𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒔 | 𝑩𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆

Safe | Chapter 8

AS ROSE STEPPED OUT THE DOOR, she was somewhat blinded by the glare of the sun. She let the door fall shut behind her and was immediately greeted by Steve. The latter had apparently sat down on a bench near the medical rooms and had jumped up as soon as he saw her.

"Rose!" he said somewhat breathlessly, grabbing her shoulders and staring intently at her.

"Are you all right? What happened to you? What did Hargrove do to you?" So many questions at once, Rose was a bit overwhelmed, especially since she was still confused as hell and also quite disappointed in herself. She also needed time to think, time for herself. But Steve didn't give her this time, of course he couldn't know otherwise. From his point of view, things looked pretty dramatic.

Rose had gone under, Billy had rescued her and dragged her into a locked room. Nothing more had been visible to him.

"Yeah, everything's fine..." she replied now, a bit confused. She could literally see the concern in his brown eyes.

"Do you want to sit down?" he asked now, gently pushing her towards the bench. She allowed this and sat right down too. But Steve continued to pester her.

"What about Hargrove?"

"He just... Gave me room to catch my breath," she said, her words carefully chosen.

"And looked at me again to make sure I could walk again." At that moment, the door to the medical room opened again and Billy came out.
At the sight of him again, Rose's heart beat very fast, feeling a mixture of attraction and shame. Hargrove looked over briefly and their eyes met once more. Then he turned his gaze to Steve.

"Drive her to the hospital, Harrington," he threw at him curtly, nodded over to Rose, and then went back to his lifeguard chair. Rose watched as he sat back down in the chair, picked up his sunglasses - he'd probably taken them off quickly before the rescue - and put them back on his nose. Business in the pool continued as normal.

"To the hospital?" asked Steve now, looking at her again with concern.

"Yeah, Billy said they should look over it again. Maybe then they could mention that I almost drowned..."

"What happened exactly? Did you have a cramp?" Rose shook her head slightly, not too much, careful not to cause any pain in the wound.

"The laceration suddenly hurt so much and I was paralyzed for a moment. I couldn't swim anymore and went under. Then I panicked and swallowed water. Hmm and I can't remember that much more, then I was already back on land, Billy squatted over me and then brought me into this room there. And then..." she faltered. Steve looked at her demandingly.

"And then?"

"He just looked at me." she said tersely.
But that seemed to be enough for him at last.

"All right, all right. Look, you sit here, I'll get our stuff, and then I'll drive you to the hospital."
Steve got up and hurried to the lawn. A few minutes later he returned looking rushed.

"Okay, let's go," he said, helping Rose stand up.

☔︎ ☔︎ ☔︎

The hospital visit had been very exhausting. It had taken a long time until Roselyn was finally allowed to go home again. The wound was examined again, some tests were made, among other things a lung function test to see if the lungs had taken any damage.

Since this time it was not in the middle of the night and the case was also somewhat more serious, Rose's parents were also informed. They had then picked her up from the hospital and once again thanked Steve profusely. But even if he didn't like it, he had scratched his head in embarrassment, but also mentioned that it wasn't him who had saved her life, but the lifeguard at the swimming pool. Her parents wanted to thank him, too, of course. Unpleasantly, they had discovered that he lived only two houses away and had therefore invited him to dinner to thank him. Rose had been there when her parents had made this invitation and Billy had such a strange smile when he had accepted.