Head of the Class

Chess half-carried Alex into the emergency room at the hospital. The triage nurse looked him up and down, and when Chess explained what had happened, she ran to get him a bag of ice.

“I’ve put you up on the priority list,” the nurse told Alex. “We’ll get you down to x-ray as soon as possible to make sure the swelling isn’t pressing into the brain.”

“That sounds serious,” Chess said, alarmed.

“It can be,” said the nurse, “but he’s walking and talking; that’s a good sign. Alright; you two go sit in the waiting room and we’ll call you in as soon as we can.”

“Thank you,” said Chess. She stood up and helped Alex to his feet.

“Do you need a wheelchair?” the nurse asked.

“I’m OK,” said Alex.

Chess helped Alex to a chair. The hospital had purchased old theatre seats, so the chairs were high and comfortable. Alex leaned into Chess and she held the ice bag to his head. Sitting there with her made him relax all over, despite his aching head.

Alex looked up at her. “Chess?”

She looked down. Green, green eyes.

“Thanks for being so good to me.”

She squeezed his arm. “Ah well, you know. I wasn’t going to let you just lie on the ice all night.”

“Yeah.” Alex thought for a bit. “Good thing Will was so helpful too.”

“Isn’t he the best?”

Alex’s heart fell. “You seem to like him a lot.”

Chess seemed confused. “Well, yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

Alex took a deep breath. “How long have you two been together?”

More confused looks from Chess. “Uh... since birth. Actually, even before that.”

Now it was Alex’s turn to be confused. “What are you talking about?”

Chess burst out laughing. “You’re kidding, right? You didn’t read any birth dates when you saw who’d signed up for your classes?”

“No,” said Alex, bewildered.

Chess continued to laugh. “Will and I are twins!” she exclaimed. “We do almost everything together. He and his wife live down the street from me.”

Oh, it all made so much sense now! Alex smiled. Twins. No wonder they played so well together.

“If you live that close together, why do you take two cars?”

“Will works downtown until six,” she replied. “It doesn’t make sense for him to drive all the way back to the south end of town and then all the way out here again.”

Everything was fitting together. Except one thing.

“So Will is married,” Alex said. “And you are...”

Chess smiled and rolled her eyes. “Not.”

“Seeing anyone?”

“Here and there,” Chess admitted. “Nothing serious, though. Nobody has seemed... right, you know? I’ve never gotten that feeling from anybody yet.”

“After this is all over,” Alex began, “and.... you know, after I rest a little, do you think I could take you out for a bite to eat or something?”

“Naw, you don’t have to do that,” Chess scoffed.

Alex’s heart fell to his feet. “Oh.”

“No, no, I don’t mean it that way,” Chess faltered. “What I mean is... You don’t have to go to any trouble. I know you don’t have a lot of money, and I don’t want you to feel you have to blow it on me. I would rather have you come to my place and I can make you dinner.”

He looked up at her. “How did you know that about me?”

“Don’t be mad. Bruce told me. I asked about you on the first day of lessons.”

Alex’s heart swelled. “You did? How come?”

Now it was Chess’s turn to smile. “I fell in love with your green eyes the second I met you. I knew you were someone I had to get to know.”

Alex smiled and curled into Chess’s shoulder. “I fell in love with yours first.”

Chess pressed her cheek on his hair. “S’OK baby,” she whispered. “S’OK.”

Alex was soon called in for X-rays and a CAT scan.

“I’ll wait here,” Chess said.

“Oh.” Alex was hoping Chess would go with him, because he had never had either of these procedures done.

“Don’t worry,” she assured him. “They don’t hurt. You just have to lie still.” She squeezed his hand. “It’ll be OK. I’ll wait right here.”

Alex was led into a little room and told to lie on a narrow table. A technician lay a heavy apron over Alex’s body and positioned his head under a large camera. Then he was told to lay on his side, got repositioned, and the the apron was adjusted again.

That was it.

He emerged from the room and relaxed.

Chess smiled at him. “See? Not so bad.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Alex admitted.

The CAT scan turned out to be more involved. Again, Alex had to go into a room without Chess, but after the X-ray, he felt sure he could handle anything.

Until he realized he had to have a needle.

Alex was deathly afraid of needles.

“No,” he whimpered when the nurse came into the room with her kit.

“Oh come on, now,” she said crisply. “Nothing to worry about. Let’s get that sleeve up.”

