I Go Where You Go

by Jaelyn Hardin

  I could tell by her face that the last thing she wanted to do was help me, but I saw her eyes move to Rhylie, and that was it.

  She sighed and sat back down. “Do you have an insurance card? It will go faster if I just input it for you.”

  “Yes, I do.” I dug through my wallet and found it, handing it to Heather. “Thank you.” I scrawled Rhylie’s info on the paper and gave her back the clipboard. “When will she be seen?”

  Heather handed me back my insurance card and pointed toward the sliding door. “Go through those doors and take her to the third room on the left, the doctor will be in shortly.”

  I turned to Matt and frantically waved him over. “Thank you, Heather.”

  “You’re welcome.” She hit a large button to open the door and we were in.

  Rhylie and I shared the hospital bed. She didn’t want to be alone. I laid down next to her, resting her injured arm on my lap and her head on my shoulder. Matt sat in a chair next to the bed, holding her hand in his. She was calmer than I thought she would be, asking a lot of questions.

  “What is the doctor going to do?”

  “He is going to look at your arm and see what is wrong with it,” I explained.

  “And then what?”

  “Then if you need medicine for it to get better, he will give it to you,” Matt said.

  “Will I get a shot?” She quivered next to me.

  “No sweetie, no shots for this.” I kissed the top of her head, loving her so much. “You might need an x-ray. That’s cool, right?”

  “That’s the camera that can see my bones?”

  “Yep. They will take some pictures of your bones and see what is going on in there.”

  “What if it’s bad?”

  “Then the doctor will fix it.” Matt was very certain with her, she needed that at a time like this. “That’s what doctors do.”

  “I’m tired, and my arm really hurts.” She rubbed her eyes with her palm.

  “Get some rest, we will wake you when the doctor comes in.” I kissed her head again as she fluttered her eyelids closed and dosed off.

  “Thank you,” I whispered to Matt. “Thank you so much.”

  He shook his head. “No need.”

  “No, seriously. I can’t thank you enough.” I looked down at my sleeping girl and was overcome with emotion. “If you weren’t there…” a tear was about to escape.

  “Hey, stop it. You would’ve been fine.”

  “It’s not even me, it’s her.” I stroked her hair between my fingers. “She was freaking out until she saw you.” I met his eyes with mine. “You calmed her.”

  He looked down at Rhylie softly, “I can see how much you care about her, I just wanted to help.”

  “And you did. I mean you freaking came to the hospital.” I smiled at him this time. “Thank you, Matt.”

  He tried to hide his smile. “I mean, I just feel bad that I’m all sweaty. Rhylie had to smell me the whole way here.” I chuckled with a hand over my mouth, trying to stifle it so Rhylie wouldn’t wake up, but it didn’t do any good.

  “Seriously though, thank you.”

  “No problem, Becka.”

  We sat and watched Rhylie sleep for a while. It was peaceful, almost serene. Even with the environment around us, we still managed to find our calm. But when my phone buzzed repeatedly, it took away the stillness.

  “Hey, Mom.”

  “Becka! What happened? Is she okay?” Her panic was screaming through the phone.

  “She’s okay. We are at the hospital just waiting for the doctor to come in. She’s sleeping right now.”

  “What happened?” I could tell she was out of breath.

  “She jumped off the swing and landed on her arm.”

  “Oh, my goodness,” I could tell she was crying. “How is she doing? Is she okay?”

  “She was freaked out at first but she’s good. Sleeping.” I knew if I remained calm, she would too.

  “I’m on my way! I’m so sorry you had to do that alone!”

  “I’m not alone, Matt’s here.” I knew that was going to spark a whole thing.

  “Matt? Like Matt Matt?”

  I chuckled. “He was with me at the park and he came with us.”

  “That was so nice of him!” she shrieked like a schoolgirl. “Well, traffic is really bad, but I’m on my way!”

  “Take your time and drive safe, we are okay over here.” I didn’t need her getting in an accident.

