Chapter Seven

The next morning, when I got up I realized I could move better than the previous night. There was still pain, but it wasn't as much as the night before. I put on my robe and walked out into the living room. Brian was snuggled up on the couch. Kevin was lounging in a chair and Howie had his head leaning on Kevin's outstretched legs. Nick and AJ were sprawled on the floor, arms and legs overlapping each other in a tangled mess. I walked over to Brian to place a blanket over top of him. As I tucked him in, he opened his eyes.

"Hey. How you feeling?" he whispered.

"Better. I'm going to go get dressed and then head to my doctor's office."

"Can I come with?"

"Let me go get dressed. Don't wake the guys, okay?" He nodded and I went back into my room. When I came out a few minutes later the blanket was draped over Kevin and Brian was quietly walking around the mess that was Nick and AJ. "Come on, let's go," I whispered, scribbling a note to the guys so they wouldn't worry. We walked out of the door of my tiny house and headed to my car.

"You want me to drive?" Brian asked.

"Hey now, I rode with you in the Bleeding Banana, and that's about enough of you driving for my life time." Brian wasn't a bad driver; he was just crazy. He'd be listening to the radio, doing impressions and driving down the street all at the same time. I never knew where we were going when Brian was driving. I hopped into the driver's side of my blue Toyota Corolla. At least with me driving, I knew I'd make it to my doctor's office in one piece and alive. We drove in silence, until I couldn't take it anymore. "So, how did you sleep?" I asked my friend.

"Your couch is actually very comfortable."

"How did you end up with it?"

"I beat Nick at Bandicoot."

"But what about the rest of the guys?"

"Oh, they fought it out amongst themselves. Kevin got the chair because he claimed seniority."

"I figured he'd do that. Well, here we are," I said, pulling up in front of a group of office buildings. I climbed out of the car and walked towards the door to the office. My doctor's name, Dr. Rebekah Williams, was on the door. Brian beat me to the handle and held the door open for me. I smiled at him. When we entered, the nurses all turned their attention to me.

"Briann, you don't have an appointment today," the receptionist said as I walked towards her.

"Actually, I do. Dr. Williams said I should come in this morning to see her about the pain I've been having."

"Oh, that's right. She left me a note about you. And who's this handsome young man with you?"

"Karen," I said, "don't tease me. You know who he is."

Karen extended her hand from behind the desk to Brian. "Brian, it's so glad to finally meet you. She goes on and on about you, sometimes it's hard to get her to shut up." Brian shook her hand and looked at me. "Go ahead and head back into her office. I know she's there. She cleared her schedule for you."

"Thank you." I led Brian through a door and down a short hall to a closed door. I knocked gently and then opened the door. "Hi, Doc," I said.

The woman behind the desk looked up from her reading. She had brown hair with auburn highlights that was pulled back into a ponytail. Her hazel eyes glimmered when she saw me. "So, you're having pain, huh? Come in, sit down, tell me about it." She indicated the two chairs in front of her desk. "And you must be Brian. She never stops talking about you."

"So I've heard," Brian said as he sat down.

"So tell me about this pain you've been having," Dr. Williams said.

"Well, the pain itself is constant, but yesterday was a really bad day. I was out playing basketball with Brian..."

"Did you beat him?" Dr. Williams interrupted.

"Easily," I said.

"No it wasn't. I had you there at the end," Brian said, defending his game.

"Only because you cheat," I told him. "Anyway, I guess I overexerted myself because I had to come in for a morphine dose."

"I see that," she said, looking through my chart.

"Then last night, the pain came back and I wanted more morphine to dull it because the pills weren't helping, but Allen said I couldn't have anymore."

"So what did you do to stop it?"

"Took a hot bath."

"And that stopped it?"

"No, but I was able to block it out a little better afterwards."

"Okay. How are the morphine treatments doing?"

"They help, but only in the short term. Maybe we should increase the dosage?"

"No. Increasing the dosage only works if the morphine isn't helping to ease the pain. But I am wondering something. How are you at self injections?" Dr. Williams folded her hands on top of my file.

