I find myself sitting at the hospital yet again. Eddie is out cold, but that’s nothing new. Most of the time he is out from all of the medications. Today is going to be a pretty rough day for him; he’s going in for another surgery soon. He’s had so many surgeries I can’t keep up. The door to the room opens, and I expect to see another doctor or nurse, but much to my surprise it’s Éclair. She’s holding this silver vase full of pink flowers, and she looks embarrassed to see me.

I’m not sure which of us is more uncomfortable –me or her. Before we have a chance to talk, a doctor appears asking me to come sign something. I run out into the hall to do so, eager to give myself a moment to think about what I’m going to say to Éclair. The doctor gives me the rundown on the latest surgery Eddie is going to have to go through, and it sounds pretty rough just like all the others he has had. After asking the man numerous questions and having him address my concerns, I sign the necessary paperwork and nervously head back into the hospital room.

“Well, if you weren’t always such cunt-” I hear Eddies’ raspy voice speaking in the slow, monotonous tone that had become his norm since the assault.

“Awe, shut the hell up, Eddie,” Éclair says with a slight chuckle in her voice. The two of them have never gotten along, but they are able to joke around with one another now.

Excited to see Eddie awake, I dart over to the side of his bed right beside Éclair. “Eddie, you’re up!” I say, and it’s obvious that I am trying to contain my overwhelming enthusiasm.

Eddie offers me this weak smile. He asks nervously, “Am I getting another surgery?” Despite the fact that Eddie had been occasionally drifting in and out of consciousness, the hospital has not really been allowing Eddie to make any decisions about himself –saying his judgement was highly impaired.

“Yeah, man,” I say, “This one’s not that serious, though. You’ll be in and out in an hour tops.”

Eddie looks really upset, but he doesn’t voice it. He’s been in so many surgeries now, I’m sure it’s starting to get to him. Éclair puts a hand on his shoulder, “You’ll be back to yourself before no time.” She stands and then shoots me this awkward smile. “I can’t stay, but… it was good to see you both.”

“Yeah,” I say anxiously, “you too.”

She is so sad acting, but I let her leave like that. I feel terrible. All she wants to do is talk to me, but I just can’t. I think I’ve finally realized that I can’t have both worlds. I can’t have Éclair and have Sylvia. I can’t keep stringing them both along. And Éclair is just so toxic for me. There is no way I could still associate with her and be with Sylvia. She tempts me, so I let her leave without saying a word. Eddie is really dazed. I try to get him to talk about what happened to him, but he can’t concentrate on one thing for more than two minutes. The doctor said that he has some minor brain damage from the assault and it is affecting both his short term and long term memory –and he is probably experiencing a bit of trauma which is why he can’t remember a damn thing from the day he was attacked. Eventually I give up trying to get him to talk about it because it really freaks him out. Instead, I just let him talk about whatever he wants to talk about between him snoozing off every five minutes.

Nurses and doctors are coming in and out of his room a lot today since he is going to be having surgery later. There’s so much protocol they have to go through. At one point Eddie is wide awake and seeming more like himself when Sylvia comes by for a visit; she knows he is supposed to be having surgery today, so I’m glad to see that she thought to pay a visit. She smiles to see him awake, seeming surprised. I supposed with what all I’ve told her about how he has been acting she would be surprised to see him so alert. “Hey,” Eddie says, smiling, “Have we met?”

Sylvia smiles, “No, I don’t think so... well… not when you’ve been up, at least. I’ve come here with James a few times.”

I give the two of them a proper introduction, and the two of them seem to hit is off very quickly. Eddie has a thing for pretty girls, so he talks her head off. “You look like that chick on the billboard down the street from Shattered INC,” he sounds high as hell when he talks, “James really likes that billboard.”

“That is her, Eddie,” I say, and Eddie laughs his head off for a minute.

I roll my eyes. I shoot Eddie a glare warning him not to say anything too embarrassing, and it’s just my luck that the surgeon asks to speak to me at this moment –forcing me to leave the two of them alone. Please, dear God, don’t let Eddie tell her about catching me jacking off to a photo I snapped of that billboard.

After speaking to the surgeon, I head back into the room where I see that Eddie is asleep and Sylvia’s face is red as hell. Shit. He told her. Asshole.

“Um… hey,” I say and smile at her –pretending that I don’t know exactly what they have been talking about, “The surgeon told me they’re delaying the surgery until tomorrow morning, so I’m probably going to head home.”

She smiles, “Did you have your driver drop you off?”

“Yeah,” I say.

“Well, I have my car. I’ll go get it and meet you out front and drive you home,” she stands up, “I’m sure you want to tell him you’ll see him tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah,” I say with a grin.

“Okay,” she passes by me and gives me a peck on the cheek, “And don’t think you and I don’t have something to talk about, you pervert.” She winks at me, assuring me that yes he told her about the picture. Great.