Chapter Forty Two
2280 Words
“Thanks,” Kim sent a small and grateful smile my way, taking the chilled juice I offered, which I'd bought from a shop.
I invited myself to the seat beside her on the hospital bench she had been sitting on, while waiting for me to get back.
“Feeling better?”
She nodded a little, taking a sip of the juice, “yeah.”
There was a moment of silence, but it wasn't awkward since we both got lost in our thoughts.
After a while, she broke it, a smile playing on her lips, “why are you dressed like some kind of suspicious criminal?”
“This is to avoid being recognized by a fan,” my words made her raise a brow, obviously not understanding them.
“Wait, don't tell me basketball players have fans who'd rather die than not take a piece of your clothes?” She asked in horror.
“Well, we sometimes do, but not very frequently,” I watched her expression stay fixed.
“But how about when you came to the coffee shop, no one attacked you.”
“I don't get attacked very often,” I clarified, “it's mostly just scenarios where fans ask for an autograph or a photo, some might go the extra mile by asking for my jacket and all, but not usually a crazy psycho fan.”
“So, do you like… go with bodyguards and all, like the movies?” Her tone was laced with surprise.
“I think that's kind of being dramatic,” I replied, “though some of my teammates do so, but if I'm not going to a big event, I don't go with guards.”
“Wow,” she chortled, “I should be writing this down.”
As she tried searching for her notepad, she stopped as though recalling something.
“Oh shoot, I left it at your place.” With a head shake (as though unable to understand why she'd leave it there), she said, “don't forget it, you'll tell me later.”
“Noted,”
Just then, her ringtone echoed, so she reached for it.
A smile appeared on her lips at whoever the caller was.
My wondering who it was didn't last when she answered the call, placing the phone on speaker.
“Hey Katie, how're you doing?” Her tone had a tiny bit of brightness in it.
That made me realize how precious of a friendship the two had.
More like they were sisters.
“Hi,” Katie's tone held more merriness in them, “I'm doing great, how are you?”
“Good, I guess,” Kim sighed, the memories of all that happened today probably running back to her mind.
It seemed like she'd forgotten about it for a moment.
“What's up?” Katie asked, followed by a voice in the background, before she asked, “where are you?”
“I'm in the hospital.”
A gasp, followed by the background voice, “oh goodness, how the heck did you land there?”
“What's wrong?” The voice had already become recognizable at the moment.
“Is someone with you?” Kim asked.
“Yeah, it's Justin,” she said the one name I despised, “I went over to his place since I was kind of bored.”
Of course.
“Who's that?” Justin asked, his voice getting more audible as though he was at a far distance before, but was now closer.
“It's Kim, she's in the hospital.”
He snickered, “isn't that Austin's girl, what's wrong? He already stressed your ass out that you ended up in a hospital.”
“Why don't you keep your unnecessary comments to yourself!” I snapped before it could be controlled.
This guy really pissed me off.
“Oh, so the asshole is there himself,” he huffed.
This wasn't a time to start an unnecessary argument, so I just rolled my eyes, not that he could see me.
It was obvious Kim was trying her best not to smile, as she bit her lower lip.
“Any hoo,” Katie continued, “why are you there? Are you alright?”
“Hmm, it's just Oliver who was involved in an accident,”
“Oh goodness,” she gasped, “what happened?”
“We don't know, she won't say a thing,” Kim sighed, taking another sip of the juice.
“Which hospital are you guys at? Maybe I can come visit.”
“It's getting late,”
It was only after she pointed that out that I realized it really was getting late.
We might have to leave soon.
“She'll be staying the night, so maybe you can come afterwards.”
“Alright, where is she?” Katie asked.
After Kim replied, they exchanged their goodbyes, before she hung up.
“As you said, it's getting late, let me drive you to my house to get your stuff, then take you back home,” I suggested.
She nodded, “I'll greet Oliver goodbye then we can both leave together.”
“Alright,”
♠ Oliver Stans ♠
After Kim said her goodbyes and left, Layla followed about an hour later, promising to visit first thing tomorrow.
Some church members had called to ask why I couldn't make it, and when I replied that I was in the hospital, they promised to come visit tomorrow.
So now I was left alone.
My entire body ached, even after the Ketorolac I'd been injected.
Tears burned the back of my eyes, but I refused to let them fall or make it evident how I found the entire situation.
The last thing I wanted was to worry Kim, so it felt best to feign cheeriness that I didn't feel.
Instead, I decided to say a quick prayer to ward off the fear inside of me at the moment.
At this point, it was late. Probably about seven or something, and here I was, alone in the hospital room.
The door opened, followed by a nurse walking in, “You have a visitor, should I let the person in?”
My forehead creased in confusion, “a visitor?”
Who would visit me so late? “Let the person in,”
She nodded, then left.
About a minute later, the visitor walked, and surprisingly, he wasn't just any person.
It was Andrew.
“Oh my, look at how hurt you are,” his tone and expression showed nothing but worry as he hurried to sit beside me.
