Hospitals suck no matter who you are. Yes, of course it’s true that with fame and money, your stay is technically better. I was in a private room for privacy reasons, and I didn’t need to worry about any of the costs hitting me too hard. But I was also sitting around in a hospital bed that just wasn’t comfortable and being all alone for so long just wasn’t all too pleasant.. Maybe it was first world problems, maybe even ‘rich girl’ problems. I didn’t complain to anybody and I was only there for two more days and a night after the surgery, but I got lonely too.

My favorite moments were when people came to visit me. It made things just a little less lonely and people who I hadn’t seen in ages came to check up on me. Sure, you could say they weren’t real friends if they only came to see me while I was sick and didn’t really hang out with me on normal days, but you’ve got to remember that we were all so busy. One moment, you’d get super close to somebody--a fellow actor, a musician, somebody else in the industry, maybe even somebody outside of it--and the next your schedules start clashing. One of you has to be on the other side of the country to film something or promotion is becoming hectic. On one hand, you rarely get to meet ‘everyday’ civilians, but on the other you also rarely are able to really get close to somebody on the same ‘level’. It was more complicated than it should have been.

It was why I was actually surprised my relationship with Jack had managed to last this long already. We had been dating for a few months, but it certainly didn’t feel that way. Jack had been gone for quite a while and I hadn’t managed to visit him. It was the classic clashing schedule thing, really. However, we managed to keep contact, unlike many friendships I had had. But then again, we did have a slightly different relationship, so it made sense at the same time. It was something I wasn’t going to overthink. It was in the past and I was living in the present.

Back to laying in the hospital bed in a sterile room that stained all my clothes with the generic ‘hospital smell’. My time here was going to haunt me back at home for a while longer. The clothes were easy to wash, but a backpack could be quite tricky. Both could most likely go in the washing machine, yet something told me one was easier to clean than the other. The first thing I was definitely going to do when I got home was take a nice long shower and get rid of the smell in my hair.

For now, all I had was Travis and his best friend Andrew--who preferred to be called ‘Andy’--who came to visit me and check up on how I was doing.

“--so you know how I’m usually chill with most things, right?” Travis was wrapping up his story about this girl he went out on a date with. “This went too far for even me. I tried, but I couldn’t.”

I nodded with forced and forged impression, mocking how non-judgemental Travis really was in relationships; all the way from backstory to kinks. “You finally found somebody who one-upped you! As soon as this divorce is finalized, you should marry her.”

“No, Stevie, you missed the point. I couldn’t, I had to break it off,” he emphasized, leaning forward on the plastic chair next to me and clasping his hands together in a dramatic motion.

“I’m kidding,” I laughed at how serious he was being, reaching out to hit him on the kneecap. Travis definitely wasn’t one of those people who didn’t understand sarcasm, but when he had a strong opinion, he made sure it was clear.

“You can’t mess with Travis like that, you should know by now, Stevie,” Andy commented from where he was standing, looking at all the cards I had gotten all displayed on the desk against the opposite wall--another perk of a private room.

“He’s right,” Travis agreed with a chuckle, slowing getting up from his seat. “Anyway, we’ve got to get going.”

“Awe, okay,” I pouted, not wanting to be all alone again in the boring white and gray room with the window that I just couldn’t look out of.

“Don’t miss me too much,” he winked jokingly.

To clarify, this was what my relationship was like with Travis the past couple of years. Back when I unexpectedly saw him at the script read-through, things were a little awkward for the reason that it was just that… unexpected. I didn’t want to fuck up the divorce back then and was unsure of any rules. Now, however, he got an exception to visit me, as long as somebody else was there. If we weren’t forced into a specific situation with specific behavioral rules, then we just acted like the buddies we had been since we first met.

Before the two boys could leave, however, another person decided to join. They didn’t knock, which is almost never a good idea, but it made sense when they walked in. After barely opening the door with his elbow, Jack walked in--or more… twirled… in. His back was first towards us as he pushed the door open and he spun around to properly walk in. It was then that he saw that I actually already had company, but he quickly recognized they weren’t doctors, so it was fine.

“And here I was, thinking that I was the only one who came to visit you.” Jack shook his head softly, his hands still holding the paper bags that prevented him from opening the door normally.

“Well, we were just leaving.” Travis smiled politely, knowing by now that Jack was my boyfriend but not wanting to make a big deal out of it.

I also didn’t think my ex-husband and current boyfriend would meet like this. Honestly, I didn’t even imagine how they would have met at all. Maybe at some red carpet event or something. I had never given it much thought. You don’t really make your current relationship meet your ex… but Travis and I were still really good friends, and not in the way most celebrities say when they ‘mutually’ split up. We had been best friends and were always going to be that way.

“I have enough burritos for, like, six people…” Jack offered, reciprocating the politeness. Of course, he didn’t buy them for the two other guys, but he wasn’t just going to send them away.

