Page 77 of Styx & Stones

“Tell me about it. They cut me open my chest and neck, and all I can think is, this is going to hurt like a bitch when I’m puking my guts up after chemo next week.”

I frown. “Why did they operate? No one would tell me anything.”

“Infected port.”

“Oh my god, Styx.” I press my hand to my lips in shock. “Was it ... was it from the shower, from getting our lines wet?”

“You mean when I ate you out in the bathroom?”

“Shh! My mom is just outside my room.”

He chuckles. “Probably. It was worth it though.”

“You realize my pussy nearly killed you, right?”

This time he doesn’t hold back. He laughs so loud I hear him not just through the speaker on my phone, but also down the hall. I cover my mouth to hide my own laughter.

“Goddamn it, Stones, I miss the shit outta you.”

“Right back at you, loner boy.”

He shakes his head. “Soon. As soon as they let me out of here and I can walk again, I’m coming to see you.”

“Then hurry up, because I’m lonely as shit in here.”

***

Ilie in bed, staringat the ceiling, wishing I could call Styx but I don’t want to wake him. It’s well after midnight, and the ICU is quiet, save for the heinous beeping of the machines in my room and in the other patients’ rooms. It’s like a chorus of computers, all singing at once, and it’s annoying as fuck. I don’t know how anyone is supposed to sleep through this.

Down the hall, the night nurse says, “Mr. Hendricks. Where are you going?”

“I’m just stretching my legs. My ass is killing me.”

“You can’t walk around the ICU; it’s after two a.m. The other patients are sleeping, and you can barely stand as it is.”

“I won’t disturb anyone, I promise. Doc said I need to get up and get moving.”

Typical argumentative Styx. He always has an answer to everything. I guess he’s had a lot of practice convincing adults to do exactly what he wants.

I shake my head, but I’m smiling from ear to ear. I’d get up too, if I thought I wasn’t going to land flat on my face. When the nurses came by earlier to help me walk to the bathroom, I almost passed out. There’s this air bubble in my head, and I can feel it moving when I move. It’s so disconcerting, that at one point, I was screaming for them to take me back to surgery.

“He didn’t mean in the middle of the night,” the nurse says.

“I can’t sleep.”

“That doesn’t mean no one else can. Go back to your room, Mr. Hendricks.”

“This is madness!” Styx shouts. “It’s a deprivation of my basic rights as Miss. Stone’s boyfriend.”

“Mmhmm, if you don’t go back to bed, I’m afraid I’m going to have to transfer you to another hospital. One where you’re less likely to cause a commotion and keep all the other patients awake.”

“Okay, okay. I’m going,” he says. “Don’t transfer me. I’ll die without her.”

I scoff and pull my phone from the tray beside my bed.

Me: Nice try, bonehead.

Several seconds later, my phone buzzes with a text.