Another Broken Smile

50- "We changed Ell"

Author's Note: A set of important announcements to be posted. Please read them. 

"How have you been Ell?" he asks as he enters through the door of my hospital room.

I have been awake in my room for a while but had no visitors as of yet. I was expecting Adeline or Alec to rush in any moment but when Daniel walks in I sit up suddenly in surprise and almost grimace at the pain that shoots through my body at the sudden movement.

"I'm sorry" he apologizes almost immediately is helping me to sit up straighter and adjusting the pillow on my back. He seems to be by my side in less than a second and his visit surprises me.

He is in a black suit this time with a royal blue tie around the neck of his white office shirt, but the first two buttons have been undone with his tie loosely pulled away. His hair is messed from his usual neat style and he holds a bunch of yellow lilies in his hand.

"These are for you," he tells me and places them on the side of my table.

His sudden presence here surprises me and his lost demeanor scare me. Whenever I now see him outside school, he is always busy in one or the other office meeting with his dad. He always wears a suit these days with all the fancy ties and ironed clothes, he doesn't even look like he used to a summer back.

But his loosened tie and messy hair only tells me that he isn't here to tell me something pleasant.

"How did you know?" I ask him wondering how he knew I was here.

"Our English teacher saw me worrying about football and thought that I was worried about your absence mid-way through a school day. She thought we were still dating and came and told me about how you fainted outside the library. I thought it would be nice to just drop by and see you" he tells me and I would be lying if I said it didn't hurt.

"What about football?" I ask him trying to focus the subject on him so I don't have to concentrate on the sound of my heart breaking again at his cruel words. I don't want him to worry about me like my boyfriend, but he could just be concerned as a friend.

"Oh! The coach is giving me a tough time" he tells me and now he sits on my bed but a good distance away from me.

"Another tournament coming up?" I ask him, happy to finally see him talk about football. Football games are the only time that remind me of the old Daniel. Passionate, hardworking and absolutely in love with something in which people loved him for what he had become not what something his father had bribed and got him into.

"No, yes. I mean it's a confusing story" he tells me.

"I have time," I say patiently. No matter what I think a part of me will always be there for him.

"I mean I want to not play in the final match but the coach won't let me. He says he can't lose one of his best players so close to the tournament. He also says that there are scouts looking for me" he tells me frustrated.

"You don't want to play the last match?" I ask him in disbelief. He has been the team's quarterback since freshman year. That's how good he is. I think our school won't even have a chance of winning the final tournament with him quitting at the last moment. They can't train another person in just one semester and even if they do, the experience and skill will always be lacking.

"Yeah, I want to quit the football team," he tells me simply having quite made up his decision.

"The football team?" I ask him, never thinking I would see this day.

"Yeah, I don't think I want to continue anymore. I already have my hands full with all these business meetings. I need to work hard if I want to take my dad's reigns in the business world" he tells me and I don't comment. I have already lost him. I need to learn to accept that he has different priorities right now and I don't stand in that list anymore.