Off Screen

by Josephine Traynor

  “Where’s that beautiful girl that’s gonna break my heart?”

  Amused at his groggy state, the medic tells him to stop yelling and helps me climb into the back so I can see Harrison one more time before they move him.

  “You’re so gonna hate me,” Harrison says.

  “We have to get moving,” the paramedic tells me, and I don’t have time to ask Harrison why I’m going to hate him. I plan to follow behind in my car so I can drive back after I know the outcome. I step out of the back so they can shut the heavy doors. Allan stops at my side, and I assume Harrison’s talking to him. Turning to speak, Allan holds his hand up and stops me before I even start.

  “We are not happy. Depending on how badly he’s injured, we might have to shut production down.”

  “Well, don’t we only have the honeymoon night scene to do?”

  Allan looks at me and says yes.

  “You said we were ahead of schedule.”

  Again he tells me yes.

  “Worst case scenario, we shoot that back at the lot. It’s going to be indoors anyway.”

  “The execs are not happy to lose a couple of days of shooting.”

  “Do they want two days where we can come in on Monday, punch it out and get back to normal scheduling? This is why they have insurance.”

  “Yeah, they do, and it doesn’t cover the loss of income due to two stars wanting to go for a little ride on dirt bikes.” His voice is quiet, but he’s fighting the urge to yell at me. “I’ve just had to lie to them to say we were filming a scene or you two would be footing the bill for loss of time, the crew. I think I liked you two better when you were at each other’s necks. Everyone was safer then.”

  Arriving at the country hospital, I don’t need to ask for directions to his bed as his booming, drugged-up voice echoes down the halls.

  “It hurts, can’t you give me something for the pain?”

  The nurse nods at me as I round the corner and stop at the door. She’s struggling to cut his jeans against a writhing Harrison.

  “Hey,” I command. “It’s hurting because you keep moving. Stop moving and let the nurse do her job. There are three occupations in this world you don’t piss off. The police, the people who handle your food, and the people who control your pain medication.”

  “I’ve given him everything he can have,” the nurse says.

  Taking hold of Harrison’s hand, I give it a firm squeeze. “Hey. Look at me. Just focus on me.”

  “That’s all I’ve been doing. Everything is focused on you.”

  The doctor asks who I am and if I should be in the room, and before I can answer, Harrison pipes up. “She can stay. I want her here.”

  Keeping my eyes firmly above the equator as the doctor examines Harrison from head to toe, I glance down just as the doctor inches down Harrison’s underwear to check his pelvis. That happy trail of his taunts me. Setting his pants in place, the doctor asks him to lift his arm, and he can’t do it without wincing.

  “Good news, nothing appears to be broken. Everything seems to be concentrated to the back. To be on the safe side, we’re going to put you in for a full scan, but in the meantime, I’m going to get you something for the pain, help you relax.”

  I thank the doctor, who steps aside to let the nurse move closer. She’s holding a big needle, and my stomach instantly feels squeamish.

  “Have you met my girlfriend?”

  Girlfriend? I look at the door before I realise he’s referring to me. Jesus. We have only got to talking terms, now I’m his girlfriend.

  “You are hallucinating.” Turning to the nurse, I clarify, “I’m not his girlfriend.”

  “You should be,” she says exactly when Harrison says, “Why aren’t you?”

  “Yeah? Why aren’t you?”

  Being put on the spot, I never actually imagined how Harrison was going to ask me to be his actual girlfriend. Feeling his gaze and that of the nurse, I jump as my phone starts to ring. Expecting it to be Allan, I’m surprised that it’s Lydia.

  “I have to take this,” I say and excuse myself but not before seeing the look exchanged between Harrison and the nurse. “Hey.”

  “Hey, so how is he?”

  Looking along the corridor for who might be listening, I tell her he’s going in for scans and we just have to wait for the results.

  “Holy shit. I was asking about how he was to live with and how things were going, must be bad if you’re trying to kill him.”

  Laughing while she giggles, I assure her I wasn’t trying to kill him. “It’s actually been really nice. Better than nice, actually. We are actually getting along.”

  “Anything more?”

  Not that I don’t trust her, I just want to keep something between him and me, so I omit the part about us kissing and his medicated request to be his girlfriend. If I’m going to say yes, I want him to have all his faculties.

  “Wow, you guys have come full circle. Next thing you’ll tell me you’re going on a date.” When I don’t join in her laughing, she cottons on to everything I’m not telling her. “You kissed him!”

  “I have to, it’s in my job description.”

  “No, no, no. You’ve kissed him out of hours. How was it?”

  “The best kiss of my life.” Hearing the words with my own voice has cemented that finally, Harrison and I might have a chance at not only a normal friendship but something more. Now I just have to wait for the drugs to wear off and see if we have the same conversation when we are both sober.

  Sixteen

  Harrison

  The voices around me are not ones I recognise, and it takes me a few seconds to realise where I am. I didn’t mean to fall asleep, but that stuff they gave me to help relax my muscles was too good to resist.

  “Riley?”

  When another female voice speaks, I force myself to open my eyes. The nurse and I are the only ones in the room, so I ask how long I was out for. My voice doesn’t sound my own.

