Homepage › Stories › Opposites Attract › Chapter 24

Opposites Attract

Red Smudge

Tuukka's POV

I got out to the lobby of Marchand's apartment and took a cab to TD Garden to get my car. Once I had my car I checked the time on the radio, 12:10. I rushed home and once I got in my apartment, threw my bag on the couch and took a shower. Since I was still very much hungover, I almost threw up, but luckily I didn't. The hot water was a bit helpful and made my head ache subside a little, but I still felt all-around shitty. I got out of the shower and threw on a pair of shorts and a fleece. On my way out I grabbed a water bottle and a banana which should help my hangover, then headed over to Mass General around 1 to pick up Katie.

I got to MGH and went to Katie's room. She looked like she was asleep but when I sat down next to her and pulled out my phone she stirred in her bed a bit. She had changed into shorts but was still wearing a pink sports bra, and bandages were wrapped around her waist a few times. How is she so tan? She has better abs than me.. I was interrupted from my thoughts when a nurse walked in with a clipboard.

"Oh! Hello. Are you here to bring home Miss Rose?"

"Hi, yeah I am."

"Alright. I'll get the doctor and we'll be back in a few minutes, then you're free to take her home. You can try to wake her up in the meantime, if you like," she said, walking out. Alright then.

I looked over at Katie who still looked like she was asleep. She must be pretty doped up. I put my hand on her shoulder and lightly shook it.

"Sweets. Wake up." She just squeezed her eyes shut more and mumbled, "no". I smirked and replied, "come on. Don't you wanna see me?"

She smiled, her eyes still shut, and didn't say anything. I kissed her on the forehead and then looked at her. Nothing. I kissed her on the nose and she still shut her eyes, but her smile was bigger. I gave up, sighed, and pulled out my phone.

A few minutes later the doctor walked in. "Hello. Is she still out?"

"Not really. I'm not exactly.. sure, I tried to wake her up, but she wouldn't open her eyes." I looked over at her. She was just lying there, but her head was to the right so I couldn't see her face.

"..Right. Well, I'm sure you already know what happened. She tore open the stitches, which should have been really painful, as it sounds. It surprises me that she did that, because it's actually very hard to do. We re-stitched them, but she was in a lot of pain, so naturally she's on a lot of medication. They should begin to wear off in a few hours, around 2. Once they do start to wear off--" he pulled a bottle of pills out of his white jacket, "-- give her two pills every 4 hours until the bottle runs out. Unless she's asleep."

I nodded and took the small orange bottle of pills. It looked like there were about 20 in there.

"Thank you. Is there anything else I should know?"

"She might be a little--" he paused, as if looking for the right word, "discombobulated. Happy. Be ready for that."

"Alright. Can she eat regularly?"

"Nothing too extreme for today-- maybe jello, icecream. Lots of water and soft foods, vegetables maybe, too. Tomorrow maybe you could start with cereal or crackers, but wait a bit before she eats the hard, filling foods."

I nodded. "Will she have to come back to get the stitches out?"

"No. The ones we used sort of disappear into the body. She won't need to come back unless she's hurt or it gets infected, which is highly unlikely."

"Are there going to be permanent scars?"

"Not permanent, but they will be there for a while. They should begin to fade in a month, but they'll still be noticeable for a year or two."

I nodded and said thank you. The doctor walked out leaving me with Katie. I felt so bad for her.

"Alright sweets, ya gotta get up. Let's go," I said, placing my hand on her thigh as I stood up. She shook her head and said, "nooooooooooo I wanna lie down."

"I know you do. But we gotta get you out of here. Do you wanna stay in the hospital?" She didn't respond.

"That's what I thought."

She sat up and grimaced, moving her left hand to her waist. She moved her legs so they were hanging off the side of the bed. But she was still in her sports bra and shorts. I pulled off my fleece and said, "can you put this on for me?" She squinted from the light of the room but put it on. She looks good in my clothes. I helped her put on her sneakers, then grabbed her phone and keys on the bedstand and put them in my pocket. I figured Cara took out everything else, because those were the only thing Katie had left in the room. I held out my left arm and she wrapped her right around it, and as we walked slowly to the elevator she never took her left hand off of her waist.

"C'mon, all you have to do is walk up the stairs for me Kate. That's it."

She breathed air out of her nose heavily and looked at the roof of my car. We were sitting in the car in front of her apartment, and all I needed her to do was walk up the stairs to get to the door.

I sighed, before muttering, "do I have to carry you?"

She nodded and smiled a bit and I got out of the car and walked over to the passenger side. I slid my arms under her knees and around her upper waist. She wrapped her arms around my neck and I picked her up out of the car, then shut the passenger door with my left foot. She must've lost weight from not being able to eat, because it was even more easy for me to carry her than it already was the first two times.. Why is she always getting hurt! This is the third time I've had to carry her like this. Why can't I do it when she's not hurt?

I sighed as I reached the top step. I fumbled a bit, trying to hold her while I reached in my pocket with my other hand for her set of keys. I managed to do it and opened the door to her apartment. We stepped inside, then I shut the door by pushing it with my waist.

I began to put her down so she could stand up, but she muttered, "noo."

"Hm?"

She replied, "I like this," and looked up at me with her beautiful dark brown eyes. I was so lost in her eyes, before I knew it she had pulled her head up and pressed her lips to mine, all while I was holding her. I bent down my neck and kissed her back, taking in her scent now that we were so close to each other. She still smells like vanilla.

