remove his hand and heard him bustle about next to her, before he gently nudged her knee again, prompting her to open her eyes and look at him.
“Hey, I can’t do much about the tiredness, but do you want this before you go for X-rays?”
Gina looked down to see what he was holding and couldn’t help but smile. It was probably stupidly big but she didn’t care. “Yeah, thanks. You’re gonna have to unwrap it for me though.”
EJ chuckled as he tore apart the plastic surrounding the granola bar. As he passed it over, he looked at her with an amusing smile. “This is going to be an interesting couple of weeks if you are unable to use your hand.”
“Oh shut up.”
This just caused EJ to laugh more.
Dr Evans finally returned and let them know Gina could go get her X-rays done. Unfortunately, EJ wasn’t allowed to come with her, so instead, he was going to find something to eat, other than granola bars. With the promise to see each other soon, EJ gave Gina's good hand a quick squeeze and placed a kiss on her cheek before they parted ways.
About an hour later, Dr Evans ushered them into a bigger consult room, where 2 nurses were getting stuff ready for a cast. The X-rays had found 2 hairline fractures in the joints of her wrist, and while usually, they would just heavily brace it, because she was on camp and away from home, they’d decided to cast it instead.
She sat next to the table where the nurses started wrapping her hand and arm. As much as they were trying to be gentle, it still really hurt, more than Gina expected. She was also exhausted by this point, which really didn’t help, and had slowly let down her guard, pretending everything was ok. EJ hadn’t left her side since she got back from X-rays and was now standing in front of her, in between her knees. His hand rested on her back, her head leaning against his stomach, facing the opposite direction to where the nurses worked. When she winced or tensed in pain, EJ rubbed comforting circles on her back and muttered reassuring words.
Once they were done, one of the nurses let them know that Dr Evans would be back for a final check before they could leave. Ej thanked them, as Gina sat cradling her now casted hand. She’d been given more painkillers, but she was still pretty uncomfortable. Once the nurses left, EJ ducked down to her level so that his eyes met hers.
“You ok?” Ej asked so softly Gina could barely hear him.
At that moment, she felt like they were the only people on earth. It struck her just how much care, concern and sincerity she saw in EJs eyes. She’d never had anyone look at her like that, and after the draining day she’d had, it almost made her tear up right then and there.
Coming back from her thoughts, she just nodded then let out a shaky breath. “Yeah, I’m just… it’s been a long day and I just wanna go to bed.”
“Yeah, I know. You’re doing great though. I’ve got an apple and another granola bar with me if you want. I know you haven’t really been able to eat since lunch.”
Before he finished, Gina was shaking her head. “No thanks. The meds are kinda messing with my appetite.”
“Alright.” EJ said while standing up again, not before planting a kiss on her forehead.
A short while later, they were in the car finally on their way back to camp. The drive had been relatively quiet since they left, apart from some traffic on the road and the radio playing softly in the background. Gina sat looking out the passenger window, watching the landscape whiz past them, EJs hand tangled with her good one, resting on her lap. After a couple more minutes of silence, she looked over at EJ.
“Thank you for everything today.”
“Your welcome. I just wish I could have done more.”
“You just being there was already more than enough.”
EJ brought their joint hands up towards his lips, planting a kiss on the back of her hand. And a couple minutes later Gina finally dozed off.
EJ was right at the hospital. The next few weeks were definitely interesting for the both of them. EJ had learnt just how determined Gina can be, but in return Gina learnt that it was ok to let people in and help her. He opened her granola bars, carried her bags and even offered his sweaters since her didn’t fit over her cast.
EJ had shown up and stuck around and she couldn’t wait to see what happened next.