Best-Friends With Benefits (Under Reconstruction)

Chapter 48- End of the Line

Could they not see it? Couldn't they tell how upset he was?

The door slammed shut and everything fell silent again.

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"Selena?"

I drifted back out of consciousness, but my mind felt like lead. I groaned, managed to squeeze open my eyes that felt like they were sealed with cement.

"Remind me never to be the hero again." My voice creaked like I had been gargling with all the sand in the Sahara. 

"Selena!" A large pair of arms flung around me, and before I could even blink I was pulled into a tight hug. 

My vision blinked back to normal, and I saw that the room nearly completely dark. Light filtered in through the hallway from the crack at the bottom of the hospital room door, and I just barely make out the black hair tickling at my chin. "Conner?"

His face was buried in the crook of my neck, his arms tightly circled around my back. After gaining to response in return, I gave in and managed to lift my arms to wrap around him, hugging him back just as fiercely. Who was actually comforting who, I wasn't sure. But judging from Conner's trembling and the wrenching ache in my heart, it was probably an even split.

"Are you alright?" I said softly, recalling that the last time I had properly seen him, he had been severely injured. "You're not hurting yourself, are you?"

He pulled away with an amused smirk, his face inches from mine and the warms of his breath fanning my face in a way that gave me shivers. "You just woke up from a severe concussion, and asked me if I'm alright? Guess you'll always be the hero."

I shrugged, and tried to muster up a smile of my own. But as soon as my lips curled up, a stinging pain in my jaw made me wince. 

"Hey." Conner said softly, carefully reaching up a hand to brush over my jaw. I gratefully leaned into his hand, and I couldn't help but stare as his concerned emerald gaze studied my jaw. He leaned in for a soft kiss, and my head span for reasons that didn't involve my concussion. 

When he pulled back again, his gaze returned to my aching jaw.

"I can't believe that bastard laid his grimy paws on you." His jaw clenched and his eyes steeled over, but the soft cradling of his hand on my face remained gentle.

"I'm alright, Con. No need to worry so much." My gaze finally took note of the purple bags under his eyes. "When was the last time you got some sleep? You look exhausted."

"Of course I'm going to worry!" He complained, suspiciously avoiding the second part of my question. "You were out for nearly 24 hours! The doctors weren't sure you were ever going to wake up."

"Really? But I thought you said I just had a concussion?" 

"Selena, do you know why you're not supposed to go to sleep when you get a concussion? Like that time when I got a concussion playing soccer and you had to wake me up every couple of hours?"

"Well, you shouldn't have used your face as an airbag for the ball."

He ignored me, of course. "That's because if you go to sleep immediately after receiving head trauma, you could fall into a coma. And guess what you did right after your head hit the ground. "

"Solid argument."

Conner rolled his eyes, but thankfully my sarcasm managed to calm his anger. Guess it's gotta have more uses than just to get me into trouble.