I crossed my legs and said, "I'm not afraid of needles, if that's what you're asking. But I've never self injected myself."

"Oh, it's not that hard. What I wanna do is put you on morphine as you need it. Injectable. Maybe even pre-set doses, so you can't accidentally overdose." Dr. Williams scribbled the prescription down on her pad and tore off the paper. She slid it across the desk to me. "The pre-set doses are going to cost a little more than normal."

"How much more?"

"Two."

"So that brings my grand total to?"

"Karen can tell you. You should probably get that filled right away. I know the hospital can do it for you, because I don't think any local pharmacy will have them."

"Dr. Williams, I don't think I can fill this right now. It's a lot of money, and I don't start teaching until fall. As it stands right now, my parents are paying the rent on my house."

Brian placed his hand on my knee. "Bre, I've got it, okay. It's not a problem."

Dr. Williams looked at me and then back at Brian. "You were right Briann. He is sweet." Brian blushed at the comment. "Oh, I'm sorry Brian," Dr. Williams continued. "I didn't mean to embarrass you. Briann talks about you constantly. I feel like I already know you. She's really proud of you."

"Well, I'm really proud of her," Brian said. This time it was my turn to blush. "By what she's told me, she's come a long way in a short amount of time."

"That she has," Dr. Williams commented.

"I'm so surprised she beat me yesterday."

"She won't even play me," Dr. Williams told Brian. "Did you let her win?"

"Nope. She beat me fair and square. She's got a really killer move. I can't believe she still uses it."

"So, can I go spend Brian's money now?" I asked.

Dr. Williams glanced at the clock on her wall. "Oh, I have an appointment." She stood up. "Karen will help you out. Brian it was really nice meeting you. We'll have to get together sometime and play some hoops. Maybe make it two-on-two."

Brian shook Dr. Williams' outstretched hand. "Yeah, I think Nick would love that. But I think we'd be fighting over who gets Bre."

Dr. Williams laughed. "Yeah, well, we'll just have to see." We followed Dr. Williams out of her office and down the hall to the receptionist's desk.

"Hey, Karen," I said. "What's my grand total?"

"Let me pull it up, okay?" Karen turned towards her computer screen and typed in a few things. "Okay, your grand total that you owe us is fifteen. The hospital says you owe them a hundred."

"Does that include yesterday's treatment?"

"Yes."

Brian looked at me. "That's in thousands of dollars right?"

"Yep," I told him.

"I ain't payin' all that."

"I'm not asking you to, Bri. I'm on a payment plan. I'll eventually pay it off."

"Yea, in a million years," Brian joked.

I laughed and wrote the girls a hundred-dollar check. It was all I could afford at that time. Brian and I then headed to the hospital to get the prescription filled. Two thousand dollars and an hour later, I had a little white bag full of pen looking needles. They were the size of ballpoint pens so I could carry one around with me. I wasn't supposed to use the morphine shots more than three times a day. The needles worked pretty easily. They were pre-filled and injected only a small amount when the end was pushed. Each pen-sized needle contained thirty doses. Dr. Williams had given me a year's worth. Brian and I got to my house and headed inside. There in the living room, Nick and AJ were still sound asleep on the floor. Kevin and Howie were in the kitchen drinking coffee.

"So how'd it go?" Howie asked.

"When was the last time I spent two grand?" Brian asked his friends.

"In one sitting?" Kevin thought for a minute. "When you bought your cross, that was three. The car was twenty-four. It's been a while. Why? You thinking of buying something expensive?"

"Did someone mention spending money?" AJ asked coming into the kitchen.

"Yeah, I just spent two grand," Brian admitted.

"On what?" AJ asked.

"Morphine," I said. "Brian paid for my new treatment. My doc put me on self-administered doses. See, check these things out." I pulled one of the pen-sized needles out of my pocket. The guys gathered around and I showed them how the needle worked.

"Isn't that kind of dangerous?" Kevin inquired, always being the older brother on the lookout for trouble.

"Nah, the doses are pre-set, so I can't overdose." That seemed to make Kevin feel a little better. "So, who's up for some b-ball?" I asked.

To Chapter Eight