by Ann Steinke
“Krista!” they cried in unison, smiles lighting up their faces.
They kissed me and did everything they could to make me feel more comfortable. Afterward they told me I’d suffered a concussion, fractured two ribs, and was covered with glass cuts. Lou was in a room down the hall. His left ankle was broken. And like me, he had glass cuts all over his face and arms. We were both badly bruised. But, miraculously, that was all of our injuries.
“Thank God you were wearing seat belts,” my mother said. “We were so worried.”
My father was holding my hand as if he thought I’d be taken away from him. “You’ve been unconscious for almost a whole day,” he told me.
“Can I see Lou?” I asked. My parents hadn’t known that I was seeing Lou, and I knew I would have to tell them the whole story later on. But for now, they seemed too worried about my health to wonder why I had been with him instead of Scott.
Mom smiled. “Well, we’ll let the doctor know you’re awake, and he can decide.”
I wanted to see Lou so badly that it hurt me more than my injuries. And I wondered if Scott and Ter had heard about the accident. Had they already come to see us?
My parents came back to report that the doctor would be in to see me later. They stayed with me a while longer, but I was too tired to hold a conversation, so they left just before dinner. Finally the doctor came in with a wheelchair and told me I could see Lou. He buzzed for a nurse, then they both helped me into the chair and wheeled me out of my room.
Lou looked awful. His face was crisscrossed with scratches, and there were small bandages down his left cheek. His leg was bound by a cast from foot to knee.
“Lou,” I said.
His eyes flickered open, and he reached for me. “Krista.”
We held hands for a while without speaking. After a moment, I cleared my throat. “Do you think they know?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he answered. “Did you ask your parents?”
“No. I guess I was afraid to.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I didn’t ask mine either. They were here just a minute ago.”
Again we were silent. Then I said, “I think they would want to see us. I mean, even if they’re mad at us . . . we’ve known each other so long.”
Lou squeezed my hand. “Krista,” he said hoarsely. “Don’t worry. They’ll show up.”
“Yeah.” I let go of Lou’s hand and leaned back in my chair. A wave of exhaustion had washed over me, and I was about to go back to my room. Then there was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” Lou said as loudly as he could.
The door opened, and Scott and Ter came in.
I smiled at them, and Lou cried out, “Amigo!”
Ter came in first, though hesitantly, and Scott followed right behind her.
“Hi,” Scott said to me, but his eyes didn’t quite meet mine.
Ter came over beside me. “Hi, Krista,” she said softly. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay. Thanks,” I said, smiling at her. I heard warmth in her voice, and I ached to hug her, but she was standing a few feet away from me, looking around the room restlessly.
“You guys got the whole school stirred up,” Scott said.
“Yeah, you should hear everyone,” Ter added. “It’s all everyone’s talking about.”
Scott looked at Lou’s cast and grinned. “Man, look at all that white space just waiting to be filled.”
“Yeah,” Lou said, smiling.
“Well, at least you can still beat your drums,” Scott said. “Your arms seem to be okay. Remember Ricky Travis? When he broke his ankle in a football game, he still managed to move his whole leg up and down so he could work the pedal.”
“That’s right,” Lou said, lifting his left leg experimentally. “I guess I can do the same thing.”
The guys seemed to be doing better at getting back on their old footing than Ter and me. Her eyes were dancing all over the room, as if she were afraid to look too closely at either me or Lou. And then she burst out suddenly. “I couldn’t believe it when your mom called me last night. She said you’d been in a terrible accident, and you were unconscious.” Her eyes met mine, and I knew that she still cared.
“Yeah? She didn’t tell me she called you,” I said.
“It was at about ten last night. So today’s the first we could come see you.” Ter was rambling on nervously.
“Oh.”
“Does your head hurt?” she asked. “I asked Cathy, whose aunt is a nurse, about concussions, and she said they can cause terrible headaches.”
“Yeah, my head does hurt a little,” I said. “Especially if I move it too suddenly.”
“Um, I put something in your room,” she said, looking at her feet.
“Yeah? What is it?”
“It’s something I made at work,” she said. “You’ll see it when you get back there.”
“Oh, okay. Thanks,” I said.
A nurse bustled in to check Lou’s temperature, his pulse, and his cast. Then she bustled out again.
“Why do they want my temperature,” Lou grumbled. “I’m maimed, not sick.”
“They gotta earn their keep, I guess,” Scott joked. Lou chuckled, then another awkward silence descended on us.
God, this is awful, I thought. We can’t even hold a decent conversation with our best friends anymore.
“So,” Lou said. “Did you guys get any answers to your ad?”
Scott turned to him, looking surprised. “You saw it?”
Lou nodded.
“Well, yeah, we had a couple of kids come over and audition, but compared to you two, they were amateurs.” He started pacing around the room as he spoke. “You know, you two were half of what made our band what it was. That guy from the condos liked the sound all four of us made together.” He shot Ter a look. “Teresa and I were talking. We think maybe we should try playing that gig in two weeks.” He stopped pacing and looked at us. “If you guys are out by then, and if your injuries don’t keep you from playing, would you perform one last time?”
Lou shifted in his bed as if he were lying on rocks, and I averted Ter’s eyes. I wanted to play in the band again, and I was sure Lou did too, but the dynamics of the band wouldn’t be the same. And I thought it might be painful for Ter and Scott to see Lou and I me as a couple.
