Just One of the Guys
Twelve

Corbin

Looking up into the mirror, I cringe

the sight of my red, puffy eyes enhanced by dark circles from how absolutely horrid I slept last night.

Once I'd crawled back in bed, between the pain in my hand and the still boiling anger, I ended up breaking down in tears. Pissed about the situation. Pissed at myself. Pissed at Knox. And how did that overwhelming anger come out in the quiet of my dark apartment? As goddamn tears!

I duck my head, no longer able to bear seeing the monstrosity looking back at me and grab hold of my toothbrush and toothpaste. Squirting a bit of the paste along the bristles, I walk out of the bathroom, wandering around the small space and completely avoiding any and all mirrors as the events from last night come roaring back.

Needing to spit, I make my way back to the sink, spitting and then chancing a glance in the mirror again, I cringe again at the sight staring back at me. *No!*

*Hell to the no!*

*There is absolutely no freaking way that I can go to my classes today looking like this.*

*I look like a damn raccoon that's been electrocuted and then sprayed in the face with mace.*

*Plus, I need to get my damn hand looked at.*

Crawling back in bed, I turn my phone back on and shoot Gentry a text letting him know that I will not be in my classes today.

**Corbin: Not feeling well, not going to classes today. Take notes for me?**

**Gentry: Sure thing. You okay?**

**Corbin: Yeah, just feel like I've been run over by a bus and then hit by lightning.**

**Gentry: Ouch, notes are covered. Feel better.**

**Corbin: Thanks.**

Not wanting to waste any time as the throbbing just keeps getting worse, I throw on a pair of sweats and a hoodie and then head towards the nurses' office.

"Corbin, everything okay? Are you sick?" Nurse Joy asks me as I walk into her office with its bright yellow walls and bright lights.

"I need to have my hand looked at," I say, as I attempt to lift the appendage for her to see and cringe, biting back a curse at the rush of pain that radiates throughout my whole hand and up my arm.

"What happened?” she asks, leading me over to her little doctor's table that she has set up. I awkwardly climb onto it, as she goes about pulling out a bottle of pain relievers.

"Have you taken anything for the pain?" she asks as she gently eases my hand away from where I've had it cradled against my chest and takes a look at it. "Looks like you did a number on it," she murmurs as she pokes and prods the area, pressing on aching bones and joints, causing me to hiss from the pain and try to pull my hand away.

"I think you're going to need to get an x-ray. We don't have the equipment here to do it though. I can call a doctor in town and let them know that you'll be heading that way and need to get an x-ray on your hand if you'd like." As she's saying this, she shakes a few painkillers out of the bottle and then grabs a bottle of water out of a little fridge that she has tucked into the corner of the office and hands them both to me.

"No, I'll be okay. Do you have some sort of a brace or something that I can use to help support it?" I ask once I've taken the pain medicine.

"I really think you should have that checked out, Corbin." Nurse Joy says, not looking too happy that I'm obviously not planning to take her advice. With a sigh, she walks over to a cabinet and pulls a few boxes out and turns to me, "Here is a brace that you can wear to help support it. It will also help with keeping it immobile." She helps me slip the brace on and then begins pulling black material out of the other box. I watch as she unrolls it, holds it up, and then lowers it over my head, "this is a sling. It will also help to support it and keep it from getting jostled too much in the hallways."

"Thank you." I say as she helps me slide my braced hand into the sling and then stand up once she's backed away, intending to head back to my apartment.

She turns back towards the cabinets again, and taking that as my dismissal, I make my way towards the closed office door.

"Corbin, here's some more pain medicine. You've just taken two, so you can take two more in 4-6 hours. Make sure you get some food in you too. They may make you sick if you don't, and from the looks of you, that's more likely to happen then not."

I tell her thanks and then head back to the apartment, my bed calling my name before I even make it to the door.

Crawling into bed, I immediately doze off.

The need to pee wakes me up sometime later, and after relieving myself and crawling back in bed, I notice that I'd fallen asleep for only about an hour.

Settling back into my warm comforter, I pick up Harry again and dive into the world of witches, warlocks, and wizardry.

I'm lost in the world of wizardry, completely absorbed in the book when my phone pings with an incoming text and effectively scaring the shit out of me, causing me to jump and barely stifle a scream. *Fudge-monkeys!*

*Slow down heart, it's just a text.* But when I see that it's from Knox, another text following close behind, my pulse kicks right back up again.

**Knox: I'm so sorry about last night.**

**Knox: Any way that we can talk?**

**Averi: Fuck you!**

Maybe it's immature of me but I really don't have the energy to deal with the Knox drama or anything else today. I put my cell back on my nightstand, then roll over, getting back to Harry.