  “Well, welcome back to the real world, Mr Hollywood,” a female says as I urge my eyes to open.

  “What did the scan come back with?”

  The nurse tells me she’s going to get the doctor. “Did you want me to get your girlfriend?”

  Turning my head slowly to the word rather than the request, it surprises me just how much I feel at ease with it. I’ve often gone into fantasy land where Riley is my partner and I don’t have to hide my feelings from her or anyone else.

  “Is she still here?”

  The nurse gives me a nod. “She’s only just left your side to get a drink.”

  As if hearing her name, Riley pokes her head back in the door before entering. She’s got a bottle of water in one hand, a magazine rolled up under her arm, and her phone in the other hand.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m great,” the nurse jokes, “but the patient, on the other hand, must have been missing you. First thing he was asking was for you.”

  Riley quirks her eyebrow, and her smile makes my heart beat just that little bit faster.

  The nurse says she’s going to get the doctor to talk more.

  “How are you feeling?” I ask, and the question makes Riley cock her head and narrow her eyes.

  “You’re the one in the hospital bed and you ask me how I’m feeling? So you want the good news or the bad news?”

  “Give me the bad.”

  She sets down all her things on the side table before talking. “Bad news is production has had to shut down. They aren’t going to keep us here while your foot heals. More bad news, if you take time off for your foot, riding the bikes without the studio’s approval, we have to, for the lack of a better word, foot the bill. So, they have given us two days’ grace, time to get back to the studio and set up, but after the weekend, you can’t have any more time off. Don’t know about you, but I can’t afford to pay a whole crew’s wages.”

  “I understand. I’ll be fine. The good news?”

  “Haven’t finished with
the bad news yet. Your phone was ringing.”

  My stomach feels like it’s bottomed out thinking it could be Kit.

  “And ringing and ringing. It was Amy.”

  My shoulders sag in relief that it was her and not Kit.

  “Someone loaded the footage of you being put into the back of the ambulance, and after the third try, I had to put her out of her misery.”

  “And how was she?”

  Riley points to the water jug and asks if I want a drink. I watch her carefully pour the water into the cup, and she then puts in the straw and brings it to my mouth for me to sip before she continues. I wrap my hand around hers to keep the cup in place.

  Faltering over her words, she pulls her gaze from mine. “After she knew you were fine, she stopped crying. I kinda promised her that you’d give her a call once you knew what was going on.”

  “Does my touching you make you nervous?”

  “No. It’s more how much I like it.” She smiles as I pull her hand in for a quick kiss. Right when my lips touch her skin, the doctor comes in and ruins our moment.

  Hearing that everything is just swollen from the crash has me so relieved while he does a couple more examinations. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt to sit up.

  “You are going to be tender for a good couple of days. I can give you medicine for the pain, but if anything develops, just come back or see your regular doctor.”

  “Thank you, Doctor. This is the best news possible.”

  Riley steps closer with my clothes. “I think your shoes were left in the mud near the beach. I’ll give you a minute.”

  She leaves me alone. I manage to get my jeans on slowly and painfully. I’m relieved when she knocks on the door; she can see I’m struggling. Taking the shirt from my hands, she carefully eases the shirt over my head.

  “One arm.” Lifting my arm, she helps with the other arm. “Might have to ask the doctor for something for the car ride.”

  “It’s not that far, is it?”

  “That’s the other good news. We can go home. Proper home. Allan told me that shooting here has wrapped and the rest will be done on the lot. Our stuff has been packed up and already taken back for us. Your phone was blowing up with messages and notifications, so I switched it off to save the battery. When you get discharged from here, we’ll be heading back to the city.”

  She stops herself, and I know there’s more to come.

  “What is it? We’re heading back tonight?”

  “All the crew have gone. They got a two-hour head start. I doubt anyone would still be there.”

  “I was hoping to have a nice dinner at the cabin. Don’t know how I’m going to cook with this new hindrance; my cooking wasn’t the greatest to start with.”

  Riley nods before saying, “How about I cook dinner at my place … or yours? The car’s already packed up.”

  Begrudgingly, I concede that our time here is over. Why is it that just when things are moving forward with her, something blocks me? Before we get a chance to talk about logistics, a nurse comes through the door.

  “All right, Mr Harvey, looks like you are being shunted out of here.” She holds out her hand to give me a small cup. “This is for your travels. It will dull the pain but not your mind. It shouldn’t make you drowsy. I’ll get your friend a prescription for when you get home.”

  Less than thirty minutes later, I’m clicking my seat belt around my body and waving goodbye to the nurses who have corralled at the front of the hospital. My nurse told me the tablets wouldn’t knock me out, but I don’t remember anything after turning onto the open road to when Riley gently taps and shakes my shoulder.

  “Harrison? We’re home. Well, we are at my home. I’m not trusting you to be on your own with that medication.”

  “Was having the best dream,” I start. My whole body feels light, airy, and my mind is crystal clear. “Are you sure it’s all right for me to stay?”

  “I can keep an eye on you here. Something will happen, and I’ll get blamed for your death. I have a very comfortable sofa for you.”

