The Perfect Right Hook

by Amy DeMeritt

  “Good, I guess. How long do you think before I can stand and walk on my own?”

  “It’s hard to say. You don’t have any neurological issues that’s preventing your muscles from supporting you so I think it’s just a matter of rebuilding your strength. It could take days or weeks.”

  “Days it is.” She laughs and takes my hand. “Just be patient with yourself, Jordan. Don’t try to push it too hard so you don’t hurt yourself.” I smile and look towards the door. “So, yesterday I got a kiss after I let you draw my blood. Did I do well enough in therapy today to earn one of those ‘real’ kisses you talked about?” Alex smiles and looks in my eyes affectionately before leaning in towards me.

  Her lips press against mine and we both press a hand against each other’s cheeks as our mouths part and our tongues unite in a sweet dance to match the twisted braid of invisible threads our hearts have created to unite us to one another. My hand runs through her hair to cup her behind her neck while we kiss and I feel her move in closer to me. Her other hand moves to rest on my thigh just above my knee while we continue to kiss. Oh, god, she’s making me feel like I have fire and electricity rushing through my veins. After a few minutes, she pulls back and gently presses her lips against mine before pulling back completely. Alex is smiling lovingly and her cheeks are a little red.

  “I’m so glad I didn’t dream about kissing you while I was out.” She lets out a small laugh. “Why?”

  “Because, it’s so much better to live a dream than just to dream.” I grin at her and her smile widens. “I think I recall saying something like that to you a week before you woke up.”

  I start rubbing my left bicep and Alex’s smile fades. “What’s wrong? Are you in pain?”

  “No, Daria said I need to rub and massage my muscles a few times a day to increase blood flow to them. She said it will help me recover faster.” She smiles and stands up. “May I?”

  I release my arm and Alex starts gently massaging me from my shoulder down to my fingertips. Oh, her hands are amazing! After massaging my left arm for a couple minutes, Alex walks around to the other side of my bed and repeats her same massage on my right arm. When she’s done, she stands at the foot of my bed and starts massaging my right foot and working her way up to my calf. She spends a couple minutes working on my calf before moving up to my thigh. As soon as her hands are on my thigh, I feel heat move up my chest and a twinge between my legs so strong that I almost moan. Alex’s right hand rides up the inside of my thigh, while her left hand rides up the outside, pressing in firmly and stopping just a few inches below my center. She slightly fans her fingers out and presses them in more firmly as she drags her fingers back down my thigh to my knee. I can feel my breathing pattern has changed slightly. I’m completely aroused. When Alex repeats the same motion, and just about reaches my center, she stops again and glances at my face. She gives me a small smile and drags her fingers down my leg more firmly than the first time. She walks back to the foot of the bed and repeats the same massage on my left foot and leg.

  I can definitely feel desire and passion in her touch. This is different from the other times she has touched me. I can’t wait to get out of this hospital!

  When she finishes, she sits down next to me smiling with a fresh tinge of pink on her cheekbones. I sit forward and pull her into a kiss. Her hand glides up my thigh and rests on my hip while our tongues twist together in a continuously changing concentric braid. I rest my hand on her thigh and feel her inhale and move in closer to me.

  “Is that part of your physical therapy, Pixie? If so, where do I sign up?” Alex pulls back quickly and we look towards the door. Callie is leaning against the doorway with a big happy grin on her face. “I see your tongue and lips are working just fine. How about the rest of you?” Callie walks in and comes to stand on the other side of the bed. Alex starts to stand, but I grab her hand and she stays next to me. Callie looks at her, and asks, “Did you at least make her brush her teeth first?” Alex laughs and flashes me a quick affectionate smile and squeezes my hand. “She even showered for me.” Callie arches an eyebrow with a mock approving look. “Glad to see you didn’t forget how to impress the ladies while you were out.” Alex and I both laugh. I pat the bed next to me and Callie sits down with us.

