She looked down to her arms, where an IV had been placed.
"Charlie?" She looked up.
It was Mona. A red-eyed, crazy-haired one but still Mona. She held a glass in her hands and pushed it towards Charlie. "You need to drink something. The doctor said you'd be thirsty."
Slowly, she did as she was told. The water slid down her throat with ease. The glass was empty before Mona could say another word.
"What.. What happened?"
Davo seemed to appear out of nowhere. "You're in the hospital. Someone found you outside a club two weeks ago."
A club? Why would she have been at a club?
"It was them, wasn't it? It was those people after your brother."
The memories hit her like a freight train.
The football game, the boots, everything. She slowly nodded. Anger flashed behind Mona's eyes, only to disappear as quick as it had come. "Is.. Is there anything you need?" She motioned towards the glass and watched her best friend leap from her chair to refill the cup.
Though she felt as if she'd just recovered from pneumonia, her heart was warm with the knowledge of her friends surrounding her.
—
Charlie had been half-convinced that she'd conjured up the image of him at first.
She'd been asleep, only drifting awake when the woodsy smell of his cologne filled her senses. With the hallucinations clear in her mind, she'd refused to believe that he was really there. Why would he be there? How would he even know about her 'accident'?
"Hey." He was so quiet, his voice barely a whisper. His hair was sticking up everywhere and she itched to calm it with her fingers. He eyed the chair beside her bed, almost as if asking if he could sit. She nodded, her mouth dry as she watched him.
There was no way this was reality. This was just another effect from the medication.
"How are you doing?"
She swallowed. Would she allow herself to fall into this dream? She wasn't sure if she would be able to handle the devastation that would follow when she woke up from it.
She hadn't realized she'd been crying until he reached over to wipe them away. "Hey," he began, his words were warm honey spilling over her skin. "Don't cry, baby. Why are you crying?"
Slowly, waiting for him to disappear into nothing, she lifted a shaky hand to the palm that held her cheek. Her fingers hooked into the sleeve of his sweatshirt, warmth seeping into her cool fingers as they touched.
He was real. So terribly real.
She repeated her thoughts aloud. She earned a small smile in return.
"Yeah, I am." His touch disappear as his hand fell back into his lap. "Does it hurt?"
When her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, he motioned towards his face. He meant the injuries. "Oh," she shrugged. "Not really. They've got me on some pretty killer pain medication." She smiled, refusing to look away from him for more than half a second. She hadn't seen him since the night of his concert and her heart was heavy with the knowledge of how much she'd missed him.
He smiled a heartbreakingly sad smile. He wore his heart on his sleeve so outwardly, so obviously. "I'm so sorry, Charlie."
She frowned. "For what?"
"Everything. I.. I should have been there. I should have told you. I should have known." His eyes dropped to his lap, where his fingers were tangled together.
"No," she stated, reaching for him. "No, Ty." When he offered his hands, she tangled hers in them until she wasn't sure where she began and he ended. "This couldn't be less your fault. I kept it a secret from you. I kept it from everyone. You have no reason to beat yourself over this, okay?" She stroked his hand with her thumb, staring directly into those pools of blackness that held oh-so much emotion.
"I'm so sorry for not giving you a chance. I had no reason to not give you the benefit of the doubt. Especially when I was doing the same thing you did."
He laughed, but it was nothing but an exhale of breath. "I guess we both made some mistakes, huh?" She mirrored his laugh, blinking away her own tears.
"How'd you get out?"
She swallowed, her joy diminishing into a painful sadness. She had refused to think about it, much less say it.
"Xavier."
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not gonna lie, this plot twist came out of nowhere
