Addiction - Chapter 12
Sunday
Someone cleared their throat. My eyelids felt heavy. I slowly opened my eyes and saw my parents standing by the door.
Oh shit. Professor Hunter had his arm around me and his eyes were still closed. Shit! I elbowed him in the stomach.
"Penny," he mumbled and kissed my shoulder.
I elbowed him again. I was relieved to see that my hospital gown was tied back in place. James must have done it after I had fallen asleep. "Mom, Dad, hi."
"Huh?" Professor Hunter opened his eyes.
Oh my God. I had no idea what to do. I pushed Professor Hunter again so he'd get off the bed. "James," I whispered and tilted my head toward my parents.
He slowly sat up. His hair was sticking up in that sexy way it always did after we slept together. Oh my God, he has sex hair. And my parents are standing there seeing him with sex hair. I ran my fingers through my hair just in case I looked anything like Professor Hunter.
Professor Hunter rubbed his eyes and looked over toward the door. "Oh." He pretended to cough as he zipped up his pants. "Oh, umm..." he quickly climbed off the bed and laughed awkwardly.
Holy fuck. Did they hear him zippering his pants?
He looked down and zipped up his hoodie to hide his naked torso.
This isn't happening.
"Wow, this is not how I expected to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Taylor." He ran his hand through his hair and looked over to me. He looked so uncomfortable and nervous. Which made him look even younger. Thank God he looks so young.
"Mom, Dad, this is James."
James walked over to my parents and held out his hand to my father. "I've heard so much about both of you. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir."
My dad looked at me and then back at James. He seemed pissed. "That's quite the shiner," he said dryly and shook James' hand.
"Oh." Professor Hunter touched his black eye and tried to laugh it off. "I had forgotten about that. Just a misunderstanding." He turned toward my mom. "And Mrs. Taylor." He put his hand out and she quickly shook it. She didn't look angry at all. She actually looked ecstatic.
"Excuse my outfit." Professor Hunter tugged the zipper on his hoodie all the way up to his neck. "I just rushed over as soon as I heard what happened." He leaned down, picked up his shoes off the floor, and sat down in a chair. He laced his shoes and stood back up.
"It's so nice to meet you, James," my mom said. She was smiling from ear to ear. "So how do you know Penny?"
"Oh." He smiled over at me. "We actually met at a coffee shop on Main Street at the beginning of the semester."
"Is that so?"
"And we ended up having a class together. Comm."
"Do you hate it as much she does?" my mom asked.
Professor Hunter laughed. "I actually love the class. It's my favorite this semester. Mostly because Penny's in it." He smiled at me. "You know, I didn't actually know she hated it, though. Her speeches are really good. She tends to be too hard on herself."
"That's what I always say," my mom responded.
This could not be any more awkward.
"It's so nice to get to meet Penny's new friends. We got to meet Brendan yesterday. Such a sweetheart. He stayed and waited for hours to see if she was okay. Are you friends with him too?"
A cloudy expression crossed over Professor Hunter's face. But only for a second. I was probably the only one who saw it.
"No. And actually, Penny and I aren't just friends. She's my girlfriend."
"Oh?" My mom looked even happier, if that was possible.
"Yes."
"I'm so sorry, James. Penny didn't tell us she was dating anyone. I'm so embarrassed. Penny, this is kind of a big deal isn't it? Your first boyfriend?"
Mom! "It's still new. I was going to tell you." I thought it couldn't get any weirder, but it just had. Is she trying to mortify me?
Professor Hunter turned back to me. It looked like he was biting the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from laughing. He seemed to be enjoying himself now.
"You know what? James was the first thing she said when she woke up. We had no idea what she was talking about. But I guess she wanted to see you. Isn't that sweet, honey?" She looked over at my dad.
"Mhm," my dad said and crossed his arms. He never got mad, but he looked so angry right now.
James seemed to sense the hostility in the air too. "Well, I don't want to interfere with your time, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor. I just spent all night with her."
What the hell?
"Sleeping," Professor Hunter quickly said.
"Excuse me?" my dad said.
