Chapter Nineteen
KYLE
“Okay, Kyle, keep your head really still, honey. Here we go…” I’m lying face down on a cold table and I’m wearing a mesh mask the radiology people made out of a mold of my head. They left the spot they wanted to radiate open and they once again shaved hair off my head and tattooed little dots for the laser to point at. I’m considering just shaving it all off. That’ll make it easier the next time someone wants to poke and prod at my skull.
At least this was painless…virtually. The position is uncomfortable and my scalp tingles a little bit, but there’s no pain like after they cut me open or stitched me up. It’s quick, too. The only real pain in the ass is that I have to do it every day for twenty-eight days straight. Except the weekends, I get those off. I’m on Wednesday of the second week of treatment.
That first week I argued with my sister. I wanted to refuse it. I was just so sick of it all. But she made some valid points – the best of which that I don’t really want to die before I’m thirty, or go blind, or be unable to walk. So, here I am. Sarah had won again. “Okay, Kyle, that’s it.” The tech came over and helped me off the cold table and took off my helmet. “Are you doing okay?”
“Great.” As far as the radiation was concerned, I was doing okay. The rest of my life, I was still kind of figuring out. I’d always been so in control of everything that this was new to me. I think Sarah’s constant nagging made me that way. If I was on top of everything, she didn’t have anything to nag me about. Now, with these daily trips to the radiation clinic and the fatigue that comes afterwards, I was getting behind on the work I was doing at home. And then, of course, there was Amber. I couldn’t stop her from running through my head every five minutes all day long or inserting herself into my dreams at night. I was as horny as hell, but that wasn’t even the real problem… I didn’t just miss the sex, I missed her.
“Are you still going to your physical therapy?” the tech asked me as I slipped on my jacket. It was like she was reading my mind.
“No, I’ve come a really long way and I know how to do all of the exercises at home and I’ve been doing them. With doing this every day, there’s not a lot of time left to do that, too.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Does the doctor think that’s a good idea?”
“Yeah, he signed off on it,” I lied. I couldn’t see Amber every day and not want her. This was the only way for me to get over her.
“Okay, but make sure you keep up the exercises. That spot where you fell is still healing…”
Jeez, every woman in my life is so bossy. “Thanks, I will.”
I went out into the lobby and found Sarah, the bossiest one of them all. Kimber was with us today, and she ran up and put her arms up to me. “Kimber, Uncle Kyle can’t pick you up…” Sarah was still talking when I swung my niece up into my arms. “Kyle Cloud! Put her down; you’re going to fall.”
I just rolled my eyes at her and walked outside with Kimber in my arms. I was doing all this shit to stay alive. I was not going to stop living.
*******
“Is it okay for you to have beer?” We’d just sat down in a corner booth of the Electric Cowboy bar.
“Jesus… You and Sarah really have been spending too much time together, haven’t you?”
“I’m just asking.”
“I can have a beer; stop nagging me like an old woman.”
“Fine, check out the cowgirl at the bar.” I looked in the direction he was leering. There were two girls at the bar. One of them was in an outfit that looked like she should be in some sleazy rap club and the other one had on a short denim skirt a ruffled beige blouse and a pair of cowgirl boots. She had long, dark hair and even though I couldn’t see her face, I’d have to say I would do her. At this point, a knothole might even do.
“She’s hot.”
“Go talk to her.”
“Not yet, we just sat down.”
“Man, what happened to you?”
“Let’s see, brain tumor, surgery, therapy, woman who wanted her ex-boyfriend instead of me…”
“Wah! Wah! Stop whining about how shitty your life is and do something about it.”
I stood up and looked at Greg. “Fuck you.” I heard him laugh as I made my way up to the bar. There was plenty of space, but I chose to insert myself in between the two girls. “Excuse me, ladies. Can I have a glass of ice water?” I asked the bartender. I was facing the brunette, and her face was just as hot as the rest of her. The first thought I had was that she favored Amber. I mentally kicked myself in the ass. “Are you ladies having a good time tonight?”
She looked me over and smiled. “Not bad so far,” she said.
“Good,” I gave her a smile of my own. “I’m Kyle.”
“What’s wrong with your head?” Fuck! The ghetto chick behind me. I should have known she’d be a cock-block. I turned towards her with the smile pasted on my face and said,
“Brain surgery.”
“Really?”
I laughed. “Would I lie?”
“It looks all red and irritated…like bugs or something.”
