Work Text:
August 2013
Nancy flopped onto her new, laughably small bed with a purple sheet set and comforter.
“Thanks for coming and helping me haul my shit up three flights of stairs steps,” Nancy said.
She sat up and turned to her sister, Shelby, who was leaning up against the bed frame.. “I wish Mom and Dad were here though.” She couldn’t help but feel like they were paying her school fees, including her rent, to cover up for the fact that they never showed up to anything.
“Oh Nance, I know,” Shelby said, patting her shoulder. “They’d be here if they could.”
It wasn’t that Nancy’s parents were neglectful or didn’t want to be there. They really did want to be there, but being high-profile surgeons out of Austin, their time wasn’t their own, and they were both stuck in 8-hour-long surgeries today. Nancy had always been seeking out validation from them; she got the best grades, took piano lessons, tried out for all the sports teams in high school (and failed greatly), and now, is majoring in pre-med, just for them. In actuality, she had no idea what she was doing or what she wanted to do with her life. She liked the idea of a medical career and helping people, but being a doctor was a lot of stress. She saw the emotional and physical toll it took on both her parents, but “that’s how it was supposed to be,” as they would say. If something is easy, it isn’t worth doing, her dad always told her.
She felt herself getting lightheaded. She couldn’t tell if it was from the lack of air conditioning in her dorm during a hot and humid Texas summer day, the fact that it was 2:30 in the afternoon and she hadn’t eaten yet today, or that she had started to think about her future as a doctor and that made her sick anytime she thought of it.
“Let’s go get some food, you look like shit.”
Nancy rolled her eyes, “Rude! But you're right. There’s a sub shop a block away. Let’s go there.”
They headed out the door, down the stairs, and out of the building and walked down the street to McAlister’s Deli. Nancy ordered an Italian sub and a sweet tea and Shelby ordered a spicy turkey melt and a coke and they sat down at one of the white marble tables with red and black chairs in the restaurant.
Before Nancy could even take a bite of her sandwich, Shelby was already asking incredibly personal questions;it was what she was best at. “So, ready to find a man yet?”
“Jesus. I haven’t even been here a day.”
“I know, I know, but I did meet Michael here.”
“And I deeply adore him, and he’s a great husband to you, but I just don’t know,” Nancy responded, what she actually wanted to say was, well honestly, I don’t even know anything anymore. Sexuality is confusing, I feel like I like guys, but girls too… and that can’t be right, because you have to be one or the other.
But she couldn’t say that, so she said:“I want to focus on finding friends and my studies for a semester at least.”
“Okay, I hear you,” Shelby nodded. “Hey, you!” She pointed to the man sitting alone eating his sandwich at the table across from them.
He looked up at them, looking slightly frightened, then returned to his sandwich.
“I’m talking to you!”
“Oh, ma’am. I didn’t think you were talking to me, I’m sorry,” the man responded.
“What. Are. You. Doing,” Nancy gritted through her teeth.
“Making you a friend,” Shelby winked. “Come sit with us,” she called to the man and motioned to the chair next to her.
“Oh, no, no, I’m okay, I don’t want to intrude.”
“Don’t be silly, come on!” Shelby insisted.
The man got up with his food and sat down next to them. “Hi. I’m Carlos,” he said shyly.
“My name is Shelby, and this is Nancy. Are you a student here at A&M?”
Nancy could tell he was anxious about this interaction.
“Uhhh... Yeah. I just moved in, my parents left not that long ago, I’m a freshman.” Carlos was visibly fidgeting at this point.
“Would you look at that? Nancy is too.” Shelby winked at her sister. “What’s your major?”
“Criminal Justice.” Carlos took a sip of his drink.
“I’m pre-med,” Nancy admitted before taking a bite of her sandwich.
“Oh, cool,” Carlos responded.
Shelby facilitated small talk among them for the rest of their meal, learning that they were both from Austin, Carlos's Dad is a Texas ranger, he has two sisters named Ana and Luisa, and that romance novels are a guilty pleasure of his. Nancy talked about her love for horror books, old movies, and her favorite music artists which included Arctic Monkeys, The Neighbourhood, and Marina, trying to avoid mentions of family.
“A&M is kind of a legacy in our family. Our parents came and met here, I graduated from here and met my husband here. It’s destiny, I think. Who knows Nancy, maybe you’ll find your husband here too.” Shelby winked at her.
