A First Encounter: Part Five

Meeting the girlfriend

Tomorrow had come. Dawn had a new promise. A promise of good things to come. Shifting my sleep mask off my eyes to my perspiring forehead, I looked towards the gleam of sunshine peeking through the sapphire curtains. My mother got up and opened the blinds so the room was flooded in natural light. She grinned at me because she knew that Shay was coming to my room today to take me to the gym to collect our second-place prize. The traumatic brain injury patient that lived next to me had won. I was happy for her. I already felt like a winner, getting to spend time with Shay. No one could tell me otherwise.   

Looking towards the cupboard, we had to plan my outfit carefully because I really wanted to feel cute. 

“What shall we wear today?” my mum asked with amusement and pride. We had come a long way from the days of being unwashed and depressed at the bleakness of the doctor’s prognosis of never feeling the ground beneath my feet. Thinking back to those moments, my heart sunk a little but the knowledge that Shay would make it a little better proved stronger than the negative emotions swirling around in my consciousness.

“I was thinking a dress would be appropriate for the mini prize ceremony”.

“What about your Ankara flapper dress? The bright rainbow colours would look beautiful with your skin tone,” my mother said with a tone of encouragement for she was pleased that old E.J. was peeking through.

“Yeah, that’s perfect. Let’s get ready.”

Shower time was a breeze. My mother hovered in the corner of the bathroom for safety reasons. The occupational therapists would have been proud. This was pretty much the first time I cleansed myself without any assistance. My dignity was restored with the scrub of a sponge.

Patting myself dry with my towel, I could not stop grinning. The time was nigh. Shay would be here any minute, My Bombshell fragrance lotion and my 212 VIP lingered in the air. I wanted Shay to be enticed with the sweet smell of my perfumes and pheromones.

The time was 2pm. Shay was punctual as usual. Again, he took my breath away as he sauntered in with the grace of a gazelle and the strength of a lion.  His man bun was messy and his limited-edition silver 007 Swatch watch glimmered as the rays of light hit it at different angles.

“Are you ready sweetie?” he asked. “I must say, you look fantastic in that dress.” The compliment threw me off a little bit. My inner vixen was screaming for joy but she was a bit unsure if he was allowed to notice my appearance and make a comment. “Thanks so much. It was a present. I replied. We strolled along, picking up where we left off, talking about the latest Mission Impossible movie that had come out not too long ago. He thought it was better than the previous one while I argued that there was an element missing. The elevator dinged, we got off at the fifth floor and made a beeline for the gym.

The matron, Rachel and the rest of the judges were already waiting patiently for everyone’s arrival. The gym smelt fantastic as the baking submissions were laid out on two different tables. Our Smarties brownies looked so delicious.

The sound of clapping snapped me out of my day dream. “And the second prize of a 100-pound Boots voucher goes to Shay and E.J.” Everyone clapped. We shook her hand as well as the other judges. We were chuffed. “Congratulations you two. Make sure you do spend it all in one place,” We smiled, laughed and headed to the nurses’ station. My electric chair battery was running low but I was determined to spend as much time as possible with him. Shay strolled along with one hand on my shoulder. Not to be too cheesy, but it felt like our souls were speaking the same friendship language. The nurses’ station happened to be empty at that point in time – one of those rare occasions. We looked straight at each other at smiled. Suddenly, I barely heard the elevator ding. All I noticed was the change in Shay’s demeanour. 

He gulped and said, “Hey you. What are you doing here?” Curious to see what had caused such a sudden transformation, I slowly turned around. The first thing I noticed were her long legs. Her flowery summer frock, cinched at the waist was a perfect combination of white, blue and yellow. Her right wrist was adorned with colorful bangles. Her hair was a deep shade of red and styled like Farah Fawcett.  Her eyes were as blue as a clear sky. Ruby Woo on her lips with a little mascara and black eyeliner completed the natural look.

“E.J., this is my girlfriend. Kaya, E.J. E.J. Kaya.”

Even I had to admit, she was absolutely gorgeous. A real natural beauty. “Yeah, I wanted to surprise you,” she said. “Today is our one-year anniversary or did you forget?”

