The V Card Swap

Disclaimer: The author of this work is not a doctor. Do not rely upon the information in this work for medical advice. The author of this work is not a lawyer. Do not rely upon the information in this work for legal advice.

*****

Wick felt someone tapping on his foot. His mind would have started to realize the sensation of his face pressing down into a pillow had the throbbing pain in his arm not announced itself to his mind once more.

"Wick, wake up!" he heard Lydia say.

In sluggish frustration he tried to kick back at her since it was surely her shoe covered foot she was using to nudge him.

"I have to go to work." she said in a tone that implied he should care for some reason.

"Take the bus and leave me alone." he finally said to her.

"No, you're not pulling this on me again. I'm going to be late. Get your ass up."

"No. Just take my car if you ..."

"I can't get busted with no license again. Now come on." she countered as she snapped the covers off of him, exposing him to the cooler air of the room.

"ARG! If I knew you were going to be such a pain I woulda never let you move in." He lifted himself up to sit on the edge of the bed and then he rubbed his eyes. "What time is it?"

"You had to let me move in. I pay almost all the rent."

"My name's on the lease so it's my place."

"How are you going to afford this place with out me?"

"Not that again. Just go get me some coffee."

"I'm not your slave."

"And I'm not your chauffeur."

"I put your clothes on the chair. Get dressed and hurry up."

"I'd go a lot faster with some COFFEE."

"Cranky, cranky, cranky. You musta lost real bad last night."

"For your information we actually ..."

"I don't care. Just get dressed and get me to work."

With lots of yanking, pulling, and the promise of free coffee at her work; his sister finally got Wick to the car.

At the first red light Wick looked over at his sister who was looking down at the watch on her wrist. "For your information, we won last night."

"Told you, I don't care."

"You'll care when I start bringing in the big bucks."

"Keep telling yourself that."

"This is a real job. Why do you have to shit on it all the time?"

"Light's green."

Wick got the car going but wasn't going to give up. "This is how it goes. You start small and then ..."

"Wick, you play video games. That's goofing off not a job."

"It is a job."

"And I don't understand why you have to do that in the middle of the night. Can't you just play in the daytime like everyone else."

"Our best player ..."

"I know, I know. The girl in Sapporo."

"Stop doing that. He's a guy."

"Then why does he have a girl's name?"

"It's not a girl's name in Japan. You don't know anything."

"I know more about Japan than you."

"For your information ..."

"I don't care."

"Kanae was named after the famous battle during the second Punic war."

"I can't wait to get my license again."

"You and me both."

After they arrived and parked, Lydia went into the back of the building to clock in. Wick went up to the front door. Inside the building there was a waiting area by the receptionist counter. It was still too early for any real customers to be in there.

The place always made Wick think about how things are never perfect. There was always at least one little imperfection in something, somewhere. No matter which chair or sofa someone sat on in the waiting area, it would never be a perfect situation and there would always be something about another spot that would make that a bit better. Someone could go round and round, from seat to seat, just trying to get comfortable but never really pulling it off. Eventually someone had to decide to give up the better benefits of the other seats and stick to just the one to sit in.

Similarly, Emily, who was the young woman behind the receptionist counter, was very pretty but to Wick there was always just something off about her. She had vibrant red hair but Wick couldn't tell if it was the natural kind or if she dyed it. She was very pretty but she had freckles. On some days he decided the freckles were endearing but on other days he wondered how she put up with them.

Then there was the big thing in regards to Emily. He could never really tell if she liked him or not. He would never allow himself to like her if she didn't really like him. He saw her almost everyday when he brought his sister to work and half the time she acted like she might like him and the other half she acted like she was out of his league.

It probably wasn't fair but he often found himself comparing Emily to Lydia in looks. Lydia looked very similar to his mother and older sister. They all had slightly wavy brown hair with unremarkable brown eyes. What the women in his family lacked in colorful features they more than made up for in exceptional facial beauty. As a bonus to that, they were all naturally thin but the trade off there is that his sisters both had smaller breasts than a lot of other women around, including Emily. Emily's breasts were likely much more than a handful. Wick dared to think that perhaps she could be titty fucked like the girls in a porno. But then there was Emily's ass, which looked very appealing of course, but also made Wick wonder if she was destined to lose her figure and put on weight. Emily would likely have to be on a diet for her entire life to maintain her current figure.