Nancy groaned, she always tried her best to avoid talking about her parents, especially around new people.
“Oh, that’s very nice.” Carlos nervously sipped from his drink.
They concluded eating, Nancy exchanged numbers with Carlos, and he left.
As much as Nancy hated how Shelby interfered, she really felt like Carlos could be a great friend and she was glad she knew someone now. They threw away their trash and walked out of the restaurant.
“He was cute, don’t you think? Did you see his dark curls and tan skin? And that smile of his?” Shelby asked.
Nancy sighed, “Yes, I did see, and he is cute, but I don’t know. He seemed nice, I don’t know if he’s my type though.”
“Fine! You’ll have to keep me up to date on all things about you while you’re here. I’m living vicariously through you now.”
They approached Nancy’s building and headed up to her dorm room.
“Thank you, for all you’ve done for me today. I love you.” Nancy hugged her sister.
“I love you too, Nance.” Shelby broke from the hug. Still holding onto Nancy’s shoulders, she said, “You’re going to be great. College is a place where you can be you. Please try your best to put yourself out there and not just stay in your room all the time. Make friends, meet new people, be social.”
This was easy for Shelby to say, she loved going to parties and talking to people, however, Nancy had a much harder time with it. “I’ll try,” she smiled.
“Well, I have to get headed back to Austin, I’ll miss you Nance,” Shelby gave her one last hug. “I’ll be calling you later and I better see you post all the fun things you’re up to on Facebook.”
“Maybe.” Nancy hated Facebook, but she knew it would make her sister happy so she agreed.
Shelby left and then Nancy was in her dorm alone for the first time.
Nancy had a basic freshman schedule for a pre-med major — chemistry, English literature, anatomy and physiology I, world history, and a freshman seminar.
She barely slept Sunday night into Monday. Her first class, chemistry, wasn't until 9 a.m. but nerves had her up at 6 a.m. She showered and got herself ready for the day and then headed to the dining hall for breakfast. Not long after, it was time to head to the Butler building for her class. She thought about texting Carlos and apologizing for the embarrassment her sister caused yesterday, but she decided against it. It’s a big campus, I’ll probably never see him again anyway, she thought to herself.
She walked up the steps and to room 313 for her very first college class. The room was almost completely full even with it being twenty minutes before class began. There was one singular seat open. “Oh my god,” she whispered.It was right next to Carlos, the man she met yesterday at the deli.
Nancy walked to the open seat, cleared her throat, and asked, “Is this seat taken?”
She could tell he was really thrown off guard by her showing up. “Uh, uh, no, no, go ahead!” He stuttered as he shuffled his papers and binder out of the way and gave her a nervous smile. “I honestly didn’t know if i’d see you again, this campus is huge, but it’s nice to see you again and to know someone in class.”
“Thanks.” Nancy sat down on the swivel chair at the desk.
“I’m really sorry about yesterday. You were just trying to enjoy a meal in peace and my sister ruined that. She’s kind of a lot.”
“Oh no, no. If I’m being honest, I hadn’t met anyone on campus other than my roommate and he honestly sucks, so I’m glad I know someone now.” Carlos left a long pause between them, then asked “Did you want to get coffee after class? There’s a coffee shop on the first floor of this building.”
Nancy had a look of shock on her face and she had a very hard time disguising her facial expressions.
“Oh my god. No, no. Not like a date, just like friends?”
“I think that would be nice,” Nancy smiled.
Just then, the professor walked in the door and started class. He went over all the boring syllabus lecturing and then class was over.
They packed up their things and Carlos led the way down the steps and to the coffee shop.
“Find us a table and I’ll go order. What would you like?” Carlos asked.
“Oh, just a hot coffee with one sugar, no cream.”
“Simple, I like it,” Carlos smiled.
Nancy sat down at a square table with two chairs in the middle of the café and Carlos joined her shortly after.
“Order up,” Carlos joked.
“Thanks. How much do I owe you?” Nancy asked
“Don’t worry about it.”
“So you’re from Austin too? What part?”
“I grew up a little outside of the city actually. We live on a ranch with a bunch of horses, I kinda miss the horses already.”
“Aw, that is so precious!” Nancy grinned.
“What about you?” Carlos sipped his latte.
“My parents live in Rollingwood.”
Carlos recognized that name. It's one of the wealthier neighborhoods of Austin, but he could also sense this was a rough topic for her just from her mentioning that so he decided to change the subject. “Do you get along with your roommate?”
