6

            The stretches were painless, and Dr. Glint officially cleared me for release. It was a bittersweet feeling to realize that while I had only really lost a day of my vacation and still had plenty of time to explore Boston, I now had to share it with personal babysitters.

            We waited in the lobby until Lizzie finished her phone call. She emerged eventually, eyes red and puffy. When I rose to greet her, she just sighed and indicated toward the door with her head. Mom and Dad shared a glance but didn’t say anything. We were silent until we reached the sidewalk where we waited for an Uber to pick us up.

            I grasped Lizzie’s hand as we sat on a park bench outside the hospital. The air was chilly from yesterday’s storm, and I tried my best to ignore the smells of smokers who were wandering around outside. Lizzie’s hand was warm, but stiff. I comfortingly leaned my head on her shoulder, and despite a slight moment of uncertainty, her worries melted away and she reciprocated, resting her head on my hair. “My parents are fighting again,” she said simply.

            “Of course they are…” I muttered, trying not to sound as bitter as I felt. I already had to deal with an aggressively protective mom, I wasn’t looking forward to frequent phone calls where Lizzie tried to play peacemaker between her parents. I knew Lizzie was stressed though, so I tried my best to hide my concerns. “Dad’s being an asshole?”

            “He threatened to hit her…” Lizzie said shakily.

            “Oh…” was all I could muster to say.

            “The whole thing is so stupid… They heard you were hospitalized because of the whole electricity show, and Dad quickly started berating Frank. He never liked Frank, which isn’t saying much, he hates everyone on Mom’s side of the family. But he really hates what Frank does for a living, saying it’s stupid and apparently now dangerous. Mom’s trying to stay peaceful, but the number of times Dad criticizes her family is starting to get on her nerves.”

            “What does any of this even have to do with the accident?” I asked, annoyed on her behalf.

            “That’s the thing, it doesn’t. Dad just got all weird about it when he heard Frank was involved. I don’t know what his fucking deal is with Mom’s family, but Mom’s getting sick and tired of it. I tried to tell him that I love both of them equally and thereby their families equally too, but he’s practically begging me to just give up on Mom’s side of the family.”

            “I love them both equally.” I didn’t dare challenge Lizzie’s words on that. “And he threatened to hit her?”

            “He said she was being ridiculous, that a slap to the back of the head might be just what she deserved. I spent so long trying to calm him down, and I don’t even get why he was so upset…”

            I sighed and rubbed her arm comfortingly. Her sweater was incredibly soft. “I’m sorry. I’m here if you ever need to vent.”

            “I love you,” she was her only response.

            I checked my phone for the time. Nearly one o’clock in the afternoon. For whatever reason, I was still full of energy, but I could tell that Lizzie was nearly drained from the day’s events. Figuring she needed some cheering up, I decided to put myself aside for a moment. “I feel like maybe we should just go back to the hotel rest for a bit.”

            “Really?” she asked amusedly. “You’re still tired after doing all that sleeping yesterday?”

            “Not really,” I said. “But I can tell you’re kinda exhausted, and honestly I’m not really in the mood to go exploring the city with Mom and Dad hanging over us.”

            “What?” Lizzie said, raising her head from the top of mine to stare at me. “What do you mean?”

            “Oh, I guess I forgot to mention,” I said a bit awkwardly. “Mom tried to convince me to come home from the vacation, but I convinced her to let me stay. Unfortunately, she’s decided that means she’s gonna stay with us to keep an eye out.”

            Lizzie frowned at me and looked past me to my parents. “I guess I should’ve expected that,” she said with a sigh. “They’re certainly the paranoid type. That definitely sucks though…”

            “I’m sorry Lizzie,” I mutter with a head bow. “I didn’t want them here any more than you did. God, this was supposed to be our first vacation alone together as a couple and I keep screwing it up. First with the accident and now this…”

            “Hey,” Lizzie said, lifting my chin up with her right hand. She met my gaze with her hazel eyes behind her adorkable glasses. “Stop beating yourself up Beck. Sure, I’m a bit disappointed with how things have gone so far, but I’m not mad at you. Nothing so far has been your fault.”

