pouncing on Jibby.
“Jibby,” I started out, looking at him.
“Mia,” he mimicked.
“What’s up with you and Alicia? I saw you staring at her all during the performance today. It also appeared that she didn’t get upset with you helping her.”
“She knows I’m an EMT and I wasn’t trying to get fresh with her.” Jibby studied his fingernails and then looked up at me. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You like her,” I playfully accused.
“What? No, I—,” he stopped short, shaking his head and smiling at me when I raise my eyebrow at him. “Shit.” Running his hand through his long, dark, wavy hair, he added, “I can’t lie to you. Yeah, I like her, I probably never stopped. I want her back and I have for a while.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I got up and sat in a chair closer to where he was. “I could have put in a good word.”
“I don’t know. I figured you had your own shit to deal with, and I wasn’t about to ask you to help me get her back.” Jibby looked up at some commotion by the admitting desk where a lady was refusing to get out of a wheelchair. “I blame you, you know.”
“What? Why?” I crossed my arms in front of my chest.
“You started bringing her around more because you two are a package deal.”
“Don’t you think eventually you would have wanted her back even without me bringing her around?”
Jibby nodded. “She’s still dating James, but I don’t think it’s going that well.” Jibby sat back and stared up at the ceiling.
“How do you know that?”
“Because the weekend before Valentine’s Day we hung out together.”
More than just surprised at this admission, I couldn’t believe Alicia had said nothing to me about that.
“She didn’t tell you, did she?” he guessed, judging my face.
“That was the weekend Jensen was here,” I said, shaking my head no, “and we were both preoccupied with what that brought. So what did she say about James?”
“Just that they didn’t talk as much on the phone anymore, and when they did, they fought.”
“What do they fight about?” For some reason I just hadn’t thought to ask Alicia how things were with her and James. It made me feel a little guilty that I was such a one-sided friend.
“You know, the usual stuff—girls and college life.”
Just then we heard Krissa’s loud voice from the hallway that led to the examining rooms on the first floor. She stood there frantically waving her arms trying to get our attention. “Come on, they’re letting us see Alicia!”
Getting up from our chairs we followed Krissa to the room Alicia was in. The door was wide open, and we could hear her complaining to her mom about the fall she took.
“Knock, knock!” Jibby said, pushing past me and Krissa to be the first one in the room. Alicia’s face lit up.
“Hey, guys!” Alicia looked to her mom right away. “Mom, this is Jibby. He helped me out before the ambulance came, he’s an EMT.” That bodes well for Jibby, Alicia actually introducing him to her mom.
“Wow, that’s impressive. It’s nice to meet you, Jibby. I’m Ashlyn.” She offered her hand and he firmly took it. “Jibby ... interesting. Is that a nickname?” She wasn’t being rude, just curious.
“Yeah, Jeremiah is my real name, but I prefer Jibby,” he replied, kicking the nearest chair leg lightly with his foot like a shy little boy would.
“Your name is familiar. Mia mentioned you before, I think.” Ashlyn looked at me and I nodded to let her know she was right. I didn’t dare look at Alicia for fear she was shooting me daggers for talking about Jibby in front of her parents.
“Well, I’m going to step outside and find a phone where I can call Dan to let him know what happened. I’ll let you four visit.” Ashlyn winked at me as she left.
“You guys can sit on the bed if you want,” Alicia offered, pointing to the end of the bed she was lying on. “I’ll be out of here pretty soon, I think. We just need to wait around until they get some crutches.” She was lying on top of the covers in full view with a cast that covered her foot and went to just below her knee. Alicia let us know that she wanted an air cast instead of the ‘monstrosity’ she was stuck with. “I would let you guys sign it if there was a marker or even a pen around here,” she grumbled. “Sucks, doesn’t it? I won’t be able to do drill for a while. Aside from my ankle, I broke two bones in my foot with that goddamn fall!”
“At least that’s all it was. You could have hit your head or something worse,” Jibby pointed out, hoping to console her.
Alicia gave him a glare but you could tell she wasn’t serious. “Still doesn’t make it any better.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest and pouted. Just then, with Ashlyn trailing behind, a nurse with the name of ‘Van’ on his name tag came in.
“There you are now, Colleen, ready to give these a try?” the guy with the crutches asked with an Irish accent. He was cute and had Alicia blushing. It must have been the scruffy brown hair, the luminous smile, and his unbelievably green eyes that got her blood boiling. For me, it was the accent. I was a sucker for it.
“Her name’s Alicia,” an irritated Jibby grumbled under his breath, but Van only laughed and Ashlyn quietly explained what it meant to be called “Colleen” from someone who was Irish—a young girl. Jibby then turned a nice shade of red in embarrassment and watched with a hint of jealousy as Van instructed Alicia down the hall and into the stairwell to help her learn how to navigate stairs. They came back to the room after about twenty minutes. Being a rigorous member of the drill team, Alicia hadn’t really broken much of a sweat.
“Things could get a bit bockety in snow,” Van was telling her, “so it might be wise to get ice grippers.” He stroked his chin playfully and I heard Krissa give a little sigh. I was still stuck on Van’s use of the word “bockety.” Jibby rolled his eyes.
“I’ll grab ‘em right quick and show you how to put them on,” Van volunteered. He was more than eager to help and came back in a matter of minutes with the ice grippers, taking off the stock bottoms of the crutches and putting the ice grippers on. He then showed Alicia how to move the lever up and down to bring out or put away the sharp nubs used for gripping snow at the bottom of each crutch.
“Just make sure you pop this lever there up when you get inside or you’ll make a hames of it, and then you’ll really be banjaxed,” he told her. “These are great on ice, but hell on a regular floor.” Van gave a laugh and cranked up his beautiful smile, sending Alicia into full flirt mode and flashing him a bright one of her own. Krissa and I gave each other shy smiles at Van’s commentary while Jibby rolled his eyes covertly so only we could see. Before the nurse left the room he assured Alicia she was being discharged soon.
Krissa and I walked down the hall as Ashlyn stayed behind and helped Alicia get ready to leave. Jibby waited
