"Stella, go home," Brendan said for at least the thirtieth time. I furiously shook my head and remained seated in the chair next to his hospital bed.
"I'm not going anywhere," I replied, taking his good hand into mine. He rolled his eyes, but he smiled over at me anyway. "Why're you so adamant about me going home? Getting tired of me yet?"
He shook his head, imitating my earlier action. "Never." He squeezed my hand. "Can I have my phone?" I nodded and pulled it out of my back pocket, getting ready to hand it over when he said, "Actually, you can just check it."
I unlocked his phone and went straight to his messages.
Chucky💩
How are u doing?
Gally👿
He's doing fine. I'll tell him you messaged!
Chucky💩
Thx Stella 👻
I laughed and moved in to the messages from several of his other teammates, telling them that Brendan was alright. There was a contact name I didn't recognize, so I entered into the conversation.
Joelle Parsons
Oh my god Bren are you okay????
Brendan Gallagher
He's fine.
Joelle Parsons
Who is this?
Brendan Gallagher
This is his girlfriend, and you are?
She read the message and didn't respond. I knew who she was, I didn't need to ask. She was the girl that Brendan had some weird, week-long thing with back when we were separated. And apparently she didn't know when to let go.
"Stels?" Brendan questioned. I looked up from the phone and at him. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," I responded. "Joelle texted."
Brendan leaned his head back and rolled his eyes to the ceiling. I wasn't necessarily upset with him, but I was kind of curious as to why she thought it was okay to text him even after he ended things between them.
"I swear there's nothing going on between-"
"Babe, I'm not mad," I interrupted, placing one of my hands over his uninjured one. "I just want to cuss her out. You're my man." Brendan and I both laughed, and his phone buzzed with another text.
Joelle Parsons
Wait lol when did he get a girlfriend? I invited him to hang out just the other day.
I read the text to Brendan, and he rolled his eyes once again.
"Scroll up."
"What?"
"In the text thing, scroll up," he repeated. I gave him a funny look but did what he said anyways. I scrolled up to their texts from a few days again.
Joelle Parsons
Hey, want to hang out today?
Brendan Gallagher
Nah, I'm good
Joelle Parsons
Well, that was kind of rude. Could've just said you were busy.
Brendan Gallagher
I'm not going to lie to you, I'm not busy at all. My girlfriend is sleeping, using me as her pillow, so I'm good staying here.
A smile creeped onto my face, and I looked up at him.
"See? I told you not to doubt me," he commented with a smirk.
"I believed you! It's a stupid girl thing, it makes me happy when you tell other people about me," I admitted with a shrug. It may have sounded stupid, but I firmly believed that most girls were the same way.
It didn't matter whether you completely trusted your boyfriend or not, it was a great feeling to be "shown off", if you will.
"It makes me happy when you smile," he responded, a soft smile on his lips.
"You make me happy," I commented, ignoring the text from Joelle.
"You make me happier," he shot back, raising his eyebrow. I giggled; everything about this boy made me feel like a little girl with a huge crush.
"Yeah? Well, you make me happiest," I quipped, folding my arms across my chest. Brendan just rolled his eyes and squeezed my hand, leaning his head back into the pillow. I could tell from his slight grin that he was content and at peace, and I felt the same.
"You know staring is considered rude to some people," he commented, popping one of his eyes open.
"Well I hope you're not one of those people," I responded as I lifted my feet onto the hospital bed. "Because I could stare at you alllll day."
"Back at ya," he winked, biting his lower lip. Dear god, this boy made me melt. I sighed happily before I noticed the doctor had come into the room.
"I can practically feel the love radiating off of you two," she said with a big smile. "Reminds me of my husband and I when we first started dating. Couldn't keep our hands off of each other."
I felt my cheeks turn hot, and Brendan squeezed my hand once again. The thought of marriage popped into my head. It had only been two months with Bren but already I was imagining walking down the aisle with him standing at the end of it. I immediately shook it away. Too soon for wedding talk.
"Now, I will say that the honeymoon phase will end. However, I still feel the same way about my husband now as I did back then. It's a choice. A choice you have to fight for," the doctor said, smiling towards us. "That's when you know."
"Thanks, doc," Brendan responded with a big grin.
"Alright, enough love talk. We're here for the hand. From the looks of the x-rays, you're going to need to undergo surgery on Monday to set the bones back into their original place. Healing time will be 6-8 weeks, and we'll come back later to give you more details and answer your questions. Sound good?"
"Sounds good enough for a guy who just shattered his hand," Brendan answered with a laugh. I could tell that he was devastated behind that charming smile of his. The doctor left the room after saying goodnight and I turned back to Brendan.
"Surgery," I said, taking a deep breath. Brendan offered a sad smile, running his hand up and down my arm.
"I'll be fine, Stels, I promise."
"But-"
"No but's," he said, placing his finger over my lips. "I'm going to be one hundred percent fine. They'll fix me up, and I'll be back out there in no time."
I think he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince me. We sat there in silence for a few moments until Brendan spoke up.
"Seriously, babe, go home," he told me. "You have work tomorrow."
As much as I didn't want to leave his side, I knew that I needed to go home and get some rest. I had a full day of clients ahead of me.
"Okay, but only because you told me to," I responded as I lifted myself from the uncomfortable hospital chair. I leaned down, and Brendan put his good hand on my face to pull me down into a kiss.
"Goodnight, belle," he whispered, pressing his lips against mine one more time. I pulled back slightly, pulling my eyebrows together in confusion. Belle? He chuckled to himself and stroked my cheek with his thumb. "It means beautiful in French."
My mouth involuntary pulled into a smile, and I kissed him one more time. "Goodnight, Bren."