Alex couldn’t control himself; he stood up and moved towards the door.

The nurse looked at him strangely. “Come on, a rough tough hockey player like you, scared of a tiny little needle?”

Alex felt tears spring up in his eyes.

The nurse was getting impatient. She leaned out the door. “Could you come in here please?”

Alex expected to see a big burly orderly come into the room, ready to pin him down. Instead, Chess was the one who appeared, scratching the back of her head.

Alex cried with relief when he saw her.

“What’s wrong, buddy?” Chess asked.

“This one’s scared of a little needle,” the nurse scoffed, getting her tools ready.

“Aw, leave him alone,” Chess told her. “Making fun of him isn’t going to help. I’m sure you wouldn’t be happy if I told you there was a spider crawling up your scrubs.”

The nurse glared at Chess, but Chess wasn’t phased. Chess turned to Alex.

“It’s OK. I’ll help you. Come on, buddy.” She slid her arm across his back and moved back towards the chair he needed to sit in to get the dye injection.

Alex was trying to be brave in front of Chess, but he was overwhelmed by the fear of needles. He gripped her arm with tremendous force.

“Ow. OK, easy now, easy.” Chess slid Alex into the chair and then kneeled down in front of him. She reached up and gently unzipped Alex’s hoodie. “Here we go. Just going to take your arm out of your sleeve.” She slid her hands up and down Alex’s arm gently and lay it on the side table. The nurse was at the ready with the elastic strap and wound it around Alex’s bicep.

“No,” Alex wailed, “it’s going to hurt!”

“Just for a second,” Chess whispered. “Here, look at me.”

Alex turned his worried wet eyes on Chess’s. Green, green ocean on a summer day. “It’s alright, buddy. It really is,” she said softly.

Alex drew in a shuddery breath.

“You know what we should do when we get out of here?” Chess murmured.

Alex sniffled. “What?”

“I’m in the mood for Harvey’s. They’re open late. What do you say we go out for a burger on our first date?”

Alex smiled. “Okay.” Then he felt a burning sting in his arm. “Ow! Ow! It hurts!”

Chess put her hands on his shoulders and squeezed gently. “You’re okay. See? It’s not that bad. You’re almost done.”

Alex closed his eyes and touched his forehead to Chess’s. He felt like his insides were being sucked out. He breathed rapidly, squeezing Chess’s arm. Stars began to appear behind his eyelids.

Just before Alex passed out again for the second time that night, he felt the stinging burn of the needle being pulled out of his skin. He yelped.

“There we are, all done,” the nurse said briskly. “Will you hold this here?” she asked Chess, motioning to the small cotton ball being pressed into Alex’s elbow. Chess obligingly kept the little ball in place with her fingers.

“You did it, Alex!” Chess said to him, smiling.

Alex was embarrassed but relieved. “Sorry about that,” he apologized. “I’m not afraid of anything... but needles.”

“My dad is worse than you are,” Chess said with a laugh. “Even now, when he has to get his blood drawn or get a flu shot, Will or I have to go with him because he always freaks out. Sometimes he even faints.”

Alex let out a long, profound sigh. He just wanted to go home.

The nurse led Alex to another table similar to the setup in the X-ray room, except this time, his head was aimed inside a giant donut. Alex was told to lie very still.

“Do you want me to wait out in the hall?” Chess asked.

Before Alex could reply, the nurse answered, “I’d rather you stay here, just in case. Sit with him, would you? I need him to keep still.”

“Alright.” Chess pulled a chair up to the bed and took Alex’s hand. She stroked the back of it very gently.

Alex, wiped out from the whole ordeal, concentrated on Chess’s fingers touching the back of his hand.

Once the CAT scan was done (painless, to Alex’s relief), Alex was led down the hall to a triage waiting room to wait for the results of both the X-ray and the scan.

Chess helped him up on to the narrow bed, covering him gently with the sheet. Sitting in the chair, she tilted her head over and lay it on the pillow next to Alex.

“Funny how tonight turned out, eh?” Chess said quietly. “I just can’t believe that two hours ago, we were at the arena in the middle of a scrimmage, and now look at us.”

“I’m so glad you’re here,” he said quietly. “You’ve been amazing.”

“S’OK,” she said, stroking his cheek.

Alex was suddenly completely exhausted, right down into his bones. He closed his eyes, and within a few minutes, feeling Chess’s gentle fingers on his hands and in his hair, he was asleep.