Patching Up

Addie let herself be supported as they walked to where they'd left the cars, one arm slung over Lil's shoulder, and her free hand clutching tightly to David's. "So, uh..." she said, looking at the both of them, "Do you think I could stay at your place tonight, Lil? I need to try and fix up my arm. I have a little kit - my black box under the bed, Lil, you know the one - at my house, and that should have everything I need." Her eyes darted to David, then closed briefly, and pleaded with Lil to please not tell him why she had the kit. Not right now.

"Yeah, we can get it." Lil knew about it. "You can stay, we'll just have to be careful about dad, you know how he gets about...stuff. I think he went to a show in Medford tonight though."

David squeezed Addie's hand gently and he tried to smile at her reassuringly, although it was hard with the streams of blood drying on her arm.

"Don't worry, we'll get you all fixed up good as new," he said. Under the circumstances the question of why Addie kept a first aid kit under her bed never even entered his mind.

"I think we can all squeeze in my truck. It's not that far a drive."

"Either way works for me. I can ride bitch." She adjusted herself as comfortably as she could, leaning forward with her wounded shoulder so it wouldn't get bumped around, and closed her eyes to briefly rest. When they got to the bed and breakfast, Lil bounded out of the car, disappeared for a short while, then came back in with a familiar wooden box.

She'd been proud of the layer of dust on top.

At Lil's, finally, Addie let Lil check for her dad (thankfully in his studio), then hobbled up the stairs to her friend's room. Once inside, she was halfway through undoing the buttons on her shirt, before she looked up at David, not really sure what to say.

David froze momentarily as Addie began unbuttoning her top. For a long moment he simply stared at her in silence.

"Oh, shit. Right. Sorry." he said after a moment and turned around, his face blushing a deep red.

Lil snorted, resisting the urge to throw something at his head. "Give us a few minutes, okay?"

"Right. Ummm... I'll be right outside if you need me at all," David said, and then immediately felt like an idiot for saying it. Still blushing, he headed for the door and closed it behind him, sitting down in the hallway outside Lil's room.

Addie smirked, and felt like she might've blushed herself if she hadn't maybe lost so much blood. She was still oozing some, and felt the clots break as she undid the rest of the buttons and stripped off her shirt. The bra, sadly, was probably a loss at this point, which was disappointing since it was one of her favorites. She opened the box and took out a few rolls of sterile gauze, a bottle of iodine, some curved needles and a small spool of chromic catgut. Looking up at Lil, she asked, "Could you get me some boiling water?"

Lil nodded, but then glanced back where David had been. She'd been feeling more together since they'd driven out to Addie's, but she still wasn't quite herself, and she knew she wasn't going to be sleeping well tonight. "Are you really gong to be okay? You scared the shit out of me. Well, not you, I guess.."

Addie smiled tightly. "I'm trying not to think about that question right now, honestly. I know I'll be okay for as long as it takes to finish up my shoulder, but after that all bets are off."

Lil nodded. She didn't really know how to say what she wanted to, and thought the timing was poor for a hug. "Okay. I'll be here though. Just gotta, you know..." She waved towards the kitchen. "I'll be right back."

Stepping out into the hall, she turned to David.

"Hey, job for you. Come down to the kitchen."

David hopped up as soon as he saw Lil open the door. He had been contemplating stepping outside for a smoke, but he didn't want to be too far away in case he was needed. He was glad he'd decided to wait.

"Yeah, sure. What's up?"

Need some boiling water. I can show you where the pots are, and then just let us know when its ready. And if my dad comes out, um.... tell him it is for some art thing and you don't know."

"Right," david said, nodding, "No problem."

Once David was all set up, Lil slipped back upstairs, tapping lightly before slipping back inside her room. "I put your boy on it - he needed something useful to do. It should be ready in a minute." That said, Lil didn't feel like she had anything particularly useful to contribute, but there was a tension that gripped her spine, like a giant squeezing fist, when she let Addie out of her sight for even just a few minutes. She glanced around her room, and picked up a hair clip. "Here, do you want me to get your hair up out of the way?"

"Oh, yeah, thank you. Lifting my arms is gonna be fun for the next few weeks, let me tell you that. I kinda wish there were... I dunno, bears around or something that we could blame this on."

Addie had swabbed the area down with iodine, and was just waiting on the water to wash out the wounds so she could start sewing. Her hands had shaken a little when she threaded the tiny, curved needle, and her eyes kept darting back to it like it was going to strike her. "So, uh... I kinda have to ask you to get my back," she said quietly, after a moment. "I can't see what I'm doing there, and I've never done this where I can't see."

Lil had been about to ask if she was going to be okay for the dance tomorrow, if she still wanted to go, if maybe they would all just want to stay in instead. Instead, she took a deep breath.

"I can try," she said after a moment. "I've never done the stitching though, I don't want to fuck it up. Can you talk me through it?"

"Sure. After David gets us the water, we'll clean the wounds really good a few times with it, then slick up the needle and thread with the iodine. You're gonna want to hold the wound shut with one hand, and with the other put the needle through the meat, like half a centimeter down, and let it curve back up. These only need like, two per opening, tops, so just divide them into thirds. Do you know how to do a square knot?"

"Yeah." She looked at the wounds, at the needle and the iodine. This part didn't put her off, and she could watch Addie do the first ones - it would be fine. "I just wish I'd had your back better earlier."

Addie shook her head. "Dude, I wish I'd had yours better. The one time salty rice works, and I've only got a few handfuls, you know? Next time I'm totally getting a whole balloon of it ready."

"Yeah, I didn't have any. Or anything useful." Not being able to help when the thing had grabbed Addie had made her feel worse, small and helpless. It teased at long buried memories, images of a blood soaked room that still haunted her nightmares flashing in her brain. "I think Cecelia has the right idea. I need like... a kit."

Addie grinned. "Maybe we should get shotguns full of rock salt, like on Supernatural? If nothing else, it'd hurt like a bitch." She chuckled, and rolled her shoulder, wincing. "Speaking of which, right?"

"Probably just even a regular shotgun would be handy, if we could carry them without getting arrested... David should be up with the water shortly."

As if on cue, the door creaked open slightly.

"Is it safe to come in?"

Addie grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her torso. Good enough. "Sure, come on in."