Suddenly Booked

Chapter2.

Why am I so cold? I hadn’t even opened my eyes yet, but I knew immediately that I was colder than I should be. I was just starting to wake up, and I could hear a soft humming coming from somewhere close by, but something felt off.

My head still ached, and I knew that once I fully woke up and opened my eyes I would have to deal with, well, with something, but I just couldn’t figure out why I was freezing.

Slowly, I stretched out my arms, but a sudden pain filled me as I tried to do the same with my legs.

“Ow,” I whispered as I opened my eyes to see why my leg was hurting so much. To my utter surprise, I was lying on a bed that I recognized, but in a room that I did not.

The room was mostly dark, but there was a faint yellowish glow coming from the outline of two curtains hanging along the wall opposite where my bed was pushed up against, and from underneath the door of this room.

Even though the things in this room gave off a cozy and comfortable vibe, it was clear that this room did not belong to me. As I slowly rose up onto my elbow, I moved my leg and felt that same painful sensation.

Looking down at myself, I saw that I was wearing a button-down black pajama shirt that went down to my knees and below that I saw that my leg was wrapped in a large beige bandage with silver clippings running up and down one side.

I couldn’t look away from my leg as I tried to understand what the hell had happened. My head was throbbing and the humming sound that I had heard when I was first waking up, started up again

There was a sudden “puff” that sounded on the small table beside my bed and I realized that there was some kind of diffuser that was running and the scent of peppermint suddenly filled the room.

I inhaled the familiar and soothing scent and tried to make myself focus on the last thing that I remembered happening.

Lying back on the pillows, I closed my eyes and tried to think back about the last few hours. I remember taking my final exam in Mr. Delfi’s class and talking to him about taking his TA position for next semester.

Then I remembered going back to my room and Jessica coming in to invite me to the party at The Landing. We had gotten dressed and headed over to Scott’s fraternity house to have a few drinks with the guys before heading out.

The usual group was already there when we had gotten there. Scott, Robby, Julian, Crystal, Brittany, and a few others I was not close with but who hung out with us quite a lot.

A party was in full swing at the fraternity house, but no one wanted to stay and hang out there. Everyone was dead set on going to the club. It was clear by everyone’s clothes that they were trying to make a statement.

Jessica had borrowed my red dress from my last year’s Halloween costume. I had gone as Jessica Rabbit because the guy I was hooking up with at the time, Kyle, had wanted us to go as a couple.

Too bad I realized it too late that he just wanted me to dress up in a hot costume, while he walked around with bunny ears, a red ball on his nose, and a bow tie the entire night.

I on the other hand, had worn my ever-so-classy, only bust out for the best of the best, little black dress. It was my absolute favorite upcycle.

It was a dress I had bought at a thrift store my freshman year to wear to a formal and after some small alterations and tricks with my portable sewing machine, I had made it a dress to be remembered.

But, I was getting off-topic and wondering down one of the many pathways my mind always opened up for me when I was trying to focus. I remember having a shot with Jessica and then Britany handed me another one when the DJ was making an announcement.

Then there was something about being outside, and I think there was even a blurry memory of being in the back seat of Julian’s convertible, but that is where things got even hazier.

The sound of the diffuser going off again brought me back to reality. As I closed my eyes and inhaled the subtle peppermint scent that was filling the air around me.

Something about the scent was familiar, and it was not only helping me to relax, but it was also making me a bit sleepy. I lifted my arm up to cover my mouth as I yawned and that’s when I saw the bracelet on my arm.

Not the kind of bracelet I usually wore though. No, it was a white plastic bracelet band that had a large face on one end with lots of tiny words typed out in dark or black ink.

Bringing my wrist closer to my face, I saw my name, date of birth, and the name of the on-call doctor written right underneath the words Metro University Hospital.

“Son of a b*tch,” I choked out as all of a sudden other memories started to fill my head. Pushing myself up to a sitting position, I used one hand to propel my body up, and I held my head with the other.

Little colorful spots were floating in my vision, but thankfully, I was able to keep the nausea from overwhelming me and the contents of my stomach from coming up. Not that there was much in there.

I remembered laughing, and screaming, and then sirens, and having someone carrying me into the ER. I remembered the little old nurse and the tiny hospital gown. There were faces and voices of people I know and some that I don’t.