  “I was going to ask you how you are feeling, but seeing that little bit of action kind of answered that question. You up walking yet?” I glance at Alex and she is blushing a little deeper red, but she’s still smiling affectionately at me. “No, I’m not able to walk yet. At least, not without help. I broke my plank record though. Eleven minutes.”

  “You’re shitting me. You held a plank for eleven minutes after being in a coma for three months? Damn, Pixie, you must really want to get out of here.” I grin and glance at Alex. “Can you blame me?” They both laugh and Alex squeezes my hand a little.

  Chapter Ten

  “Jordan, what are you doing?” I freeze and look up to see Alex coming through the door of my room with a meal cart. I have my left hand holding onto my bedside table with my left foot on the floor. I’m trying to steady myself to attempt to put my right foot down. It’s been two days since I started therapy and I still can’t stand on my own and its very irritating. Alex quickly comes to my side and puts her arm around my back. “Where are you trying to go?” I smile and kiss her cheek. “Nowhere. I just wanted to see if I could stand by myself.”

  “And what would you have done if you fell?” I laugh and allow her to help me back onto my bed. “I guess I would’ve called, ‘Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!’” Alex shakes her head with a small smile and kisses my lips. “You better be more careful. Don’t try that again without someone here to catch you. If you smack your head, I’m going to be very upset.” Her genuine concern makes me I smile and my stomach flutter with joy. “Ok, I’ll be more careful.”

  “I have a special treat for you.”

  She turns and pulls the meal cart over and pushes the tray in front of me. Sitting on top is a takeout bag from my favorite stir fry and ramen place. She opens the bag and pulls out two bento boxes and two sets of chopsticks. My stomach suddenly aches with hunger. I haven’t had very much solid food the past couple days and the food I have had hasn’t been satisfying at all.

  “This is awesome. If I was a cat, a good bento box would be my catnip.” Alex laughs and pulls both bento boxes off the tray. “I think maybe I need to rethink this. We’re already the talk of the hospital. I can’t imagine what they’ll say if word gets around that you got high off the lunch I brought you.” I laugh and shake my head. “I don’t need a bento box to feel that way. You are pretty good at doing that to me with other means.” I look at her lips and she grins in a self-satisfied way before placing both bento boxes back on the tray.

  “How was therapy today?” She opens both boxes and pushes one closer to me before handing me a pair of chopsticks. “It was good. Daria had me start walking between the parallel bars and supporting myself with my arms. I can’t support my full body weight on my legs yet, but she said I’ll probably be able to in a couple days.”

  “That’s good. I can’t wait to see you walking. Do you mind if I take a peek in the gym tomorrow to watch your next session?”

  “Surprisingly, no.”

  “Why surprisingly?”

  “Well, I told you I hate to feel helpless or appear weak. You’re the only person that makes me feel like those things don’t matter, and not just because you’ve seen me at my weakest moments. When I was in the coma, but I thought I was living, I felt like that with you then.”

  “I think it’s interesting that in real life we are opposites in a way, but give each other the opposite of what we are. You are really this tough strong girl, but are content to drop your guard with me and show your vulnerabilities. I’m more of a quiet, shy girl that has never felt particularly strong or tough, but you make me feel like I am both of those things because you need me to be.”

  “You are the yin to my yang.” Alex
’s mouth curls into a giant smile. “I like that. So, yesterday you finished telling me about the ‘dream journeys’ I painted for you and you were supposed to tell me today about going to the flower market together.” I smile and nod as I swallow a bite of the amazing stir fry she brought me.

  “That felt so real that I’m still having a hard time believing it wasn’t.” I start telling her about what I experienced in my head while she told me about her trip when I was in the coma. She smiles pretty much the whole time. When I get to the part about running home in the rain, and her changing into my clothes, her smile gets really big and she laughs a little.

  “You were checking out my chest, weren’t you?” I laugh and shake my head. “Technically, no because that wasn’t really you in there.” Alex laughs and looks at my lips like she wants to kiss me. “The way you saw that day was way better than how it really happened. I went with my sister and we didn’t talk much. All I could think about was you. I tried to remember every detail of the day so I could tell you about it.”

