CHAPTER 8 - EXERCISING AND GIVING PERMISSION

BRIAN

“Let’s go to your room.” I slide the blanket off.

“Why?” He slowly sits up.

“Because, I doubt you want Michael to watch you exercise.” I reply whilst folding the blanket.

“Good point, he is an insufferable prig!” He grumbles as he stands. 

“Seems like he and Lindsay feed off each other.” I return, picking up my bag. “Walk ahead of me, please; before you ask why, it is for two reasons. One, I need to see if you are limping or dragging your foot; and two, you’ve already checked out my ass. It’s my turn!” 

“You are so cheeky!” He lectures, but does lead the way back to his room.

FORTY MINUTES LATER

JUSTIN

He has shown me the stretching exercises I need to do both morning and night, now he is walking around.

“Can you fit in here?” He opens an empty built in wardrobe. “Can we take the doors off?

“Of course I can.” I snort. “But why?” I bat my eyes.

“Funny. And I meant laying on the floor. This is the perfect place for the harness. See, ready made at a perfect height hook.” I lean against the wall to check it out. “And it is not that kind of harness…” He opens his bag and pulls a contraption out. “...so I am going to set this up whilst you make this comfortable.”

“Comfortable?” I frown.

“Yep. Clear the floor and cover it with some of those many, many...why do you have so many cushions!” I look dubiously at the space. “Trust me, just do it; though you might want to clean said floor first, as well as check for spiders.”

“Spiders!” I gasp backing away. “I hate spiders!” 

“You live on an estate, which for sure does have rats that could be saddled and ridden in the derby. Spiders are nothing!” 

“Nope, we need to find somewhere else for whatever that is for!” 

“There is nowhere else outside of your room. Most spiders are small and harmless…”

“It gave me nightmares for days!” I shudder at the memory of being forced to ‘man up’ and watch it.

“Let me guess, Arachnophobia?” I nod. “Okay, how about this: I check then you clean?”

“Deal.” I sigh in relief, but still back further away.

“So what do you normally do when you see a spider?” He asks.

“Scream-text until someone comes and takes it out into the garden.” I admit.

“Scream-text?” He looks bemused.

“Well, for the last year or so, with me being confined, albeit in my head alone. Before the accident, I would just walk very quickly to get someone to remove it. My grandmother had a saying: if you want to live and thrive, let the spider run alive. Said it was because they served a household purpose in olden times.”

“So if you saw one in your room, you would text a screaming face emoji?”

“And a spider one, so they knew to come quickly. Could we get the laughter over with?!” I pout.

“It’s not funny, a fear is a fear. What you need to do is overcome it. How you overcome it is down to you; you either do it alone or with help.” 

I ponder this. “Are there any in there?” 

“Not that I can see. Ready to get this sorted out?” In answer, I start to pull out the cushions.

BARNS - FIVE MINUTES LATER

MICHAEL

My calves, which after my arms and face are my best feature, are red and covered in blisters. “Oh my! No, don’t touch it!” Ted exclaims, peering at them. “Where were you?”

“Right here with you guys. This is agony!” I whimper.

“No, before that.” He sighs. “Ever since you’ve gotten in here, you’ve done nothing, literally nothing, but walk slowly and bitch loudly.” 

“Over there with Ronald! Right Ron…” I begin, but he's on the phone. When Ted looks out, I take that opportunity to have a bit of a scratch. “Aren’t you going over there?”

“And stand in poison ivy? Oh no, thank you.” 

“Poison ivy?!” 

“Yep, so you need to go and rinse the oils off…”

“I knew I should’ve gone back to the house!” I snap. I start to leave, but Ted grabs my arm. “I am in pain, and…”

“And there is a massive body of water over there, which will ease said pain!” His loud grousing attracts the attention of everyone else. 

“What’s going on?” Ronald asks as he enters. 

“Michael has poison ivy; he wants to go back to the house to wash it off, when…”

“When there is a river in front of him. Got it. Michael, you walking back there will take at least 15 minutes, by which time the oils would’ve absorbed and made that so much worse. So just wade in, up to where the level of the rash is, and let the water cool you down.” With all eyes on me, I make my way back to the water’s edge. “Remember to take off your shoes!” 

“Thank you, Ronald.” I smile thinly, then take them off. I look into the water to make sure there are no otters, and take another step. When my foot squelches into something, I look down. “Oh my god! That’s not mud, is it?!” I scream, whilst scraping my foot along the grass trying to get the crap off. 

“Michael, just rinse it off when you get in!” Ronald sighs crossly.

“I just…” I snarl before feeling myself toppling backwards. “...Nooooo!!” I scream before I plunge into the icy water. Spluttering and coughing, I resurface and flail my way back towards the bank. “Help me!” I demand, but they are too busy laughing!

“Well, at least you can say that the oils should be washed off now!” Ted guffaws before approaching. I put out my hand, but he doesn’t take it.. “You know what?” He searches the bankside. “Ah, yes, here!” He waves me towards him. “This has rocks, you can stand on them to get yourself out.” It takes me about five minutes to wade towards him, but thankfully only a couple to get out. He examines my legs. “Yep, see, it’s already starting to come down.” 

“At least that’s something!” I shudder. “It was freezing in there! I am going back to the house, and…”

“Michael?” Ronald hands me my shoes. “Where did you put your phone?” I groan when I realise it is still in my pocket.  “Ah, that is most unfortunate, and I would rinse your foot again. It’s not quite clean.”

“I was going to do that!” I snipe. He doesn’t need to know that I wasn’t! I can’t wait to get back and have a shower! 

“May I suggest rice?” Ted asks.

“No you may not! You're a brand of helpful I can do without!” I snap, before heading back to the house. Their laughter, unlike my annoyance, soon fades. 

