Piece By Piece (Complete)

8. Standards

Sang

I woke up to the rhythmic sound of beeping, the events of last night coming to me in pieces. Seeing Georgia, calling Sean. Waking up to find myself locked in the windowless room my mother liked to use as punishment before being rescued by a guy I wasn't wholly sure was real. I opened my eyes to find myself in a nondescript room with beige walls and dark blue trim. I'd never been in one, but I knew that this was a hospital room. An itch in my hand drew my attention to it, and I found what I assumed to be an IV there, a plastic identification bracelet around my right wrist confirming my thoughts. The ache in my head was still there, and I warily moved my hand toward it, tempted to feel how tender it still was.

"Oh no pookie, you can't touch that just yet." I glanced to my left to see Sean coming in, his blonde curls disheveled, but the grin I remembered was stretched wide across his face. He was wearing khaki slacks and a yellow button down, which was visible through his open white coat, a name tag clipped to the front.

"So you really are a doctor," I couldn't help saying, and his grin widened. "I..." my voice hid when I saw who was with him. The guy that had found me. I couldn't stop staring at him as he hesitated in the doorway, his blonde hair tied back from his face, hands stuffed in dark blue jeans.

"How are you feeling?" Sean asked, quickly looking at all the machines before he consulted the chart he'd brought in with him.

"Ok." I wasn't sure, really. Physically I felt alright, but I knew everything had changed, and it hurt to think about where I would go from here. I had about a thousand questions that I didn't know how to start, nor knew if he had the answers. I settled for the question that weighed on me the most. I vaguely remember him telling me last night, but I needed to be sure. "Is Georgia alright? The... the girl I called you about?"

He nodded. "She's going to be fine thanks to you. All of the girls are."

"All of them?"

His eyes studied me for a second before replying, "Sorenson Academy is closed."

Closed. I knew it was coming, in fact had wished for it too many times to count or ever remember.

"But what about..." The other girls. My mother.

"Everything is being taken care of." He seemed so certain, so sure of it, but who was taking care of it? My concern must have showed on my face because he added, "Everything will be ok, Sang."

My gaze swung back to the beautiful boy in the doorway who I could feel watching me. Sean noticed me staring and grinned. "Up for a visitor?" I nodded and the boy came further into the room, stopping a few feet from my bed. Sean looked between the two of us and said he'd be back with some lunch, leaving me alone with this blonde stranger.

His warm brown eyes were the first thing I'd seen after he'd taken off the blindfold, and they were just as distracting now. "Your eyes are beautiful," I whispered, and blushed furiously. I turned my head, embarrassed, and his low chuckle sent a chill through me. "Sorry."

"I was about to say the same thing about yours." I turned back to find him sitting next to me in the chair I'd spied when Sean first came in, and he was even more handsome this close. "Are you really feeling ok?"

I nodded, which hurt just a little bit, but I felt weird lying down when he was so close, so I tried sitting up, which ended up being more effort than I expected. The guy beside me immediately stood and placed a warm hand on my shoulder as he maneuvered the pillows behind me, making it a lot easier. "Thanks," I said, my voice still too low, but his grin put me at ease. "And thanks for saving me," I added, wondering how I'd ever make it up to him. To any of them. "I didn't think..."