And I remembered the fact that I had been sitting in the hospital bed when my mom came in and me meeting my mom’s husband with absolutely no underwear on!

“F*ck my life,” I said as I brought my other hand up to my head and covered my eyes. Not like doing that would change anything, but my hands were cool, and I felt relief from the flush of heat that had filled my face.

Things were starting to make a bit more sense now. This had been my old bed and I had a feeling that this room was in the house that my mom and her husband now shared with each other.

Slowly, I dragged my hands down my face and let them rest around my neck. My body had gone from feeling damn near frozen to being alight with heat that had started in my face but was now radiating through my entire body.

A part of me was about to lift up the long nightgown that was actually really soft and happened to smell pretty nice, to see if whoever had dressed me had deigned to put me in underwear, but there was suddenly a knock on the door.

“Blayke, are you awake?”

My mom’s voice was coming from outside the door and for a second I froze. I still didn’t remember everything that had happened or even what had caused me to end up in the emergency room, but I didn’t feel ready to face her just yet.

I sat there on the bed as still as I could be, and for a second, I realized I was even holding my breath, but I stayed as still as a statue.

Even though I spoke to her often on the phone, at least once a week. It had been months since we had last seen each other. I went home for Christmas, but left the day after and spent New Year’s Eve with Jessica and her family.

But for some reason, I felt like I couldn’t see her right now. Not like this. What did she think of me? Had I disappointed her? Does she think that I do stupid things like that all the time? Worst of all, I couldn’t fathom what her new husband thought of me.

My hands were still around my neck, and I felt the tips of my fingers squeeze into my now warm skin. But my fingers felt odd, weird even. I must be much colder than I had originally thought because I realized then, that my hands were trembling.

A thought hit me suddenly. Was it truly that cold in this foreign room, or was I shaking out of another emotion. Some other reason.

And just like always, my mind began to think of the absolute worst possible scenarios.

I guess in my little panic, I had forgotten to take a breath because pressure had started building around my nostrils. I let in the air I had sucked in and was still holding quickly.

“Blayke,” my mom asked again with a soft question in her voice, and just when I was about to call out to her, the door knob turned, and I saw her peek her head in.

When our eyes met, I couldn’t force myself to hold her stare longer than a second. Shame washed over me to quickly and thoroughly that I almost thought I could physically feel it on my skin.

Heart racing, I closed my eyes and tried to keep the tears at bay. I was not one to cry easily, and especially not in front of my mother. It had been years since the last time I shed a tear in her presence and I really wanted to keep it that way.

My mom didn’t seem to care that I hadn’t invited her in because she was in the door and beside me on the bed in a flash.

“Oh baby girl, are you okay? Are you in pain? Does it hurt anywhere? Can I get you something?”

She spoke so quickly that I had no opportunity to answer any of her questions as he pulled me into an embrace. She had sat beside me facing the opposite direction and had pulled my head towards her with soft force.

The room was still dark, but there was more light from the door she had left open, and I was able to get a good look at her as she held my face with both hands.

Beautiful brown eyes searched my own as if she was trying to find the answers to not only the questions she had asked, but to the multitude of questions I could see that she was dying to ask deep inside of me.

My hands were clasped tightly together, and I had them on my lap as if I was trying to keep from reaching out to her.

“Where are we?”

I knew that this was not an answer to anything she had asked, but I couldn’t help it. She wasn’t the only one who had questions that needed to be answered. For a moment she just sat there watching me, but as she used her thumbs to wipe away those traitorous tears that refused to stay hidden, her face softened.

“Well,” she smiled softly, “this is our new home.”

New home? Well, that made sense. The last townhouse we had was a large one-bedroom suite-like place that was downtown by mom’s office. She hadn’t mentioned anything about moving, but then again, she hadn’t mentioned that she had gotten married either, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

Unsure if it was the confusion I was sure was probably written all over my face or my lack of additional questions, she went on.

“This is Mik’s house. Well, mine and Mikael’s house. We bought it and are fixing it up together. It’s really great, and it’s big enough for all of us to have more than enough space for ourselves.”

The look on my mother’s face was one I hadn’t seen in a while, but it was one of my absolute favorites.

Happiness.

My mother was so obviously happy that guilt began to replace the angst and fear that had been flooding me the moment she had knocked on the door.

Besides Jessica, my mom was the only other solid person I had in my life. I had friends and acquaintances from work and in college, but none of our relationships went beyond the superficial and actually held substance.

