Witness

11| Coffee Bean

I felt like I was going to fall over as my body stretched out; my bones and muscles ached all over. Jax kept a strong hold on my body as I tried to stand up straight, and I kept a hand on his warm shoulder to keep balanced.

"You good?" He whispered.

"No- I need to sit down," I whispered back. He nodded, helping me to walk towards the futon.

Once I was seated, he left to get the ibuprofen. He poured out 3 into his hand, grabbing a water bottle and handing both over to me.

"I only take two-" I started, taking two pills from him.

"With the amount of pain you're in, you should really take 3," he said, dumping the contents into my hand.

"Okay, thank you," I whispered, taking the pills. I was just excited to stretch out and let these pills take away my pain. After all, I had a lot I wanted to do today. A walking tour of the campus wasn't going to be fun if I felt like this.

"Can you come with me to the hallway? I have a question and don't want to wake Hannah," I whispered.

He nodded, reaching down to help me back up off the couch before following me out into the hallway. I was careful to close the door quietly.

"Thank you for helping me this morning," I started once we were alone in the hall.

"No problem," he responded. He didn't say anything after this so I just continued on with my question.

"What should I tell Hannah about my injury? She hasn't asked yet but I'm a bad liar and I can't come up with anything that would make sense..."

He thought for a second- "tell her you just had shoulder surgery to repair an old sports injury."

"Oh... yeah good one. I'll tell her that,"

"Okay. Anything else?" He asked.

"How'd you get into my room this morning?"

He smirked, leaning closer to me "I'm your bodyguard. I have a key to your room."

I felt dumb for asking- I probably should have assumed this from the beginning.

"Oh..."

He stood up, heading across the hall to his room. "Let me know your plan today when Hannah wakes up."

I didn't even get to respond before he disappeared into his room. When I entered my room, I saw Hannah sitting up on her bed.

"Good morning," I greeted.

"Morning roomie!" She replied, stretching out her arms. "Was someone else in here? I thought I heard whispering."

"Oh um... yeah. Mason came over for a second to bring me some ibuprofen."

She nodded in understanding. "Well that was nice of him; Is it for your arm?"

I just nodded, contemplating offering up information, but I chose not to unless she asked.

"Can I ask what happened?" She pressed.

I was so grateful to have asked Jaxon what to tell her. "Old sports injury. I just had surgery to correct it but I'm feeling super sore today." I made my way over to the futon, sitting down since I couldn't get back up on my bed.

"Oh gottcha. Are you still up to seeing the campus today? I can show you where your classes are and the coffee shop- nothing too crazy today since you don't feel well."

"That sounds great! Would you mind if Mason and his roommate Blake tag along? He's new here too and mentioned wanting to come with us this morning."

"Oh my god of course not!" She climbed down from her bed, grabbing her shower caddy. "I'm gonna go shower and get ready, and as soon as you're feeling better we can go. Just let me know when."