Chapter 45

Ruthanne's Point of View <3


On the way home Kris and I talk a little bit. My head is still pounding and I'm tired again.
After a long period of silence Kris sniffles then says, "You know Ruthanne, I've seen a million injuries, concussions, you name it, in hockey, but I haven't ever seen somebody fall as hard as you seemed to. I can only imagine the pain you're in." He lifts a hand to his eye. I instantly feel bad. I can't handle it when people cry, especially not Kris. I reach my bruised left hand over and put it on his leg. He glances down and notices the bruise and he frowns.
"I feel ok," I lie to him. I am in excruciating pain. All over my body I am sore. That's why they sent some pain meds home with me. I don't know why my mom thought it was necessary to go get more.
 I ask Kris where my phone is suddenly thinking of Caitlin. "Where's Caitlin!?" It bothers me more that I can't remember where she is than the pain does.
"She's in Canada, with Sidney," Kris says, wearing a halfhearted smile as he looks at me. "I have your phone in my pocket," he says, trying to reach it. I stop him and try to wiggle my hand into his jeans pocket. The spot where it's bruised hurts a little and I gasp.
"got it," I say. I need to text Caitlin. She's gotta know I'm ok.

Hey this is Ruthanne, Iam out of the hospitl and Iam ok. Love you.

I hit send as we pull into my driveway. Kris is still looking awfully sad. "Kris," I say. He ignores me for a moment. "Kris!" I say louder, getting his attention.
He snaps out of it and makes a little grunting noise. "It's not your fault. And anyways, I'm fine," I say.
"I know," Kris says, "but that doesn't change the fact that you got hurt, and I'm gonna feel terrible as long as you're in pain."
"Kris," I say again. I love the sound of his name on my lips, even though I'm saying it because I'm annoyed. I smile and lean my head against the headrest. "I'll be ok, it's fine, don't feel bad." I try to convince him more, a genuine smile on my face.
We pull into my driveway and I try to climb out of the car myself. I hit my head on the top of the car as I stumble out. I'm suddenly dizzy and I fall back against the car for support. Before I know it Kris is by my side holding me and hugging me. "are you ok?" Kris asks, kissing the top of my head gently.
"no," I finally give in. "Can you take me inside?"
I barely get the question out and Kris is handing me things.. All of a sudden I'm being cradled in his arms like a baby and he's carrying me to the door. I unlock the door for him and he carries me inside and sets me gently on the couch.
"thank you," I say, laughing. The laughing hurts my stomach so I just lean back on the couch and shut up. It doesn't seem like I'll be able to do anything for a few days yet.
Kris sits down next to me and gives me a kiss on the cheek. "Anytime," he says, a half smile playing on his lips.


Caitlin's Point of View

I spend most of the day worrying about my best friend. It's supposed to be a celebration for us up here in Canada and I'm struggling with blaming Ruthanne for ruining the experience for me. Because I'm anxious, Sidney's upset and on edge. I know it's not her fault, and I'm not really blaming her, I'm just upset.
Finally at like 7 pm I get the text saying Ruthanne's ok and out of the hospital. A wave of relief washes over me and it's suddenly easy to enjoy my time with Sidney.
"She's OK!" I announce to Sidney and his family. We're sitting around the dinner table eating his mother's special lasagna. Apparently nobody can make it better, but to me it tastes just like my mom's. That'll be a plus with Sidney when I get her to make it one day for us.
Sidney reaches his hand over underneath the table and squeezes my knee. "That's great," he smiles and we all go back to eating and talking about the subject we were on before I interrupted. I soon begin to realize that Sidney's parents are a little bit eccentric and they're not going to share my opinion on anything. I'm still relieved from Ruthanne's status update but after dinner I'm a little annoyed and I'm just ready for the night to be over. Sidney's parents are great but I don't see us getting along very well. And I don't feel like they like me very much.
After dinner, it's time for cake and ice cream. The nicest part about this is the fact that it's completely normal. Like any normal family's birthday celebration. Sidney's parents both give him something and Taylor got him some kind of nifty trinket from wherever they took their family vacation this year. I decide that I'll giver him mine after we go to bed. His family gives me funny looks and tries to convince me to give it to him now but I tell them it's not a big present and I don't know where it's packed in my luggage. Really, I'm starting to get nervous about what he'll think of it.

It's about 11 o'clock when we all head to our bedrooms. Sidney's excited for his present and I immediately have to get it out. I hand him the large-ish box full of 23 things. He makes a funny face when he opens it up and sees how much is in there. It took forever to wrap all 23 things.
He undoes them one by one and thanks me for every single one. We keep getting into discussions about how fun the moment was when we aquired that object and stuff, and it's 12:30 before we know it.
"There's still one more!" I say after he's done with all that.
"What!?" He exclaims, "Caitlin, you really didn't have to get me anything. A kiss would have done it for me." He smiles as I hand him the bottle.  "Holy crap, how did you do this?"
"it's a secret," I say, laughing. "Open it!"
He does and he reads the note, smiling at times and frowning at others. At the end I feel like he's going to cry. I run over and give him a hug and a kiss.
"I love you. Happy birthday." I say, happy now.
"Thanks," Sidney says, "I love you too."
And that was the amazing end to a long, stressful day. I'm happy to lay down and go to sleep next to Sidney Crosby.