The Other Swan

3. Hospitals

I slept until 8pm the following day. When I awoke, the sky outside my window had already turned dark. My attention was caught when I heard the door creak open.

I had expected my dad to come visit, perhaps Bella, or if not a visitor I would have expected Dr. Cullen or one of the nurses on staff to be checking in on me. The one person I wouldn't have expected to see here was Emmett Cullen, yet he was exactly who had tried to quietly open the door, only to be given away by its squeaky hinges.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to wake you," he said once he looked at me and noticed I was not asleep.

"You didn't."

We stared at each other, unsure where to go from here.

"I uh... got you a sandwich from the cafeteria. I wasn't sure what you liked so I just got you an egg salad. I've heard hospital food doesn't taste great though, so I'm sorry for that," he rambled on before setting a sandwich wrapped in plastic down on the hospital tray beside my bed.

"Thanks... not to be rude but... what are you doing here?" I questioned him. The question seemed funny to him because he got this cheeky grin on his face like he knew something I didn't.

"I heard you might want to see me."

"Who said that?" I asked, not denying it but still utterly confused why he would think that. I certainly hadn't mentioned my little crush to anyone.

"My dad."

"Dr. Cullen?"

"Yeah. Apparently you talk in your sleep," he said with a wink. Oh god. Why me? Why of all things did I have to say his name in my sleep in a public place where his dad worked. And why did he have to mention it to Emmett? Didn't that break doctor/patient confidentiality or something? That had to be illegal! I groaned and rolled over, burying my face into the hospital blanket on top of me.

He let out a booming laugh at my reaction.

"Lucy, I was just joking! He just thought you might be lonely here all by yourself." Still chuckling he pulled the armchair in the room up to my bed and sat down right in front of my face.

"Did you actually dream about me?" he asked, curious now at my obvious reaction.

"I'm sorry, it's not like I can control it! And they aren't like... weird dreams! Or creepy dreams!" I defended, still under the covers.

"Are they... sexy dreams?" he whispered, seemingly inches from my ear. My breath hitched in my throat at how brazen he was being.

"I wouldn't mind if they were," he continued before I could protest.

"They aren't... sexy dreams. They're nightmares."

"And what is scary about them. Me?" He asked, sounding slightly hurt. At this I tucked the sheets down below my chin. He was only inches from me, so close I could hear his breaths.

"I'm not scared of you."

"Then what?"

"Something in the woods. There was something following us. And then I fall, and I drown."

"You fall and drown. This is a recurring dream?" He asked.

"Sort of. This was the first time the red thing chased me through the forest."

"So all the other times it's you... and me... and then you fall and drown?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"Well... I like when cute girls dream about me every night." He joked, winking again but not pulling back. His joking tone lightened the mood and chased away the fear that remembering last night's dream brought with it.