Boys Like You by Jaye Pratt
All the guys were here as soon as visiting hours started, along with Mr Cole, who I have figured out is hilarious. It makes my heart swell thinking of Mercer being taken care of.
I slept like shit and so did Rory; I forced him to go home and get some sleep. Mercer has taken his spot in the recliner again, and the others are in various places around the room. Mr Cole stopped by with bacon and egg muffins for breakfast before heading off to his day job.
Rocky is telling me a story about a camping trip they went on during summer and how they forgot bug spray; they only lasted a night before going home. His bright blue eyes light up as he retells the story. He is interrupted by Levi’s aunt and her boyfriend.
“Hey, guys,” Levi’s aunt says, taking in all the guys in the room. We are quickly joined by the doctors, the lady from child services and a lady I have never met before. The expression on her face when she notices the boys tells me she knows them and I wonder how.
“Mumma B,” Rocky says excitedly, jumping down from the bed and wrapping his arms around her, squeezing tight. She laughs, accepting the hug.
“Now that everyone is here, I want to ask the kids to wait outside for a minute,” one of the doctors says. I start shaking my head, my chest starts to close in and I grab Mercer’s hand.
“Please don’t leave me,” I whisper. I don’t want to beg, but I will if I have to.
“Why don’t we let one of them stay? She is clearly distressed and seems to have taken to the boys,” the unfamiliar lady says, and the doctor agrees.
When Rocky, Levi and Maximus have left the room, the doctor opens my file, his eyes gazing over a few pages before he begins to talk.
“I have asked you all to be here so we can be on the same page, if that’s okay with you?” He looks at me as he talks, I nod for him to continue.
“We ran some extensive tests. The rape kit came back negative, there is no signs of any sexual contact at all, although she did have some skin cells under her nails that we have sent away for further testing, as per your instructions, Officers. She has a couple of bruised ribs which will heal over time, there were no broken or fractured bones in the pelvis, just some bruising. An oral exam has estimated our Jane Doe is—”
“JD,” I correct.
“Excuse me?” the doctor asks, facing me.
“Call me JD. As in Jane Doe but not so over used.” The ladies in the room all smile, and I’m sure I hear the one I don’t know mumble something about Rocky as the doctor continues.
“Okay, JD is approximately sixteen to eighteen years old, my educated guess is closer to seventeen. Now, as for the memory loss; there are no indicators in the blood work, Your MRI looks good. I have consulted some of my colleagues and we believe it may be dissociative amnesia.”
“What is that in English, Doc?” Mercer asks. I squeeze his hand and he gives a small squeeze back.
“It’s where the person blocks out certain events. In this case, JD has blocked out her entire life. It’s often caused by stress or trauma. With a little therapy and a stress-free, nurturing environment, we hope to see some improvements with her memories. We will keep a close eye on her in our clinics, but for now she is pretty much free to go. That is where child safety takes over. I will write up a script for some pain medicine and make her an appointment to see me again in a week. I’ll give you the name of a therapist I work closely with, she is brilliant.”
The police officers follow the doctor outside, and Marlene from child safety steps forward.
“JD, I have brought Beth here with me today. She is a foster carer. After I came to see you yesterday and saw the bond you have formed with the boys, I asked around and found out Beth cared for them when they were younger. It appears the boys are still a big part of her life. I didn’t want to place you with strangers and them not be comfortable with five teenage boys turning up at their house.” She has a smile on her face as she looks at Mercer.
“Smart move,” he agrees. Beth giggles.
“Anyway, if you’re comfortable with that, Beth is here to take you to her house. I will be popping in, and so will the police; we need to make sure the whole process of finding out who you are goes as smoothly as possible.”
“Thank you,” I say. She runs me through a few more things when the officers come back into the room, and then she asks to talk to one of them. Officer Deacon follows her out of the room.
“JD, we went through some missing person reports and have found nothing. Due to your age and your condition, we are going to speak with our boss. We need to not push your memory and with your injuries make sure that it didn’t happen by someone close to you. If you remember anything, even something small, let me know. You can call me or tell one of the boys and they can directly call my phone.
All the adults leave the room. Being crowded with information has made me feel claustrophobic.
“Everything will be fine. Mumma B is amazing, she helped all of us through our…struggles.” Mercer squeezes my hand, and my eyes water. What did I do to deserve their kindness? Mercer stands. “Hey, don’t cry, I won’t leave you until you realise how much of an asshole I am and kick me to the curb.” I smile as he wipes the tears from my face with his thumbs.
“Sorry, I just don’t know how I should feel. Shouldn’t I want to know who I am? When I looked in the mirror earlier, this hair and these nails, I don’t know, it all feels fake, and the thought of you and the others leaving me makes the room close in on me. Isn’t that stupid? I’m more worried about that than finding myself.”
“Don’t ever feel bad for how you feel. And we’re not going anywhere. When we found you alone and bruised up it triggered something in us; we knew that feeling too well. We were lucky to have each other, so now you’re stuck with us.”
“Who is stuck with who?” Rocky asks, walking back into the room, followed by Levi and Maximus.
“JD is stuck with us until she realises we’re bad news and runs as fast as she can.” Rocky laughs at Mercer’s comment.
“Hey, speak for yourself. I’m awesome. When she realises that, she will be trying to jump me.” Rocky sits on the bed by my legs, placing his large hand over my knee.
“In your dreams, Casanova,” I throw at him. I love his playfulness, that he says what he thinks.
