It Goes Without Saying

by Taylor Danae Colbert

  “Alright, then,” Dr. Carmen said, “Josh here is going to finish getting you prepped, and I’ll see you in the operating room.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Carmen,” Bria said.

  “Of course,” he said, smiling warmly back at her.

  “There he is,” Mrs. Knoxville said, coming into the room with a handful of magazines, her huge purse sliding off her shoulders. Mr. Knoxville followed close behind.

  “How ya feelin’?” his dad asked.

  “I’m feeling great. This place gets five stars from me,” Knox said.

  “Hi, Bria,” Mrs. Knoxville said, giving her a peck on the cheek.

  “Knox?” she heard a voice at the door.

  “Hey, Kates,” he said, cheerfully. “Come on in.”

  “I wanted to bring you this,” she said, handing him a small blue gift box.

  “Katie, you don’t need to get me anything,” he said.

  “Open it.” He took the top off the box and smiled.

  “Uno!” he laughed.

  “It’s for when we are both stuck in bed. I thought that since you’re giving me a kidney, I could let you win one time.”

  He smiled and reached his arm out to her. Bria wiped a tear from her eye. Just before Josh came back in to start prepping, the rest of the group stepped out of the room. When she stood up, he grabbed her hand.

  “B, stay.” She sat back down. “I actually have something for you.” She popped up.

  “What?”

  “It’s in my duffle bag,” he said, pointing to the floor. She gave him a look, then unzipped it and pulled out a small stuffed gorilla holding a heart. The heart said “be mine,” but Knox had covered it with a piece of paper. The paper read “your sister might be stealing my kidney, but you’ve stolen my heart.”

  Bria burst out into a fit of uncontrollable laughter as she collapsed on the bed next to him.

  “Hey, you might not know this about me, but I am quite the romantic,” he said, laughing. When she finally calmed down, he nudged her with his shoulder. “It’s true, though.”

  The smile ran away from her face as she kissed him, long and hard.

  “Okay, Mr. Knoxville,” Josh said, pulling on a latex glove, “it’s time to get you on up to the operating room.”

  “See ya on the other side, baby cakes,” he said with a wink.

  Then she stood in the doorway of his room as he rolled away.

  After what felt like twelve years, Dr. Carmen appeared in the waiting room.

  “Ben’s surgery went great,” he said, and she felt a load of panic immediately escape her body. “He’s having some trouble coming back from the anesthesia, though, so we are keeping a close eye on him. In the meantime, Katie is being prepped, and we will start operating on her in just a short bit.”

  “Thanks for the heads-up, doc,” Joe said, shaking his hand.

  “I don’t like that,” Bria said.

  “Don’t worry, honey. He had the same issue after his car accident, remember?” Mrs. Knoxville said. “I’m sure he will be awake in just a little while.”

  But her heart was pounding in her chest. She closed her eyes. Take a breath, she could hear him saying. Just breathe.

  She almost didn’t wake up when Sam nudged her, until she heard her name.

  “Bria! Wake up,” Sam said, She shot up from the chair. “Dr. Carmen is here.”

  “Well, folks, good news. The transplant went smoothly. We have both of the patients in ICU now, and we are monitoring them closely. All things are looking good.”

  Both families cheered loudly from the waiting room, and Bria slumped back into her chair. They were okay. They were both okay.

  “Is Kno—Ben awake?” Bria asked him.

  “He is. Unfortunately, neither can have visitors just yet, until they are moved to their regular rooms. We will keep you updated.”

  “Thank you so much,” she said, grabbing his arm. He put his hand on top of hers before walking back behind the desk.

  Hours passed, and they watched as the sun went completely down, then woke just as it was coming back up. Bria and Sam were sharing a plate of hospital-cafeteria nachos for breakfast when Dr. Carmen appeared in the doorway yet again.

  “Bria?”

  “Yes?” she asked, sleepily.

  “Do you want to see him?” She practically leapt off of her chair, but she stopped when she saw her parents standing up. Katie.