  “Alright, I love you.”

  “Love you too.”

  After over an hour the doctor came in. He went through all the bells and whistles before deciding to take her back for an x-ray.

  “You need to look at my bones?” Rhylie asked, looking nervous.

  “I need to see if they are okay after that fall you took.”

  “My arm hurts really bad,” she told him again.

  “I know it does, so the faster we get that x-ray, the faster we can fix it. Okay?” Rhylie looked at me to see if it was okay, I nodded yes, and she did the same for the doctor. “Perfect.” He got up and grabbed a wheelchair from around the corner. “Do you want to ride in a wheelchair? It’s a lot of fun.”

  She looked at me again for approval and I smiled, hoping she would try and have fun with this.

  “Okay,” she was nervous, but she slid off the bed and into the chair. “Can my sister come too?”

  “I can go with her.” In the doorway appeared Ryan.

  “Ryan!” Rhylie squealed and jumped from the chair to hug our brother.

  “You okay, Bug?” He asked her sweetly as they hugged.

  “What are you doing here? How did you know we were here?” I asked.

  “Mom called and told me. I was just down the street, so I figured I would come and make sure she was okay.”

  “It was really scary, and it hurt really bad,” she mumbled in his shirt. “But Becka and Matt said the doctor is going to make it feel better.”

  “Matt?” Ryan scanned the rest of the room and found Matt on the other side of the bed. Matt got to his feet and went toward Ryan with an outstretched hand.

  “Hey, I’m Matt, a friend of Becka’s.”

  Ryan looked impressed as they shook hands. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Alright, Rhylie,” the doctor interrupted, “are you ready to go?”

  “Can my brother come?”

  “Yes, he can come. He can even push you in the chair.”

  Ryan pushed Rhylie down the hall faster than the doctor expected. You could hear Rhylie’s little laugh the whole way to x-ray.

  “She seems to be feeling better,” Matt laughed as we listened to her giggle.

  “Ryan always knows how to make her laugh.” I sat back on the hospital bed and took a deep breath. “This has been a crazy day.”

  Matt took a seat next to me, leaving little but some space between us. “You’re telling me. I went for a run and ended up at the hospital.” I enjoyed his ability to lighten the mood. “I’m glad she’s okay.”

  “Did you want me to drive you back home? I feel bad that you are stuck here with this.”

  “No, I’m good to stay. I can’t leave without saying goodbye to Rhylie.” That was so sweet of him, I had no words. “Is it okay if I stay?”

  “Yea.” To my surprise, it was more than okay.

  Between waiting for Rhylie to return from x-ray, waiting on the results, waiting for the doctor to come back with the results, and the other doctor to come in to get her arm wrapped, I was so tired of waiting I was going insane. Thankfully, Mom came in during casting time. I was happy to hand the reigns over to her.

  “Hi, Mommy!” Rhylie shouted. I knew she wanted to run to her, but the doctor told her to sit very still so the cast would be perfect.

  “Hi sweetie, how are you?” Mom came over and kissed the top of her head.

  “I’m okay. The x-ray took a picture of my arm and the bone on the top cracked in half!” She was more impressed than scared at this point. Ryan and Matt
had tried to make it sound cool and badass rather than scary.

  “No way!” Mom played along. “In half?”

  “Yea! Now I have to wear this cast until the bone gets better.” She intricately watched the man wrap the plaster around and around her arm.

  “Hi,” she said softly to me as we hugged. “You okay?”

  I nodded. “I’m good. Glad that she is doing better.”

  “Was she a mess?”

  “At first, and then she wasn’t. It was crazy.” I looked around to see if anyone was listening, still speaking softly just in case. “Matt was there for her and she melted. He told her it was going to be okay and she believed him. I’d never seen her so trusting before.”

  Mom smiled. “Well, isn’t that something.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Don’t start.”