“Hell yes, in my dreams. I’ll wear you down, you just wait and see.” He winks at me.
“If you say so.” I wink back and he laughs. Finally feeling calm, I notice Levi’s outfit. He has on a dark blue basketball singlet top with Cougars written across the front in white, paired with dark blue basketball shorts that hang below his knees. A long black pair of skins underneath cut off where his white socks start, and a pair of black Nike high tops with a gold tick along the side.
“Do you have basketball practice again?” I want him to open up and like me.
“Nah, me and the team are just going to shoot some hoops. It’s school holidays so we get a break, but we have a new player and want him up to speed.” His face lights up as he talks about his team.
“I hope I can watch you play sometime.” His eyes lock with mine, his face softer than the last time we spoke.
“Yeah,” he says hopefully.
“I don’t know if I liked sports before, but I like the idea of watching what you can do.” I look up at him so he can see I’m sincere. If I’m hanging around for a bit, I want to know everything about them.
“I would like that.” I internally high five myself. These guys have walls and Levi just let me chip away at his slightly.
“Now, who wants to help me out of this bed so I can get dressed? We are breaking free of this place today.” Levi steps forward, holding out a hand; taking it, I pull myself up. His hand swallows mine. “Damn, Levi, how tall are you?”
“Six three,” he says, looking down at me.
“Well damn, now I feel like a midget.”
“You’re cute; pocket-sized.” All the guys laugh except Maximus; he is in his usual position against the wall, earphones in, phone in hand.
I smack his chest. “I’m not that small.”
“Yes, you are,” Rocky adds, coming to stand next to me. Joined by Mercer. “The shortest of us all is Maximus, and even he would be at least a head taller at five ten. So own it, shorty.”
“Fine, I’m short,” I huff, admitting defeat.
Rocky helps me choose an outfit; a pair of black leggings and an off-the-shoulder sky-blue jumper. I walk over to the bathroom with my new outfit and close the door behind myself.
Changing isn’t easy – slipping into loose-fitting flannel pjs is different to pulling on leggings. I cry out in pain when attempting to lift one leg. Rocky flies through the door, ignoring the protests of the others. His blue eyes scan over me slowly from head to toe.
“Shit, girl, I thought you hurt yourself,” he says, holding his heart. Meanwhile, I’m standing in a bra and panties, one foot in my leggings and trying not to laugh.
“Technically, I am hurt; I look like a punching bag.” He doesn’t find me funny. His eyes roam over my body again – not checking me out, but assessing my bruises. His whole demeanor changes. “Are you going to help me get dressed or feel sorry for me all day?” He moves close to me and kneels down. I place my hands on his shoulders and feel them tense when I do. He slowly lifts my foot and helps me get it in the legging; he looks up at me while he slides them up. Someone coughs at the door and I break eye contact and see Levi and Mercer watching. Mercer’s Adam’s apple bobs up and down as he swallows.
“What is this, party of four in the bathroom?” I joke. Both apologise and disappear back out the door. Rocky stands, grabbing the jumper from beside the basin and helping me get it on.
When we exit the bathroom, Mercer looks like he wants to murder Rocky, and Levi just looks me up and down.
“What, all I did was help the girl get dressed, you’re looking at me like I deflowered her in there.” I chuckle at Rocky, and Mercer shoots me a look.
“No one is deflowering anyone,” Mercer seethes through clenched teeth.
“I second that,” Levi snaps.
“Stop, you’ve all seen me naked, seeing me in my underwear isn’t a crime.”
“He shouldn’t have barged in unless you called for him,” Mercer snaps. “We don’t cross boundaries, ever.” He brings his hand down hard on the wheelie table, a loud bang causing me to jump, even alarming Maximus enough to take his headphones off. He looks around the room, his confused eyes wide with alarm. Levi rushes to his side and whispers to him. Maximus nods.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to lose control… I—” Mercer is cut off by Rocky.
“Dude, leave.” When he doesn’t move, Rocky gets annoyed. “Go calm down. We can discuss boundaries later. JD will need some shoes, go find some, size seven I would guess.” Mercer is face to face with Rocky now. He is slightly shorter but his build is muscular whereas Rocky has broad shoulders but a slim waist. The stare down lasts a few minutes, a silent conversation taking place between them.
“Fine. I’ll be back.” Mercer doesn’t look at me; he just storms out of the room. My heart is beating so fast I need a minute to calm down. Levi is still talking with Maximus; he seems as shaken up as I am.
“Hey,” I say to Maximus. They both look up and I glance at Levi, his face hard again. “Can I sit?” Maximus stares at me for a second before holding up one of his ear phones. I take it and attempt to sit – apparently it isn’t so easy. Levi stands and helps me down. I swallow back the sounds that want to escape my lips. Levi moves over to Rocky and they both stand back and watch us, occasionally whispering something to each other. Maximus is listening to music and playing Candy Crush.
“I like this song,” I say when the chorus comes around a second time. I sing some of the lyrics about hoes and popping pills. Maximus exits Candy Crush and opens Spotify. It’s a song called “Rockstar'' by Post Malone.
“Hey, I need to get going, will catch up after,” Levi announces suddenly, giving me a half smile.
“I’ll walk you out, I want to chase up this doctor,” Rocky says, bouncing up and down on his toes, always needing to move.
Maximus doesn’t speak to me; he lets the songs play through. He must like Post Malone. He puts Candy Crush back on and even lets me have a few turns. I suck. He just smiles at me and smashes each level he tries.