But this is what friends do, Emma reminded herself. This is how you keep people in your life for more than just a few weeks at a time; you help them and they help you. “Okay.” She finally answered, trying to keep the reluctance out of her voice. “Are you going to be here soon?”
“Yeah, they’re loading him into a wheelchair now, and we’re right up the road so it won’t take long.”
Sighing again, Emma looked around the room once more, and then went to grab her box fan from the bedroom to make sure Ryan would be comfortable. “Okay. I guess I’ll be waiting. But Gabi? Is he going to be okay?”
“Off the record?”
Emma wrinkled her nose but agreed immediately. “Yes, of course off the record.”
“His season is likely done. He tore his ACL. He’s looking at prehab, then surgery, then rehab. By the time he’s healthy enough to go again, it’ll be the playoffs, and they’ll have left him off the playoff roster or kept him on injured reserve. I’m sure the team will make a formal release about it tomorrow. I’m going to let you go now, I’ve got to drive and follow them.” Shaking her head sadly for Ryan, Emma hung up the phone and began to pace around the room, waiting for their arrival.
And indeed Gabi was right; it wasn’t but a few minutes later when she saw three sets of lights turn into their complex and head towards the parking lot. One vehicle – the Malone's sedan – parked in her extra spot, while Luke’s luxury car and Ryan’s SUV were put into their respective spots.
Within minutes, Devin and Luke had Ryan in a basket carry and were bringing him towards her door – which she opened so they could come right in. Gabi was following with a plastic bag and a set of crutches, and surprised Emma when she immediately tugged her in for a hug as soon as she entered her apartment. Blinking, but trying to hug Gabi back as unawkwardly as possible, Emma tried to reassure her friend softly, “He’ll be okay.”
Gabi gave her a sad smile as her husband and cousin got her brother settled down in Emma’s favorite chair. Ryan had barely moved the entire time and in fact looked to be completely passed out from what Emma could tell. Soon, Gabi let go of Emma and propped up the crutches against the chair before coming back and glancing around for a place to set down the plastic bag. Finally putting it near the sink, she went to her husband and he pulled her into his arms without any words. Even Luke looked out of place – he kept glancing around like he was trying to figure out what else he should be doing.
Walking quietly into the room, she rested one hand on Luke’s elbow, and the other on Devin’s, telling them all soft, “Why don’t you guys go back to your own places? I’ll keep an eye on him tonight. He’ll be okay, I promise.”
Luke looked like he was thinking about a protest, but instead he surprised Emma by turning towards her and kissing her forehead, and then without any words headed outside. Devin turned more towards Emma and murmured at her, “I’ll take care of this one. Text if you need anything. I don’t think I’ll be getting much sleep tonight.” He was thwacked in the chest for his words, but Emma could see that Gabi wasn’t disagreeing with him much either.
Walking her friends to her door and then locking it closed behind them, Emma turned back towards Ryan and could only shake her head. “What am I going to do with you?” Not sure what else to do, Emma went back into her bedroom, gathered up her laptop, smart phone, and a bean bag chair from her college days, and headed back into her living room, preparing to keep an eye on Ryan.
~*~
Ryan wasn’t sure what time it was, or for that matter where he was. He was aware enough to feel the razor’s edge of pain slice through him when he shifted his leg a bit and he damn near bit his own tongue off to keep from crying out. Slowly, his eyes adjusted to the darkness, and he realized he was in an apartment that looked like his own – but this was not his apartment.
Gradually, he turned his head until his eyes landed on a person in what appeared to be a bean bag chair. Trying to shift just a bit, he peered a bit closer – was that Emma? Was he in Emma’s apartment? If that was indeed the case – why was she out here and not in her bedroom? She couldn’t be comfortable sleeping like that.
Shaking his head just a bit, Ryan finally noticed the crutches propped against the chair he was laying in. Grabbing them to pull them closer, he tried to lower the chair without making too much noise, but as soon as his feet touched the ground, the motion sent him grinding his teeth. He saw Emma shift and heard her whisper, “Are you awake? Do you need anything? Gabi left instructions.”
Ryan tried to pull himself to his feet, and managed to soon get balanced on the crutches. Gazing down at her with a new level of appreciation, he told her softly. “I’ll be okay. Why don’t you get some sleep in your own bed? I need to take a leak, and then I’ll look over that paperwork.”
‘Take a leak.’ He could see her mouthing at him before she surprised him and teased him just a bit. “So classy, Ryan.”
Managing a slight smile, he murmured back, “I never claimed to have class, Emma. Now go to bed.”
“Bossy pain in my ass.” Emma grumbled at him, but she nonetheless climbed to her feet. Instead of heading towards her room though, she headed down the short hallway to her bathroom, flipping the light on for him. “I uh, hope you can do what you need to do in there without any help. But if you can’t, just call out. I’ll hold off on going to bed until you come back out.”
Ryan shook his head at her. “I’ll figure it out. I’m a big boy and this isn’t the first or last time I’ve been hurt. Go to bed.”