  She held up her hands in defeat. “I didn’t say anything that you don’t already know.” She bumped me with her arm before going back to Rhylie. Of course, I knew what she was thinking, I had already thought about it. Matt was… incredible. He didn’t know me well, but he was willing to jump in my car and go to the hospital to take care of my sister without a question to be asked. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before.

  “Everything okay?” Matt joined me near the door, away from my family.

  “Yeah, I’m good.” I watched Rhylie talk to the cast wrapper about how she fell. “I’m just glad she’s okay.”

  “You knew she would be, you just got scared.”

  “I’m a softy,” I joked.

  “No, I wouldn’t say that. Only when it comes to the people you love.”

  That was interesting. “When it’s not the people I love, what am I then?”

  He paused and thought before speaking. “You are extremely guarded. Guarded with what I can only assume is a brick wall.” The way he looked into my eyes made me shiver. “Brick walls are anything but soft.”

  Wow. I had no words.

  “What?” He saw the look on my face.

  I shook my head. “Nothing, you just nailed it.”

  I told Matt that I would drive him home, so Mom stayed with Rhylie until her cast was finished. Rhylie was upset to see Matt go, but she gave him a huge hug with her good arm and thanked him for helping her. I had to hide my smile because it was abnormally large.

  We drove in silence, but comfortably. I didn’t need to have a conversation; I had learned to enjoy the quiet. I could feel his eyes on me occasionally, but I didn’t mind.

  I parked in his driveway, but neither of us moved.

  “Thank you again, Matt.”

  “You don’t need to thank me.”

  “Yes, I do.” I looked at the steering wheel, trying to find my words. “You were selfless.” Our eyes met again. “Seriously, thank you.”

  “No problem, Becka.” He rubbed his hands together quickly. “Is it weird if I say I had a good day?”

  A heavy laugh went through my body. “Yes, a little bit.”

  “I wish that Rhylie hadn’t gotten hurt and everything, but you know, spending the day with you…I liked it.”

  Now I was blushing. I immediately turned away from him so he wouldn’t see. I don’t know why he had this effect on me, but it was running through me like lava.

  “Do you still want to get to know me?” I barely heard my own words I spoke so softly; I wasn’t sure he heard me at all.

  “Yes, I do. Good and bad.”

  I don’t know what made me so brave, but I felt it. I held my palm out to him. “Can I see your phone?”

  He took his phone from his pocket and gave it to me willingly. I typed my number and gave it back, my confidence levels about running on empty.

  “Well, alright then.” He smiled. “I’ll talk to you soon?”

  “I guess so.”

  Matt was unbelievable. The way he handled everything without being asked was so amazing, I couldn’t even fathom it. He was such a good person; it was almost hard to believe.

  My body was in shock from giving him my number. I don’t know why I did it, or why I didn’t think about it before I did it, but I was proud of myself for putting myself out there and going through with it.

  I scrolled through Matt’s social media and swiped through his pictures as I laid in bed, ready to end the day. There was a lot of Rocky sleeping and some of him panting from a run. Each of them made me smile. There were a few sunrise and sunset pictures that I thought were beautiful. His captions told me that he took them while running. That warm feeling went through the pit of my stomach. I liked knowing that we enjoyed the same pastimes.

  There was a little piece of me that was worried. That was a lie. It wasn’t a little piece; the piece was huge. And the piece was worried that he might turn out like Aiden, or worried that I would get hurt again. I was being distant on purpose. Giving my number to Dani was one thing. You knew what you got with Dani. The thought of Dani becoming Ashleigh never occurred to me. But my track record with guys wasn’t the best, and I had been burned too many times. But Matt seemed different. Matt was… good. And selfless. I couldn’t hide forever. At some point, I was going to have to open up and live a little.

  I got ready for school the next morning, trying to recreate my hair the same way Dani had done it for me. While doing so, my phone vibrated.

  Unknown: Good morning Becka, this is Matt

  It had been less than twenty-four hours since he had gotten my number and he had already decided to use it.

