Always the Opposites {Brollins}

[ Chapter 32 ]

Everything seemed to be happening in a blur. After Colby passed out, medics put him on a stretcher and rushed him to the hospital with Rebecca right alongside him.

Doctors continued to run tests on him and check his vitals, while Rebecca watched everything in the only chair in his room. It was very cramped, and nurses tried to coax Rebecca to wait outside, but she refused.

The last nurse left and said somebody would be back in an hour, leaving Rebecca in the room alone with Colby in dead silence. She stood up and walked over to him slowly, wiping away a stray tear. "Come on, Lopez."

He got two stitches on his bottom lip, and luckily his nose wasn't broken. They had no clue what other issues lay ahead as they couldn't do any X-Rays or scans until he woke up.

"I'm so sorry." She gently grabbed his cold hand and kissed his palm. "You don't deserve this."

She clenched her jaw and placed his hand back down, crossing her arms and pacing around the room. The only thing keeping her grounded was the slow and steady beat of his heart rate on the machines.

She had called Holly to fill her in, but they both knew it'd be best if they left Riley out of the loop for a bit. So Holly decided to stay with her, knowing Colby would be okay in Rebecca's hands.

She stared out the window on the door, looking at her emotionally exhausted reflection before gazing at his. "Hey, Quin."

Rebecca turned so fast she was surprised she didn't topple over. "You're awake."

She was immediately at his side, and he shot her a weak smile. Rebecca placed her hand on his, and he was instantly fumbling with her fingers slowly.

Once he started to take everything in, Rebecca could tell he was growing more nervous. The oxygen mask over his face could only do so much as she heard the beeping of his heart rate escalate.

"No... no." She ran her free hands fingers through his hair, with a smile that was tear-filled. "Don't do that to yourself, Colby."

She wanted nothing more than to cradle him until his anxiety passed, but she knew she couldn't without knocking something important out of place. "You're gonna be alright, I promise."

No matter how scared she was, she knew it wouldn't even compare to what he was dealing with. He calmed down after a few more minutes of whispered reassurance from Rebecca, and she could see the exhaustion written all over his face.

"Guess that good luck kiss would've come in handy." He quipped weakly.

Her eyes became wide as all of her common sense seemed to go out the window. "You think that's what it was? Oh my God, Colby. I'm so sorry."

"No, no." He laughed, clutching at his side in pain from the abrupt movement. "It was a joke, I'm joking, Rebecca. There was nothing you could do. Don't apologize."

Colby immediately felt bad for messing with her, she was definitely tense, and he could see her hands shaking as she paced the room. He knew her logic probably wasn't going to be making the most sense seeing as she was in just as much shock as he was, they just handled it differently. Once she went down a nonsensical spiral, she could convince herself of anything, even if it made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

He noticed no one else in the room with them, "Riley?"

"She's with your mom." Rebecca replied, "We figured it'd be better if she didn't see you like this."

"Everything is gonna be fine... right?" He looked at her, and she nodded, holding back some tears.

The next thing they knew, he was being escorted to a different room as they wheeled the hospital bed through the halls. Rebecca followed closely and realized they were taking him for some scans.

When they carted him back to the room with Rebecca, the doctor entered with the results a few minutes after. "I'm going to need to remove your shirt."

Colby nodded as the doctor did so slowly, and he forced himself not to show too much reaction to the pain jolting through his body. The doctor began examining his chest, poking and prodding tender areas.

Colby watched Rebecca's eyes subtly wander towards his exposed chest before widening and bouncing between staring at the wall in front of her and the ceiling.

The doctor slipped the shirt back down, "Well, Mr. Lopez, it seems as though you have a mild concussion along with two fractured ribs."

"Oh well, that's not that bad." He smiled slightly, squeezing Rebecca's hand for extra reassurance for the both of them.

"That would be the case if that was it." The doctor adjusted his glasses, "You have a slight tear in your left MCL."

Colby's eyes wandered down to his swollen knee as the doctor continued. "Minimum, we're looking at an eight-week recovery timeline."

Rebecca's heart sank for Colby as she looked over at his blank expression. "That means no physical activity unless at a rehab centre."

Colby swallowed hard while trying to process the information, and Rebecca could tell if anything else was said, he was going to have another episode. "Can we have a few minutes?"

"Of course." The doctor nodded, promptly leaving the room.

"Talk to me." Rebecca looked at him, grabbing her chair and sitting by his bed. "What's running through your mind?"

"Nothing at all." Colby looked at her with an unreadable expression.

"You're not upset?" Rebecca's eyebrows furrowed, "It's okay if you are. You have every right to be."

"I mean, sure, but football isn't my life." He shrugged, "If you had asked me a year ago, it would've been a different story."

Rebecca listened to Colby as he continued, "I have Riley, my mom... and you. I don't need football."