His Harvard Girl

Chapter Twenty-One

The hospital was still. The quietest I'd ever seen one. Something about the silence, cold air conditioning, and pale blue nurse outfits made me feel uncomfortable.

For once, I'd wished I could hear the beep of machines, the hustle of the staff, and the tick of the clocks. But no. There was nothing.

The outline of Elle's body protruded through the thin, white blanket that was draped over her. I couldn't imagine that it was offering any warmth, although by the sweat dripping down her forehead, I wasn't sure she needed it.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Tired," she replied wearily.

We'd been at the hospital an hour.  She was rushed straight to a bathroom, then a bed. A doctor had come in and examined her briefly, but we'd been alone for almost fifty minutes now. 

"I wonder what's taking so long," I said, glancing around the hospital room.

Would they ever come back to us?

"It's a hospital, Noah," Elle said. "I'm probably just not sick enough for their attention. We should be grateful I'm here at all."

I tried to see her point of view. Okay, she hadn't been in an accident or something that required immediate surgery. She wasn't bleeding, although at one point she had coughed up some blood. She wasn't in a huge amount of pain right now.

But something was still wrong, and we needed to find out what.

"I think it's going to happen again," she said suddenly, throwing the blanket off her body and racing to the private bathroom just inches from her bed.

I turned on the television and upped the volume, hoping Elle wouldn't feel self conscious about the noise of her vomiting. Truthfully, I didn't care a single bit, but I knew that she would. 

She trudged back in after five minutes, her face pale and her hair a knotted mess at the top of her head. Her big eyes were staring at me helplessly. The poor thing was doing it so tough, and there was nobody here to help her.

"Any blood?" I asked.

She shook her head as she climbed back into bed ever so slowly. "No. That's only happened once. Maybe it was coincidental."

I squeezed Elle's hand and lifted myself off the plastic bedside chair and onto the edge of the mattress. "Stop downplaying your sickness," I said. "I'm worried about you, Elle."

She offered a weak smile. She was never the type to be dramatic for no reason, but maybe now was the time to explain how bad things had really been. I still struggled to come to terms with the fact I had no idea that she was suffering these last few weeks, but it was because Elle had been trying to be tough. 

"You don't have to act okay all the time," I added quietly.

She squeezed my hand in return. "I think maybe you should call my dad," she said softly. "Just to let him know where I am. Don't freak him out or anything. Okay?"

I nodded my head and excused myself from the room. I took a few steps down the hallway and dialled her dad's number. The line rang three times before her little brother, Brad, answered.

"Noah! How you going?" He asked, his sing-song voice bringing music to my ears.

I couldn't help but smile a little. "Good, little buddy. How about you?"

"I'm good. Dad's just coming downstairs now. Hang on. Here he is."

Noise echoed through the phone and I pulled the rustling speaker away from my ear for a brief moment. When I pulled it back close, Mr Evans was clearing his throat. "Noah. What's up?"

"Hey, Mr Evans. Um, look, I just wanted to let you know that Elle is in hospital. She's okay, just having a trouble with what might be a really bad stomach bug."

"A bug?" The concern in his voice was so obvious, I felt a kick to my stomach. He clearly didn't buy that.

"Well, we don't really know what it is," I said truthfully. "She's sick all the time. We're here trying to figure it out and so she has someone watching her."

"Are the doctors being nice?" He asked quickly.

I paused. "They're hardly here at all," I said. "But we haven't been here long. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know in case you tried to call her and couldn't get through. In the haste of it all, we left her phone back at the college. I'll get it for her tomorrow."

Mr Evans cleared his throat again. "Thanks, Noah," he said. "I appreciate you letting me know. Please look after her. Call me if it gets worse, or serious."

I promised Mr Evans that I would do both of things: take care of Elle, and let him know if it would get worse.

We exchanged a couple pleasantries before finally hanging up the phone, but within a couple of minutes I was back in the room with Elle. Only this time, a doctor was by her side.

He stood exceptionally tall, towering over me, and I could see Elle struggling to lift her chin high enough to make eye contact from the hospital bed. He invited me over when he noticed me, and I immediately felt at ease by his demeanour.

"You must be Noah. Elle was just telling me about you," he said. "I'm Doctor Menzel."

I offered my hand and he took it graciously.

"Any idea what's going on, Dr Menzel?" I asked.

His eyes flicked between Elle and me. He drew a deep breath before opening his mouth to talk. "I want to run a couple tests, but I might have an idea of what it is."

"What's that?" Elle asked immediately.

"Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome," he said slowly. "The bad news is: it's extremely uncomfortable for you, although you have probably already experienced that. The good news is: there is medication to help prevent the constant vomiting. There is a treatment."

Instantly, a wave of relief rushed over me. I could see colour fill Elle's cheeks as she processed the information. She wouldn't have to go through this forever!

"The other bad news," he added, "is that it may not be that. The trouble with vomiting is that it's symptomatic of a lot of illnesses. So, while I suspect you have CVS, you'll be undergoing a couple tests in order that I can rule out something more serious."

"That's totally fine," she said straight away. "Thank you so, so much."

He smiled. "It's my pleasure. Try to keep comfortable for the minute. I'll put the test requests into the system and send a nurse for you shortly."

We thanked him again when he left the room, and for the first time all night I could finally reassure Elle that she would be okay. And I didn't have to lie about it.

____________

Author's Note:

Hi all! Thank you SO much for reading so far. I love reading all your lovely comments, so keep them coming! Also, if you have some time, it would mean the absolute world to me if you could read my new novel "Something Wicked" and tell me what you think! Here's the summary:

Five high school seniors become four when an innocent game among acquaintances becomes deadly. Jasamine, Katherine, Alicia, Gabby and Lucy have never been friends, but one boring night in Scotsville brings the girls together. They set out to a play a game of hide and seek in an abandoned warehouse in town, but when one of the girls is found dead, the remaining four face two important questions. The first, where are they going to hide the body? And the second, who killed her?That fateful night brings the girls together as they lie their way out of suspicion, but just how much can they trust each other when one of them must be a murderer?

Thank you all so much! You mean the world to me.

xo

Hayley