Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 48146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 241(@200wpm)___ 193(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 241(@200wpm)___ 193(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
“Can we keep him company?” I asked, wanting to see him for myself.
“Sure. Second room on the right.”
The three of us walked through the door to the back rooms and easily found Bones, who was like a chatterbox on anesthesia, probably telling the surgeon his life story, with gauze hanging out of his mouth.
It didn’t look like anything was amiss besides him looking and sounding high. There were also some blood spots on his gown, but I’d bet his clothes were worse. Shoot, I should’ve brought him clean ones.
“Are you with the patient?” the surgeon asked. We nodded.
“We’ll give him some fluids, so encourage him to drink through a straw. It shouldn’t be much longer.” He carefully pulled the bloody gauze out of Bones’s mouth and tossed it. “But he’ll need to take it easy for the next twenty-four hours and schedule a follow-up visit with his dentist.”
When he left the room, Henry and Flash stepped closer to the bed, and I stayed behind, not wanting to overwhelm him.
“Hey, man, looks like you’re gonna be okay,” Henry said.
“You’re not gonna die,” Flash joked.
Bones’s eyes widened. “What happened?”
“You cracked your tooth,” Henry said. “You don’t remember?”
“Anesthesia has that effect sometimes,” the nurse said as she entered the room with a cup and a straw. She approached the bed and held the cup for him, and he drank like he’d spent a year in the desert.
“Okay, that’s enough for now,” she said as he tried to grab the cup again. “We need to see if your stomach can handle it.”
I tried to rein in my snicker, but his eyes zeroed in on me.
“Hey…I know you.”
I padded over to his bed. “I’m your roommate, dork.”
“You are?” His eyes grew wide as saucers. “You’re so cute!”
Oh my God, kill me now.
“If you’re my roommate, I must have a crush on you!”
“Um…” I became tongue-tied at how innocent he sounded, unsure how to respond. My gaze met Henry’s. Awkward.
Bones fluttered his eyelashes in an attempt at flirting. “Wanna date me?”
Flash’s bark of laughter was disguised as a cough.
“I don’t really date,” I offered in response, feeling perplexed at this version of Bones.
“Why not? I would make an awesome boyfriend.”
Ah, there was the Bones I knew and loved.
Loved? Okay, maybe hard like. And how could I not? He sounded so adorable.
“You’ve never been anyone’s boyfriend in your life,” I pointed out.
“Well, there’s always a first. At least think about it?”
A laugh jumped out of my mouth. “Okay, sure.”
“Does anesthesia turn people gay?” Flash asked in a fit of hilarity.
My gaze met Henry’s, who also had trouble keeping a straight face.
Bones’s voice exploded in the quiet room. “There’s nothing wrong with being gay or bi or pan…or, or…aromantic or realizing you identify as demiromantic. You just need to find yourself.”
Where in the world had he come up with those terms? Apparently, he’d been doing his research. What else would explain it?
“Holy shit!” Flash said. “Maybe I should record this.”
“Don’t you dare,” I hissed. “Haven’t you learned anything from last year?”
There had been a whole situation with an intercepted letter involving Henry and Lark.
“I was only kidding.” He held up his hands and backed away. “If you guys got this, I’m gonna head back to the clubhouse and let people know he’s all right.”
“Sounds good,” I said, glad to be rid of him.
Once he left, Henry breathed out, seemingly glad as well.
Bones napped for a bit as we kept watch over him.
“I’m going to assume the person Bones is hung up on is you,” Henry said.
“Hung up on? We’re just casual. No way I want to get involved with a jock who’s trying to figure out his sexuality. Plus, the whole roommate situation…”
“Ah, got it. I won’t say another word.”
“Thanks.”
When Bones woke again, he was nearly back to his normal self. We helped him into his bloodstained clothes and out to my car.
“You sure you got it?” Henry asked.
“Yep, all good.”
“Okay, gonna head over to Lark’s. Catch you later.”
Bones was quiet the whole ride back, seemingly sluggish, mortified, or a mix of both. Plus, his jaw was no doubt sore with the painkillers wearing off.
When I pulled into the lot, he said, “You didn’t contact my parents—”
“Of course not. I figured you wouldn’t want that.”
He breathed out. “They would be disappointed in me.”
“It was a freak accident,” I said as we climbed out of the car.
“No, it wasn’t. I was being stupid.”
“Okay, you were.” I held on to his arm as we walked to the dorms. “But you learn from your mistakes. I bet you won’t be doing that again.”
The nurse had instructed us to watch over him because his equilibrium would be off, so I helped him shower and get changed. When he followed me to my bed, I didn’t question it, just figured he needed the closeness.