You Found Me

Chapter 66

"FUCK!" I heard him swear. My heart dropped as I ran into the locker room.

"Babe," I sobbed, running over to the gurney. "Oh my gosh Rob."

I put my head on his shoulder as he winced in pain.

"Hey Alex," he said. The doctor examining his leg ceased and went into the other room to confer with someone.

"Rob are you ok? I'm not mad at you...I just...are you ok?" I sobbed into his jersey. His face contorted into an expression of pain.

"Not really," he said, stifling a laugh. He screamed out again and I started to sob harder. I kissed his cheek and put my forehead to his temple, wrapping my arms around his torso.

"You're not ok," I whispered, squeezing my eyes closed.

"Nah. I'm fine," he lied. I shook my head.

"No, actually you're not." I turned my head to see the doctor. "We think you may have a torn ACL. We'll do an MRI tomorrow, and we'll take you to the hospital now so you can stay overnight."

My heart stopped. Time seemed to slow down. My breath caught in my throat as Rob swore again.

"I'm going in the ambulance," I said. The doctor shook his head.

"I'm afraid you can't," he said earnestly. I shook my head.

"I'm going in the fucking ambulance. I've gone through too much shit because of football," I growled. "I'm going in the fucking ambulance."

No argument there.

They wheeled Rob off, me by his side. We loaded into an ambulance and I stood by his gurney, playing with his hair. I sobbed even harder when we arrived to the hospital.
He may never play football again.
That was the only thing that ran through my mind. I sat in a recliner, in the hospital room they were going to put him in, sobbing like a baby. A tentative hand touched my shoulder.

"Alex?"

I turned to see Julian and Danny.

"H-H-H-Hey," I sobbed.

"Are you ok, A?" Danny asked. I shook my head.

"No."

"I know Rob's hurting," Julian said softly. I shook my head.

"He's not the only one." I looked at the two guys. "This affects me too. Every day, for the next two years, he's gonna have to go to physical therapy. Every damn day. This is gonna put such a toll on our relationship! You have no idea! FOOTBALL IS RUINING MY FUCKING LIFE!" I sobbed. Julian tentatively touched my arm, and I flinched away. He put something on my shoulder. I realized it was Rob's jersey. I held on to it for dear life, and sobbed into it. It smelled like him.

"Do you want us to stay?" Danny asked. I looked up at the two boys I had come to love. Julian with his bright blue eyes and his goofy grin. Danny with his pretty brown eyes and his mischievous smile.

"If you want. I'll probably be a blubbering mess, but hey."

That won a smile from Julian.

"I'll stay," he suggested. Danny had no objections.

"I'll stay tomorrow," he said. "We can switch off." Danny kissed the top of my head and left. Julian sat down.

"Do you want a blanket?" he asked. I squeezed my eyes shut, and he got up and went to the closet, pulling out two fleece blankets. He threw them over and I put them on my shivering body. My phone buzzed and I looked. Patriots update. The usual shit.

I opened it up.

"'T. J. Ward was worried about fine when he hit Rob Gronkowski,'" I angrily read aloud.

"Great," Julian muttered. "Get her fired up. Just what we need."

"He's worried about a fine?" I scoffed. "Well how about I take that and shove it up his ass? I'll tear his ACL while I'm at it too. Then we'll see how worried he is about a fucking fine! If I were him I'd worry about putting up a restraining order against me!"

"It's alright Alex. Football is a physical game. It's inevitable," Julian said with a shrug. "I mean, we all feel bad, and this majorly sucks, but it's inevitable."

"Well they can go fuck themselves," I growled.

The only time I ever cried harder was when my parents died. I cried that night. I cried and held on to Rob's jersey as if it were a raft in the middle of the ocean. I cried and cried and cried, Julian giving me reassuring words. I kept his jersey close to my heart. It smelled like him, and he was all I could think about. All I could think about. His leg looking like it absolutely snapped after the tackle. Swearing and lying on the ground in pain.

I shut my eyes tightly, trying to get the images out of my head.

🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈
IM LITERALLY SOBBING HE LOOKED LIKE HE WAS CRYINH SND I CRIED IN PUBLIC HE WOMT PLAY THE REST OF THE SEASON LIKE LITERALLY I WAS AT A CHRISTMAS CONCERT AND I HAD TO MISS THE GANE AND MY PHONE BUZXED AND I VHECKED AND IT SAID HE HAD A MAJOR KNEE INJURY AHD THEN A TORN ACL AND IN THE MIDDLE OF PUBLIC I BROKE DOWN CRYING AND MY FAVE WAS ALL FLUSTERED ABD RED AND CRYING AND DAMN TJ WARD WORRIED ABOUT A FINE LIKE WHAT THE HELL HE'S LUCKY I DIDN'T RUN TO FOXBOROUGH AND SHOVE IT UP HIS ASS LIKE SRSLY I ALMOST DID U HAVE NO IDEA BYE
-L