Out of His League: Book Two (18+)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Scarlett

The sound of quiet snickering echoed in my ears as I was sleeping. I gently opened my eyes to see Mia and Lily standing by the door of my room, looking down at my lap while I followed their gaze. And there was a sight I never thought I would have woken up to in my life. Ryder and Phoenix were on each side of my bed, leaning over from their chairs with half their bodies lying across the bottom of my legs. What made it funnier, though, was that they were both lightly holding on to each other's hands.

I managed to form a smile, watching the two of them sound asleep on my poor feet.

"Scar!" Mia yelled out.

My eyes met with hers, and then Lily's before their faces were filled with the biggest and brightest smiles. It hadn't been that long since I last saw their sweet faces, but a wave of emotions washed over me. Like I had been waiting for years to see them again.

Lily darted over to the bed, grabbing my hand and bumping into Ryder in the process. "How are you feeling?"

Ryder's head shot up. "I'm up, I'm up," He shook his head before he looked over at me. "Scarlett?"

"Hey Ry," My voice came out quiet and raspy.

The corners of his lips softly curved up. "It's really you?"

"Who else would it be?" I asked with a furrow to my brow.

As he was about to answer, he glanced down at his hand that was still holding onto Nix's. "What the..." Ryder quickly took his hand back as Phoenix woke up.

"Hm? What's going on?" He mumbled sleepily.

"You were holding my damn hand!" Ryder said with a weirded-out expression.

"I was not," Nix sat up.

The girls and I giggled at their reactions. "Actually, Ryder's hand was on top, so I think you were holding hands with Nixie first," I explained to my brother.

Phoenix was suddenly right by my side, placing his hand on the side of my arm. "You're talking," He spoke just above a whisper.

My face twisted in confusion. "Yes...why are you guys acting so strange? I'm still me, just the same as I was yesterday."

Mia chimed in. "Scar, what do you remember from yesterday?"

"Um," I closed my eyes, thinking back on my last memory. "Waking up from surgery and seeing Nix, Ryder, and my parents."

The four of them glanced at each other as Phoenix comfortingly stroked the side of my arm with his fingers. "Baby, that was almost a week ago."

"What?

Ryder nodded. "You've been so in and out the last few days, mostly sleeping, but sometimes we would get a few conversations out of you that usually made no sense."

"Yeah, the doctor said your body was trying to heal and that sometimes patients don't recover as fast as others. Your body needed all the rest it could get after surgery in order for you to start getting better," Lily added.

My head felt so foggy as I tried to remember anything at all. "It's really been a week?"

"Mhm," Mia said. "We were all worried despite what the doctor told us because we thought maybe you wouldn't ever go back to the same Scar we knew."

I swallowed slowly, looking around at each of them. "I'm still me, and I haven't gone anywhere."

Ryder squeezed my knee. "Let's just hope the sassy attitude went somewhere."

"It's still there and only growing by the second right now," I quipped back.

"Yep, that's the Shortcake I know and love," Nix chuckled.