Chapter 45

Marcy lay in bed the day after Christmas with a smile on her face.  She held up her wrist and gazed at the silver bracelet encircling her arm, it's tear shaped drops of amber glinting in the sunlight.  Taylor had surprised and embarrassed her the day before by presenting it to her as they sat together in her living room.  He'd told her it's flecks and veins of red wrapped in golden drops reminded him of her.  When she'd apologized for not having anything for him, he'd brushed it off saying the only thing he needed, even she couldn't give.  After that, they'd slowly worked themselves into a marathon make-out session that had been rudely interrupted by her brothers insisting they join them in a game of Monopoly.  Of course, an hour later an argument had ensued as Tim and Greg accused them of cheating when Taylor had signed to her that if she'd sell him Park Place, he'd not charge her rent when she landed on either of the two exclusive properties, he was going in for the kill.  A sound outside the house broke through her thoughts and she turned over and looked out the window just in time to hear Greg tell whoever was with him, "I was sure you'd chicken out, man." Though she could only see him from behind, she thought to herself that the guy reminded her of Taylor.

~~~~

In a hooded sweatshirt and round rose coloured glasses disguising his very recognizable face, Taylor stood in the office nervously tapping his foot, waiting to be called into an examining room.  "Dude, chill out."  Greg whispered.

They'd told the receptionist that he was deaf, hoping she wouldn't realize Taylor Hanson, very famous former pop star stood in front of her.  If she'd recognized him, she hadn't let on, but now they had to keep up appearances.  As Greg spoke to him, he went through the motions of signing, causing Taylor to smile and pray there weren't any folks there who really were deaf, for they would believe him to be insane, insensitive, or worse.  A woman in a nurse's uniform came out and said to Greg, "He can come back now."

Taylor looked at him and he nodded, smiling.  Greg felt like laughing and was having a hard time keeping a straight face.  Taylor stood and walked through the door and the nurse continued to stand there.  "Sir?  We're going to need a translator, we don't have anyone here who can sign."

He looked at her, dumbfounded for a moment.  "Oh.  Oh, ok."  He said and reluctantly he got up and followed with Taylor glaring at him the whole way.

Once in the room, the woman handed Greg a hospital gown and said, "Tell him to remove all his clothes and a nurse practitioner will be in momentarily.  A doctor will only be needed if there's a problem."

She left and Greg turned to find Taylor angrily signing, "what did you tell them?!"

"Do what?"  Greg was confused.

Taylor took out paper, What did you say to them?  He scribbled.

"Uh, that you were deaf and homeless and you needed to get checked out."  Taylor slapped his forehead causing Greg to back up.  "What man?!  What'd I do?!"

Taylor shook his head and took off the glasses.  Now his eyes were intense, he wrote, They're probably going to want to check me for lice and TB and everything else now to protect society from me.  Greg read and Taylor wrote again, You should have just said confidential testing for STD's or something.

Again Greg read then looked up at him, "No way man, they might think we're a couple or something."

Who cares!?  Taylor scribbled.

"Well, YOU might not care but I would.  I'd be stalked by all those girls that wanna marry you and my rep at school would be totally screwed.  Everybody already knows you're gay."

"I AM NOT!!!"  Taylor retorted hotly.

Greg waved him off, "whatever, now put on that nightgown so we can get home before Buffy comes on."  Then he sat in a chair and grabbed a magazine.  Taylor sighed and pulled his shirt off over his head.

~~~~

Once it had been determined that Taylor had a good heart and lungs, slightly low blood pressure, was six feet two inches and weighed 158 pounds, it was time for the classic "turn your head and cough."  That was when he put his foot down.  Literally.  Greg had been amused watching Taylor soundlessly enduring the whole thing so the sudden change in his demeanor was a little shocking.  He stomped over to stand in front of Greg and signed furiously while speaking as clearly as he could, "make them get on with it!  This is S-T-U-P-I-D.   I just had to do all this two weeks ago."  He then turned and grabbed his blue jeans off the floor and he continued to complain as he pulled them on.

Greg looked up at the woman who was watching the scene before her, puzzled.  "Um,"  he uttered, "he's gotta be somewhere so he's kind of in a hurry, can you just check him for STD's?"  Now it was Greg's turn to be embarrassed.

She looked now from Greg to Taylor, then back, "you do know it takes about a week to get the results, don't you?  So if you do anything before then, you'll need to use a condom.  We supply them out front."

"That won't be necessary, thank you."  Greg said coldly.  "I'm just a friend."

"Oh.  Sure, whatever."  She said and she walked over and opened a drawer, taking out what she needed to administer the tests.  She turned back and handed Taylor a cup, then pointed to his crotch, "urine sample."  She said very plainly then pointed to a small bathroom.  He looked at Greg disgustedly then went into the tiny room and shut the door.  She sat the other things on a small table then sat in the chair next to it.  "How long has he been deaf?"  She asked.

"Forever.  He was born deaf."  Greg answered, not looking her in the eye.

She nodded.  "That would be awful."

"Yeah."

"But," she said, "I guess you don't miss something you never had."

