I met Jenna the night I was taken to the emergency room for what turned out to be a rather serious fracture in my left leg. I had been partying with my friends at one of their houses, and had been drinking quite heavily. We were playing 'truth or dare', and it was my turn. I chose 'dare', as always. (I'm rather shy when it comes to telling the truth.) My friend Chris thought long and hard for a good dare, something that he was sure I wouldn't do, and finally came up with one.

"I dare you to go to the second floor, and jump from the balcony to the pool."

"Fine." I said. " But I have to change into my suit first."

We had all planned on going swimming later that night, but it looked like I was going to be the first one in. I went to the bathroom and got changed, and preceded up to the second floor. When I looked out the window everyone was waiting outside to see if I would really do it. Now I should mention that the distance to the pool from the balcony was only about three feet, maybe less. Not a real long jump for me. The problem was that the jump would end in the shallow end of the pool. Normally I probably wouldn't even attempt it, but like I said, I had been drinking rather heavily. Also, I never back down on a dare. I had built up my courage with a last minute shot of tequila before going upstairs, so I was ready.

"Geronimo!" I yelled as I flung myself out the window. My aim was true, and cleared the edge of the pool by at least three feet. That wasn't the problem; the problem was that I needed about four more feet of water to land in. I hit the water, and almost immediately hit the bottom of the pool. I had meant to land on my behind in hopes of slowing me down faster, but somehow I managed to land diagonally with my left leg pointed downward. As I hit, I felt a snap in my leg, and an intense pain. I knew something was wrong. I came up for air to the sound of cheering and clapping, but that ended as soon as everyone saw my face.

"Oh my god! Are you all right?" My friend Brandi asked.

"Not really, I think I broke my leg."

"Aw, he's just messing with us." Said Chris.

"I wish I was. Someone want to help me out of the pool please. I couldn't believe the pain I was in. At least my friends were there to give me a hand. They got me a blanket to dry off with and help keep me warm, and then asked me if I thought I needed to got to the hospital. Of course by then I was quit sober, (I found that extreme pain will sober you up pretty damn fast.) and told them that I'd better go. I decided that I didn't really need an ambulance and that one of them should drive me. So I picked the only one who hadn't been drinking, Brandi.

She got the car started while two of my buddies helped me up and got me into the passenger seat. If that wasn't painful enough, she hit every single pothole on the way to the emergency room. She kept apologizing as I was wheeled inside and taken into an exam room. After the doctor had checked me out, he sent me to x-ray and then I was taken back to my room. On the way back to the room we passed another room with its door open. Inside I saw the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She was cradling her right arm with the other one, and her right leg was propped up on a pillow. I only saw this girl for a second and then we were at my room. I figured I would never see her again. Boy was I wrong. About a half hour later the doctor came in holding some x-rays.

"Well, how bad is it?" I asked.

"Let's just say that you won't be swimming for a while." He explained to me that I had suffered a fairly nasty fracture to my left tibia, and I would require a cast from my toes all the way up to the top of my thigh. When I asked him how long I would be in it, he told me at least eight weeks.

"Well, there goes my summer." I thought to myself. When the doctor left, he had a nurse take me down to the 'cast room' to have my cast applied. When we went through the door I was quite surprised to see the girl from the other room was sitting on one of the exam beds, with her leg again resting on a pillow, and still cradling her arm.

"The orthopedic technician will be right in.," the nurse said as she left the room.

"So, what are you in for?" said the girl. She sounded like she was in quite a bit of pain.

"I broke my leg. 'Tibia' I think he said."

"How'd you it?"

"Truth or dare. I jumped off of a second story balcony into a swimming pool."

"Ok, now I know how, but why?"

"I was drunk."

"Oh."

"What about you?"

"I was in a car accident. Broke my leg and arm."

"That sucks. I hope you're not right handed."

"I am actually, and the doctor told me I have to have a long arm cast and a long leg cast."

"Wow, I only get the leg cast. How long do you have to wear yours?"

"He said the leg cast will probably be off in about six weeks, but the arm will have to be on at least eight. I guess it's a worse break or something. By the way, my name is Jenna."

"I'm Eric. That's a beautiful name."

"Thank you. Are you going to have to stay in the hospital for a while?"

"No, I'm outta here as soon as they put the cast on."

"You're lucky, I'm stuck here for at least three days. I guess they want to keep an eye on me or something."

"That's too bad."

Just then the technician came in and asked us who the first victim was.

"She was in here before me." I said. "Besides, ladies first."

I watched as he first slipped the stockinette over her toes and up her beautiful leg. Stopping at the very top of her thigh. He then proceeded to wrap her leg with the cast padding. He stopped this about midway up the thigh. Then came the fiberglass tape. She had chosen the maroon color because it matched her toenail polish. He wrapped around her foot and ankle several times and then started up her leg. He used several rolls of tape before he was finally finished. The cast started at the base of her toes, and ended up at mid thigh. She looked absolutely stunning. (Did I mention that I have a thing for women in casts?)

After he finished her leg he moved right up to her arm and repeated the process over again. This cast though, went all the way up to her armpit. She had decided not to color coordinate the casts, and went with pink for the arm. It probably should have looked rather funny, one maroon cast and one pink cast on the same body, but looked just about like heaven to me.

"What does that feel like?" I asked as the tech went to find Jenna a sling for her arm.

"Heavy," she said, "and warm. It feels a lot better though." The tech came back in with the sling and helped Jenna into it.

"That takes a lot of the weight off." She said. "Thanks."

"Ok Eric, now it's your turn." The tech said. "What color would you like?"

"I think I'll go with blue. It matches the water that I jumped into." Jenna laughed and smiled at me.

"What are you still doing here? I thought you were all done."

"I am, but I thought I'd stay and keep you company. Besides, I want to see how the blue looks on you."

The tech put the cast on my leg the same as he did on Jenna's leg, except mine didn't stop at mid thigh. Mine went almost all the way up the crotch. When I asked why he explained that my break was more serious, and higher up on the bone than Jenna's was, so it needed to go up further to make it more stable. While we waited for the nurse to come and take me to be released, and Jenna to be taken upstairs to her private room, we talked some more. I asked her if it would be all right if I came and visited her while she was here. She said that would be very nice, and that she could use the company since her family lived out of state, and all her friends worked. I told her that I would definitely be out of work for some time, and that I would visit her every day.

Two nurses came back with our wheelchairs, and my crutches, and helped us down into them. We said our goodbyes and were then wheeled in different directions. I couldn't wait until tomorrow