“I have a single. What about you?”
“Oh my god. He’s the worst! I’m trying to give it time since it’s only been a day, but he leaves his dirty clothes everywhere, including his nasty underwear. And then this morning he let his alarm run for like thirty minutes! I know I'm kind of a control freak and love things to be clean, but he’s driving me insane.”
“No, I’m on your side, that’s awful! Maybe I should be happier to not have a roommate,” Nancy laughed.
Their conversations just flowed over the next hour. They compared their schedules to see they had freshman seminar and English literature together.
Carlos looked at his watch. “It’s almost time for English lit, want to talk over together?”
“Sure.” Nancy smiled and started to pack up her things. Carlos was turning out to be a great person to have met already.
Nancy was headed to her A&P study group. This class was unnecessarily hard and she was grateful to have this friend group to help her maintain a B. However, she was getting increasingly closer to one of the groupmates. Her name was Emily. She was tall, blonde, and gorgeous. They started hanging out just the two of them at her off-campus apartment. It was all very confusing. Emily was open about her sexuality, she was a lesbian and wasn’t afraid to let everyone know. Nancy, however, was still incredibly confused.
She walked in the study room in the Health Science building and set her backpack down with the group of friends.
“Hey Nancy! Emily couldn’t make it today, she had to work, but let’s get started,” one of the students said.
They talked for an hour about the skeletal system, including using the skeleton model the university kept in there for studying.
She’d grown quite fond of everyone in the group, It wasn’t quite the same bond she had with Carlos, but they were all close. Coincidentally, they were all active in the LGBTQ clubs on campus so they were cool to be around and she knew they were safe company to have.
A little while later, mostly everyone had left but Nancy and Sadie. Sadie was a junior, and was an upperclassman who came to these groups as a tutor-like person to help them learn the material. And she coincidentally was a very confident bisexual woman.
“Sadie. Can I ask you a personal question?”
“Of course, Nancy. I’m an open book. Ask me anything.”
“So, you’re bi, like you like girls and guys … I’ve been kind of struggling since coming here. I’ve always thought everyone liked girls but that didn’t mean anything, but I’ve learned not everyone feels that way. Before coming here, I thought you had to be one or the other. Gay or straight, that there was no both. I really like Emily, and could see something more with her … And I like guys too. I’m just really confused.” Nancy felt her eyes filling up with tears now.
Sadie gave her a warm smile and grabbed her hand. “It’s okay. Everything is on a spectrum. Some people like a label like bisexual or lesbian, others don’t. Your identity is your own, specialized to you. It’s okay to be confused, or figuring it out. Some people like the umbrella term as ‘queer’ for anyone who sees themselves as not straight, maybe that’s you. I can’t make that decision for you, but it’s something to think about.”
Queer. She liked that. Not a label, but a generalized term for people like her. She had never heard that before.
September 2013
A month had passed, and Carlos and Nancy were hanging out almost every day. But something was eating at Nancy that she really needed to get off her chest. Emily. She was really enjoying seeing her and didn’t want to keep someone who brought her such immense happiness from him anymore. She knew he would never judge her, but it was still Texas.
Neither of them was really interested in the party scene. They spend their Friday nights eating popcorn and watching movies on a laptop, squeezed together on Nancy’s bed. It never felt weird or uncomfortable to have Carlos, a man, in her bed so close to her. He had a sense of warmth to him, not pressure like with other guys.
There was a knock at the door. “Heyyyyy!” Carlos said as he walked in with a DVD of The Amazing Spider Man.
“Hey, Carlos.” Nancy put on a forced smile.
“Chica, what’s wrong?”
It was insane the bond they had formed in just a month. They already knew each other’s mannerisms and body language so well Carlos knew something was up.
“There’s something I need to tell you before we make the popcorn or turn on the movie. It may make you change your mind on if you want to stay.”
“Okay … It seems serious.” Carlos sat down on the bed next to her.
“I don’t even know how to say this, but I feel so suffocated keeping it bottled in.” Nancy looked down at her feet that were dangling off the bed. “So, I’ve been seeing someone.”
“And you didn’t tell me? Why?” Carlos looked surprised.
“Well, it’s complicated. We haven’t been seeing each other long but we’re having fun and I like being with them.”