  “Well, you did an excellent job because it was extremely vivid and I had a lot of fun. Do you have other siblings?” She shakes her head. “Just the one sister. She’s a few years older and is married with three kids. Going to the flower market was an escape from the family for her so she didn’t mind that I was quiet. She doesn’t get a lot of quiet time. I told her about you though. She just looked at me like she felt sorry for me, but thankfully, she didn’t try to convince me I was crazy for falling in love with my coma patient like my parents did when they realized it after I couldn’t stop talking about you one night at dinner.”

  “How do they feel now?” She smiles and pushes the meal cart out of the way so she can move closer to me since we’re both done eating. She takes my hand and kisses it. “They are cautiously supportive.”

  “I guess that’s all I can ask for. Thank you for lunch. It was really good. I can’t wait till I’m out of here so I can start pampering you like you have been doing for me for so long.”

  “Just a hint, I really like bubble baths.” She smiles in a meaningful way and I feel my face spread into a huge grin. “Noted with a large exclamation point.” She lets out a small laugh. “Good. I guess I better get back to work. I’ll come see you later. Do you need anything before I go?”

  “Nope, I’m perfect. Thanks, babe.” Her smile widens and she leans in to kiss my lips for a moment before standing up. Alex gathers our lunch trash and says, “Just push the call button if you need something. Please don’t try to stand up again.” I place my right hand on my heart, raise my left hand like a scout, and say, “I promise I will not try to stand up again.” Alex smiles and turns to walk out.

  I suddenly feel extremely tired like I get after eating a huge plate at Thanksgiving. A bento box is pretty light in normal circumstances, but I guess since I haven’t really had any solid food in months, it was just too much. I know my mom won’t be in today and Callie probably won’t be here till late, if she comes, so I don’t fight it and I just close my eyes.

  When I open my eyes, the room is a little darker and Alex is sitting in a chair next to my bed watching me with a small smile. I smile at her and reach out my hand for her to take. She stands and comes over to my bedside and takes my hand. “I guess that catnip was really strong, huh?” I laugh and sit up. I scoot over some and pat the bed for her to sit down next to me. “How long was I asleep for?”

  “A few hours. I just got off my shift a little bit ago. What would you like for dinner? Katie can get you something from the kitchen or I can get something out for you. Dr. Hamlin is ok with pretty much anything since you did so well with the bento box earlier.”

  “Have you eaten yet?”

  “I wanted to wait to eat with you.”

  “What are you hungry for?”

  “A salad I think.”

  “I could go for a salad. I dreamt about a really amazing salad you had me try.”

  “Yeah? What was it?”

  “It was called ‘chicken in a flower garden’ and it was from some place called The Farm Table.” Alex laughs and leans forward to kiss my lips. “That’s my favorite place and I ate one of those here one night while I was talking to you. They’re clear across town though so we’ll have to do something different this time. There’s a restaurant in the cafeteria downstairs that actually makes a pretty decent salad. How do you feel about getting out of your room for dinner?”

  I smile and throw my arms around her, pulling her in close. I kiss the side of her neck and she pulls my face around to look at me before pulling me into a nice kiss. Oh, god, her tongue and her lips are just incredible. I feel my body heat rising and feel myself starting to pull her down on top of me. I’m lying on my back with her pressed firmly against me as our lips and tongues dance together in a slick warm erotic way. I feel my bud between my legs activate and start ticking rapidly. Alex bites my bottom lip and I release a small sound and she suddenly pulls back smiling. We’re both breathing heavily and I can see the want in her eyes as she hovers above me looking in my eyes.

  “You’re making it so hard to be a good nurse.” I laugh hard and kiss her lips. “I’m awake now, so you can be my naughty nurse all you want.” She laughs and blushes bright red. “Besides, you’re off the clock, so I’m not your patient right now; I’m just your girl.” She smiles brightly and kisses my lips. “Can I take my girl to dinner now?”

  “Yes, I would love that.”