RONALD

“Uh, Ted, rice?”

“Yes, putting a waterlogged phone in a bag of rice is proven to dry it out, which is why we always pack one when we go camping. You’d think, as a Boy Scout, he’d know that.”

TWENTY MINUTES LATER

JUSTIN’S ROOM

JUSTIN

Brian and I are stifling our laughter. We heard the commotion that was Michael’s shrieking, and went downstairs. By the time he got to him falling into the river, we had to go back to my room.

“Okay, come on…” Brian chortles. “...let me show you what you need to do in here.” I look dubiously at the harness. “What I need you to do is to lie down, but rest on your elbows, with your head inside, but not touching the harness.” I get into position. “Now, lower your head, then put your arms across your chest.” I hesitate. “I promise you, it will feel so good.”

“Is this right? It feels weird.” 

“Yep, and it will for the first few times. Now keep straight, and let me get the adjustment right. Can you keep still?” Before I can answer, he stands astrides me and I quickly close my eyes. “OK, you can look now. How does that feel, is your neck comfortable?”

“It’s rubbing on my ear, the left one.” Once more, he’s handling my feet as he pulls me down slightly. “Oh, that’s so much better.” I sigh, as I feel my neck gently stretch out.

“Better than earlier?” 

“Hmm.”

“Now, you need to do this after the evening session, but you must not fall asleep in there.”

“Okay.” I yawn, then feel my eyes starting to close, but force them back open. “I need to get up.”

“And go to bed.” He orders. Within five minutes, I am tucked under the duvet, whilst he is packing away his things. “I will let them know you are going to be resting for a couple of hours at least.”

“Thanks.” I yawn again. “For everything.” 

“Anytime. Sleep well, Moró.” His whispers before placing a kiss on my ear

KITCHEN - TEN MINUTES LATER

BRIAN

I can’t believe I sat there watching him sleep! I had to leave before I crawled into bed with him! I chuckle at the excited jabbering of Hunter and Gus as they go up to his room. Seems that ‘up the Taylor Trail is really awesome’. 

“Where is Justin?” Michael demands as he enters.

“In his room…”

“Oh, right, I won’t be long then. He and I need to have a word about something.”

“Can it wait until the morning? He’s having a nap now. He had a taxing physio session, so needs to recover from that.” I look across at Maya. “When he wakes up, just light foods, and straight back to bed for him. Nothing stimulating.”

“As if he would react in the first place!” Michael mutters. 

“Sorry, what was that?” Emmett’s tone is deadly.

“Nothing, but no, it cannot wait for the morning. “ He asserts, heading for the stairs. “I need to get this in place now.”

“Michael.” Nancy sighs. “Let him sleep. You know what he’s like if he’s woken when tired, right? He will be very unco-operative, and will stick to that decision.”

“True. I will catch him tomorrow then.”

“No, you won’t.” I state. “He has a morning appointment at the centre, followed by another physio session with Emmett, then he has to go over the paperwork for the return of Zeus. So, all in all, tomorrow will be a very emotional and physical day for him. May I ask a question? What is it that you do for a job?”

“I don’t. I won some money on the lottery soon after we graduated. I live off that, and the investments I make in stocks and shares. Why? In need of tips?”

“Nope. Just wondered. Right, guys, come on. As I just said, we’ve got a busy day tomorrow…”

“Wait a minute, Brian.” Maya smiles, before handing me a punnet of blackberries and blueberries. “I had noticed you picking at them earlier. We’re never going to get through all of them.”

“Thanks! They’re my favourite fruits.” I shrug on my jacket. “Which one is Gus’s room?”

“I can…”

“Michael, you are not going upstairs!” Ronald snaps. “It’s on the opposite side of the staircase to Justin’s.”

“Thanks, Ronald.” I take the stairs two at a time, I spot that his door is ajar. “Gus, may I come in?”

“Sure!” He calls out. When I get inside, I am astonished. “What? It’s kinda tidy!” He blushes.

“Come on, Hunter, we’ve got to go. You can see Gus tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” They chorus.

“Yep, we’ve got to sort out the release for Zeus, and also to introduce the three of you to Odin. Emmett wants you and your Mom to sit in his appointment with your Dad, so that if he cramps up you will be able to help ease that.” 

“Oh great, then I can take him to the house. We can talk about the garden and stuff.”

“Sounds like a perfect plan to me. Now, your Dad is asleep. Do me a favour. Your Uncle Michael wants to talk to him about something. Whilst we’ve managed to keep him at bay, once everyone is gone, I think....”

“Say no more.” Gus growls. “I will stay there all night if I have to, just in case...hmm, I think I’ll go via the en suite and studio. His bedroom door only creaks when it’s opened from the inside! See you tomorrow!” 

“See you.” Hunter calls back as he swiftly disappears.

“You got everything?” I ask, after a quick look around he nods. We are brought up short by Emmett leaning against the bannister. “You alright?”

“Oh, fine, fine. Hunter, can you go help with the packing of the car?”

“Sure.” He bounds down the stairs.

Emmett checks that he is out of sight before turning back to me. “So you want to do this yourself, or can I tell the syntrófous that they can help too?”

“Syntrófous?” 

“Oh, don’t do coy.” He grins  so I shrug. “You know it's Greek for matchmakers, who are Daph, Mel, Debs and Nancy. They want to help you raise your point score.” 

“Five, he gave me a five!” I grumble as we head to join the others. “I have never half assed anything!”

“And you didn’t. It was five out of seven, so you’re almost three quarters perfect at kissing.”

“How do you know all of this?!” 

“Well, whilst you were watching him sleep, in the lounge, I decided to join the girls. We shared theories…”

“Could I stop any of you?”

“Aha, we have a yes. And no, you couldn’t!”