Carlos rubbed her shoulder. “That’s amazing. Why would that make me want to leave?”
“Well, they’re a girl. I’m seeing a woman. And I’m still doing a lot of discovery about myself, I still like men too … really everyone ... I don’t like the labels of bisexual, lesbian, or straight … I think if I were to call myself something, I would say I’m queer, I’m just me who happens to like girls too.”
“Oh, Nancy.” Carlos pulled her in for a big bear hug. They stayed there for a moment, then Carlos whispered in her ear. “Since we’re sharing, I’m gay. Like super gay.”
Nancy retracted from the hug and held him at the shoulders. “WHAT?” she screamed.
“Yeah, I tried denying it for a bit during senior year of high school. I even tried dating my best friend from back home. Her name is Iris. We’re still really good friends, but women are not for me,” Carlos chuckled. “Now, since that’s out of the way. I’m gonna pop the popcorn in the microwave so we can get this movie started!”
She wiped away a tear and whispered to herself, “Wow, that was way easier than I expected.”
Carlos came back with the popcorn in a bowl and turned on the movie.
October 2013
It was finally starting to cool off in Texas and not be so scorching every day. Nancy could finally wear a hoodie without sweating on her hike to her classes. It was midterms week and Carlos was coming over to study for their chemistry midterm.
She could feel herself on the verge of a mental breakdown. She had left the door unlocked so Carlos could let himself in. Being the polite man he was, he still knocked and waited for permission before coming into the room.
“Come in,” Nancy groaned, leaning her head on the desk.
“Nance, you look so grim. It’ll be okay.”
“No, it won’t. I hate my classes. I suck at them, I’m on the verge of failing anatomy and physiology and you’re the only reason I have a B in chem. I don’t want to do this anymore.”
Carlos crouched down next to her. “What’s all this about?”
Nancy could feel the tears falling. “I don’t want to be a doctor. I hate the thought of it anymore, but my parents are surgeons. I have to be a doctor.”
“You don’t have to be anything other than you and what makes you happy. If they don’t accept it, that’s on you. You’ll always have me; you’re stuck with me for life now.”
It was becoming a ritual of theirs that every Monday morning after their chemistry class they would have a friend coffee date at The Junction, the coffee shop in the Butler building, where they started their friendship back in August. They changed up their orders a lot, but the conversations and company stayed the same. They never longed for a big college friend group. They found their best friend for life and that wouldn’t ever change. Today, Nancy decided on an iced oat milk matcha latte with a croissant and Carlos got a cortado and a sausage and egg breakfast sandwich. This coffee shop had quickly become their spot on campus. They spent every Monday morning here but whenever they had big exams coming up they’d study here too. There were too many distractions in their dorm rooms, but the library was too quiet. The Junction was perfect.
“So, Carlos, I have an idea and I also have a life update to tell you.” Nancy took a sip of her matcha latte.
“Okay, tell me everything,” Carlos said, leaning in.
“Well, you know I’ve been hanging out and studying with Emily from A&P.”
Carlos nodded and took a bite out of his breakfast sandwich.
“We kind of started hooking up and she’s my girlfriend now.”
“That’s awesome, Nance.” He was deeply excited for her but couldn’t help but feel sad for himself. College was supposed to be where you organically meet someone and fall in love. He was such a hopeless romantic yet had no one to be hopelessly romantic to.
“And she invited me to this hang-out at her place, not like a rager or anything. It’s just people hanging out, maybe you’ll finally meet your man,” Nancy winked. “It’s Friday night, so we’d have to reschedule movie night to Saturday, but I really want to go, but I won’t go unless you do.”
“Well since you look so smitten, I’ll go.” Carlos was already anxious over it all, but also kind of hoping he does meet his future man, though that's unrealistic and he shouldn’t get his hopes up.
“It’s super casual, but it’ll be fun!”
Carlos donned his usual casual attire. It was finally cool enough to wear long sleeves. He dressed in a maroon, fitted V-neck long-sleeve shirt, blue jeans, and sneakers. He grabbed his keys, walked out the door of his dorm, and made the walk over to Nancy’s dorm to meet her. He knocked, and after confirmation he could come in, opened the door. Nancy was dressed in black jeans, a maroon peplum top, and a chunky necklace.
“Oh my god. We match.” Carlos looked down at his shirt, then to Nancy again.
Nancy laughed, “Well I’m not changing, it’s fine.”