Professor Hunter cleared his throat. "Not sleeping with her. I was just in bed with her. Sleeping next to her I mean. Just beside her." Professor Hunter shoved his hands into his pockets. He was usually so collected. But my father was intimidating him. It was actually pretty entertaining to watch.
My mom laughed. "Don't be ridiculous, James. We'd like to get to know you." She walked into the room and sat down in one of the chairs. My dad walked over to the only other chair and sat down. His arms were still crossed.
Professor Hunter half stood half sat on the edge of my bed. I reached over and grabbed his hand. He seemed to automatically relax. He squeezed my hand.
There was an awkward silence in the room. I was relieved when there was a knock on the door and the doctor walked in.
"You look a lot better this morning," she said. I saw her eyes flit toward Professor Hunter for a second. I couldn't help but be a little jealous.
"Do you think I can go home today?"
"Let's see." She pressed a button on the machine that had been monitoring my heartbeat. It started printing out a long chart. "Well that's strange."
"What is it?" my father asked.
"Well, it looks like there was a twenty minute period of escalated pulse."
Professor Hunter laughed and then turned it into a forced cough. He squeezed my hand and looked down at his shoes.
Oh my God. I hadn't even thought about someone monitoring the information on that stupid machine. Who has sex in a hospital bed anyway? Didn't I have any control?
"How are you feeling?" she asked and looked at me. "Are you struggling for breath at all? Have you noticed that your heart is racing? Or any palpitations?"
"No. Not at all. I'm fine."
She flipped a few switches on the monitor. "It could have been a computer malfunction. It seems to be working fine now, though. Strange." She leaned down and unplugged the machine and then plugged it back in.
"Maybe it was just a nightmare or something," I said quietly.
"Possibly," the doctor replied. "So the man who brought you in said you had fallen a couple nights ago and hit your head pretty bad. And then you fainted yesterday afternoon. Are you feeling lightheaded at all today?"
"No. I feel a lot better."
"Well you have a moderate concussion. You shouldn't have been walking around by yourself. Plus you had an empty stomach and you were dehydrated. It's no wonder that you fainted."
"Will she be okay now?" Professor Hunter asked.
"She needs to rest and build her strength back up."
"Can she leave today?" he asked.
"Let's keep the IV in for a few more hours to help with your dehydration. I'll be back to check on you soon. And if everything looks good and your heart rate stays down, you can head home."
"How long should she stay at home?" my mom asked. "She has classes." She looked at my dad. "I can take tomorrow off. I just need to call in."
"I'd recommend taking it easy for a few days. Definitely no classes on Monday. And just see how you feel on Tuesday. Don't push yourself. I'll be back in a few hours to check in." The doctor nodded at my parents and walked out of the room.
"Okay, let me call the office." My mom stood up and grabbed her purse.
"She can come back to my place," Professor Hunter said. "If that's okay with both of you, of course." He looked at my parents.
"A dorm room isn't the best place to recuperate from this," my dad said coolly.
"He actually lives in a nice apartment, Dad. It would be okay with me. I don't want to inconvenience you guys."
"It's never an inconvenience, Penny. Besides, James has classes. We can't ask him to miss them," my mom said.
"I can cancel them. I mean, skip them. Not a big deal at all."
"Well, if you're sure it's okay, James. And if that's really what you want to do, Penny," my mom said.
My dad lifted up his hand. "Nonsense. You'll be coming back with us, Pen.
" His tone was the same one he would use when I got in trouble when I was younger.
It meant that it was the end of the discussion.
He wasn't even giving James a fair chance.
I was just about to protest when there was a knock on the door.
Melissa burst into the room and ran over to me.
"Oh my God, Penny!" She threw her arms around me. "Have you been here this whole time? I thought you were okay." She turned to James. "Thanks for keeping me in the dark, James."
"I didn't know she was here either. I would have told you."
"Then where were you, Penny? I haven't heard from you since Friday night.
I can't believe..." she let her voice trail off when she saw the expression on my face.
"We can talk later." She squeezed my arm and walked over to my parents.
"Thanks for calling me, Mrs. Taylor." She hugged both my parents at the same time.