            “Did you really just pull the ‘I’m not mad, just disappointed’ card?”

            “I guess so,” she smirked. “Your mom is a bad influence on me.”

            “Welcome to the club.”

            I made my way over to Mom and Dad to let them know that we wanted to just rest in the hotel for the day, but that we’d catch up with them tomorrow, to which Mom raised her eyebrows. “What were you planning to do with the dinner with Frank?”

            I shrugged. “I’m still planning to go.”

            She nodded. “Alright, what time are we meeting for that then?”

            I tilted my head in confusion. “Huh? What do you mean, did you want to come with us?”

            “Well, we need to eat dinner too. Might as well do it as a family, you know?”

            “Yeah but…” I fumbled, trying to think of some excuse why she couldn’t come. “I thought you didn’t want me hanging out with Frank. Or even to meet him.”

            She sighed. “I talked about it with your father. I’m still not comfortable with the whole incident and the fact that he put you in that spot to begin with, but if you really feel the whole thing was an accident-”

            “It was, I promise.”

            “Then perhaps it is worth hearing Frank out. It’s easier to forgive and forget in person anyhow.”

            “I guess…” I said, repressing a groan. I wasn’t looking forward to a dinner with Mom and Frank in the same room. Mom would very likely get confrontational, and Frank seemed like the kind of person to snap easily. If this was how the whole week was going to go, I wasn’t excited for the next five days.

            ___

            Mom and Dad got a room at the hotel that Lizzie and I were staying at, but Lizzie and I escaped into our own room to finally have some peace and quiet, likely one of the last times we’d get such a time. Lizzie outright fell face forward onto the bed and groaned dramatically, an absurdity that made me laugh. I got down on the bed next to her and rubbed her back as she moaned like a dog’s growl. “Wanna talk about anything?”

            “No…” her muffled reply came. “I don’t know what I want.”

            I chuckled nervously, unsure of what to say at this point. “We have about three and a half hours before dinner. That’s about three and half hours of happiness and alone time.”

            “I’m not in the mood to bang you…” Lizzie groaned.

            “That’s not what I was suggesting,” I said through a laugh. I loved her forward humor sometimes. “Honestly, a long cuddle sounds more than enough for me right now.”

            She made a sound that somewhat resembled an affirmation, so I wrapped my arms around her slowly. She coiled around to wrap her arms around me, and we both laid down on the bed in a warm embrace. I did everything in my power to wipe away all my lingering thoughts and just live in the moment hugging my wonderful girlfriend. I forgot about the cage and the lightning strikes. I forgot about the hospital stay and my strange static field. I forgot about Mom and Dad, and their new invitation to the vacation. I forgot about our upcoming dinner that was only guaranteeing itself to be incredibly painful. And I hugged harder to help Lizzie forget about her Dad and his obnoxious behavior. She gave a pleasured moan and kissed my nose. I opened my eyes and through our close proximity, saw one of the most relaxed faces I’d ever seen from her. The light gleaming lightly on her face, I observed her pores, her freckles, her eyelash patterns. I listened to her steady breathing and the wonderous sound of her heartbeat. She was putting everything she could into this hug and letting go of all her worries. I could feel her stress melting and her nerves fizzle away into the invisible air around us. For now, all that mattered was that we were together, happy, and healthy.

            I didn’t deserve Lizzie. I never deserved someone as amazing as Lizzie. But I couldn’t deny just how perfect our relationship felt at that moment. We complimented each other in every way, like pieces of a puzzle coming together. We always knew just how to calm the other down, how to cheer the other up, how to give the other optimism when none should exist. When she was with me, I felt like I could do anything. And I knew she felt the same way about me.

            “I love you Lizzie.” I touched my forehead to hers, and a warmth enveloped my body. I felt a spark between us, literally and figuratively.

            “I love you too…” she moaned, and we embraced for a lazy kiss.

            We fell asleep in each other’s arms as we always tended to do. All my energy that had been stored from earlier in the day faded away in an instant. My mind became clouded and I lost my train of thought before I could remember if I had actually said anything aloud.

            ___