I spent two hours alone in the ER that night where the ambulance had brought me and my wounded assailant after they had arrived at the scene. I had recanted my story to two officers and the doctor. I had a room to myself and everything, thankfully, I didn't want to know who else was in the Aladine ER in the middle of the night on a weekend. I was all alone, however, I had a feeling that Liam was waiting in the lobby for me.
I was mad at him, I wouldn't have left his house had he not given me that bullshit line that he loved me. I had been fairly laid back about the whole situation. I didn't care that I was fucking someone else's boyfriend, I didn't care that he was cheating and I was the one enabling him to cheat. I went along with it, I didn't ask for anything, I didn't whine about the fact that we didn't have a label. I didn't complain that his girlfriend would kill me when she found out. Up until last night, he hadn't even honestly fed me a bullshit line like that.
But I knew that he would be waiting for me in the waiting room. He knew I wouldn't call my mom, I didn't want to explain to her why I was walking home alone in someone else's t-shirt at three in the morning. I knew my mom would over react, she'd tell me to just finish the semester from home, commute everyday where I'd feel safer. But I couldn't do that and I wouldn't do that.
And I knew that that stupid boy was waiting for me whether I was happy with him or not.
"Excuse me," I said as a nurse passed by my door.
"Do you need something miss?" she asked.
"There's a guy out in the lobby, long brown hair, ballcap, Aladine hockey hoodie, he's with me and, and I was wondering if he could come back and at least sit with me," I replied.
"I'm sorry miss, no non-family visitors between 10pm and 8am," she replied.
"Can you at least tell him I'll be alright?" I asked.
"Of course," she replied.
I figured he had already begged the nurses to let him back to see me, but I guess they had to have rules to keep everyone safe.
It was another forty minutes before the doctor came back to tell me that I had a concussion and a fractured wrist, not to mention the emotional trauma that came along with being jumped in the middle of the night. I had to stay until later that morning though because of my concussion, they had to monitor me or something I guess.
I tried my best to sleep, but I tossed and turned for hours on end and every time I fell asleep for more than ten minutes, it was time for the nurses to check on me again. I managed to finally doze off for more than ten minutes by 5:30 or so, that was what the clock said the last time I checked and was woken up a few hours later by a soft knock on the doorframe.
"Did I wake you up?" a very tired looking Liam asked as he stood in the doorway.
"It's okay," I replied, rubbing my eyes, "What time is it?"
"8:02," he replied, coming in and sitting down next to the bed.
"Have you been here the whole time?" I asked.
"Yeah," he replied quietly, "I didn't want you to be alone and I knew for sure that you didn't want anyone to call your parents, but they wouldn't let me back here until 8, so I waited in the lobby."
"Thanks," I smiled halfheartedly, "They're only keeping me until ten because apparently I have a concussion."
It was moments like this that made it impossible for me to be pissed off at Liam Simpson, those moments when he looked at me with those bright green eyes that had this gleam to them whenever he was looking at me, when he looked at me like he loved me.
"What happened?" he asked.
"I was halfway home when these three guys came out of nowhere, I tried to get away but the one had a gun and tried to shoot me but I grabbed my pepper spray and sprayed the two guys but they got away. I hit the other guy in the hit with the handle of the gun because he tried to wrestle me to the ground," I replied, staring down at my wringing hands on my lap.
"I'm sorry Liv," he sighed, "I should've chased after you."
"I really just want to forget about it," I said quietly.
"Okay," he said, "My feelings won't be hurt if you fall asleep. I just wanted to be sure I was here for you."
"Okay," I replied as I closed my eyes once again.
@@@
The doctor released me that day a little after ten-thirty and Liam insisted he stay with me because Nikki was gone at a competition for a week and I was supposed to be checked on every now and again and being alone wasn't the greatest idea. I also had a splint and brace on my wrist which was extremely annoying. I kept reminding myself that it could have been a hell of a lot worse considering the assholes had a gun and wanted to rape me and could've killed me for not cooperating.
"Are you hungry?" Liam asked that evening, coming back into my room.
I'd passed out in bed as soon as he had brought me home out of sheer exhaustion. I hadn't slept since Friday night and had played a game the night before. I was exhausted and wanted to sleep for the next week and wake up and have my problems go away.
Not reality, I know, but a girl can dream.
"Not really," I replied, curled up in a mess of blankets.
"Thirsty?" he asked.
"No," I replied.
"Do you need anything? Seriously Liv, anything, I'll go get you food from somewhere that's not the dining hall if you want," he asked.
"Can you just lie here with me?" I asked quietly, "My head hurts too bad to get up."
"Yeah," he replied, shutting the door behind him and crawling in next to me.
"Can you close the blinds more? The light is killing me," I asked.
"Of course," he replied, getting up and completely shutting the blinds, "Do you have any extra blankets?"
"Under my bed," I replied as he got a blanket from under my bed and put it over the window.
"Is that better?" he asked as he crawled back in next to me.
"Much better," I smiled, burying my head in his chest as he wrapped his arms around me.
"I called Miki and told her you were concussed, I figured she was close enough to family," he replied, "She said you can hang with her all week if you want to because I have class and practice, she said you're more than welcome to crash on her couch in her office so you're not alone."
"Thanks," I replied, "Liam I know you're worried and everything but my head hurts too bad to talk to you right now, I'm sorry."
"It's okay," he said quietly, "I'll be here as long as you need me though, okay?"
"Promise?" I asked.
"Promise," he replied, kissing my cheek.
As he laid there next to me, running his hands through my hair I realized that Liam Simpson really did love me. The boy sat in the emergency room in Aladine on a Saturday night all night so that I wasn't alone. He waited on me hand and foot all day even though he didn't get any sleep the night before.
And now I was afraid that I loved him too despite the fact that I was nothing official to him.
And there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.
@@@
I pretty much laid in bed and slept the rest of Sunday, my head hurt too badly to even move it or talk so sleeping was the only thing that provided me with some sort of relief. That relief, however, was slightly short lived when I started having nightmares in the middle of the night.
"Hey, Liv, wake up," Liam said, gently shaking me awake.
"Liam, I, I, I was so scared," I stuttered, struggling to breathe right again.
"It's okay Liv, they didn't get you and they won't, okay?" he said, pulling me in again and softly kissing my lips.
"He stuck his hand down my pants," I cried, "Oh my God Liam I was so fucking scared."
"It's okay now Liv," he said, his face dropping and demeanor changing before he held me tighter, "You're going to be okay."
"But I don't feel okay," I cried.
"I know," he sighed, "But you need to sleep because you're just going to get worse if you don't. Okay?"
"Okay," I sighed, closing my eyes once again with my head buried in his chest.
I was almost asleep when he pulled me in even closer, both his arms holding me tight before he buried his face in my hair.
"I really do love you Olivia," he said quietly, kissing the top of my head.
And this time, I almost believed him.
@@@
***