Together

79. I'm Not Embarrassed

I said I'd catch you if you fall
And if they laugh, then fuck 'em all
And then I got you off your knees
Put you right back on your feet
Just so you could take advantage of me
-Halsey ILLENIUM Remix

JJ wakes up in his bedroom, the sun peering through the slits in the drawn curtains. He sighs against the light and turns away. It still made his head pound, hence the blackout curtains.

They returned from Florida a week ago. He had stayed in the hospital in Cocoa Beach for two nights, the doctors wanting to observe his concussion a bit more.

He protested but that fell on deaf ears as Shoupe didn't blink at the recommendation and Kie was really no help at all in coming to his defense on that position either. Practically pretended she didn't hear him at all, minus the warning look she shot him when he started getting more vocal about wanting to leave.

He hated hospitals. Thankfully, visiting hours didn't seem to apply to Kie and Shoupe.

Shoupe returned that first night, carrying clothes for Kie to change into. She was asleep and his head had apparently exhausted all the energy it had to be semi-coherent and was falling in and out of consciousness as well.

While mildly lucid JJ peeked through his eyelashes and overheard the nurse try to explain visiting hours. He gripped Kie a little tighter, heart beating a bit faster at the thought of her leaving him right now. They'd have to pry her away.

He would have laughed if he had the energy when Shoupe looked the nurse dead in the eye and said, and he quotes, "Fuck off bitch, I'm not leaving my kid, and his girlfriend isn't going anywhere either."

Alright maybe Shoupe was way more polite than that but that was the impression JJ got. Either way, when he woke up the next morning Kie was still wrapped up in his arms and Shoupe was asleep on the hospital arm chair and they remained that way until he was discharged.

Daniel had reached out to check in, which was something. Started following him on instagram and sent JJ a message hoping he felt better and that he looked forward to future competitions.

JJ made sure to thank him for pulling him out of the water, wasn't lost on him how much worse things would have been if he didn't reach him when he did. Wouldn't call them friends, but perhaps friendly rivals.

He groans when he hears his alarm. This was the first time he set it since the accident, and God was it even more head splitting than the light. He definitely was glad he took Kie's advice on setting the tone to something softer, probably would have been sent into unconsciousness had his normal alarm tone been the wake up.

She'd been super helpful with trying to soothe his symptoms, having been through a concussion herself. Honestly it wasn't the first concussion JJ had either, but he let Kie dote on him a bit.

He got the impression that she needed to help him to feel like he was safe. He'd put her through hell after all. So when she encouraged him to take Advil or take a nap in the middle of the day he didn't fight her on it.

Her parents weren't the most impressed with her splinted thumb at first. She didn't lie to them about it though. What was the point when the follow up story was that she almost watched her boyfriend die? Per her report they glossed over her injury pretty quickly when she let that bomb drop.