  After I comb my hair out, Alex helps me out of bed into a wheel chair. When we come out of my room, Katie is working on a computer at a nurse’s station and smiles when she sees us. “Getting out tonight?” I smile and nod towards Alex. “I’ve got a hot date. This cute nurse here asked me to accompany her to dinner.” They both laugh and Katie shines a big grin. “Have fun. Please have my patient back by curfew.” She looks sternly at Alex, but then laughs. “Just teasing.”

  I feel almost normal again as I wheel myself into the restaurant and we’re both seated at a small square candle lit table along the side of a wall. I would have preferred to be in a real chair, but it feels amazing sitting across from Alex at a real table and not my meal cart.

  After the hostess places a menu down in front of us both and walks away, Alex places her hand up on the table as if for me to take. I take her hand and she smiles in that sweet loving way that makes me feel so safe and warm inside.

  “Jordan, I’ve been dreaming about being able to take you out for close to two months. I’m so happy you are well enough to sit here with me. I can’t wait to take you on a real date.” I laugh a little and squeeze her hand. “I’d call this a real date, babe. I’d even call having lunch with you today a date. This is perfect, Alex. Sure, I’d rather not be in a tee shirt and sweat pants sitting in a wheel chair, but I don’t want to have to wait to get out of here to start being what we already are together.”

  “I love you, Jordan.”

  “I love you, too. So, what’s the perfect date night that you’ve been dreaming about?” She smiles and shakes her head. “I can’t tell you because as soon as you’re released from the hospital, we’re going to do it.” I laugh and Alex blushes and laughs a little. “That’s not what I meant.” I just smile at her and she laughs again. “You really have no idea how much I love when you look at me like that.”

  “I’m sure I do. You have a way of looking at me that makes me feel invincible and ecstatic. You have very powerful eyes, Alex.”

  Our waiter appears before she can respond so we both quickly glance at the menu and order a salad. When he walks away, Alex asks, “Do you wish you could have those three months back?” I look at her confused and shake my head. “Why would I want them back? I wouldn’t be sitting here with you if I hadn’t been knocked into a coma.”

  “We may have met another way. You never know.”

  “I’m not willing to risk it. There are infinite possible outcomes in every single day. Every single choice we make can have countless variations. We can’t begin t
o consider all the missed consequences as a result of the choices we make. If I chose not to fight in that match, it’s probably a one in a billion chance that we would have met in another way. There’s no way I’d change what happened. Chance was on my side in that particular scenario, but Chance may not have been a friend in any other circumstance.”

  “Chance is a very fickle fellow for sure. Even though I wish you didn’t have to go through that, I’m glad that Chance brought us together.”

  Our waiter arrives with our drinks. After he walks away, I lift my glass to take a sip, but Alex quickly reaches over and grabs my hand to lower the glass. “What are you doing?” She takes the glass and smells it. “This isn’t water, Jordan.” She motions for the waiter to come back and holds up the glass. “She ordered ice water with lime, what is this? It’s bubbly and smells off.” He takes the glass and his eyes get big. “Oh, I’m so sorry. This is a gin and tonic for a different table. I’ll be right back.”

  My heart starts racing. If I had drunk that, I would be fighting for my life again. “Alex, you seriously just saved my life again. I need to buy you a superhero cape when I get out of here.” She gives me a small smile, but there is worry on her face. When the waiter places the fresh bubble free water on the table, I see Alex look at the glass nervously. I hold it out to her. “Would you be so kind as to inspect my water for me?” She smiles lovingly and takes the glass. She takes a sip and hands it back. “It’s safe.” I take the glass and smile. “Thanks, babe.”

  The rest of dinner is really nice. Once our food is delivered and we’re eating and talking, I feel more like I really am on a date. After a while, I don’t even remember that I’m in a tee shirt and sweat pants sitting in a wheelchair. It’s funny, when you first start dating a person you typically spend the time talking about yourselves and getting to know each other. Even though we have only actually been talking to each other for a few days, in reality we spent three months getting to know each other, just in a very atypical way. The whole time we’re talking, it feels more like we’re just reminiscing together rather than teaching each other about ourselves. It’s really nice.