Member
Riley Hart
Alby47
Truthfully, had she put in an hour or two of practice the crutches would probably be a viable option. But insert Jess’ bullheadedness, her brother’s laughin and the little scene she had made on the ER floor and she wasn’t having any more of it. With the crutches tucked under her right arm and her left practically dragging Enzo down for support, she held onto her brother tightly as she carefully, and quite slowly hobbled towards the ER’s entrance doors. She gritted her teeth as she hopped along, her sprained ankle held awkwardly in the air. This whole being injured thing was exhausting.
“You know what…” Jess stopped and slowly let go of Enzo’s arm before grabbing the crutches from under her own. “Fuck it, let’s give it another shot.” The young woman planted the feet of the metal crutches down onto the ground before tucking the upper ends under her arms. With a shaky breath, she carefully shifted her weight along the crutches and moved forward, letting out a sigh of relief once her good leg made contact with the ground again. Only like 30-40 more of those until they got to the car. Her arms trembled as she moved along, not out of fatigue, but more out of fear of falling again. Not that her day could get any worse, but it would certainly hurt more to fall on the pavement than on the smooth tile floor of the ER.
By the time the siblings arrived at the car, Jess was breathing a little harder than usual. “That’s...harder than it looks..” She opened the passenger side door and sunk into the seat before pulling her crutches in after her. Jess let her head fall back against the headrest and closed her eyes as Lorenzo got in the car. The last thing Jess could remember was the hospital moving past the window before she fell asleep. This injury thing was more tiring than she’d thought.
When she woke up, Lorenzo was just pulling the car into the Horton property’s driveway. Jess blinked rapidly as the sun shone right into her eyes through the window before blocking it with her hand. With a gentle yawn, the brunette sat up straighter in her seat and undid her seatbelt as the vehicle came to a stop. She reached over and gently squeezed Enzo’s hand, sending him a warm smile. “I really appreciate it Enzo.” She looked over to the garage to see their father’s car still in the driveway. “Shit, hopefully dad’s not here right now. I really don’t feel like being lectured on how I should be more careful.”
After hobbling over to the front door and using her key to unlock it, the young woman looked to her brother and smiled again “I won’t keep you occupied, sounded like Grant needed you.” Jess turned and hopped inside, remaining still as she listened for signs of life. Nothing. Good, she wasn’t sure if she had the mental capacity to deal with the rest of her family right now. Lorenzo and her had always gotten along rather well, though obviously she did love her entire family even if they did occasionally drive her crazy.
Twenty minutes and a lot of struggling later, Jess had finally made it up the stairs on her own. Though people often commented on how stubborn she was, it certainly had it’s uses. Besides, stubborn was such a harsh word. Jess preferred determined. She looked over to her bedroom door, which had never looked so far away in her life, and began to hobble in its direction. After nearly crashing into it, she twisted the handle and opened the door to her haven. Jess’ room was almost always neat and tidy. She collapsed onto her bed and let out a sigh of relief. She’d made it. Home at last. Now it was time to relax.
Jess dug out her bikini top and bottom from her dresser; a light and friendly striped set coloured white and turquoise, and slowly and awkwardly began the process of changing into it. Everything was most definitely harder to do in a cast. It could’ve been worse though. She could’ve injured herself in front of the rest of her family and hear about it for years to come. Jess shuddered at the thought. No, this day was now only for relaxing. No more stressing, no more pain. That settled it. She need a drink.
The now bikini-clad brunette carefully maneuvered her way back down the stairs and hobbled into the kitchen. From there, she retrieved one of the beer bottles she’d stashed at the back of the fridge and popped off the cap, taking a sip before proceeding back to the door. Once outside, she limped and hopped her way over to the set of lounge chairs that sat in the yard before collapsing into one of them with a rather dramatic sigh. The sun felt wonderful on her skin, warming her entire body up and subconsciously bringing a slight smile to her lips. Jess carefully slipped in her earbuds and flipped through her phone until coming to her chill playlist, to which she promptly hit “shuffle” on. As the music began, she flipped down her sunglasses and closed her eyes. Finally, she could relax in peace. The only thing wrong with the image was that a rather unsightly air-cast adorned her leg, though it was probably better than showing off the horrifying bruising that had set in around her ankle.