He looked at her, then at the door Taylor had disappeared behind,  "Yeah, I guess not."

The door opened and Taylor stepped out, blushing as he handed the cup back to her.  Greg shook his head, thinking to himself what an odd person his sister had fallen for, he could sing to an arena full of people, appear on the Tonight Show in front of millions, but get him to pee in a cup and his face and ears turned bright red and he couldn't look you in the eye.

"Tell him to have a seat."   She said to Greg as she got up and put the cup on the counter and wrote something on it.

Greg pointed to the chair and said "SIT!!"  As if Taylor were a dog.  He snorted and plopped down into the chair.

She turned back around.  "Does he read lips well?"  She asked Greg.

"Oh yeah.  Like you wouldn't believe.  In fact, if you're looking at him, you don't really even need me."  Taylor tugged on the gown, looked at her and raised his eyebrows.  "Oh, yeah, you can put your shirt back on."

"Good, cause it's fricken cold in here."  He muttered to himself.

Greg and the woman looked at each other and shrugged.  In one motion, the gown was off and he was pulling the sweatshirt back on.  Greg noticed her watching and shook his head.  No woman, it seemed, whether old, young, or in-between was immune to the charms of Taylor Hanson.  Even when they believed him to be deaf, gay, and homeless.  He rolled his eyes and continued to watch.  Taylor settled in the chair and his eyes fell on the needle and empty vials on the table in front of him.  He closed his eyes and swallowed attempting to not freak out.  "I'll need your right arm."  The nurse said.  When he didn't respond, she looked to Greg, "Oh shoot, I forgot.  Do you want to ask him?"

"Just take it.  It's not like he's not expecting it."  Greg said, tiring of the charade.

She shrugged and reached for his hand.  Taylor watched her place his arm on the table as if it were someone else's.  She pushed the sleeve of his shirt up and twisted his wrist to expose the vein she was looking for.  "Oh—what happened to your arm?"  She gasped.

Greg looked over.  He'd seen Taylor with his arm in a sling, but he hadn't known why.  Though well healed, the scars were easily seen against the milky white of the underside of his arm and they were obviously recent.  "Were these self inflicted?"  She asked as she gestured towards the marks.

Taylor shook his head and pointed to the window.  "I broke a window."  He mouthed.

Greg looked at him, wondering if he were telling the truth.  He could tell the woman didn't really believe it.  Suddenly Taylor slapped the table, "Come on!  Just do it!"  He turned to Greg and signed, "thanks to YOU, she wants to put me in the N-U-T-H-O-U-S-E.  I want to get out of here, say whatever you have to, I am getting S-I-C-K."

The nurse watched the two, thinking things just got more and more peculiar.  Greg looked at his watch, "Um, Ma'am, we really do need to be somewhere, could you just stick him now?"

Taylor flinched at the choice of words and again when she roughly tied the tourniquet around his arm.  She then pushed his hand into a fist and picked up the needle.  Taylor watched as the vein stood out on his arm.  "Dude, you look like shit.  You alright?"

It was just the distraction she needed.  When Taylor shot him a look, she stuck the needle in.  As each vial filled, Greg marveled at the colour.  "Man, your blood's sorta purple.  Last time I saw mine, it was like, fire engine red."

"He's probably got low iron."  The nurse stated matter of factly.  Finally, the fourth and final vial was filled and she pulled the needle out and pitched it in the box by the garbage can and taped a cotton ball over the spot.  She stood up and took the crimson vials with her, much to Taylor's relief.

With her back to them, Greg took the opportunity to whisper to Taylor, "You puke, and you're walking home."

Taylor looked at him and nodded, swallowing.  He pulled the tape off his arm not wanting his mother to see it and ask questions.  "Alright, that's it.  We'll be sending your results in a few days.  Pay out front unless you've made other arrangements." She said as she turned back towards them.

"Cool. Let's go."  Greg said as he flicked Taylor in the head, getting no reaction.  "C'mon."  He said.

Taylor got up and followed Greg through the hall and back out to the front office followed by the nurse.  The receptionist looked at the paper the woman had handed her then looked to Greg, "That'll be 25 dollars."  She said.

He turned to Taylor, "Gimme twenty five bucks, man."

Taylor reached into his pocket and pulled out the contents.  Money was wadded up amongst two pieces of Trident gum, four pennies, a guitar pick and 3 Legos he'd found in the hallway that morning   He dropped it  all on the counter, then placed both his hands flat on the cool surface and closed his eyes taking a deep breath. The nurse watched Greg as he huffed then began to unwad the bills.  She had noticed he had a bit of a black eye and she was beginning to wonder if the two were involved in an abusive relationship.  The sound of Taylor's hands losing their tenuous grip on the counter caused all three to look up just before they heard the equally unpleasant sound of his head hitting the floor with a thump.  Greg would later joke that he should have yelled, "timber!!"  as Taylor had looked just like a tree falling after it's trunk had been cut through.

Two paper cups of orange juice, a couple Tylenol and three chocolate chip cookies later, Taylor left the building on his own two feet, accompanied by a very grumbly Greg.
 
 
 

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