Scott
Have you ever had a seizure?
I’ve had them, many times.
But I haven’t had them in a long time.
And I never had one on the field.
I heard my teammates calling out to me, but I couldn’t do a damn thing during the few seconds I was seizing.
“According to your friend, Dex, who’s still in the waiting room, you fell and lost consciousness for about five seconds. He didn’t observe any clenching of teeth, but you did have rapid eye movements,” Dr. Jackson said as he stood on the right side of the bed. He was dressed in a suit and tie, not his usual tennis garb.
I glanced at the wall clock on top of the white board that stated Emma was my nurse for today and Dr. Lee was my doctor.
“Will I be able to play tomorrow?” I asked as I stretched out on the hospital bed. I’d been awake for all the lab draws and CT scan. After the seizure, I went to sleep for about an hour while I was transported to UCLA. My coaches had been in contact with Dex through his phone and when Mr. Hemlock, the Royal’s team owner, asked to talk to me, Dex gave me the phone and I reassured the owner that I was fine.
It was the truth.
I felt fine.
It wasn’t a secret that I had a history of seizures, and the one thing that the Royal’s had asked before they drafted me was proof from my neurologist that the seizures weren’t caused by CTE. Dr. Jackson had provided them with loads of it, and they drafted me.
“I wouldn’t advise it,” Dr. Jackson said in a firm voice. He moved to the portable computer to the left of the room and clicked on a few buttons. “Your CT looks great. No bleeding or anything new. I’m just concerned that since it hasn’t happened in a while, and with the huge stress you’re under right now, it might happen again and soon.”
I nodded my head. I could push it and play tomorrow, but I knew I had to listen to him. He’d been there for me since I had walked into his office with my dad after having my first episode.
“Scott. Your father didn’t do it.” His hair had five times the amount of gray than it had when I first met him, but his eyes always held the assessing look. As if he was trying to figure me out. Maybe that’s what made him a great neurologist; that by looking at me he could figure out what was going on inside my brain. “He’s on his way. He’s going to be here in a couple of hours, the latest tomorrow. He’s dealing with the firestorm of the allegations against him. Talk to him. He can be impossible and bull-headed, but he would never do what he’s being accused of.”
“I’m not sure what to believe when it comes to him,” I said as I untied the blue hospital gown from the back of my neck, grabbing the Royal’s shirt on the chair and putting it on. “I just don’t want to deal with him and his issues, but I have to. For Stef, for the press, and for my sanity.”
He didn’t say anything, he just remained standing. A beep sounded from the phone in his hand, and he said, “Just give him the time of day.”
“Yep,” I agreed. I wasn’t going to freeze out my dad. He won’t ever win Father of The Year, but he was the only blood parent I had and I might as well hear what he had to say. “When can I play?”
“I talked to your coaches that you should be cleared in two days if you don’t have any more episodes.” Dr. Jackson had always been straightforward with the Royals, and I thought that it was a big factor on why the team decided to take me on as their quarterback. He was one of the best neurologists in the nation, and he gave them enough assurance that I could play without having my seizures hinder me.
I rose up from the bed and shook his hand, “Thanks Dr. J. I appreciate everything that you do for me.”
He watched me with a solemn look, “You know you’re like a son to me.” He didn’t have kids, he was too busy with his career that he forgot to build significant relationships and there was a time when he told me he regretted it for a second, but then he reasoned that it wouldn’t be fair for his girlfriend or wife to be second best.
“Your friend outside –“ He was referring to Dex who had gone with me in the ambulance and argued with the coaches when he said he was going with me along with one of the team’s doctors. Coach threatened him with a fine for missing practice, but Dex reiterated that there were only ten minutes left for practice.
“What about him?” I questioned. To say I was surprised about Dex’s actions would be like saying I couldn’t throw a football at 70 mph. Which I could. And I did. At the Combine.
“He’s a good one.” He stated, and walked towards the door, “He reminds me of Rikko. He’s been asking questions about you. How to help you if this happened again. What could be done so it won’t happen again.”
“Hmm,” I responded since there wasn’t much to say. I took a sip of the tepid water on the cart, “He’s my backup.”
“Interesting.” Dr. Jackson’s brows rose above his glasses. “I gotta go, I have a dinner meeting with Glaxo, but I wanted to stop by and tell you that everything is okay, but you need to take it easy so you can limit the stress.”
“Thanks again, Dr. J.” I flexed my neck as I talked, “Yeah, Dex can come in.”
Dr. Jackson’s walked out of the room, his hand on his phone, and I bent down to grab my shoes. I wasn’t going to be discharged for a few hours. Dr. J wanted me monitored as an extra precaution.
I was just looking at my phone when Dex strode into the room.
He was in his training clothes like me, Royals’ shirt and shorts, but he had a cup of hospital coffee in his hand.
“Hey.”
“Hey.” I replied, “Thanks for coming with me.”
“No problem.” He shrugged his shoulders and sat on the metal chair up against the wall, “How’re you feeling?”
“Good. Doc says I should be out in a couple hours.” I turned on the TV, surfing the channels until I landed on The Cartoon Network.
“Huh.” His voice held an odd note.
“What?” I turned towards him, noticing that he was twitchy, and he kept looking down on his phone.
“I, ah, I called Tin-, Bridgette.” Dilemma lined his eyes, “It kinda freaked me out, and I wanted her to know what happened.”
“Shit,” I muttered, looking over my missed texts and calls. “I was gonna call her, but the nurses had to work on me.” I didn’t even know how my phone got into my hands, but I was glad so I could call Bridge and tell her everything was okay.
“She’s on her way,” Dex said as I confirmed his statement with Bridge’s texts. Her phone was off because she was flying back now. From the time I had collapsed on the field until now, there was so much chaos around me that after everything had settled down, six hours had passed. “She’s flying back from Florida?”