  “Katie’s awake, too, if you’d like to see her,” Dr. Carmen said, looking to her parents.

  “You go see Knox,” her father told her. “We’ll check in on Katie.”

  Bria wanted to sprint down the hallway to his door, but Mrs. Knoxville was clicking next to her in her high heels, and she didn’t want to be rude. When they got there, she took a breath before opening the door.

  He lay in the hospital bed, eyes closed.

  “Sweetie?” Mrs. Knoxville said, kneeling down to kiss his forehead, “how are you feeling?” Knox groaned.

  “I’ve felt better,” he said, barely above a whisper. His lips were dry, and his eyes were still closed.

  “I’m so proud of you,” Mrs. Knoxville whispered to him and she kissed him one more time. “You look so tired. I’m going to run to the cafeteria, now that I know you’re alright. Bria is here.”

  With that, his eyes popped open, and he turned slowly until he saw her.

  “Hey, baby cakes,” he said, his voice strained. She moved in closer to him and stroked his face, a tear rolling down her cheek.

  “Hey, hey, no, no,” he said. “I’m all good. And Katie. . . is Katie?”

  “She’s doing great, too,” Bria said, wiping her tears on her sleeve, “thanks to you. I don’t know how I ever. . .”

  “Don’t,” he stopped her. But she kissed his face and leaned down closer to his ear.

  “I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you,” she whispered, “but I hope I never screw it up.”

  Finally, the next morning, Knox was discharged. Katie would be going home the next day. Mr. and Mrs. Knoxville followed Bria back to Knox’s house, him groggy in her passenger seat.

  “I’ll call you tonight and check in,” she had told Katie earlier.

  “Bria, stop worrying about me. You know mom and dad aren’t going to leave my side. Be with him.”

  When they got home, Mrs. Knoxville dumped a bag of frozen something into the crockpot. She fluffed his pillows and made up a bed for him on the couch.

  “Alright, now, is there anything else you need?” she asked. Bria looked at Knox.

  “No, mom, thank you.” She kissed his head once more.

  “Okay. Please, Bria, make sure he gets some rest.”

  “You got it,” Bria said.

  “And call me if you need anything.”

  Bria showed her out and walked back up the steps to the living room.

  “Your mom seems a lot more. . . present, these days,” she said, lifting up the ottoman and moving it to the other side of the couch so she could sit down.

  “She is. It’s nice. But I really only need one nurse right now, and I kinda want the hot one to stay,” he said, reaching his hand out. “Come here.”

  “I don’t wanna hurt you,” she said.

  “Pshh. You could never.”

  She didn’t realize just how exhausted she was, until she fell asleep on the couch, curled up against him, for almost five straight hours. When she finally woke up, he was still sound asleep. She guessed that losing an organ would make you a little tired. She quietly got up, went into the kitchen to get some crackers, and walked down the hallway to his bedroom. She dug through her overnight bag, trying to find a sweatshirt, but she had forgotten one. Or maybe, she had done it on purpose so that she could steal one of his. No one would ever know.

  She opened his closet door, reaching up toward his sweat clothes and yanked one down. And down with it came a shoe box that burst open when it hit the ground, sending all sorts of things flying out from it. She knelt down to pick them up.
. .the letter she had given him for graduation, the tickets to the Nationals’ game they had gone to, and a picture. A picture of her in the woods. The one Knox took of her at Meade Lake.

  “I’ve had that for probably, eight, nine years now,” he said, startling her so much that she dropped the box again. He started to bend over to pick it up, but she stopped him.

  “No, no, I’ll get it. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry, I just knocked it off when I was snagging a sweatshirt,” she said. He sat down on the bed, and she sat down next to him.

  She remembered all the poses she had done for him that day, how hard he laughed. Out of all the photos he had taken, he kept the one of her, hunched over, laughing so hard that her nose was scrunched. The bottom corner of the photo was bent up, and it looked old. But she was so young.

  “Wow,” was all she could muster up.