We were an hour in to Jarhead when things began to get weird. Katie's meds really began to set in: meaning she had no barrier between her thoughts and no problems expressing them. She'd also stood up a few times, then sat back down. At one point she even waved her hands above her head, then stopped.

"Tuukka?"

"Yeah."

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Do you like turtles?"

"They're ok."

"Hater."

I began to laugh. "I- what?"

"What you got against turtles. They don't bother no one."

"I-- I just don't see what's special about them."

"Other than the fact that they can grow a shell?"

"So can snails."

"So you like snails better?"

"No. They're gross."

"Haterrrr," she mumbled and began to chuckle at something funny.

"What's so funny?" I asked, trying not to laugh at how doped up she was.

"You."

"How am I being funny?"

"I just like you," she said, poking my nose. "Tuukka!!!!!!!!"

"What!!"

"Can I do your make up?"

"My- what? I don't wear make up, sweets."

"Can I?!"

"No!"

She began to pout her lips. She lowered her eyebrows and looked at the floor. I couldn't stand to look at her like that, even though I knew she was joking. "Alright, fine."

She got up and ran to the bathroom, waving for me to follow her. I stared at her ass for a second, then broke out of the trance and followed her. Somehow in the process she took off my fleece and was now in just her sports bra and shorts. She grabbed me on both of my shoulders, shut the lid on her toilet, and sat me down on it. She yanked open a drawer and there were hundreds of bottles, tubes, brushes and things I didn't know the use of. Jesus. Do girls really have to go through this shit daily?

Before I knew it she had her hands covered in orange goop and slathered it all over my face.

"Jesus Christ Katie! What the fuck!"

She laughed hysterically and just kept wiping her hands all over my face. She's lucky she's all doped up right now. Soon she grabbed a brush and rubbed it around inside something that opened and soon forced it around my face. She even got it in my mouth at one point.

"Hey- hEY! Watch it! I'm getting it in my mouth!" She giggled and bit her lip. Why is she so fucking adorable? Why am I letting her do this?

I was interrupted from my thoughts when she said, "Close your eyes."

I shut my eyes and felt a small brush go over them. After about 5 seconds I opened them again.

"Are you--" "NO! Shut them!"

I jumped a little when she shouted, but obeyed and shut my eyes. I knew she was up to something because she was laughing to herself as she put it on me. After what seemed like 5 minutes of brushing on my eyelids and I think eyebrows, I felt a really thin but blunt push above my eyelids.

"Is that eyeliner? Or whatever you call it."

She giggled and replied, "yes. Now hush."

After she was done with the eyeliner I opened my eyes to see her holding some weird looking thing that looked like it'd torture me.

"What the fuck is that?" I asked, genuinely afraid of that fucking thing.

"Eyelash curlers," she said, like it was no big fucking deal.

"No. No Katie I'm not doing it."

"It's either this or fake lashes," she said, a devilish grin appearing. Oh god.

"I'll take the fake ones," I said. I figured you'd probably just stick em on top of your normal lashes and they'd stay.

She began to chuckle and reached into a drawer. She pulled out two things that looked like spiders and a tiny tube of toothpaste.

"Why do you have toothpaste?"

"Oh, Tuukka. It's not toothpaste, babe. It's glue."

"GLUE! Oh fuck no."

"You agreed to it!" She said, twisting off the cap.

"I'm not putting fucking super glue on my eyes! NO fucking way! No!"

She already had the glue on one of the lash things. She straddled her legs across my waist and whispered in my ear, "sorry babe." I bit my lip. It took all of my willpower to not fuck her on the spot right there. I chuckled nervously and a few seconds later she muttered, "shut your eyes." I shut them nervously and she pressed the lash thing onto my eye. She held it there for a few seconds, then said "open."

I opened my eyes and she began to laugh uncontrollably. "I'm only doing one!"

I sighed and tried not to laugh. "Now on to your lips," she said. She got up off my legs and reached into another drawer, plucking out a red lipstick container and a thin tube of pink goo. I puckered my lips jokingly and she laughed as she put the lipstick on my lips. She put the top back on the lipstick then pulled a stick thing with a tip out of the pink goo.

She dabbed the pink goo on my lips. I shut them and moved them together, tasting strawberry on my lips. It tasted so fucking good. Jesus Christ I can't call myself a man anymore.

"Done!" She said, putting the tube back in the drawer. "You look so sexy."

I stood up and turned to face the mirror that lined the countertop. Oh. My. God.

My face was orange. My lips were bright red and shiny. My cheeks were bright pink. My eyelids were purple and green and had a dark black thing extending from the ends of them. The eyelashes on one of my eyes looked unnaturally thick. My mouth dropped open as I looked at the horror that was painted on my face.

I turned to look at Katie who was laughing with her hand over her mouth.

"I'm. Going. To. KILL. You!" I shouted. She ran out of the room, howling with laughter. I chased after her into the living room and soon enough my arms wrapped around her upper waist. She was still hurt, and I knew that, so I didn't do anything forceful. She's lucky.

"No- Tuukka- NO!" She managed to get out in between laughs. I puckered my lips and kissed her square on the cheek, leaving a big red smudge. Her chest heaved with laughter and she hung her head in defeat.

Right at that moment, the door opened and two people walked through. Their mouths dropped and their eyes opened wide as they saw my face. Katie and I both did the same.

Seguin began to laugh uncontrollably and fell to the floor, but Cara just stood there staring at us with her mouth open to a small smile.