Finders Keepers (19 page)

           
“Ellie, I understand why you’re mad, but you don’t really know what’s going on.
 
Just trust that I would never harm you.”

           
She scoffed and shoved towel wrapped hand out in front of her so he could see where the blood was staining through.
 
He sighed.
 
His eyes looked tired.
 
“I’m sorry.
 
If she thought I was protecting you, it would have been worse.”
 
He spread his hands out showing utterly defenseless he was.
 
“Please, it’s all going down today.
 
Just trust me for a little bit longer.”

           
“Today?
 
But Gibbs said…”

           
His blue eyes flashed.
 
“I’m surprised you’re surprised that he lied.”

           
She didn’t know what to say.
 
He was right.
 
They all lied.
 
“Then what really is going on, huh, Sky?
 
Why should I help you if I don’t even know what this is all about!
 
Why did Gibbs come after me in the thrift shop?
 
Why me?”
 
It was the question she’d wanted answered from the first instant the light flickered in
The Treasure Bin
.

           
“You’re going to need birth control.”

           
“Excuse me?”
 

           
“You have to tell them that you want birth control.
 
That’s the only way they will see you without a legal guardian.”

           
“And then when I say, oops, what I really meant was I need stitches and who knows what else?”

           
“Don’t worry.
 
I’ve got a plan.”
 
He pulled out an oversized self-adhesive bandage and a pair of pink gloves.
 
“Put these on and don’t take them off, not even inside.
 
Pretend to be cold.”
 

           
The words stuck in her throat as she stared at the overweight, middle-aged receptionist whose lines on her face made it seem as though she were always wearing a permanent scowl.
 
The receptionist did not look up at Ellie’s approach.
 
She seemed to be absorbed in whatever the screen in front of her was showing.
 
Ellie tugged on her ponytail.
 
She would have felt a lot braver if Sky were standing next to her, but he’d insisted that he couldn’t appear to be the pushy boyfriend or they probably wouldn’t let him go in with her.
 
So he sat back in one of the plastic chairs flipping through a tattered
People
magazine.
 
She cleared her throat.
 
“I need birth control.”
 

           
The lady shoved a clipboard at her, still without looking up.
 
“If you are here without a parent or guardian, you will have to pay in cash.
 
The fee to see Dr. Cooper without insurance is $80.”

           
Ellie glanced back at Sky.
 
He nodded.
 

           
“Yeah, fine.”
 
She took the clipboard and walked over to where Sky was and practically collapsed into the chair next to him.
 
Not awkward.
 
Not awkward at all
.
 
And lucky for her, she was going to get to do it all over again for the nurse.
 
Ellie hid her red cheeks by keeping her head down and working through the questions until her name was called.
 
She stood up first and then Sky behind her.
 

           
After having her weight and temperature taken, they were shown to a small exam room.
 
The nurse was all business and whipped through Ellie’s vitals just about as quickly as she ripped off Ellie’s blood pressure cuff.
 
Writing Ellie’s info down and chief complaint “birth control” on a sticky note, she stuck it on Ellie’s chart and left the room.
 
That’s when Sky pulled out an identical yellow post-it pad.
 

           
“One change in chief complaint coming up.”
 
He scribbled her vitals down on the top sheet just as he’d heard the nurse give them, and then wrote “laceration LH.”
 
He peeked his head out the door, snagged the chart hanging by the door, swapped the notes, and then replaced the chart.
 
When he popped back into the room he looked pretty pleased with himself.
 
Ellie rolled her eyes and then pretended to be absorbed in a poster describing the difference between a bacterial infection and viruses like a cold or the flu.
 

           
“What happens when the nurse has to come back and give the tetanus shot?” she asked.
 
“She’ll know we lied.”

           
 
The knock on the door prevented Sky from responding.
 
Compared to what Ellie had envisioned, which was a fatherly old man handing out lollipops to well-behaved children, a young blonde doctor wearing chocolate Dockers and a blue button up shirt, no tie, walked in with a big, perfectly straight smile.
 
He tucked a brown clipboard under his arm and stuck out his hand.

           
“Hello, I’m Dr. Cooper.
 
What brings you in today?”

           
Ellie carefully pulled down the glove.
 
“I had an accident with a knife.”
 
Before he could think the worst, something closer to the truth, she added, “In the kitchen.
 
I was helping my mom with an apple pie.
 
If she’s told me once, she’s told me a thousand times not to hold the apple and cut into my hand.”
 
She showed her teeth, imitating the doctor’s wide smile.

