Chapter
16
Over the next few months, Angela and Nick saw each other
regularly. Angela had made the transfer
from her former school in South Carolina to a different junior college just
outside Orlando. She had moved all her
things into her father and Lynn’s house, but she was there as little as
possible. Most of her time was spent
with Nick, either out in public with him, or just hanging around his house.
In early April, spring break started for Angela, and she had weeks
off from school. And of course, she
planned on spending her free time with Nick.
***
One Monday afternoon, shortly after spring break had started for
Angela, Nick had to go for one of his bi-annual checkups with Dr.
Ferguson. He had gone for his last one
in October, marking a year since his transplant, and now he had another.
Nick had always hated going to for doctor’s appointments, and this
one made him especially nervous. What if
he found out something horrible, such as his liver was rejecting? Just the thought made him tremble.
But Nick knew that he was fine.
He felt perfectly healthy and was sure that if something was wrong, he
could have known about it. Still, the
worries were always there in the back of his mind.
Angela had offered to go with Nick to the appointment, and he was
glad for her company, not wanting to go alone.
They made it to the hospital, to the outpatient center, where Dr.
Ferguson’s office was located, and sat in a waiting room for nearly a half
hour. Finally, a nurse called Nick in.
“I’ll just wait here, hun,” Angela said, as Nick stood up.
“Okay,” Nick replied. “See
ya.”
She smiled encouragingly at him and watched as the nurse led him
through a door and out of her sight.
***
“So, Nick, how have you been feeling?” Dr. Ferguson asked, awhile
later, in the examination room.
“Great,” Nick replied.
“Everything’s fine.”
“That’s good,” Dr. Ferguson said, taking his vitals. “I need to take some blood now.”
Nick nodded, rolling up the sleeve of his T-shirt to expose his
upper arm, familiar with the routine procedure.
Dr. Fergeson took the blood out of his arm, below the shark tattoo
on his left shoulder. Nick winced as
the needle slid into him, but he held still, watching intently as his own blood
was drew from the prick in his arm.
Dr. Fergeson put a cotton ball over the tiny prick and covered it
with a band-aid. “There you go,” she
said. “I’ll get this down to the lab,
and I’ll be right back, okay?”
“Kay,” Nick replied, rolling his sleeve back down to cover the
band-aid.
***
After Dr. Ferguson finished examining him a few minutes later,
Nick was sent back out to the waiting room to wait for the results of his
bloodwork, which would let Dr. Ferguson know if his body was still accepting
his liver or not.
Nick fidgeted in his seat next to Angela the whole time, until
finally, he was called back again. This
time, he brought Angela with him, to Dr. Fergeson’s office.
“Dr. Fergeson, this is my girlfriend, Angela Harless,” Nick
introduced Angela, upon entering the doctor’s office.
“Nice to meet you,” Dr. Fergeson said politely, shaking Angela’s
hand. She glanced at Nick’s chart,
which lay on the desk in front of her.
“Well, Nick, everything looks perfect.
Just keep taking your medications, and everything should be fine. I’ll see you in six months.”
“Thanks,” Nick said, flashing the doctor a relieved grin. “Come on, Ang,” he said, standing up quickly
and taking her hand. “Let’s go.”
With that, they left the hospital, relieved that Nick was still in
good health, that Justin’s liver was still doing its job.
***
