"Not maturally," she called out, leaning against the pillows and
closing her eyes. Hours later, it was time for Nadia to be released
from the hospital. She had changed back into her old clothes,
though the shirt had been cleaned and mended, and it only took some
encouraging from the nurse to get her out of the bed. She gripped
the edge of the bed, taking hesistant steps forward, and when she
reached the doorway, she gave a sigh of relief. Glancing at the
clock, she saw that it was 9:00 am. Was Colt serious about what he
had said?
While it had taken some talking to his parents, Colt, with the
support of his brother, had A) managed to convince his parents to
book a hotel close to the hospital overnight, and B) get an answer
in the affirmative regarding picking up Nadia and having her stay
with them, and Cam and their mom returned home to get the guest
room all set up. However, he'd forgotten to ask what time they
ought to get there. Calling the hospital shortly after he woke up
and got dressed at 9:05, he was informed that she was in the lobby
already. "Dad, I'm going to go get Nadia! I'll meet you back here!"
he called as he slipped on his shoes to the room where his father
was still half-asleep. Grabbing the car keys and shutting the door
behind him, he rushed through the hotel, out into the parking lot,
and hopped into his dad's black Acura to begin the 10 minute drive.
Nadia sat cross legged in the waiting room, reading a magazine. She
kept glancing at the clock anxiously, but at 9:15, when she looked
over her shoulder at the glass sliding doors, she could see Colt
walking torwads the hospital. A smile grew across her face as she
threw the magazine down onto the couch next to her, and struggled
to her feet. Gah, why couldn't Godzilla be faster? She wanted to
hug her friend the minute he walked through those doors. And ask
him why he was so slow. That too.
Seeing Nadia in the lobby watching him impatiently made him grin,
and he pulled his hands out of his pockets and broke into a jog.
The automatic slid open in front of him as he called, "Hey,
g'morning! Long time no see."
"G'morning," she said with a grin. "Is it just me, or did someone
take their sweet time moving across the parking lot?" She hugged
him the minute she was close enough. "At least now I can atcually
hug you, Godzilla."
"Alrighty, Tink, if I'm so slow, why don't you walk to Chick-Fil-A,
see if you can't get there before me?" he laughed, hugging her back
with a grin. "Never too early for milkshakes, right? That is,
provided you're hungry."
"Are you kidding? All I've had is gross hospital food. They may
know how to stich a wound, but they certainly don't know how to
make Jello," her voice dropped to a whisper, "I'm preety sure I saw
it wave at me." She laughed. "But you better not make me walk
anywhere, or my doctor will kill me."
He gave a mock shiver. "Are you sure it was even Jello? And
anywhere anywhere? What, you want me to carry you across the
parking lot?" he grinned, knowing full well he could just run and
grab the car but finding it much more amusing to tease her.
Nadia lowered her arms, and she grinned. "You kidding? I've been
ready to leave this place ever since I woke up!" "Well I hope our
doctors weren't that bad," a voice said from behind. One of the
nurses aproached them, holding a clipboard. "Ready to sign these
forms and get out of here?" "Si!"
"I'm sure the doctors were great; someone's just a bit grumpy that
she didn't get to finish her curly fries," he informed the nurse
matter-of-factly. It seemed like an eternity ago that they'd sat
watching the cameras, he realized, even though it had only been
about 24 hours.
"Oh, er, alright." The nurse wasn't sure how to take that, and
there was a minute of akward silence where Nadia and the nurse
stared at eachother. Then, Nadia broke the silence. "So, uh,
forms?" "Right." The nurse passed her the clipboard, and she tapped
the paper absetmindedly, her eyes scanning across the papers. After
a minute, she said, "Looks like I'm all set!" The nurse looked at
Colt. "Since no family has come to collect her, I'm assuming you're
taking her home? Just a formality, I'll need to see some ID to
prove that you're an adult."
"Yeah, sure thing," he nodded, taking his wallet from his back
pocket. He'd had it with him through the whole ordeal, and was
honestly surprised it hadn't slipped out even once. Taking out his
ID, he showed it to the nurse. Colt kind of hated the picture on
it; he used to have hair that fell past his ears, and the way it
had been styled on the day the picture was taken drove him nuts.
As the nurse took it and glanced at it, Nadia leaned over to see
the ID. She stiffled a laugh. "Bonito pelo, potro." The nurse
handed it back. "Alright, looks like you're all free to go!"
"If that was a comment regarding what I think it was, your
breakfast is in jeopardy," he said sternly, hiding a smirk. Nodding
thanks to the nurse, he turned around and moved into the range of
the motion sensor, opening the sliding doors.
"Hey, I'm sorry!" Nadia protested, walking after him. She caught up
to him, pouting a little. "You don't have to hold something so
precious at stake just because I'm right," she mumbled.
"What was that I just heard? The sound of a chicken sandwich being
revoked?" he teased. Colt stepped down off the curb and began to
cross the street to where he'd parked the car just a short distance
away, deliberately keeping his pace slow so as to make it easy for
Nadia to keep up without straining herself.
"Heeey!" she complained. "I'm sorry, okay?" She followed after him,
pretending to pout. "All I've had all day is that weird hospital
food, meaning that witholding a delcious sandwhich would be
inhumane."
Pretending to ponder her words, he said, mock-reluctantly, "Hm,
fine, apology accepted, but only because you qualify as infirm and
therefore potentially don't know what you're saying." When they
reached the car, he took out the keys, unlocked it, then walked
around to the passenger side to get the door for her.