They headed out the door and walked a few blocks away to Emily’s off-campus apartment. Carlos was starting to feel nauseous from all the anxieties of the unknowns with this party.
Nancy noticed his hands shaking and grabbed his hand. “It’s going to be okay. I promise. If anything, you have me, and I would never abandon you.”
“Oh, I know. Social stuff like this just makes me feel weird,” Carlos said.
They approached the door to Emily’s apartment and rang the bell.
A tall, blonde woman answered the door, “Hi! Come in, you must be Carlos!” she said, and hugged him before he even cleared the doorway. “I’ve heard so much about you!”
“All good I hope!” Carlos responded, wondering when she was going to let go.
“Sorry, I forgot to mention, she’s a hugger,” Nancy added.
“Oh, it’s okay,” Carlos responded shyly, finally being released from the hug.
“There’s someone I want you to meet,” Emily said as she winked at Nancy.
Emily grabbed Carlos’s arm, pulling him towards the group of people in the living room. “You have nice muscles.”
“Umm… Thank you?” Carlos said awkwardly.
All three of them entered the living room as ‘Sugar’ by Maroon 5 played on the speakers in the background.
“This is Chris.” Emily gestured to the brunette man sitting on the couch, who looked just as surprised by this ambush. “I’ll let you two be.” Emily walked away to the kitchen where he could hear the two girls giggling with each other.
To Carlos’s surprise, he actually really enjoyed talking to Chris. He was from Houston, liked baseball, was majoring in psychology, and lived in the same building as Nancy, just a different floor. Their conversation felt natural and he didn’t even realize three hours had passed when Nancy came up behind him and whispered to him, “I’m going to spend the night here, you don’t mind walking yourself back to campus, do you?”
“No, it’s fine, have a great time.” Carlos smiled up at her.
“It is getting late, maybe I should head back to my dorm,” Carlos said, looking at his watch.
“Man, it’s 8 p.m. Wanna go get dinner somewhere?” Chris gave a warm smile.
Fuck it , he thought. This is how it’s supposed to be right?
“I think I’d like that,” Carlos responded.
“Do you like barbeque?”
“Dude, I’m from Texas, of course I do,” he laughed.
Nancy came home the following morning, showered, and got ready to head to breakfast. She approached the elevator, pressed the ‘down’ button, and waited for the elevator car to stop on her floor. Moments later, the doors opened on a disheveled Carlos, wearing the same clothes from the previous night. She was speechless, covering her mouth with her hand to keep herself from cackling.
“Someone had some fun last night,” Nancy said as she entered the elevator car. “You’re coming to breakfast with me and telling me EVERYTHING.”
“Ugh,” Carlos groaned. “Can I at least shower first?”
“I guess.” Nancy was grinning ear to ear. She didn’t even know what his night looked like but from context clues, she was so proud of him.
They made their walk over to Carlos’s building. “By the way, I’m waiting for you in the lobby, your roommate is creepy,” Nancy remarked.
Carlos laughed. “I get it, I won’t be long.”
Not long after, Carlos returned in fresh clothes, wild curls and all, which he hated.
They decided to forgo the dining hall and walk to the local diner in town for some pancakes and waffles.
Nancy didn’t want to waste any time before getting the details of Carlos’s night. Shortly after they ordered, Nancy said, “Sooooo…. What happened last night?”
Carlos started to blush. He loved Nancy more than anyone, but where he came from, you didn’t talk about sex or even relationships, but she was so open about everything. “Well, Chris and I hit it off.”
Nancy had a devilish grin on her face. “It worked.”
“I should have known this was all a scheme.” Carlos shook his head. “We went to dinner after leaving Emily’s, we got barbeque and the conversation flowed and he invited me back to his dorm, which I should have known better, but he lives in the same building as you.” Carlos took a bite of his waffle. “And we kind of hit it off.”
“Hmm...” Nancy pulled out her phone and started texting.
“Hey, hey. What are you doing?” Carlos started to panic.
“Nothing. I’m just telling Emily the plan worked, I won’t give details.”
“Fine.”
“So, go on.” Nancy took a sip of the bitter diner coffee.
Carlos sighed. “Well, as I said, we hit it off, and we went back to his dorm since he has a single, and uhh… we hooked up.” He was blushing so much he was as red as a tomato.
“Ahhhhhh! You needed to; you’re too wound up.”