This time Emma flipped him off, but she did turn to her bedroom, and he waited until he heard the door shut before he maneuvered the crutches off towards her bathroom, trying to readjust to having to rely on those for balance instead of his legs. Soon he reached the bathroom and after a bit of shifting around and leaning one of the crutches against her sink, Ryan managed to do his business with one hand, using the other arm to sustain his balance on the crutch. It wasn’t the most elegant of things, but at least his aim was true.
After a few more minutes of shifting around, he had both crutches beneath his arms and could head out of the bathroom, flipping the light off in his wake, and trying to move as quiet as possible into Emma’s kitchen. He flipped on a light, finally finding the plastic bag with his pills and instructions near the sink. He already knew what the papers would say, but still he found himself reading them again anyways.
Preliminary Diagnosis: Torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament. No extra structural damage.
“Done. My season. My dreams. All done.” Ryan whispered to himself before fishing into the bag to grab for the pill bottle, trying to mentally calculate how long it had been since they’d sent him home. He figured it had to have been several hours and so it should be safe to take another pill. Grabbing a paper cup from beside the sink, Ryan tossed the pill back, and then eyed the chair he had been sleeping on.
It was old looking, but from its position in the room, it was also well loved. And given how little else Ryan had seen in the way of possessions in his brief time in Emma’s apartment, he began to understand just how much of a sacrifice she was making by letting him stay there with her.
“Someday, I’ll return the favor Emma, I promise you that.” He whispered as he turned off the kitchen light and maneuvered back to the chair. If these pain pills were even half as strong as he thought they were, it wasn’t going to take him long to pass out once he got comfortable. But even that took several tries, and he jarred his leg more than once before he finally had the chair reclined in a suitable position.
When the pain pills finally began to tug Ryan into their all-encompassing void, the last thought he was aware of was of how miserable the next few days and weeks were going to be.
Chapter 13 - Roomies? Roomies.
The morning after his injury, Ryan was already starting to find that the pain had faded to a dull but constant ache. He couldn’t bear weight on that leg though – and after spending more time reading over the paperwork the doct
ors had provided him with, he figured it might be several weeks before he could. They wanted to perform surgery once the swelling had gone down, and at the moment the swelling was being controlled by the unwieldy brace that went from his upper leg to just before his ankle.
As comfortable as Emma’s chair had been, Ryan was also aware of the fact that he’d not be able to sleep on it long term. It was also clear that until he had the surgery, it wasn’t going to be smart of him to navigate stairs – which meant he couldn’t access his own apartment. Before Luke had gone on what should have been their morning run, Ryan had him drop off his laptop and phone – he needed to start figuring out how he was going to deal with the next few weeks.
And so, when Emma soon stumbled out of her own room a few hours later, she found Ryan still on the chair, but now with his laptop balanced on his lap and his glasses perched on his nose. “You wear glasses?” She questioned sleepily as she rubbed the gunk out of her eyes.
Looking up from the laptop, Ryan smirked in her direction. “Good morning to you too, sunshine.” She hadn’t bothered to change out of her pajamas yet. It was some sort of cottony material matching outfit that left little to the imagination. Tiny little straps holding up just as skimpy a top, and pants that were just barely being held up by her hips – and if he was correct – she wasn’t wearing a bra. Feeling his pants begin to tighten, Ryan was quick to shift the laptop down a bit.
He chuckled soft when her immediate response was to flip him off, and after a moment she wandered over closer to him, leaning against the side of the chair to peer over his shoulder. “What you up to this early?” She brought a hand to her face as she yawned again.
Cutting his eyes over to where she was practically leaning against him, Ryan turned his eyes back to the computer screen, hoping like hell his cheeks weren’t as flushed as they felt like they were. “I. Uh. Was looking for places that sell beds and mattresses and alla that, and deliver them.”
Yawning again and shaking her head a bit, Emma murmured at him, “Whatcha doin’ that for? You got a good bed the team provided you with upstairs, dontcha? Couldn’t you just tell them you need a different one?”
Giving her a small smile, Ryan answered, “Can’t get to that one at the moment. Or much of any of my stuff for that matter. So, since I don’t want to impose on you any longer than I already have, I figured I’d commandeer Gabi’s office and use that as a bedroom until I can navigate stairs again.” Tilting his head a bit, he opened another tab in his browser, and added as an afterthought, “I should find some place that delivers earplugs too, otherwise those two might permanently scar me.”
Leaning even closer to him, oblivious to the fact that her chest was pressed against his shoulder, Emma reached over and mussed up Ryan’s hair, asking, “Why dontcha just have the bed delivered here? It’s not like I don’t have the room.”
Doing everything he could to contain the blush and subtly shift away from her, Ryan nonetheless knew his voice was quaking a bit when he answered quick, “I couldn’t ask that of you.”
