Mom screeched something in the background, and I had to fight the urge to laugh.
“Save your jokes for tomorrow. I don’t have my phone on me, but I’ll make sure to call you as soon as I get my things back. If you need anything, I’m staying at the…” I looked around and gave him the name of the hospital printed on the whiteboard in front of the bed. “I really am okay though, so don’t worry, and tell Mom I tried to call her but she didn’t answer.”
“Si, esta bien. Call me as soon as they release you. I love you. If you need me, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
I smiled on the other end. “Thanks, Dad. Love you. Bye.”
My dad said goodbye in return and we hung up.
With nothing else to do, I turned on the television and watched what was left of a movie about house-sized tarantulas. About an hour later, a few knocks tapped at the door before I heard who could only be Harlow and Jenny arguing on the other side. They, and by ‘they’ I meant Harlow, didn’t wait for me to welcome them inside. The defender pushed the door open and strolled in the room, followed by Jenny and three of my other teammates.
Har looked around the room. “This is fancy.”
“Hi, Har, Jenny.” I greeted the other girls that came along with them too.
Jenny came to sit on the bed with big bright eyes. “You scared the devil out of me.” She grabbed my hand gently. “I thought you were dead.”
Harlow chuffed as she sat by my feet and let the other girls take the chairs. “I knew you were fine.”
“They told us you have a concussion,” one of the girls said.
“A moderate one,” I told them.
The wince was visible around the room. They all knew what it meant and none of them tried to feed me kind words. The situation sucked.
“Yeah, it blows.” I sighed. “I’m not even going to bother asking if I’m playing the next game, it’ll just piss me off when they tell me, ‘no’ to my face.”
Jenny squeezed my hand. “What matters is that you’re okay. Did they make sure you don’t have any hemorrhaging?”
How could you not smile at that?
The girls stayed for almost an hour, making me smile and fight back laughs as we joked around about random things that had nothing to do with the Pipers. They finally promised to see me the next day, if I was on time for the flight, and Jenny assured me she had taken my things back to our room. As they got up and started to head out, Harlow leaned in and whispered, “You want me to do something about Mel?”
Oh dear God.
I patted her cheek and totally lost it. “No, Har. It’s all right. Thank you.”
She eyed me. “If you’re sure…”
“I’m sure. Thanks though, I really do appreciate it.”
Harlow eyed me suspiciously as she walked out, as if expecting me to change my mind and ask her to exact vengeance on my behalf. I suddenly realized I wouldn’t just be leaving the Pipers. For the first time since I’d decided I didn’t have any choice but to go somewhere else, the reality of leaving two of my closest friends for the last few years really got to me.
Having to make new friends and get in well with new teammates wasn’t that daunting. I’d done it over and over again throughout my life, but if I stayed with the WPL, I wouldn’t get to play with them anymore anyway, would I?
I swallowed the melancholy down and reminded myself that I needed to do what was best for me. Right.
“Knock, knock,” Gardner called out in the middle of pushing the door open.
“Come in,” I called out.
His graying head was the first thing I noticed. He was still wearing the same suit and tie from the game.
I kept an eye on the door expecting Kulti to come in after him, but there was no one there. Well, that was disappointing.
“I’m happy to see your head is still attached,” he said gently, taking a seat.
I smiled at him, only halfway feeling it. Since the Franz thing, I hadn’t been sure how to act around Gardner. I doubted he knew, and I especially doubted that he had anything to do with their decision to trade me, but there was no way to know for sure. “Hey, thanks for coming.”