David said with a grimace and then he gave an awkward chuckle. “I guess this isn’t a very bad ass or tough guy type of injury.”
“You shouldn’t be embarrassed,” I said. “Sam should be embarrassed. He could go to jail and get sued for that. He probably should.”
“I’ll worry about Sam,” David interjected.
“Please, please just don’t feel embarrassed,” I said. “Would it help if I told you some embarrassing stories about me? I’ve got a lot of them. I’m very clumsy.”
David laughed but then grimaced again. “It’s hurts to laugh,” he said. “No more jokes. I can’t imagine you ever doing anything too embarrassing.”
The kiss list flashed through my mind and suddenly I wanted to keep myself busy and preoccupied. “I’ll look up your injury on the internet and see if there’s anything we should be doing,” I said.
I went to the old computer in the room and began searching through medical websites. Some of the images that came up on the screen were a little graphic and I noticed that David averted his eyes uncomfortably. The gist of the advice was to ice the wounded area. “If the pain lasts longer than an hour or there’s swelling we need to get you to the doctor,” I said.
“Really, I’m fine,” David said quickly. “His foot hit me mostly in the inner thigh so it was just a glancing blow.”
“Hmmm... okay,” I said critically, going into doctor mode. “But we are going to need to check for swelling after you get out of the tub just to be safe.”
“We? After I get out of the tub?” David said in a strangled voice. “Uh, no. I can, uh, check myself. I don’t need you to help with that, especially right after I get out of a tub of ice.”
“Well, let me know if you see anything worrisome” I said hesitantly, wondering if I should insist - for purely medical reasons, of course. I continued to read through the websites. “They say we also need to get you in some underwear that had lots of support and protection. Your boxers are all soaking now. Do you have any extra clothes in the locker room?”
“Uh, I’ve got some spandex for running in my locker,” David said. He sounded bashful. No doubt this was a sensitive subject for him. I couldn’t let him know that talking about his underwear mortified me as much as it did him. He deserved to be treated with dignity.
“Give me your combination and I’ll get it,” I said.
“Okay, but just get the bag please,” David said after a moment. “I can get what I need from it after.”
I was relived to give David a few moments of peace, though it took some willpower to be able to tear my eyes away from his shirtless body.
I hesitantly pushed my way through the doors of the boys’ locker room and flipped on the lights. I waited but didn’t hear anything. It was deserted at this time of day. Good. Then an overwhelming smell of body odor and hints of cheap colon and body spray hit me and I gagged. Why did the room smell this bad? The girls’ locker room smelled like fruity perfume and soap. Boys were gross.
I wandered through the locker room and found the area where the runners kept their stuff. A card that read “D. Reagan” was pasted on the locker. I used the combination that David had given me and retrieved his bag.
How could I make this better? David had tried to help me and I had gotten him hurt. He was my hero but felt humiliated. That wasn’t right. There had to be a way for me to make him feel like the hero he was.
I thought about my girls. What would they say? Alyssa would tell me to be nice to David and take an interest in his interests. Payton would tell me to flirt with him to make him feel manly again. Olivia... what would the budding psychologist say? She would probably tell me to put David in a role where he could take control again. If people act the role, they start to assume the role. So I needed some activity that David was passionate about where he could take the lead and I could flirt
“You shouldn’t be embarrassed,” I said. “Sam should be embarrassed. He could go to jail and get sued for that. He probably should.”
“I’ll worry about Sam,” David interjected.
“Please, please just don’t feel embarrassed,” I said. “Would it help if I told you some embarrassing stories about me? I’ve got a lot of them. I’m very clumsy.”
David laughed but then grimaced again. “It’s hurts to laugh,” he said. “No more jokes. I can’t imagine you ever doing anything too embarrassing.”
The kiss list flashed through my mind and suddenly I wanted to keep myself busy and preoccupied. “I’ll look up your injury on the internet and see if there’s anything we should be doing,” I said.
I went to the old computer in the room and began searching through medical websites. Some of the images that came up on the screen were a little graphic and I noticed that David averted his eyes uncomfortably. The gist of the advice was to ice the wounded area. “If the pain lasts longer than an hour or there’s swelling we need to get you to the doctor,” I said.
“Really, I’m fine,” David said quickly. “His foot hit me mostly in the inner thigh so it was just a glancing blow.”
“Hmmm... okay,” I said critically, going into doctor mode. “But we are going to need to check for swelling after you get out of the tub just to be safe.”
“We? After I get out of the tub?” David said in a strangled voice. “Uh, no. I can, uh, check myself. I don’t need you to help with that, especially right after I get out of a tub of ice.”
“Well, let me know if you see anything worrisome” I said hesitantly, wondering if I should insist - for purely medical reasons, of course. I continued to read through the websites. “They say we also need to get you in some underwear that had lots of support and protection. Your boxers are all soaking now. Do you have any extra clothes in the locker room?”
“Uh, I’ve got some spandex for running in my locker,” David said. He sounded bashful. No doubt this was a sensitive subject for him. I couldn’t let him know that talking about his underwear mortified me as much as it did him. He deserved to be treated with dignity.
“Give me your combination and I’ll get it,” I said.
“Okay, but just get the bag please,” David said after a moment. “I can get what I need from it after.”
I was relived to give David a few moments of peace, though it took some willpower to be able to tear my eyes away from his shirtless body.
I hesitantly pushed my way through the doors of the boys’ locker room and flipped on the lights. I waited but didn’t hear anything. It was deserted at this time of day. Good. Then an overwhelming smell of body odor and hints of cheap colon and body spray hit me and I gagged. Why did the room smell this bad? The girls’ locker room smelled like fruity perfume and soap. Boys were gross.
I wandered through the locker room and found the area where the runners kept their stuff. A card that read “D. Reagan” was pasted on the locker. I used the combination that David had given me and retrieved his bag.
How could I make this better? David had tried to help me and I had gotten him hurt. He was my hero but felt humiliated. That wasn’t right. There had to be a way for me to make him feel like the hero he was.
I thought about my girls. What would they say? Alyssa would tell me to be nice to David and take an interest in his interests. Payton would tell me to flirt with him to make him feel manly again. Olivia... what would the budding psychologist say? She would probably tell me to put David in a role where he could take control again. If people act the role, they start to assume the role. So I needed some activity that David was passionate about where he could take the lead and I could flirt
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