My parents loved Melissa. Whenever they visited me at school they always took Melissa and me out to dinner.
I was pretty sure they thought Melissa being my roommate freshman year was the best thing that ever happened to me.
And they were probably right. Having a best friend that was outgoing and fun had definitely been good for me.
And without her forcing me to go out all the time, I never would have run into James in the rain that night.
"Oh, I have someone I want you to meet." Melissa let go of her embrace and walked over to the door. "Hey guys, it's okay, you can come in."
Josh came in, followed by Tyler.
What the hell?
She grabbed Josh's hand and steered him toward my parents. "Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, this is my boyfriend, Josh." She looked up at Josh. "These are Penny's parents."
"Nice to meet you," he said and shook both of their hands.
My father didn't look nearly as cold when he shook Josh's hand. Maybe because he didn’t suspect that Josh had just had sex with Melissa. And he also lacked a black eye.
"And that's our friend Tyler." Melissa pointed over at him. He was hovering by the door. Tyler still had bruises around the inside corners of his eyes.
My dad looked at Tyler's face and then glanced over at Professor Hunter's. His brow furrowed.
"Nice to meet you both." Tyler smiled at them but didn't move.
My parents started talking to Josh and I tuned them out. I looked over at Tyler. He was staring at me. It looked like he wanted to come over, but he stayed where he was.
"Thanks for coming, Tyler," I said quietly. I was more than a little surprised to see him. But we were still friends. It was nice of him to come.
He glanced at Professor Hunter and then shook his head. He walked over to me. "Yeah, well, Melissa needed a ride." He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "It's hard to say no to her."
"Right." I smiled at him. He didn't want to be here. "Well, thanks for bringing her." We had gone from so much to so little. "My parents can take them back. You don't have to stay if you don't want to."
"What? No, that's not what I meant. I wanted to come."
Professor Hunter was gripping my hand tighter and tighter with each word Tyler and I spoke to each other.
"How did you end up in here?" Tyler asked.
"I fainted. On Main Street."
"Penny," his voice sounded strained. "I knew I shouldn't have let you leave. You're so stubborn."
Professor Hunter loosened his grip on my hand.
Shit. I hadn't told him about going to Tyler's. But he wouldn't be upset when I did. I had gone there to call things off between us. "I'm okay, Tyler."
"That's what you said yesterday too. So I don't believe you."
Professor Hunter let go of my hand and stood up. "Does anyone want some coffee or something to eat?"
No one said anything.
"I'll be right back." He ran his hand through his hair and walked toward the door without looking back at me. My dad quickly got up and followed him out of the room. Not good .
"Penny?"
I looked back up at Tyler.
He gently took my hand between both of his. "It's hard for me to see you like this."
"I'm not in pain. I'm fine, really. And this time I mean it."
He crouched down by my bed. "Look, I know what I said the other day," he whispered.
"But I need you to listen to me now. I don't care that you were with Professor Hunter.
I forgive you for hurting me. I forgive you for everything.
Please stop making the wrong choice. I need you to choose me. I need you to know the truth..."
"Tyler, stop."
"I was wrong before. I can take care of you. I want to take care of you. I want to be with you. Please stop doing this to me."
"I love him. I love him, Tyler. I don't know what else I can say."
"Okay." He let go of my hand. "Right." He stood back up. He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. "I'll see you in class then." He gave me a forced smile.
"Wednesday probably."
"Okay." He walked away from my bed. "I'm going to get going guys. Are you staying?"
"Just a minute," Melissa said. Melissa came back over to my bed.
"I'll be waiting outside." Tyler walked out of the room. It was so hard to see him upset. And it was even worse knowing it was my fault.
"What did Tyler say to you?" she whispered.
"That he wants to be with me."
"And?"
"And nothing. I'm in love with James."
"We have a lot to talk about."
I wasn't sure what she meant by that. I sighed. "I know."
"When will you be back?"
"Tuesday."
"Okay." She squeezed my arm again. "Text me." She gave my mom a hug goodbye.
"Feel better, Penny," Josh said. The three of them left.