She walked over and leaned in for a kiss. It was such a cute scene. Time was frozen; my body in suspended animation. They were such a beautiful couple. All I could do was stare at my hands, rubbing my thumbs and forefingers together nervously. Shay seemed flushed and a little uncomfortable but he deepened the kiss, for he had missed her presence.

“Of course, I didn’t forget. How could I?” His grin grew wider. I decided to give them some privacy.

Sitting in front of the chrome lift doors for what seemed like an eternity, I rode up to my floor. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Ding! I quickly got on and tapped the close door button several times. Rachel got on and said hello. Responding was not an option at that moment for I was lost in thought. The red lights on the wheelchair started to flicker; a gentle reminder to charge it right away. The door in my room was wide open. My mother was seated on the green comfy sofa, reading today’s newspaper. My brows were furrowed and my smile was not as wide as it could be. “What’s the matter sweetheart? What’s going on? What happened? Are you in pain?

It was kinda nice seeing my new friend with his girlfriend.

“Yeah, it’s just my nerve pain. Everything hurts, especially my legs.” Transferring to the bed, I lay on my side gently with my back turned away from her. The goose down duvet was pulled over my head. I drifted off to sleep; a welcome reprieve from reality.

A watch. A smile. Polaroids of Shay and I in different, corny, happy poses. The pictures moved just like in the Harry Potter books and movies. One of the Polaroids came sharply into focus. Shay and I were seated on a red and green afghan tablecloth, playing Scrabble. I was smiling because I had just won using a triple word score with the word connection. Shay moved over to give me a high five. This dream was all kinds of awesome. Our conversation flowed so effortlessly as we spoke about everything from childhood memories to our dreams and things we will like to achieve in the future. Suddenly, everything went blurry and I couldn’t quite make out the images anymore. The dream sequence ended abruptly “E.J. E.J, wake up hun. It’s time to wake up. Supper is on the table.”

Jolting me from my dream, I opened my eyes suddenly, wishing I was back in the land of Morpheus where Shay and I were eating together, away from the prying eyes of the hospital administration. Taking the remote control in my hands, I raised the head of the bed slowly. Baked salmon with sweet potato chips and broccoli was my evening meal. My stomach grumbled. I had no idea I was so ravenous.

Taking a forkful of the food into my mouth, chewing and gnashing so every last bite was savoured. The Millie definitely had talented chefs because the food did not have that godawful hospital taste that lingered in the back of your throat whenever you dared swallow a morsel. “Could you please pass the salt and black pepper?” Determined to enjoy the meal, it was a welcome distraction from the neuropathic pain. For a brief moment, everything was as it should be – just right. Until Shay walked in.

“Suddenly, I realised I have to be anywhere but here.” my mother said, quickly excusing herself because she sensed that something interesting was going on. Stifling a smile, I picked up the white napkin and wiped my hands and mouth with it. Averting my gaze from his gorgeous face, blankly staring up at the television which was showing a muted episode of Coronation Street. Not sure exactly where to stand, Shay shuffled around looking down at his Air Jordans, wringing his hands in frustration. He decided that sitting was the way to go. Running his hands through the bun, he looked genuinely perplexed. It was the cutest thing ever and I wanted to grin to calm him down.

Shay sighed and we both said “So..”, in perfect unison. “No, go ahead, I’m sorry, he said. No, I’m sorry,” I said. We both chuckled nervously. Shay twiddled his thumbs.

“So, you’ve met Kaya”.

“Yeah. She seems great,”

“Yeah, she is.” he said.

“It doesn’t really matter. I just came to find out if you were okay as you rolled away without saying anything. Your exit was a bit abrupt,” he said with a note of concern. His brow was furrowed and he still looked incredible even with the distress etched upon his face. “Yeah, thanks for asking but I’m totally fine.” Pushing the twists off my forehead and out of my eyes was an attempt to dispel the unnecessary awkwardness. 

“Are we still on for tomorrow?” We had decided to continue baking together because the brownies were such a smash hit plus I needed to get comfortable in a kitchen setting as the time to leave the hospital was drawing near. There were only two months left till I had to move back home. The ticking clock was looming in the back of my subconscious knowing I had only having two months to be get to know Shay. I needed to get in as much practice as possible.

“Yeah of course we are on for tomorrow. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”