“Andrew, how did you get here?” I tried to sit up, which was followed by a lot of pain, so he assisted me.
“That's not important, but how are you?”
I wanted to say I was fine, but his sight just made me no longer wish to lie.
It just felt like I was safe now to pour out all I had been feeling since the accident.
The tears I'd been keeping finally rushed out, falling freely down my cheeks, “I-I'm scared Andrew, I'm very scared.”
Concern filled his expression as he gently wrapped his hand around me, pulling me to rest my chin on his shoulder.
I'd have hugged back if my hands didn't hurt.
“It's alright,” his tone was soothing with him gently rubbing my back.
The tears flowed like rivers, “it was the most scary experience of my life, I thought I'd die.”
“No, you won't,” he pulled me from the hug.
Before I could miss it, his hands had moved to cup my cheeks, “you're fine now, and will forever be.”
The tears didn't stop, even after our gaze locked.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?” His tone came out low and soft, sending a comforting vibe my way.
A lot of people had asked similar question today, but my answer had been the same. That they shouldn't worry.
But right now, with our gaze locked and his hands on my cheeks, I figured he would be the best person to actually talk to.
If not, I might explode from keeping it to myself.
So I nodded.
When he dropped his hands, I wished he wouldn't, because my body missed his touch.
At least his hand moved to my head, gently placing it to rest on his shoulder with no words coming from him.
Obviously giving me room to speak.
Silence surrounded us, so I kept my tone low, “I was on my way to Church, and though my spirit told me to not take the car, I didn't heed since it was going to be faster, so I drove.”
The rate at which I was crying had reduced, though a few drops of tears fell when I continued.
“And I was just driving, unknown to me that a car was coming at full speed from the other lane. Maybe the driver was drunk or something, I don't know,”
The image popped back as I noticed a car heading to me, and fear gripping me while holding the wheels.
That made me sniff, but I didn't bother holding back the tears, “I tried steering the wheel away as fast as I could, but the car had already made contact with mine.”
“Before I knew anything, I felt the glass of my car pierce through my body, then fell into unconsciousness, just to wake up in the hospital.”
There was another moment of silence till he spoke in a whisper, “do you know what happened to the driver?”
Although his tone was steady, I could detect slight anger in them.
“Not sure, I didn't ask,” at this point, I was no longer crying.
“I promise to make sure he gets punished for doing this to you,” he sounded so annoyed, I had to wonder why.
“Don't worry, I'm alright,”
“No, you're not,” he spoke so softly, I found myself almost bursting into tears again.
But I'd already shed too much, that was enough for one day.
“I'm so sorry, I don't usually cry this much,” my tone was still low as I apologized, “I don't know what got into me.”
“Oliver.”
“Hmm?”
He gently placed a hand on my cheek, tilting my head so I would face him.
The worry in them struck me so much, sending unexpected sparks down my spine.
“You shouldn't keep things like this to yourself for a long time,” he held my gaze with each word, “even if you don't talk to people about this a lot, you can always count on me to tell them to.”
“Whenever you need a shoulder to cry on, or someone to listen to you, then I'll always be available. Call me.”
That was the sweetest thing I'd ever been told, it moved straight to my heart, warming it.
“Thank you,”
He offered me a smile that made him look extremely handsome.
Geez.
The gaze broke when he left me to stand up.
“Are you leaving already?” I asked, my entire body already missing him and wishing he'd wait an hour extra.
A smirk played on his lips, “I want us to go out so you can receive fresh air and cool off your stressed mind.”
I couldn't help chuckling, “I'm not even sure if I can walk, there's no way I'll be able to get all the way out of the hospital.”
“Then I'll carry you,” he offered, like it was no big deal at all.
Another chuckle, “no thank you, I don't want to risk breaking more parts of my body.”
He looked like he was going to pester me more, but nodded, “well then, I'll go grab my laptop from my car then we can watch a movie.”
A smile found its way to my lips at that suggestion. “I think anything would be better than staying alone in this boring place.”
“Hmm, maybe I should stay the night then,” he suggested, surprising me.
“Really? Would you do that?” I was very much grateful for that suggestion.
Anything to not have to sleep alone.
And also because, secretly, my body wanted to feel him near me again.
“I'll go ask the nurse, and if she agrees, I can sleep on the bench beside your bed,”
I turned to the bench, which would probably be half his size.
Although I wanted him here more than anything, the considerate part of me said, “I don't want to be a bother.”
He tucked a strand behind my ear, “you can never be a bother cupcake.”
Without waiting for more words from me, he left the room, whistling a happy tune I couldn't recognize.
But I sat there speechless, my ear reddening from his touch, with my heart throbbing.
Gosh, what was this about.
He was back about ten minutes later, letting me know he could sleep the night.
I was extremely glad at that thought, and so we sat next to each other, watching a movie on his laptop.
Although the day started in a bad way, it certainly ended on a good note.
And I found myself relaxing in his presence, and not minding the fact his hand was wrapped around my waist the entire time.
This was great.
- Writer