  Riley helps me get my legs out of the car, and I hiss when I stretch my legs out.

  “I can’t piggyback you,” she says, “so you just take your time. Do you need anything?”

  The drive home was fine, it’s the being cooped up in the same position that’s made it all hurt. She holds out both hands for me to take and I move to stand. The sound of the groan that comes out surprises even me. I feel like I’ve aged fifty years.

  “No more dirt bikes for you,” she says as she asks if I need a minute.

  “The dirt bikes are fine, it’s the falling off them that needs to stop. I haven’t been moving.”

  She helps me up the small step from the garage into the living space, and I ask for another moment to rest. We hold firmly to each other while she gives me a tour of her place. I’ve seen the kitchen where the coffee jug remains downturned.

  “Actually, I might just sit here for a bit,” I say and ease myself down on to the bar stool.

  Riley tells me to sit tight and goes back to the car. She’s gone for about a minute when she returns with a suitcase that’s dumped just inside the door.

  “Now I feel bad because I can’t help with getting the stuff out of the car.”

  We talk a bit more about my pain level and concede that I should probably take a stronger pill.

  Returning with another bag from the car, she searches through it and hands me two tablets the doctor gave her before I was discharged. “Here. Take this. Don’t worry about not being able to help.”

  She gives me a pill with a glass of water. Even the motion of swallowing makes my neck muscles pull, and I wince as I down the water. She holds her hands out to help me to my feet again, and I shuffle along the hallway.

  She leads me to a bedroom and helps me get onto the bed. “How does that feel?”

  “Like I’m on a cloud.”

  “That pill’s taking effect that quick, eh?”

  “Very quick. God, you’re beautiful.”

  “You need to rest. I’m going to get you a blanket and then empty the car.”

  I feel my legs being lifted, and I lean on my elbow to lower my back to the bed. Everything fades to black the second my head rests on her pillow.

  I wake and move each limb slowly, pleased that there’s only a niggle of pain in my spine that I’m sure will fade the more I move. I become more awake to the distinct aroma of bacon and eggs so slowly get off the bed and make my way to the sounds of Riley singing softly to herself while she cooks.

  “Hey, good morning. I checked in on you a couple of times through the night like a weirdo. Just wanted to make sure you were all right,” she says, and I can see she’s nervous.

  I move to her side; she flinches as my hand comes to rest on her hip. I cup her jaw with my hands when she gives me a nervous smile. I lower my head for a quick kiss.

  I feel her body relax against mine, and it assures me that she hasn’t got cold feet and changed her mind.

  “Your phone was blowing up, I had to turn it off. From what I could see, you slept well.”

  Going in the direction of her pointing, it’s highly probable that Kit has been messaging me. “Would have slept better if someone was next to me.” I realise that my comment wasn’t specific enough and look back to her to see her smiling, and she knows I’m talking about her.

  “So this is strange. Having a Friday off. I haven’t had this day off for years.”

  “What did you want to do today?”

  “Depending on how the patient is, I was thinking we might go and visit some other patients.”

  Hearing she wants to come and see the kids makes me fall in love with her just that little bit more. “We can do that, for sure.”

  “Do I need to do anything? What can I bring them?”

  I place my phone back down on the table to stand opposite her. It’s where I really take in her beauty. She’s not wearing any makeup, her hair is piled up on top of
her head, and her clothes are the most casual I’ve ever seen her in.

  “Nothing. They just want your time and attention.”

  “That I can give.”

  Sometimes it’s hard to give them just that. Putting up that wall to stop yourself from crying at the shit hand these kids and their families have been dealt is the hardest thing to do, and I feel like I need to warn her as she hands me a plate piled with food she’s just made.

  “If you can’t cope with it or it gets too much, just tell them that you have to make a phone call. Take the time you need. It’s a lot to take in.”

  It’s when the first forkful is in my mouth that it hits me how hungry I am. We eat in silence, and I stop myself from licking the bowl clean.

  “How long have you lived here for?” I ask.

  “It was my grandmother’s place. She lived in a big house but she was smart and bought properties. I wouldn’t be able to live on my own if I had to rent in this city. The money we earn is good, but this suburb, no way.”

  “It’s a beautiful home. Can I get a tour?”

  Riley wipes the sides of her mouth before taking hold of my hands.

  “Well, you’ve seen the bathroom, used the spare room, and seen the kitchen.” She steers me along the corridor and stops at the room right at the end. “This is the guest room.”

  It’s modest and tastefully decorated.

  “For some reason I had you pegged as a floral, frilly, creepy doll kind of girl.” I laugh.

  “Oh, I save those for my room.”

  I honestly don’t know if she’s lying or joking. We move back along the corridor and bypass a door.

  “What’s in there?” I ask.

  “That’s my bedroom.”

  My phone starts to ring back in the kitchen, and I set off to get it while calling out that we are not done talking about her bedroom.

  I answer the phone. Amy’s shrill voice in my ear can’t stop me from watching Riley move to the kitchen to get myself and her a glass of water. I mouth my thank you, and she gives me a warm smile and says quietly that she’s going to give me some privacy. Amy’s telling me about her day and what’s going on in the ward, then she finally asks what I’ve been up to.