  “Yeah, I love that picture. I had it printed the day we got back from the lake that weekend,” he said, looking down at it. “I still look at it, from time to time.”

  “You do?”

  “Yeah. It makes me feel. . .calm, I guess.”

  “I can’t believe you’ve had this, all these years.”

  “Yeah, well, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever have this all these years,” he said, putting his arm around her and pulling her into him. “I had to have something to look at when I needed you.”

  She rested her head on his shoulder. Man, if only she knew then.

  He tilted her chin up with his finger, kissing her gently. Then harder, until she felt him pulling her up onto him.

  “Ah-ah, mister,” she said, pushing off. “Doc said no funny business for a few weeks. Lay back, and I’ll make you some tea.”

  “Arghhhh,” he sighed, covering his face with a pillow. “How am I supposed to wait weeks, when I have that waiting for me?”

  She smiled at him, shaking her ass as she walked out of the room.

  THIRTY-ONE

  For the full two weeks after his surgery, Bria made Knox breakfast almost every morning, took him to the doctor for his follow-ups, and played games with him all night.

  “I’m so happy everything is healing well,” she told him, as she picked up his dishes and brought them to the sink.

  “Me, too,” he said. “Know what else Dr. Carmen told me?”

  “Hmm?” she said. He appeared next to her at the sink, resting his chin on his palm.

  “Funny business is a go,” he said, raising his eyebrows.

  Bria dropped the bowl she washing into the sink and dried her hands on a towel. She stood back, pulling her shirt off over her head and dropping it on the ground next to him.

  “Your move, Mr. Kidney,” she said.

  He smiled, lunging at her and pushing her toward his room.

  It had only been a couple of weeks, but good God had she missed this. When they were finished, he rolled over to face her.

  “I’ve been thinking,” he said, running his fingers down her arm.

  “Uh-oh, that could be dangerous,” she said. He playfully bopped her with his pillow.

  “And I think it’s time we go on an actual date.”

  She felt herself catch her breath. She smirked.

  “A real date, huh? You mean the last few weeks of us watching movies on Netflix and eating bagel bites don’t qualify as ‘actual’ dates?” she laughed.

  “No, as a matter of fact, they don’t. Tonight. You. Me. I’ll pick ya up at seven.”

  “Are you sure you’re up for—”

  “Seven!” he said. She smiled.

  “Deal.”

  Today was only the second day she’d be leaving him alone at home, but she needed to haul her dirty clothes home and do some laundry. Plus, now, she had a hot date to get ready for.

  “So, he’s taking you out?” Sam asked that evening, standing in Bria’s bedroom doorway, chowing down on a bowl of cereal. Her sisters had made it a habit of coming to her apartment whenever they felt like it. Each of them had a key, and sometimes, when Bria got home from work they’d be there, watching T.V. Bria kind of liked it.

  “Yeah, guess so,” Bria said.

  “Oh, I found them!” Katie said, rummaging through her purse, and pulling out a pair of silver hoop earrings she had borrowed from Bria two years before. “I knew I still had them somewhere.”

  Bria’s apartment was the only place Katie was allowed to go right now, aside from the doctor, just to get out of the house some.

  “Thanks, Kates.”

  “So, where’s he taking you?”

  “Not sure. He won’t tell me.”

  “That’s so romantic,” Katie said, staring at Bria as she curled her hair in the mirror.

  “So, are you two officially together?” Sam asked.

  “Not sure. I guess so. We haven’t really talked about it.”

  Sam rolled her eyes.

  “I swear, it’s so much easier dating women. Know why?”

  “Why?”

  “Because we know what we want. And we aren’t afraid to say it.”

  Bria smiled and shrugged.

  “I prefer the uncertainty and anxiety that comes with heterosexual relationships, though,” Bria said.

  Sam giggled. A few minutes later, Bria could hear a knock on her front door.

  “You look hot,” Katie said, before walking out to let him in.

  Bria was wearing the tightest dress she owned, with strappy heels and the hoops that Katie had given back to her.