"Hey." Wick said to Emily. "We had a big game last night."

"Really. Did you win?" she asked as she put her elbows on the counter and leaned closer to him.

"Sure did." Wick answered, trying to sound cool. "Want to hear about it?"

Just then Lydia came storming into the front area with a go cup of coffee in hand.

"Here's your coffee. Now go."

"He was just going to tell me about his game last night." Emily said.

"He was up all night chatting with his Japanese girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" Emily responded sounding shocked.

"It's not like that. Not girlfriend. Kanae is a guy. I keep telling you."

"A guy?" Emily said, sounding more shocked.

"No, not like that either. No." Wick defended.

"Why not? You're not a homophobe, are you?" Emily added.

"She's got you there." Lydia said.

"I drive you to work and this is how you repay me?"

"Just go before my boss gets here and you get me in trouble for giving you her coffee." Lydia said.

"Too late." a monotone voice said over the intercom. As soon as he heard it, Wick made for the exit as fast as he could go and not spill his coffee. He didn't actually get to drink it until he'd driven away and pulled into the parking lot of a fast food place.

He wasn't going to say anything to his sister but he actually hadn't played on his team last night nor the night before that. For eight days in a row now he'd been having some of the worst pain of his life in his right wrist and he was at a loss as for what to do about it. Aspirin and other pain pills from the drug store hadn't worked. The only thing that seemed to work was ice or heat but those solutions were half measures at best and only temporary. The only time he was really pain free was when he was sleeping so it bothered him to no end being woken up. The pain had probably made him more of a jackass to be around than normal and he'd already snapped at people for very minor things that he would usually let pass.

But it was hard to keep himself mild mannered when he felt like his arm was full of white hot lava melting his limb from the inside. He had been trying so hard to keep anyone from knowing what he was going through but keeping it inside was just increasing his anger. Then when he finally did reach out for help, he called one of his only friends from high school that he was still in touch with. She was a girl named Nell and she didn't live that far away. In desperation for some kind of advice he'd called her last night and asked if he could come by just to talk. He wasn't sure if she took that the wrong way or not but her refusal to let him come by was typical of her. Nell was always so very polite to everyone but if you needed her she couldn't be counted on.

Then of course there was the obvious solution. Why didn't he call his mom or tell either of his sisters? His family wasn't really a happy one. His older sister Jane was ten years older than him. When she was born, her parents had showered her with everything. Jane had all the best of anything she ever wanted. She'd gotten a new car for her 16th birthday. All of her college was completely paid for. Her big huge, ridiculous wedding was all fully funded. Jane had every reason to be super happy but she never acted appreciative of anything.

Compared to super smart, super loved Jane; Wick felt like some bastard stepchild. It was already bad enough that his parents had spent all their savings on Jane and then started going into debt for her, but when Wick was eleven the shit really hit the fan in the family in a bad way. Wick's dad discovered that he was not in fact Wick's father. Wick's mom had cheated on her husband with something like 30 or 40 different men. She claimed to know who Wick's father was but she never told him.

So Wick spent his teenage years constantly being reminded that he was the reason his father had left. It was a very messy divorce too. Paternity tests were done on all of the kids and it turned out only Jane was his actual child. The tests also made a strong case that Wick and his younger sister Lydia had the same father since they shared almost three quarters of their DNA, which was really high even for siblings.

Wick was only 17 when he finished high school but he didn't care that he was technically too young to live on his own. He left home, lied about his age, moved into his crappy apartment, and started doing what he could to earn enough to never have to ask either his mom or Jane for a damn thing. He had a lot of resentment towards both of them and the man he'd thought was his father. All when he was young he'd been ignored. All the love and favor fell on Jane and all the care fell on his younger sister because she was the baby. He couldn't really fault Lydia for being younger but he could fault Jane for being such a snob and never helping out after dad moved away. Once anything was ever asked of her, Jane was always MIA. Unless someone was going to just heap presents and money her way, she had no time for them. She was a taker and that's all she would ever be.