           
Dr. Cooper whistled at the sight of the wound and then turned to the little sink and briskly washed his hands.
 
Behind his back, Ellie made a face at Sky.
 

           
Once the doctor’s hands were dry, he pulled the little rolling stool underneath him and scooted up to Ellie, leaving her very little personal space.
 
He took her hand and examined the laceration.
 
“Cutting apples, eh?”

           
Ellie swallowed and nodded.

           
“Not such a fun way to spend your unexpected freedom from school.”
 
He glanced at Sky.
 
“Are your parents with you?”

           
“My mom’s in the waiting room.
 
She doesn’t do gross.”

           
Dr. Cooper turned her hand a few different directions and then handed it back to her.
 
“I’ll have to search down a suture kit and then I will be back to fix you right up.”

           
When Dr. Cooper was out of the room, Ellie moaned.
 
She glanced over at Sky who didn’t appear to be phased at all.
 
“This confidence thing has to be a goblin thing,” she said.

           
“Why do you say that?”

           
“I’ve never seen any of you scared.
 
You don’t even flinch.”

           
Something passed over Sky’s face.
 
“You're talking about Gibbs."

           
Ellie didn’t have a chance to ask him what he meant by that because a knock on the door alerted them to Dr. Cooper’s return.
 
An instant later he was in front of her again, ripping open the package with a little curved needle.
 
She turned her head away and forced her eyes closed.
 
Sky’s smooth hand slipped into hers and his long fingers intertwined with her fingers.
 
Forgetting for a second all the reasons she shouldn’t let him touch her, Lola being at the top of the list, she squeezed his hand hard and didn’t let up through the whole procedure, not even when the doctor finally released her open palm and announced, “All done.
 
Fifteen in all.
 
Besides apple pie, any plans for the holiday?”

           
Her teeth remained clenched, but she managed to pry open her eyes.
 
Sky answered, “We're celebrating Thanksgiving early since Ellie’s dad has to be back on the road tomorrow.
 
He works out of state and her mom has gone all out with the traditional stuff.
 
She’s got a twelve pound turkey in the oven.
 
What about a tetanus shot?”

           
“Ellie, have you had a tetanus booster in the last ten years?”

           
She shook her head.
 

           
“All right.
 
I’ll send my nurse back in.”

           
“Wait.”
 
The word came out slow, reluctantly.
 
Confidence, bravado,
moxy
, arrogance, stupidity were not inherent in her genes.
 
“I dated her no-good, cheating, thinks he’s a gift to women, son Matt.
 
Please, if it’s all the same, I’d rather leave without having to make small talk with her again.”

           
The doctor looked at Sky to see if Ellie were for real.
 
Like a true professional, Sky’s face remained straight.
 
He gave “the guy nod” as if to say...well she really didn’t know what it is they were communicating.
 
Who really understands the guy nod?
 
It’s a greeting, it’s a challenge, it’s territory marking, it affirms the truth, sometimes it’s a lie, it acknowledges boredom, and yet it works every time.
 
Like now.
 
The doctor smiled at Ellie.
 
“All right, I’ll bring it back in and do it myself.
 
I’m warning you though, I haven’t had to give an injection since medical school.”

           
When the door shut behind him Sky muttered, “That doesn’t look like it was too long ago.”

           
Ellie giggled before she thought better of it.
 
Like a golden retriever, Sky practically growled at anything with a Y chromosome that came near her.
 
She pushed down the warm feeling that his possessiveness gave her.
 
He’s not your friend just like Gibbs is not really into you.

           
The rest of the visit was uneventful and Sky paid the receptionist, which was a huge relief to Ellie because she only had the emergency $20 bill in her wallet which her dad required her to carry at all times.
 
Back in the car, Ellie finally looked at her hand.
 
Black plastic stitches railroaded across her palm.
 
Frankenhand
.
 
Ellie averted her eyes.
 
Turning to Sky she said, “Thank you for taking me, but this hasn’t changed anything.
 
I’m going to find my own way out of this mess.
 
If you won’t take me home, I will get out of the car and walk.”

It was fun to close her eyes and listen to him talk.
 
He had a different perspective on things than Taylor or her mom, or even her dad who she didn’t see often.
 
Today he started into his ritual diatribe on all of Manny’s flaws.
 
Ellie knew it was just her imagination somewhere halfway between sleep and consciousness, and not Pinstripe, trying to persuade her to give up this four
year long
crush, but she let herself argue with him anyway.
 
This was a conversation she knew by heart.