Elizabeth's P.O.V-
I open up the door to see Andreas laying on the hospital bed. His padding and jersey for the game are discarded on a chair. His arm is wrapped in white cotton, lying limp on his naked chest. I didn't know what to do, so I just stood at the door, hoping he would call me over.
The room was snug. Two chairs under the huge glass mirror. Random machines surrounded Andreas's bed and a whiteboard hung on the wall, it had all his medical information. No windows, it felt like a prison. Although there weren't any windows, the fake picture of the beach did do wonders and calm me down.
It's crazy, when I left the stadium with Jill, all I wanted to do was get to him, hug him and kiss him all over his face. Now, I stand at the door like a scaredy-cat, waiting for my master to call my name. Oh, and did he call my name.
"Elizabeth. Elizabeth. Elizabeth, is that you?" He mumbles, his eyes are slits. Lips are chapped and body is lax.
"Yeah, it's me. Do you want me?"
"Yes." I waste no time running over to him. I'm hesitant to put my hands on him, so I keep them at my side. I'm not sure what actually hurts. "Are you hurting?"
He groans, shifting in the bed a bit. "Just my arm and shoulder, everywhere else is fine. I've been calling your name, baby."
My heart warms, "I know. I came as fast as I can, your mother said we had to wait until the doctor was done with you."
"Well, I'm glad you're here now." I lean down and kiss his forehead, also rubbing it gently with my palm. He sighs, pulling me close to him so he could snuggle me. He was like a small boy, wanting comfort.
I ask the question that has been looming on my mind, "Andreas?"
"Yes?"
"What happened out there? I wasn't paying attention to what went down. When I looked at the field, you were already on the ground."
I watch as his eyes fully opened, and he sat up in the bed. It's like all the exhaustion that was once there is now gone. I smooth his hair out of his eyes, wiping the dirt from his face with my fingers. He lets me, not causing a fuss.
"I- uh- I don't know, Elizabeth. One minute I was guarding our wide receiver, then all of a sudden, I felt someone collide their body with mine and knock me down. I didn't see it coming, scared the fucking shit of me I can tell you that." He mumbles the last part.
"Oh Andreas, I thought-"
He turns his head towards me, eyes squinting, "You thought what?"
"That you were dead. I know it seems silly now since obviously, you aren't dead. It's just- the way you fell on the ground, the noise and I swear I thought you broke your neck and died." I squeeze my eyes, not wanting the memory of Blake to come back. Once I get myself in order, I opened my eyes. "I swear Andreas, I thought the worse. You scared the living shit out of me."
I didn't even notice I was crying until Andreas wiped them away with the pads of his thumbs, "It's just a small injury, Elizabeth. Look, my arm isn't even broken, just sprained that's all. We are both just fine, I'll always be fine. Football players get injuries all the time, it's just part of the game."
"Are you sure you're fine? Don't you dare lie to me?" I wiggle my finger in his face.
He laughs, biting my finger gently. "I'm not. I swear I'm fine. I just got the wind knocked out of me, that's why I wasn't moving. They gave me some water and monitored me." I grab him up and hug him tightly to my chest, his head cradled against me. I just needed to hold him for a few seconds, to feel his heart beating beneath me.
Behind me, I hear the door opening. Turning around, I see his mother, father, and sister. I kiss him on the forehead, then move out the way so his family can see him. His mother is the first one to come over, she just stares at him, smacks his good arm then hugs him. I and Katherine laugh in our hand as she lectures Andreas on being safe, and asks him how dare he gets hurt. His father also chimes in, throwing out statistics and examples.
"Are your parents always like this?" I whispered to Katherine.
Her lips tug into a smile, "Always. They worry too much about us, I wonder sometimes if they know we are grown and can take care of ourselves. They drive me insane, but I love them to death." She leaves me to go over to Andreas. She, like his mother, smacks his head and starts ranting to him in Chinese, and he responds. Now, all four of them are talking in Chinese.
I feel so out of place.
Then, they switch back to English, and I hear Andreas say something that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand. "I want to go back out to the game."
"Are you serious!" His mother yells.
"You're so dumb," Katherine says, rolling her eyes.
"You could die!" His father adds.
I conclude it off with, "You are not going out there, Andreas!" They all turn around to me. Surprised that so much gusto has come out of me.
He yields his head over, around his mother so he could see me. "Elizabeth, I have to."
I step forward, "No, you do not. Your team will be fine without you, you must think about your health. What if you get tackled again and your arm breaks this time. You can't be selfish like this."
His family nods their heads, agreeing with me.
"It's a good thing I don't need you guys' permission. The doctor said, if I want, I can go back out to the game and you bet your ass I will. I'm not going to sit on the sidelines while my team wins the game without me. I need to beat Stanford." I see the reason why he wants to go out there so badly all over his face.
He wants to shove it in James's face.
The lengths that some people will take for revenge baffles me.
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