The next time when Aleksi woke up, he was in hospital. He could tell that it was night as there was a window next to his bed. The nights never got very dark during summer in Finland so he could see perfectly fine without lights on. He noticed one of his books next to him, some flowers and a get well card from his parents and ice hockey team. He lift the blanket which was covering him and saw that there were bandages around his knee. He didn't dare to take them off but he wanted to know what had happened.
Just when Aleksi was about to ring the bell to call a nurse, a doctor came into the room and put the lights on.
"Oh, we are awake here, aren't we? How do you feel?" the doctor asked smiling. She was in her forties. Aleksi noticed her perfume which reminded him of lavenders.
"I feel just fine apart from my legs feeling numb," Aleksi answered. "But I want to know what happened."
"I am afraid that you fell on your knee when your team mate tackled you. This bent your knee enough that it dislocated and you broke your patella. You have to use crutches definitely won't be playing ice hockey during this season. You have to focus on your healing," the doctor said. She looked like feeling sorry. "You can go home tomorrow morning.
"And how long... How long have I been here?"
"Only two days."
Aleksi was speechless. He couldn't have imagined that the injury was that bad. He heard the doctor saying something and leaving, but all he could think of was what he would do now that he couldn't play ice hockey in so long time. He fell asleep for an unknown period of time and saw dreams of himself getting back on ice stronger than ever.
When Aleksi woke up, his parents were in his room.
"Good morning, son!" his father said smiling.
"Good morning," Aleksi said.
Aleksi dressed up, which was rather hard when he couldn't stand up. He did manage to get shorts past his knee without too much trouble, though. A nurse gave Aleksi his crutches. He attempted to walk a step without them, hopeful that the doctors were overly concerned about him, but he had to admit that he could not walk like that. Thus he took the crutches and started walking.
The walk was very painful. After 10 minutes, which felt like hours, he finally got to his dad's car. His mom was talking about getting him back home but Aleksi refused. He didn't want to study from home as he was already annoyed by his mother's caring behavior. He knew that living alone could be hard with his crutches, but he knew that if somebody helped him with grocery shopping, he could do it. He didn't mention this need for help to his parents though. He agreed to stay at his parent's house until dinner, though, as he had no food in his apartment at the moment.
In the end Aleksi was glad that he stayed. His mother overdid herself making delicious mushroom soup with some garlic bread for lunch. For dinner she made meatballs, tomato sauce and spaghetti. Aleksi ate two platefuls of the food feeling very hungry after unconscious for two days. He heard that they had given him liquid food but this hadn't taken care of his hunger. After dinner his dad took him to his apartment and Aleksi spent the rest of the evening playing Xbox and eating chocolate and sweets that Tuomas had brought to him to the hospital.
The next morning Aleksi was eating breakfast, leftovers from yesterdays dinner that his mother had given him, when the doorbell rang. It was Tuomas.
"Hey man, I heard you got home and thought that I should visit you," Tuomas said. "I am very sorry for what happened, I didn't mean to hurt you. I just got too excited about the game."
"It's all right. I know you meant no harm." Aleksi said. "Come in!"
The two of them sat on Aleksi's sofa.
"So how it will be until you can play again?"
"I can't play during the whole season. I'll have to use crutches for now, but most likely it will only be from one to two months."
Tomas looked shocked. "Oh, I am sorry again... What are you going to do then?"
"I don't know!"
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Well, I need some help with grocery shopping. The store is about half a kilometer away, but I can't carry anything with the crutches. I neither want to ask my parents to do it for me. They'd just make me go back home and study from there."
"Well, it's the least I can do! I'll buy your groceries every week as long as you need it," Tuomas promised.
"We'd need to do that today. But first I need to finish my breakfast and then we should play some Assasin's Creed!"
Tuomas agreed with him and thus Aleksi finished his massive breakfast while Tuomas watched, being rather amused. Aleksi explained him that he hadn't eaten in two days so he needed to get the lost mass back. Regardless, he felt bloated after eating.
After playing Xbox for a good couple of hours, the boys headed for the grocery store. It took them almost half an hour to get there, since they had to stop on the way many times due to Aleksi's knee pains.
"I think you should hand me a list of things you want me to buy the next time, or as long as your knee gets better. You shouldn't put too much pressure on it," Tuomas said frowning. Aleksi agreed.
In the end Aleksi's knee was aching so much that he had Tuomas to just pick whatever for him as long as it was edible. He figured that he should rest a bit to get ready for the journey back home. After all he had to wait almost an hour. He wondered how could Tuomas take so long. He had thought that the shopping would take only about 15 minutes. When Tuomas got back to him, Aleksi noticed that Tuomas had bought food for at least four people.
"Man, that is way too much food for me!"
"Oh, don't worry. I paid for it myself," Tuomas said smiling. "You told me you were hungry after blacking out for two days."
"But how are we going to carry all this to my place?"
"If you were any slower, I could get all the goods from this shop to your place before you arrived," Tuomas said chuckling.
Aleksi frowned and they began their way back to Aleksi's place.
During the week Aleksi noticed that he had way too much time. He wouldn't have to start in college before September and that was three weeks away. His days were filled with gaming, eating and sleeping as he couldn't leave his apartment. Aleksi realized that he had never eaten so much in his life, as the food that Tuomas bought him (which was mainly sweets, pizzas, burgers and other treats) ran out in only four days. Tuomas brought him more of the same stuff, again paying it all. Aleksi figured he was feeling guilty about the accident, even though he had forgiven Tuomas four times in as many days.
The rest of the month went in pretty much the same fashion. Aleksi's knee kept getting better and by the end of the month he no longer needed his crutches, which surprised both him and his doctor. His knee was still sore, though, and he was not allowed to run or to walk for long distances. Aleksi was happy about his knee, but due to his lack of exercise and the constant feasts that Tuomas provided him, he had gained weight. He had talked about it to Tuomas, whom had just laughed and said that it is nothing to worry about and that Aleksi could burn the extra kilos off once he would be able to walk again. Thus Aleksi had not pushed Tuomas more as he was grateful that somebody did his grocery shopping for him and even paid for it.
It was the night before Aleksi's first day at college. He was trying to figure out what clothes to wear the next day. He was in his boxers looking at his picture in his bedroom's mirror. He didn't like what he saw at all. His best feature was now his arms. They were muscly as he had kept lifting weights as it was the only exercise he could do without his legs. His legs had lost some of their definition, but they weren't that bad. His problem area was his torso. He now had a chubby belly, which spilled over the waistband of his boxers a little. His pecs had softened and he wasn't sure whether to call them pecs or man boobs. He had spent a month in sweatpants, usually shirtless and thus he had had no idea how big a problem clothes would be for him. All his favorite t-shirts were so tight that they couldn't cover his belly, revealing a part of it no matter which pants he wore. None of his jeans fit him, as his ass had gotten chunkier as well. He couldn't even get the jeans past his ass. He also found out that he had gone up three belt holes, which shocked him. In the end he found a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, which he had used a year ago at the end of his off-season, that fit him quite well. He couldn't button the jeans, but they got past his ass and he was able to hide the button with a belt.
Aleksi figured that he had to weigh himself. He had been pushing the moment too long, ever since he had lost his abs less than a week after his injury. He walked into his bathroom and stepped on the scales.
"95 kilograms (209lbs)?!" he exclaimed. "I can't have gained 10 kilograms (22lbs) in a month?!"
Aleksi slapped his belly and looked as it wobbled. He was disgusted, but as with the chubby boys in the locker room, he felt thrilled as well. To get out of shape so fast was hot. He went to bed in mixed feelings.
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