The Hospital Gown

[jastes22]

Ashley has a wardrobe malfunction at the hospital

[jastes22]

I groaned and blinked back the fogginess in my eyes. My head felt like hammers were pounding against my skull.

“Ashley? Ashley, are you okay?”

I mumbled something, nothing coherent. My eyes finally adjusted themselves. James was looking down at me, and I almost yelped at the sight. My crush was looking at me! And he knew my name!

Okay, now was not the time to go all googly eyes for a boy. “What happened?” I asked. Holy crap, my head hurt.

“You fell and hit your head pretty hard. Can you stand?”

I nodded my head, tenderly taking James’ hand as he helped me stand. As soon as he did, though, a wave of nausea ran through me.

Suddenly, I was keeled over and throwing up my lunch all over James’ shoes. Carrots, mashed potatoes, and chicken. Blech.

I felt my face grow red and my stomach get even queasier. I had just vomited all over my crush!

James, to his credit, seemed unfazed. “Give her some room, guys,” he said to the gathering crowd. Oh, no, I thought. I had thrown up in front of everyone! My crush probably thought I was disgusting. I wanted to curl up into a ball and disappear. This was so embarrassing. I felt like I was going to cry.

I heard shouting. Mrs. Diangelo was pushing her way through the gathering crowd of students. “What happened?”

“I think she tripped and hit her head,” James said.

“Yeah, and threw up all over the floor like a baby!” someone shouted, eliciting laughter from the group. I let out a soft groan, not trusting myself to speak.

James glared at the owner of the voice, and then turned to Mrs. Diangelo. “I think she had a concussion. We should take her to the hospital.”

My head was still spinning, so I couldn’t quite tell, but Mrs. Diangelo was looking a bit queasy from the sight of vomit. “Y-yes. That would be good.”

“I can take her. My last period is study hall, anyways.”

My body was very conflicted. On one end, having my secret crush doting on me hand and foot was almost a dream come true. On the other, it was super embarrassing given everything, and then, my head was pounding relentlessly, robbing me of any sort of ability to think coherently.

I didn’t remember falling asleep, but I was startled awake when the car stopped at the emergency room entrance.

Suddenly, I was in a hospital bed with their off-shade green sheets and beeping machines everywhere. The air smelled like antiseptic and soap. I hated hospitals.

“I’m going to be in the waiting room while the doctor looks at you, okay?” James said. “Give you some privacy.”

A nurse came in as he left, holding what looked like a hospital gown. She looked nervous. I wondered if she was new. “Put these on. Sorry, but we only have large right now, but this should be fine.”

“Why? I just hit my head.”

The nurse shrugged. Above her paygrade. “It’s standard procedure. The doctor may need to look at your back to see if anything else is injured from your fall.”

I didn’t feel like arguing, so instead I started to crawl out of bed.

“Actually,” the nurse said, “you shouldn’t be on your feet right now, at least not until the doctor can take a look. Here. You stay in bed, and I’ll help you change.”

She pulled my shirt off of me and started to unbuckle my pants. There was nothing intimate or sexual about her undressing me—it was just her doing her job—but with each article removed, I felt myself grow more and more embarrassed. Could this day get any worse?

Soon, I was laying there completely naked except for a flimsy and exposed hospital gown. Because it was much bigger than my body size, it felt very airy and not well put on, which added to the sensation that I was completely naked. I pressed my back against the bed as much as I could, trying anything to cover my exposure from the very open garment. The nurse looked me up and down. “You just wait here until the doctor comes to look at you, okay?”

“Okay,” I said weakly.

“If you need anything, just press that button there and one of us will come in.”

She disappeared out of the room and pulled the curtain closed.

I laid there on the bed, suddenly feeling very cold from the chilly filtered air of the hospital. I curled up into a ball. I was such a klutz, and now I was here at the hospital with my crush. He had called my parents to tell them what had happened, but they were out of town and unable to help me much.

I waited for what felt like ages. Maybe they were busy, I thought. Or maybe they had cases that were more pressing. Weren’t head injuries pretty serious if you didn’t look at them quickly? Or maybe I hadn’t really been here too long and the pounding in my head made it seem like I had been there forever.

My stomach grumbled. With my lunch on the floor at the high school, I was really hungry. Nothing sounded too good with the throbbing in my head, but I knew the hospital often had Graham crackers on hand, and those were bland enough that I could probably keep it down.

I looked down at the button the nurse had given me, but I didn’t press it. I hated feeling dependent on others, even slightly. If I could do it myself, I wasn’t going to ask for help. It was part of the reason why this whole thing was such a mess and super embarrassing.

I put my foot on the floor tenderly, gasping a little as my bare feet touched the cold surface. I gripped onto the bed railing in case I started to fall again. I felt the cloth holding my gown across my back loosen, but I ignored it, especially since I didn’t trust my hands to be anywhere except clinging to the rail.

My head complained as I started to walk, but I pushed through it. I pulled the curtain aside and shuffled onto the main floor. I turned and looked for a nurse. I felt my gown slip off of one shoulder, and then the second. I tried to scrunch up my shoulders to stop them, but there was nothing I could do. The gown was just too big.

“Ashley? Is everything alright—”

Three things happened at once. I turned to see James’ face looking at my exposed shoulders. A nurse passed by me, throwing up a gust of wind. My gown came undone, and fell to the floor, baring my entire naked body to my crush in the middle of the hospital floor.