  Me: Good morning, what’s up?

  Matt: I was thinking about getting something for breakfast before school. Did you want me to grab something for you? Coffee maybe?

  So, he was sweet too?

  Me: That’s okay, you don’t have to do that.

  Matt: I know I don’t, but I would like to

  Me: For real it’s okay, thank you though

  Matt: I’ll see you at school :)

  He was very sweet, but I refused to overthink his actions and get my hopes up. If I hadn’t been through all the bullshit with Aiden, I would’ve already been smitten with him. But I had been down this road before. Sweet can always end up with me throwing up in a park. I had a brick wall up for a reason.

  I entered the library and to my surprise, there was a small paper bag sitting at my spot. It caught my eye right away. I slowed my steps in apprehension.

  “Matt?”

  He looked back up at me and smiled, making his jawline more intense than normal. “Hey, Becka.”

  “What is that?” I pointed at the bag.

  “Breakfast. A muffin to be exact.” He used his pen to push the bag toward me, giving me no choice.

  “I told you that you didn’t have to do that,” I whined, sitting down in my seat.

  He shrugged, “I told you I wanted to. I was going to get you coffee, but I wasn’t sure how you like it, so I figured a muffin was safe.” We stared at each other for a few moments, a smile creeping through his cheeks as blush crept through mine. “It’s no big deal, Becka.”

  “Thank you,” I whispered. My instant reaction was to decline strictly because of the carbs, but I had been less strict regarding my diet. I pinched a chunk of the muffin off and popped it in my mouth, appreciating what he did for me.

  “You’re welcome.”

  Normally at this point, we would go back to our bubbles, but it seemed that as of lately, bubbles were colliding. We weren’t two separate people anymore; we were friends.

  “How’s Rhylie doing?”

  “Woke up way too excited to go to school and show everyone her cast.” I rolled my eyes thinking about my sister’s overwhelming excitement. “She collected every marker in the house so all her friends could sign it.”

  Matt smiled greatly. “Glad she’s feeling better.” He nodded toward my pile of college prep. “What about you? How’s the paperwork coming?”

  “Slowly but surely.” I went through it some more. “The biggest thing is going to be this scholarship essay.”

  “What school are you ap
plying to anyway?”

  “Barnett University.” I read the top of the application. Matt’s eyes left his paper and came straight for me. “What?”

  “That’s the school I applied to.”

  Silence.

  “Small world,” I mumbled.

  “Yeah, I guess it is.” He paused for a second before smiling, not trying to hide it from me.

  “What?”

  He shook his head. “It’s just funny. Two people that want to get away from this town end up applying to the same college out of state.”

  “Pretty coincidental.”

  “That’s one way of putting it.”

  “How else would you put it?”

  He smiled to himself again, this time trying to hide it. “I don’t know.” But I think he did.

  My first track practice was after school and I was nervous to say the least. I didn’t know how the team was going to take my arrival, but I was hoping for the best.

  The team met on the field and gathered around Coach for a meeting. I recognized some of the faces around me. The team was small, smaller than I expected, but what I didn’t expect was the response to my appearance.

  “Alright guys, our next meet is coming up, so we need to make sure we are on top of our game. There aren’t a lot of us this year, so we need to work hard to leave our mark. That’s just the price we pay with having such a small team.”

  “Seems like it got bigger to me.” I didn’t see who said it, but I know what I heard.

  Coach continued, “as you can see, we have a new member. If you don’t know her, this is Becka. Make sure we show her how we do it, alright?” The males nodded their heads in agreement, but the females shot nothing but daggers. Sharp, dirty, daggers.

  It was pretty much a mutiny, and it wasn’t like I could blame them. I could recall at least one thing Ashleigh had done to each of them that I had stood by and let happen. I may not have been as bad as her, but I wasn’t much better. Coach’s calm announcement of me on the team didn’t work as planned. Several of them followed her into her office after practice to complain. It hurt that they were so against me, but I understood why.