About a year ago, Lydia had finally gotten out of high school and she too could no longer stand to be around their mother. Lydia used to have a much better relationship with their mom than Wick had ever had but it seems the moment Wick moved out, all of his mother's ire needed a new target and Lydia was the only one she had left. Lydia got fed up fast and moved in with Wick the afternoon after her graduation ceremony.

And now he was in a position where the pain in his arm was so bad he was tempted to actually break down, call his mom, and ask her what to do. He'd laugh about that if his damn arm didn't hurt so much. He pressed the hot coffee cup next to the underside of his wrist and it didn't exactly relieve the pain as distract from it but it was something. He grit his teeth and just tried to keep from passing out.

For some odd reason he looked up and saw what the building across the street was, a doctor's office. He didn't have insurance and doctors were so expensive. But what could he do? Even though he hadn't played a game in over a week now, he still had enough in savings to cover more than two months of bills so it should be ok. He just hoped they could help. Please be able to help. Please.

...

Lydia was finally clocking out and going home. It was another boring day at work. That cute customer Eric came in again but never said a word to her. Mrs. Stephanie made thinly veiled threats to fire Cornelia again which caused the poor dumb fat girl to cry for over an hour in the break room. When the fat girl wasn't crying the whole office seemed as silent as a tomb with no ghost to haunt it. The sound of the clock ticking was loud enough to seemingly echo up and down the hall going to the office.

But all was better now. Work was over and Emily was dropping Lydia off in front of the apartment building where she shared a place with her older brother. They were in fact renting one of only two rented apartments on the 12th floor. All the other apartments were empty on that floor because no one wanted to live in this building, much less live on the top floor. The funny thing was Lydia knew this wasn't actually the top floor. There was a secret 13th floor above the 12th floor. But the Elevators didn't go up there and the only way to get to it from the stairs was to pick the lock.

Lydia opened the door to the apartment and found her brother asleep on the sofa. He's been so lazy lately. She was about to kick him to wake him up but then she saw the medical brace on his wrist. She got closer to take a good look and as she did she noticed the faint hospital smell of the thing. "Holy Shit!" she exclaimed and then frantically started shaking Wick to wake him.

"What? Leave me alone."

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Wick, what the hell happened?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know. Did you go to the doctor? What did the doctor say?"

"She didn't know either. Not exactly."

"Open your eyes and talk to me. What happened?"

"Nothing. I started getting pain in my wrist. That's all."

"What pain?"

"Really bad pain. I can't describe it."

"How bad?"

"I thought I was going to die or something. So anyway, I went to the hospital and they took an xray but couldn't see anything wrong so they gave me this with some medicine and sent me home."

"That's it? Who the hell was this doctor?"

"The meds they gave me made the pain go away so I'm fine."

"Fine? So you can take that thing off?"

"Yeah, when the game starts."

"No, you're not playing any game. Don't be ridiculous."

"The team needs me."

"Hello, dumbass! You might have carpal tunnel."

"I'm only 20. I don't have ..."

"It doesn't depend on your age. It depends on what you do and you spend all night, every night playing a damn video game."

"Games don't cause ..."

"Yes, they do. Using a computer can cause ..."

"I have to play."

"No, you have to take it easy and get better."

"We're out of money."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I don't have insurance. I had to pay cash."

"But we had almost three thousand dollars in there. It can't all be gone."

"I had to take another five hundred out as a credit card loan."

"What the fuck, Wick. You should have asked me before doing all of that."

"Hey, I'm not a little kid and I don't need my little sister telling me what to do with my own money."

"Some of that money was mine."

"I'll pay you back. I just need to get into a game and win some cash."

"No. You need to rest."

"I was resting until you decided to wake me up."

"Fine, look, I'll pay the rent in full from my salary. Ok. You just worry about getting better. You don't want your arm to hurt worse, do you?"