And while Jessica is great, like really great, I mean, honestly the best. Mom was my one and only, the best of the best. She was more than just my mother, she was my first friend, my biggest fan, my killer of bugs and slayer of all things scary.

So maybe the reason that I hadn’t wanted to face her wasn’t just the fact that I was embarrassed about what I might have gotten up to last night. I have a feeling that it had to do with the fact that she had done all this without telling me.

Mom was still sitting beside me and wiping away the few tears that were still sliding down my cheeks, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything else.

My feelings were all over the place, and I was actually a bit scared to say something that I probably shouldn’t. Neither mom nor I had ever been ones to mince words or beat around the bush.

But looking at her right now, I knew that I needed to watch the words that might come out of my mouth because whatever pain or worry I caused her from what happened last night, would be nowhere near what I might cause her with the wrong words.

So I plastered on the small little smile that I always used when I didn’t want anyone to know what kind of mess my mind was in. It came so easily that I hadn’t even had to put too much thought into it.

Within the span of a few blinks, I saw that it had the exact results that I was looking for. The hint of worry that was clouding her gaze was starting to lift, and her face began to mirror my own.

A smile, unlike my own, a genuine smile began to play across her face and I felt my heart fall a bit. I had wanted it to fool her, just like it had all the others, but I was also a bit sad about the fact that she had fallen for it so easily.

Moving her hands from my face, she moved them back towards my ears and I felt her tuck my hair back softly like she used to do when I was younger. She then let her hands run down to my shoulders and down my arms all the way to my hands.

She held my hands tightly and rubbed her thumb across my fingers as she began to speak again.

“If you’ve gotten enough rest, I’d love to help you wash up so that we can go downstairs and get something to eat. I know that I introduced you to Mik yesterday, but I would like to sit down all together and have a nice dinner. I’m sure that y’all have a ton of questions.”

All I could do was nod at her words. She was right. A formal introduction would be nice, and I really hope that he didn’t judge me too harshly from our terrible first impression.

While the idea of a shower sounded amazing, I really didn’t know how much I was going to need to be assisted. I felt mom starting to slip off the bed, and I was about to see how much I could move on my own when her words finally hit their mark.

“Wait, what do you mean y’all? Who else will be joining us for dinner?”

I was still holding one of her hands because I could tell that she was going to attempt to help me up and off the bed, so when she squeezed it softly, I knew that she was trying to comfort me from what I might feel from her next words.

“Oh goodness me, I’m sorry honey. With everything happening the way it did, our plans didn’t go down the way we had hoped. We were going to have a nice family dinner with me, you, Mikael, and his son. We were hoping it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise, but I guess no matter how we told you it would be a bit much.”

I pulled my hand away from hers softly and rubbed the side of my head. So, not only did I have a dad, now I was going to have a damn brother.

Before I really thought about it, I pulled up the long sleeping shirt along my left leg to see if I had panties on underneath. I had already met one new family member with no panties on. I was not going to let that happen again.

“Thank f*ck,” I whispered when I saw the hot pink boy shorts. I heard mom “tsk” at me and turned my head back up to her quickly.

“Be glad that I was able to find the box of your old clothes. I can’t believe that you went out without wearing any underwear, Blayke. What have I told you about that?”

Her words had shifted, and I could tell she was about to go into full lecture mode, but I was not ready for it. So I changed the subject quickly.”

“So, you said that Mikael has a son. How do you think he’s going to handle finding out that he has a new mom and sister?”

The expression on her face shifted quickly, and I knew that she was excited that I was talking about this. Whatever, if this guy made my mom this damn happy, I guess he can’t be too bad. And from what I could remember, he looked like a nice guy.

“I’ve only ever heard good things about him, but Mik says that Bash will be excited to meet us both. He should be here right around dinner time, so let’s get you cleaned up while we have plenty of time.”

After a bit of careful maneuvering, we were able to get me up and out of bed and mom had wrapped my leg in enough plastic that I could shower alone.

It took about three hours, but we had finally gotten me up, shower, dressed, and down the stairs with the help of the crutches that I would be using for the next few weeks.

But nothing had prepared me to walk into the dining room, sweating and already exhausted, and come face to face with Mikael and his son. My mom had called him Bash, but unfortunately, I knew him by his full name, Bastian, and he did not look happy to see me.