“Pffft.” Carlos rolled his eyes. “Eat your damn pancakes.”
November 2013
Since Nancy didn’t drive herself to campus all those months back, and Carlos lived in the same city, Carlos gave Nancy a ride back home for fall break. Riding with Carlos would be immensely less painful than asking her parents to pick her up since Shelby was busy at work.
“Thanks for driving me,” Nancy said.
“Anytime Nance.”
It was a two-hour long drive that felt like nothing, filled with lots of conversation regarding family, holiday plans, and stressing over finals that were waiting for them after the break, as well as jamming to the radio. They could be completely themselves around each other. Carlos felt like he was destined to meet her. He almost didn’t go to A&M, but it felt like the universe was screaming at him to go, and he thinks she was the reason why. She feels like his soulmate, but in a friendship way, not a romantic one. He’d been seeing Chris for about a month now. He likes him and the sex is good, but he doesn’t think he’s ‘the one’.
They were almost to Shelby’s house, where Nancy would be staying over break, only about a mile away, when she felt an intense jolt to the car, followed by darkness.
She came to an unknown amount of time later. Oh my god. Carlos. He was slumped over the steering wheel with blood dripping from his temple. She was covered in broken glass.
“Carlos! Carlos!” She slurred, shaking him, trying to get his attention. “Someone hit us!” She tried opening her door, but it was stuck. She could feel the burning of tears running over the cuts on her face.
She could hear the sirens but all she could think about was that Carlos could be dead for all she knew.
A tall firefighter approached the car. “My name’s Judd, stay calm, we’re gonna get you out of there real quick.”
“I don’t care about me! My friend! He’s not talking. I think he might be dead!” Nancy was hysterical at this point.
“Take a deep breath. What’s your name?”
“Nancy.”
“Well, Nancy, my friend, Tommy, is one of the finest paramedics Austin has to offer and she’s going to tend to him, he’s in good hands.”
Nancy nodded and was assisted by Judd to get out of the vehicle and Carlos eventually came to with assistance from the paramedic crew. Nancy wouldn’t leave his side. The paramedics decided to transport them to West Park together since Nancy wouldn’t budge. She had minimal cuts and bruises but they were adamant she go to the emergency room since she lost consciousness. Carlos was very confused and had a dilated pupil. They were concerned he had internal bleeding in his brain. Nancy wouldn’t let go of his hand. She couldn’t stop crying, she didn’t care about the pain of the salty tears running down the cuts on her cheeks. She only met him a few months ago but she couldn’t imagine her life without him now. “Don’t you dare fucking leave me, Carlos,” she pleaded.
His side was the side that was struck and she couldn’t help but feel anger. Why didn’t they hit my side? He doesn’t deserve this, she thought.
They had to be separated for the scans of their brains and then she was adamant about staying in the same room together in the emergency room. Carlos was in and out of consciousness now.
The doctor came into the room. “Is his family coming?”
Nancy sniffled, “Oh... I should call them.” She had never spoken with or even met his family. He’d talked about them and he doesn’t have a great relationship with his parents but he loved them and they loved him. They should be here.
“Well, we can’t wait for them. He needs surgery. And you’re cleared so you’re being discharged. You can go to the surgery waiting room on the third floor if you’d like to stay. When the nurse comes in with your discharge instructions you can ask for directions on how to get there.” The doctor left the room.
She took a few deep breaths and grabbed Carlos’s phone. Oh my god. It has his blood on it. She took the alcohol wipes from the room and cleaned it off to obtain his mom’s phone number. She knew he was distant with both of them but the relationship with his dad was worse.
She dialed the number on her iPhone and put the phone to her ear. No one answered.. She dialed again, and this time with a confused hello answered on the other end.
“Hi. My name is Nancy. I’m a friend of Carlos. He’s in the hospital at West Park, there was an accident. I can fill you in here if you’d like to come see him.”
There was a moment of silence. “Okay, we will be there as soon as we can,” the woman responded.
“I’ll be in the third-floor surgical waiting room,” Nancy said, then hung up.
The nurse then came in and gave her discharge instructions, and took her up to the waiting room.
Twenty minutes later, a couple came into the waiting room. “Are you Nancy?” the man asked sternly. “My name is Gabriel, this is my wife Andrea, we’re Carlos’s parents.”
