Jaci and Dottie: Boy trouble, part 6

Dottie’s eyes fluttered, and then opened.

She saw that was laying on what looked like a hospital bed, and beside her were her sister Jaci, her Tante Drea, and Grand-Tante Ruth.

She croaked, and Drea handed her a glass of water.

“What happened to me, Tante? Where am I?”

“You’re in the hospital, sweetie. You’re gonna be okay. Do you remember what happened?”

Dottie thought hard, and then said, “Oh, God. The date ....”

Two hours earlier....

The first part double date had gone well, thanks to the help of a friendly waitress, and once dinner was over the four kids and their chaperone made their way to the movie theater, and tried to figure out what movie to watch.

Its hard to find a good movie for young teens at the best of times - it seems like all the movies are made for younger kids or for older ones. When you have two boys and two girls, that choice is even harder, but finally all four kids agreed to the movie “Turbo”, and so tickets and popcorn were bought, and everyone made their way to the movie.

Things went fine until Robbie made a mistake. He went to take Dottie’s hand, and the girl flinched, and he withdrew, but it upset Dottie enough that she excused herself and went to the washroom.

Unfortunately, she wasnt paying attention, and went into the boys bathroom by mistake. There was a man inside, who yelled at her, and she froze. He started to come toward her, and it was too much for her.

She went into a flashback, and stopped being able to breathe, and collapsed onto the floor, sending the man running for the manager of the theater.

Meanwhile, Jaci had a bad feeling about her sister, and excused herself to go look for her. She got there just in time to see the manager trying to get Dottie out of the boy’s washroom, only every time he got close, she seemed to be getting worse.

She pushed the manager aside saying Dottie was her sister, and grabbed Dottie and eased her out of the washroom, and put her on the floor. She asked the manager to go into the theater showing “Turbo” and get their chaperone, and to call for both an ambulance and for Tante Drea.

Shortly, a female EMT was taking care of Dottie while Jaci apologized to the boys before getting into the ambulance for the ride to the hospital.

Now ...

Dottie listened as Jaci filled her in on what she knew, and the young woman cried, saying how sorry she was that she had lost control like that.

Everybody in the room hugged her, and reassured her that it wasn’t her fault.

Then a doctor came in, and said that Dottie should probably wear a medic-alert bracelet, so if she was alone when something like this happened, the people around her would know what to do.

She sniffled and apologized again, and then said, “I wish I could say sorry to Robbie. He probably blames himself.”

“I had, but Mrs. DiMaggio put me right.” said a voice at the door, and Dottie blushed as the young man entered.

“I’m sorry I set you off, Dottie. I thought you were okay with me. I mean, I’d even helped you with a flashback during rehearsals for our dance together. “

“I .. I thought I was, Robbie. I want to be. I just ....”

“Are still a hostage to what happened to you.” Ruth said.

“I dont want to be anymore. How do I stop?”

“One day at a time, and be willing to try to push through fear sometimes.” Ruth advised.

Dottie thought about this for a long time, and then held out her hand to Robbie. “Will you help me?”

“I... I’d be honored to.” Robbie said, and took her hand tentatively.

“And we all will do what we can, right, Tante?” Jaci said.

“Got that right, sweetie.” Drea said, and hugged her.

Dottie sighed, and lay back in the bed and closed her eyes for a moment, to say a prayer of thanks.

“I’ve got the best support system in the world.” She thought, and then said out loud, “I am so blessed. Thank you all.”

There were hugs, and more than a few tears, and then the doctor shewed everyone out so Dottie could have a rest so she could go home in the morning.

Tomorrow would be a new adventure .....