  “You do look awesome,” Sam said.

  Bria nodded. The double-sister approval was all she needed.

  The look on Knox’s face when she walked into the living room confirmed it. She had made the right wardrobe choice.

  “So, where are we going?” she asked, pulling her seatbelt around.

  “Well, my plan was to go to O’Reilly’s,” he said. She raised her eyebrows. O’Reilly’s was one of the nicest restaurants in Bethesda. “But really, I just want to go somewhere where we can park.”

  “Oh?” she asked. “Why do you want to park?”

  “So I can get you out of that dress as fast as possible.”

  She looked at him, giving him half a smile. She had put a lot of energy into her appearance tonight, but at this point, she couldn’t care less. She just wanted him.

  “Go to the farm,” she instructed. He raised his eyebrows at her this time.

  “Bria, I was just kidding.”

  “Well, I’m not,” she said, running her hand up his thigh.

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  “O’Reilly’s can wait.”

  He did what he was told, driving to Beecher’s Farm, a few miles away to the outskirts of town. Bria was finally going to hook up at the farm. The perfect spot to park and get her freak on. He pulled in, the dust from the tires blowing back behind them as they made their way to the furthest point of the dirt lot. As soon as he put the car in park, she pounced on him.

  “Damn, B!” he said, laughing as she pulled him into the back seat. She kissed him everywhere, his lips, his neck, and his chest, once she had his shirt off. She shot him a sweet-but-devlish grin for a moment, until it was time to get busy. She hiked up her skirt and climbed on top of him. She had always wondered if the windows would really fog up like they did in Titanic. Well, they do.

  When they were done, she made him blast the air conditioning in the car as she tried to salvage her hair and makeup, despite the fact that it was winter, and the air was bitter cold.

  “Well, then,” he said, clearing his throat and straightening out his shirt, “guess O’Reilly’s is out tonight. We missed our reservation time.”

  “Worth it,” she said with a smile, as she gave up on her hair and pulled it into a ponytail.

  “Want to go to Regal’s?” he asked.

  “How about we just go to Andy’s?” she asked. “I could just use a pizza.”

  “Love it,” he said, kissing her cheek as he pulled away.

  Andy’s was loud tonight, which was unch
aracteristic for a weeknight. They scored a booth in the back and shimmied in.

  “So, how has work been?” he asked. The question sort of took her back for a moment. Drew rarely asked her about her day at work.

  “It’s going pretty good,” she said, assuming he didn’t really need any more information.

  “Still liking the new position?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I am, actually. It’s going really well. Are you excited to get back to school? Have you thought anymore about applying for that position at Dalesville?” she asked.

  “A little bit, but I haven’t quite decided. It’s weird because Mrs. Geiger and Mr. Kinney are both still there,” he said.

  “You’re shitting me!” she said. “Aren’t they both pushing like a hundred now?” He laughed.

  “Something like that.” He paused to take a sip of his drink and eat a fry. “This feels good, B.”

  “It does,” she agreed. She looked back at him with contentment in her eyes, putting her hand on top of his before stealing one of his fries.

  “So,” he said, taking her hand as they walked to his car, “what do we do with this week we have left?”

  She gave him a devilish smile, but in the pit of her stomach, she felt a little nauseous thinking about the end of Knox’s bedrest and her return to work. The last two weeks were like a hazy teenage heaven. And soon they’d be ending.

  THIRTY-TWO

  She woke up the next morning, nose-to-nose with him. He was still in a deep sleep, and she studied his face for a few moments, memorizing every line, curve, and bit of stubble on it. Then came the panicky nausea again.

  Wait, no. Actual nausea. She hopped off the bed and ran to the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

  As she puked over the toilet, she could taste everything she had eaten the night before.

  Dammit. This better not be food poisoning. The last time she had it was in college, and she was out for a week.

  “B?” Knox asked, knocking on the door.

  “Don’t come in,” she said, pressing her foot up against the door.

  “Stop,” he said. “Open up.”