Wick was about to say a comeback to her suggestion but the idea of his arm hurting worse than it had before left him speechless for a second.

"Yeah. That's what I thought." Lydia said.

...

Emily smiled as Lydia's brother came into the office and leaned against the counter. He was trying to act cool for her so Emily decided to mess with him a bit.

"You look bright eyed today." she commented.

"Well, the benefits of a good night's sleep were impressed upon me by ..."

"I heard what happened. You broke your wrist masturbating." Emily interrupted.

"What? No. It's a sports injury."

"For the international jerking off competition?"

Just then Lydia came into the front area with a go cup of coffee. "Here. Take it and get out of here."

"I didn't even ask for coffee this time." Wick said.

"You don't need to. Just drink it, go home, and get better."

"Before you go," Emily interrupted again; "Here's my number."

Wick and Lydia both turned to Emily with surprise.

"Offer's only good so long as you're injured." Emily explained. She smiled a devilish grin.

...

It was 11:30 on Friday night when Wick came home. Before opening the door to his apartment he found himself just standing outside the door dizzy for an extended period of time. He only snapped out of it when his neighbors got off the elevator and walked by and then he realized he had his key in his hand so he opened the door.

He honestly was having trouble deciding which hurt more, what had just happened to him or his arm. With no meds he had to say his arm but now that he had something to ease some of the pain, they were about a tie. It still sucked that the pain never fully went away.

As soon as he was in the apartment, he remembered why he hesitated.

"How was your date?" Lydia asked as she paused her movie and turned to look in his direction. Thanks to their new lack of funds she was now home bound and unable to party for the foreseeable future but it was ok. Once she'd understood just how bad Wick's arm had been hurting him she was more than willing to make this sacrifice for him. An it had led to a date between Wick and Emily so that was another good thing. She could just see them as a couple.

"Well, I don't have many others to compare it to but I'm guessing pretty bad." he answered her.

"Why? What happened?"

"Well ... I honestly don't know if I want to talk about it or not."

"You know she'll just tell me when I go to the office on Monday."

"Man, I don't understand this."

"Understand what?" she pressed.

"You remember Dave?"

"Dave the sports guy or Dave who's an even bigger nerd than you?"

"I'm not a nerd."

"Professional video game player screams nerd. So, anyway, which Dave we talking?"

"Nerd Dave."

"Oh, I love Dave."

"Well, you may not know this but he's been having sex since he was 14."

"Really? With who?"

"Two of our teachers in high school, a woman in the Air Force, that model who's in the ads for that furniture store next to the movie theater, the owner of ..."

"Whoa. Wait just a second. How do you know this?"

"Everyone knows. The school caught Mrs. Gillian on camera with him. She almost went to jail."

"She should have if he was 14."

"That's not the point. The point is ... I mean, Dave is a thousand times more socially awkward than I will ever be and yet ... he can get a girl."

"You're seriously not trying to compare yourself to someone who was molested as a teenager, are you?"

"Even now. He's always going out with one bombshell after another. How does he do it?"

"If he's going out with that many different women, it sounds to me like he's got a problem keeping them. And none of this answers the basic question. What happened on your date?"

"I slipped up."

"Slipped up like, you spilled food on her?"

"No. Slipped up by accidentally telling her I was a ... virgin."

"What?"

"Don't make me repeat it."

"You're a virgin?"

"Emily started laughing, and laughing. She laughed all the way from the restaurant back to her home. She was still laughing when I drove away. I don't get it. Don't women get all angry and everything when they find out a man's been with other women. What gives?"

"After you start dating one, sure, but how did you make it to 20 and not have sex?"

"Great. Now you're going to lay in on me."

"Ok. I'm sorry. But look, being a virgin is a good thing."

"Not nowadays."

"Yes, nowadays."

"Yeah, then why'd she laugh so much?"

"She's shallow. I could have told you that. And hey, I'm proud of you."

"For what? Never getting the chance to even ..."

"Wick, I'm a virgin, too."

"What? I don't believe that."