“We’ll have to check with our doctors,” Lou said.
“Yeah, of course,” Scott agreed quickly. “Listen, you don’t have to tell us right now. Talk about it first. Let us know when you guys are ready. You might even think about joining up with us again permanently.”
“Yeah, okay,” Lou said, looking at me.
“Well, I guess we should let you guys rest now,” Scott said. “We’ll come visit again.”
Ter sprang to her feet from the chair she was sitting in. “Yeah, you guys must be tired,” she said.
After Scott and Ter left, Lou and I talked for a few minutes about joining up with the band again. We decided that we’d wait and see what the doctors had to say, then take it from there.
I buzzed for the nurse, and she came in to wheel me back to my room. As soon as I got there I saw the beautiful silk flower arrangement Ter had left for me and burst into tears.
“Oh, I’ll bet you’re feeling miserable,” the nurse said, misinterpreting my tears. “I’ll go get the doctor.” She helped me into bed, and hurried out of the room.
I reached out and touched the petal of a pink rose. Ter had put together the arrangement, using colors that would match my room at home. She was so thoughtful. And yet when we were all in Lou’s room, she had kept her distance from me. I wondered if I could bear playing in the band, knowing that things would never be the same with her again.
Both Scott and Ter worked the next day, so we didn’t see them, but they each called to see how we were. Over the phone, Ter seemed so much more at ease with me, and I began to feel more optimistic about rebuilding our friendship. She laughed and joked around just
as she used to, and it was almost as if nothing had happened between us.
And in my conversation with Scott, we managed to clear the air between us. “You know,” he said halfway into our chat, “I was really upset about you and Lou—”
“I’m so sorry, Scott,” I said.
“Wait. I, uh, have to admit though that I came to realize that I’d kind of looked at you as a band member first and a girlfriend second,” he said. “After I had lots of time to think about it, I realized that you and Lou had a lot more in common than you and I did. You guys just seemed to think alike.” He chuckled. “So, anyway, I really hope you two decide to play with us for that gig.”
“Thanks, Scott,” I said. “Thanks for being so understanding.”
After I told Lou what Scott had said, he was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “See why I love that guy?”
We were released the following day. Our doctor told us that he saw no reason why we couldn’t play our instruments. He said our bodies would tell us what we could and couldn’t do, and he didn’t seem particularly worried about us hurting ourselves.
We decided we’d tell Scott and Ter that we wanted to play the gig and rejoin the band. The tension between Ter and me seemed to have disappeared, and I thought that our friendship would soon be back to normal again. Lou felt the same way about his friendship with Scott, so after discussing things, we both decided that we wanted to be a part of the band again.
It was close to the end of the school day when we were released from the hospital. Lou and I had arranged for my father to come pick us up and drive us over to the school so that we could tell Scott and Ter the good news in person. When my father pulled up in front of the school, we spotted Ter’s car and Scott’s Jeep in the student parking lot. My father helped us out of his car, and I told him we’d get a ride home from Scott. He drove away, leaving Lou and I right next to Ter’s car. Then the final bell rang, and kids began pouring out of the classrooms.
I looked at Lou and reached out for his hand. “You’re sure this is what you want?”
Lou nodded. “Yeah, I am.”
Soon Ter and Scott came out of the main building, talking to each other. They came a little closer to us, but neither of them seemed to notice us. Then Scott began to veer off to his Jeep, and Ter saw us leaning against her car. I saw her mouth drop open, then Scott followed her line of vision, and his eyes widened when he spotted us.
Ter immediately dashed forward. “Krista! Lou! You got out!” Her eyes were brimming with tears, and her mouth turned up at the corners in a tremulous smile.
Then Scott ran up to us, grabbed Lou’s hand, and pumped it up and down. “It’s great to see you up and around, amigo. I can’t believe you guys got out so quickly. The way you two looked the other day, Ter and I thought you were going to be there for days.” He laughed and slapped Lou lightly on the shoulder. “We were afraid you might not feel good enough to play that gig coming up.”
“Really?” I said, looking at Ter.
She nodded. “We thought we were going to have to settle for two amateur musicians for the gig—” She covered her mouth with a hand and threw a glance at Scott who was looking at us closely. “Um, did you decide?” she said hesitantly. “About playing the gig?”
I looked at Lou.
“Yes,” Lou said. “We want to play it and rejoin the band.”
“Great!” Scott said, raising a fist into the air. “High Pressure’s back in business.”
Ter smiled. “This is perfect! Now I won’t have to get used to two new people,” she said.
I looked at Ter and felt the urge to throw my arms around her. But instead, I leaned toward her, holding my arms open, and she leaped forward and hugged me fiercely.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
“Me too,” she cried. “Oh, I’ve missed you!”
Tears started to well up in my eyes, and I hugged her even closer.
“These last few weeks have been horrible,” she said. “I couldn’t stand not being your friend, even if you did get the guy I wanted. Our friendship was the most important thing in the world to me.”
“Oh, Ter!” I cried. “Things were awful for me, too. Everywhere I looked reminded me of you.” I pulled back, smiled through my tears, and said, Beaches.
“Yes!” Ter said, squealing.
I was bursting with happiness. Ter was ready to forgive me and take me back as her friend. And though I knew it would take time to rebuild her trust in me, we were definitely on our way to becoming best friends again. I wanted to shout and jump around in the parking lot, but my body hurt too much. So I just hugged Ter harder.