She must have heard the quake because she took a step back and looked at him funny. “You okay? You look a little red.” Glancing around the room, Emma’s eyes finally settled on the box fan she’d brought out the previous night. “Oh, that’s why! It’s not on and you couldn’t reach it to turn on.” She went over to the fan in question and bent over to turn on the dial, leaving Ryan staring at her ass while she did. When she finally got the fan on a speed she deemed appropriate, Emma turned around again, yawned, and told Ryan, “You didn’t ask. I offered.” She paused for a long moment then shrugged a bit, adding in a softer voice, “Though what you see here is what you get.”
And I like what I’m seeing! Proclaimed the little voice in the back of Ryan’s head while he tried to convince his mouth to function properly. After what seemed like an eternity, but was likely only a matter of seconds, he finally replied, “At least let me offer you money towards your rent and food and such while I’m here, if we’re going to do that.”
“You don’t need to do that.” Emma started before Ryan interrupted.
“Yes. I do. If I’m going to impose on you, disrupt your life and such, the least I can offer is financial compensation for that.” Ryan pushed his glasses further up his nose and stared at her, not necessarily trying to intimidate her, but also trying to show her that this wasn’t a point he was willing to concede to her, either.
Holding his gaze for a long moment, Emma finally rolled her eyes and shrugged. “Has anyone ever told you what a stubborn pain in the ass you are?”
“Yes. Gabi. Often.” He retorted immediately and at that a grin broke across her face.
“I knew there was a reason I liked her so much!”
~*~
Barely five minutes after Ryan had wandered off, crutches and all, on what he proclaimed were ‘errands’, Emma’s doorbell rang to find a sullen looking Nebraskan rocking back and forth on his feet. “Can we talk?”
Almost immediately, Emma shook her head to the negative, telling him softly, but resolutely, “I’ve got nothing to say to you right now, Trent. Anything I say will make matters worse. We will be friends again, good friends, I’d imagine, but right now, I just need space.”
Sighing softly with eyes almost seeming to glisten a bit, Trent nodded his head at her, and then perhaps surprising them both, he leaned down to kiss her forehead. He turned on his heels to head back to his own apartment, leaving Emma standing there with her mouth agape.
He’d gotten maybe 10 feet away before Emma called out to him, “Trent. Wait. There’s something you should know.” And when he turned to glance back over his shoulder at her, she took a deep breath and told him, “Ryan is moving in here. For at least as long as he can’t navigate stairs. I just wanted you to hear that from me, and know there’s nothing more to it than that.”
She couldn’t make out what the expression on his face was, but his head nodded before he turned again, continuing on his way back to his apartment. Dragging a hand down her face, Emma watched him go until he was almost out of sight, and only then did she close the door and wander back into her bedroom, back to the article she’d been working on when Trent had rang her bell.
~*~
Almost 2 hours later, as Emma was finalizing her article on the previous days tryout session – now that the Blizzard had officially released the information about Ryan’s injury – she was interrupted by a loud knocking on her outside door. Furrowing her brow, Emma got up from her laptop, and headed to the door, getting more confused as she saw men from one of the local furniture chains outside. Opening the door, she inquired of them, “Hello gentlemen, can I help you?”
“Yes ma’am. This is 22-B, right? If so, we’ve got the stuff you ordered out in the truck. Just need to show us where to set it up, and we’ll be good to go.”
Emma blinked and stared at the man who spoke for a long moment, trying to remember when she had ordered anything. She sure as hell couldn’t afford new furniture at this point. Finally, she asked slowly, “What’s the name on the order?”
“A Mr. Ryan Perrault.”
Almost immediately, Emma smacked her hand to her forehead as this morning’s conversation trickled back into her head, long since distracted by her article and the conversation with Trent. Ryan. Who she had invited to stay with her. What in the world was she thinking?! But that wasn’t the problem of these delivery men, and shaking her head a bit, Emma beckoned them inside to show them the barren guest bedroom.
“Okay, and how are we positioning this stuff?”
Once again Emma was left furrowing her brow, pondering just how Ryan would want his bedroom set up. After another long moment, she held up a finger to ask them to give her a moment and went back into her own bedroom, grabbing her smartphone and firing off a quick text to Gabi along with a picture of the room. She could only hope her friend was in her office and not in the courtroom today, so she could reply quick.
And fortunately for her, that app
eared to be the case as her phone buzzed a moment later. Reading the text, Emma pointed to the back wall and murmured, “Head of the bed back against that wall, foot of the bed towards this door.” Pausing again. “Is there anything else you guys need of me right now? If not, I’ve got some work I need to wrap up.”
“We’re fine here. We’ll holler out to you when we’re done so you can sign the paperwork and verify the order was delivered and assembled to your satisfaction.”
Emma nodded again and left the men to do their work as she headed back into her own room. She still wasn’t precisely sure where Ryan was – and with his number not in her phone, it wasn’t a question she could solve either. That would be something she’d rectify once he did show up again. If they were to be living together for any length of time, they needed to be able to reach each other in case of situations like this!
Just Another Season Page 8