“Yeah. She had an interview there.” Worry filled me. I wished I could have called her right away. She was probably rushing back to get to me.
“In Florida?” His eyes were in a query. “What’s there in Florida?”
It would be a lot easier to ignore Dex if he had continued to be an asshole. But he’d gone out of his way to help me out today, and lately he looked like he was remorseful.
“She might be able to get into the early entry astronaut program,” I said, the words heavy on my heart as they came out of my mouth. I was so proud of her, but I was also selfish of her time.
“Damn.” Awe burst out of his breath. “She’s really got those brains behind that beautiful face.”
I clenched my jaw. Dex might be acting like a good friend right now, but I hadn’t forgotten that he was the ex who wanted to get back with my girlfriend.
Before I could say anything, Dex put his coffee on the table to his left and raised his hands, “Sorry. I’m just sorry. She and I – we’re in the past. I just gotta be man enough to accept that. It’s clear that she’s into you. She’s made it clear to me several times. I’m not gonna be in your way anymore. I was a dipshit for doing all that crap. I’m not making an excuse, but I’ve had a rough season with the trade then the team I got traded to…I don’t wanna be here. This is your team. So when I saw Bridge, the girl whose heart I’ve ripped into, I just wanted to –“
“It’s all good.” In so many words I got what he was saying. I’d been in that position before. I wouldn’t want to be a back-up either in both football and with Bridge when in my heart I knew I could be a starter. Dex had a starting position, but he messed it up and I had no idea why as it wasn’t my cross to bear. “I got it.”
“I let the Vikings go. I let Bridge go,” Dex said, almost as if he was whispering to himself. He had his own demons and they were biting him in the ass. “I messed up. I’m never getting her back, but I can work harder so that maybe next year I’ll be on another team again. Leading the charge.”
I gave him a swift nod and agreed, “Yeah. Just clean up your act and stay out of trouble. San Francisco needs a quarterback.” The team has had three QB’s in the regular season, and their offense wasn’t doing shit. Rikko had been texting me nonstop about how the offense fucking sucked.
Dex put a hand on his chin, “You think they’ll want me?”
“Maybe.”
“She loves you. I see it every time she looks at you.” He said, as he pulled the other chair away from the wall so he could put both of his feet up on it, “She used to look at me the same way.”
“What happened?” From what he was saying, it didn’t seem like Bridge’s feelings were unreturned. I knew some people thought young love was fickle and ever-changing. But I’d loved a woman at a young age, and I was faithful to her.
“I wasn’t ready for it. She deserved better.” It wasn’t agony in his voice. It was regret. “Bridge isn’t the type of woman you leave. She’s the one who made you wanna stay and fight for her.”
“Yeah.” I couldn’t believe we were having this talk. “She is.”
“You’re that guy for her.” He wasn’t mincing words; he was delivering it as straight as an arrow. “You mean the world to her. She was so scared on the phone, but I told her that you’re going to be okay.”
“Thanks.” I nodded, “She’s my whole world.”
“I thought football was. You’ve only said it in a hundred interviews.” He said with a smirk, “Yeah, I watched some of them.”
“I’ve learned,” I paused as a felt my heart infuse with the truth in my words, “that there are bigger things than football.”
“Right.” The way he said it made me think that he didn’t believe it. I thought that way before Bridge. That nothing was bigger, nothing was better than the game that we lost ourselves in.
But I knew better now.
Animaniacs was on TV and I couldn’t help but chuckle at the mayhem that Yakko and Wakko were creating around them.
“Shit. They’re hilarious. I love those fools,” Dex commented as he signaled for me to turn the volume up.
He was humming their song and just like that, we were trading barbs about who our favorite characters were.
His was Minerva Mink because she was ‘sexy as hell.’
Mine was Slappy Squirrel because he was ‘grumpy as hell’.
He raised his cup of coffee to me when Slappy finally won against the dog guarding the walnut tree.
I raised my cup of water when Minerva Mink entered the scene, ready to take a bath around the lake, and when the nurse came in to check on me, we were deep in the episode of Minerva melting into a puddle after meeting a Herculean version of Yakko.
Dex excused himself to grab some chips in the cafeteria, and I used the time he was gone to text everyone that I was okay and thanked them for their support.
I talked to Coach and we talked about how to help Dex fill in for me in the game against the Chiefs. I would still be traveling with the team, but I’d be watching from the sidelines. The statement had already been released to the media that I was on the IR due to illness. Media speculation as to what happened to me was at an all-time high judging from the texts coming in from my agent, but I’d deal with them when it was time to.
For now, I was resting my mind by indulging in the funny animated series that Dex just happened to enjoy, too.
It was too early to call, but Dex was turning into a guy that I could maybe one day call a friend.
We weren’t going to be best friends overnight, but I knew that our dynamics had changed when he got into the ambulance with me. As if he knew that I needed someone to be there for me without even asking him to.
He was the last person I expected.
And the scene in the hospital room was the last thing that Bridge ever thought she would be arriving to.
Bridge’s magnificent hazel eyes went wide when she saw me and Dex sharing a big bag of Kettle Potato chips as we started the debate on which episode was the best.
She’d hugged Dex and thanked him for being there for me. I saw him close his eyes when he returned her hug, and I felt a twinge of pain. For him.
Not for me.
It was tormenting to learn that you loved someone after you’d let them go and they’d moved on from you.
When Bridge’s arms came around me, I didn’t let her go. I inhaled her scent and in my embrace, I told her that I was okay, and thanked her for being there.
And after Dex had left the room, Bridge’s lips touched mine and I returned her kiss with so much longing and fervor.
As I looked into her tear filled eyes, I knew that there was no question about it –
I came first.
I wasn’t second best.
And she loved me with everything she had.