“Valerie! That’s rude!” The cowgirl was sticking up for me. That was nice, but I’d lost my burst of confidence. I grabbed my water and looked back at the pretty one.
“Have a good night,” I told her. I took the water back to our table avoiding Greg’s eyes and the feeling that the girls were staring at the back of my head and wondering what kind of bugs I have. “Hey, asshole,” I said to Greg as I sat down. “You said you got the hair back there to cover my bald spot.”
“Did they really say something, man?” he looked incredulous and shot the girls a mean look.
“Stop looking at them. Yes, the ghetto princess pointed it out. She says it looks like I have bugs.” His lips twitched, but he caught himself.
“Turn around, I’ll fix it.”
“You’re not putting your hands on me out here in public. I’ll keep my head to the wall, thanks.”
“Come on, man. Not all women are going to be assholes about it.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m not in the mood for it tonight, anyways.”
“Kyle-”
“Let it go.” The waitress brought our beer over and by the time we finished it, I saw Greg gawking at a blonde a few tables over with her friend. “Go talk to her,” I told him. He grinned.
“Thanks, but I don’t need any encouragement. I’m just waiting for her friend to…and there she goes. I’ll be back…maybe.” I rolled my eyes and watched Casanova make his way over to her.
“Excuse me…” I looked up into the pretty hazel eyes of the cowgirl with the rude friend. “I’m sorry to bother you. I just wanted to apologize for my cousin. She’s from back east and they talk different to people back there. Half the time she doesn’t even realize how rude she’s being.”
“It’s really okay,” I told her.
“It’s really not okay and I’m really sorry. I hope you have a good night.”
“What’s your name?”
She smiled. She was really pretty. “Callie.”
“Can I buy you a drink, Callie?”
She sat down. “Sure, I’d like that.”
“Are you from Dallas, Callie?”
“Austin originally,” she said. I waved the waitress over. “I came to Dallas for school. I got offered a job right after I graduated, so I stayed.”
“What do you do?”
“I’m a legal assistant. I start law school next fall.”
“Oh, wow, that’s cool.” I never used to be picky, but lately, I appreciated a girl who had a brain. Maybe I was finally doing what my sister spent the last ten years telling me to do…growing up.
“Yeah, my dad’s a lawyer and I’ve always wanted to be one. What do you do?”
“I’m an architect.” The waitress came over, and Callie ordered a beer and I ordered another one.
“That’s cool. Can I ask you a personal question?” Callie asked after the waitress had left.
“Sure.”
“Were you serious about having brain surgery?”
“Yeah, I had a tumor.”
“Oh wow… God, I just feel so bad about my stupid cousin.”
“Please don’t. It really is fine. The spot back there now isn’t from the surgery. I’m having radiation treatments because it was growing again.”
“Oh my goodness! Is it cancer?”
“No, it’s benign.”
“I’m so sorry,” she sounded so sincere. I smiled at her again.
“It’s really okay. Let’s talk about something else, something fun. No more tumor talk.”
She laughed. “Okay, no more tumor talk. What do you do for fun, Kyle?”
For the next hour, we talked. She was an only child and liked to ride horses and race dirt bikes of all things. She was smart and funny, and for the first time in months, an entire hour passed that I didn’t think about Amber. I had no idea where Greg had gone and I didn’t care. I was the object of a beautiful woman’s attention – a thing I needed very badly. I’m not sure where her “rude” cousin went either, but it was the Ghetto Princess that finally interrupted us. “Callie are you ready to go?”
She looked at me and back at her cousin. “Um, yeah, give me a minute. I’ll be right there.” The cock-block gave me a disgusted look before she walked away. I guess it was the “bugs.” “Wow, I don’t know what her problem is…”
I laughed. “Don’t apologize for her again,” I told her. “I’m glad she shared you with me for a little while.” I winked at her.
“Me, too.”
“Can I get your number, Callie? Maybe we could have dinner or something sometime?” I got the feeling from talking to her that she wasn’t the kind of girl who was going to come home with me tonight. As much as my cock objected to that, I appreciated that there were nice girls left in the world.
“I’d like that,” she said, “Can I see your phone?” I handed it to her and she put her name and number in it. “Text me in a bit and then I’ll have yours, too.”
“I will. Thanks, Callie.”
“Thank you, Kyle. It was nice to spend some time with a guy who wasn’t falling down drunk and trying to paw me.”
The old Kyle sneaked in for a second. “You don’t like being pawed.”
She stood up and grinned down at me. “It depends on who’s doing the pawing,” she told me with a wink. I’ve still got it.