“Yes.” Nancy got up, still shaking from the shock of everything she’d experienced in the last three hours. None of her cuts were deep enough to need stitches but she still looked horrible with a million tiny cuts on her skin, and primarily her face.
“Honey, are you all right?” Andrea asked out of concern.
“Yeah. I’m good, they checked me out downstairs, I just have a concussion and a bunch of these little cuts from the glass.”
“So, how’s Carlos?” Gabriel interjected.
Nancy sighed, “They hit his side of the car. He took the brunt of the force. He has a brain bleed and he’s in surgery now.” She wiped away a tear. “I know you're the police, sir. Do you know anything about the other car? I think they drove off.”
“I’m a Texas ranger. I did check on it, no leads, but highly likely a drunk driver, with the holiday and all.”
“Oh.” Nancy sunk into the uncomfortable hospital chair.
Multiple hours later, Carlos was out of surgery and in the intensive care unit. He was awake and talking coherently. He could only have one visitor at a time. Andrea and Gabriel let Nancy see him first. Carlos was right, they were nice people, but she could sense the distance between them.
She knocked on the door frame. “Hey.”
Carlos cleared his throat. “Hey there.”
Nancy walked in and timidly hugged him, taking special care not to disrupt any of the medical equipment attached to him. “I thought you were dead.”
“Nancy, you can’t get rid of me that easily.”
“I’m serious. It was so scary.” Nancy looked at the floor.
“I know.” Carlos looked at her with big, brown eyes.
“I met your parents.”
Carlos sighed. “Are they here?”
Nancy gave him a side-eye. “I know you avoid them, but did you expect me not to call them? They’re in the waiting room. They’re very nice.”
“I know. They are nice people, it’s just… difficult.”
“Carlos. I know how you feel with having difficult parental relationships. My parents work in this hospital, and they don’t even know I'm here. I should call Shelby to pick me up. It looks like you’ll be spending the rest of the break in this hospital bed.”
“Yeah, I’m going to have to withdraw for the semester and just take the loss. The surgeon said recovery is going to take multiple months.”
“Well, that makes what I’m about to say easier. I’m going to finish out the semester. But I’m not coming back to A&M for the next one I’m going to tell my family over break. I don’t want to be a doctor at all, but I think I want to be a paramedic. Seeing them spring into action and save your life. That’s what I want to do. So I’m going to apply to the Austin Fire Department next year.”
There was a moment of silence, Carlos taking in the information. “I think that’s great. With all this, my mom is definitely going to make me transfer somewhere close to Austin now. I think EMS is an amazing fit for you. You’ll do amazing.”
“I love you, Carlos. A&M might not be the place for me, but I’m so happy to have met you.”
“I love you too, Nance. You’re stuck with me for life now.”
December 2013
Fall break came and went. Nancy was in Carlos’s room every day by his bedside in the hospital. Then, it came time to go back to A&M for two weeks. She passed her finals with average grades, moved back in with Shelby, and applied to the Austin Fire Department.
Nancy and Andrea had a blossoming relationship. Andrea loved Nancy immediately, knowing she was an amazing best friend to her son. On this chilly, winter day, Andrea was teaching Nancy how to make Carlos’s favorite soup. Carlos had been a horrible, fussy patient with them over the last month but he did really love soup.
He stumbled out into the kitchen, in a grey t-shirt, black sweatpants, and slippers. “Good morning,” he groaned.
“It’s one in the afternoon but good morning to you, too, Carlos,” Nancy snidely remarked.
Carlos just rolled his eyes and sat down at the table and shortly after they met him at the table with bowls of soup.
“So, what’s your plan now, Carlos?” Nancy asked.
“Well, healing my brain.” Carlos slurped a spoonful of flavorful broth.
“Obviously. After that, like are you going back to A&M? Going somewhere here? Giving up on the cop idea? You know it’s best if you still want to do that, to get a criminal justice degree before the academy,” Andrea nagged.
“Yes, mamá. I know. I still want to do that, I think I’m going to apply to Austin Community College to start in the fall and get my associate’s degree there.”
“I think that’s a wonderful idea.” Andrea rubbed his shoulder. “What about you, Nancy? What’s your plan now?”
“I start my EMT class with the fire department in January, I’m really excited.”
“That’s amazing, I’m so happy for both of you,” Andrea smiled warmly.
They sat and finished their soup and spent the rest of the day watching movies and eating popcorn, one of Nancy and Carlos’s favorite pastimes.