“No, really, we’re already late to our next destination,” Travis brushed off while Andy and I were just watching the interaction like we were watching how two predators interacted in the wild.

“Guess I’ll eat ‘em all then,” Jack laughed and put down one bag on the table with the cards, shifting them a little further together so the other bag could fit on as well.

For their final goodbyes, Andy and I did our ‘handshake’, which wasn’t all too special, just something left over from a drunken night when Travis and I just started to understand what it was like to be famous. My interaction with Travis, however, was just a little different. Since we still had so much respect for each other, but weren’t in love anymore, him kissing me on the cheek wasn’t anything too special. To others, it might have looked differently, but to us it was just us being friends.

Jack immediately replaced Travis by sitting down in the same chair as soon as the two men had left the room. It wasn’t like he was trying to push them away, he was just really excited to be here again despite the environment and setting.

“I refrained from kissing you with them here, and he just kisses you on the cheek. Psh, rude,” he scoffed in a joking way with some slight seriousness behind it.

“Well, you’re free to do so now,” I grinned back.

In a matter of a few seconds, Jack raised himself up off the chair just enough to reach me up on the bed and have our lips come together for a kiss. To help stabilize it, I put my hands on either side of his face and raised my upper body as well. His slight stubble only scratched slightly, but it wasn’t anything unfamiliar. The only thing risky was that we were sharing a little more than just an innocent kiss in a hospital.

Before anything could threaten for it to go further, there was a knock at the door and barely enough time for me and Jack to pull away. We were just mere inches away when the door opened and a head popped in. It was Travis, who clearly noticed that he had walked in just at the wrong moment but wasn’t just going to leave without doing what he came for in the first place.

“Sorry, I forgot to leave this behind,” he excused and held up a bundle of paper, looking around where he could put it down before quickly shuffling up to the bed and putting it on the end close to my feet. “Anyway, really have to go. Love ya.”

“Love ya five-ever!” I shouted after him in a joking way as he started closing the door behind him while leaving.

Jack just frowned and got off the chair just slightly so he could stretch out and pick up the fairly heavy A4 pile of paper. He took a look at the front cover before saying, “so he came here to bring you the script yet he forgot to give it.”

I shook my head softly as he gave me the latest version of first scenes we were going to be filming. “No, they were going to send the script to my house, but Travis was already going to check up on me so he decided to bring it instead.”

“Oh, of course,” he nodded nonchalantly and got up yet again, only this time walking the distance to the small table to get the food he had brought. “Anyway, I brought this so you don’t have to eat the horrible hospital food and thought I’d join you.”

“Thank you.” I smiled and took the paper bag he handed to me, opening it as seeing a freshly made burrito wrapped in tin foil. “You know, my personal trainer is going to hate me dating you. I’ve been eating like shit.”

“That’s the only downside to being around me,” he laughed with a shrug as he pulled out his own food which happened to be similar to mine, only he had three, proving my point.

“Oh wow, you’re overly confident that you’re perfect in every way possible,” I joked back and removed the tin foil before taking a bite.

“Hey, I’m just telling the truth!” he retorted and also started eating, adding, “honestly, though. It’s better to be confident than get hung up on everything that isn’t perfect according to society's standards.”

“Difficult, but true.”

We ate in silence for a while. There wasn’t much else do to. All we were doing was enjoying each other’s company during dinner in a hospital. Of course, it was fun talking and getting to know each other better, but there’s only so much you can say while trying to eat.

“What are you going to be doing the next couple of days?” I asked, an idea popping into my head as I was halfway through my burrito and Jack was starting his second one.

“You know… the usual,” he answered while pulling away the tin foil.

“Drinking at clubs?” I suggested which got me a very guilty nod. “Well, how do you feel about the beach?”

“It’s pretty cool,” he commented with his mouth full. “I haven’t been in a while.”

“I still have a few days before we start filming. How do you feel about going to the beach during that time?”

“Like to Santa Monica or something? I’m down. We should probably go when it isn’t too busy, though.”

“No, I mean go to my apartment in Malibu for like two or three days.”

“Wait…” he froze and stopped eating, looking at me. “You have an apartment on the beach?”

“Yeah, where else do you think I threw parties when I was 19 years old?” I scoffed mockingly as if it was an obvious thing to have.

“Well, now I’m totally down. I’ll happily cancel any plans I possibly have.”

“Then that’s sorted.” I grinned back, excited myself not just to go to the beach again but also because this was my first weekend away with Jack (if we were going on a weekend, otherwise we’ll just consider it a weekend during the week).

Strangely enough, our relationship was both moving slow yet also fast. There was some time before the stages, but actually reaching the next stage was like bungee jumping.

Notes

Okay, I did it. I kept forgetting about this chapter xD
A filler to make the change between the hospital and the fun stuff a little more gradual.
Also, I've been getting even more ideas for new stories. It's not good. I want to write them all!!!