Reactive Envy

Chapter Sixteen: The hospital....

Feeling like he's waking up after a week-long sleep starts the confusion. He will need to talk to someone, maybe Gemma considering she's a therapist. He needs to talk about that half-dream state episode and the confusion and pain he was in. As soon as he can wake up fully and confirm it was just a dream.

Before attempting to open his eyes again, Harry registers three main things.

Beeping, the smell of disinfectant, and soft snoring.

All three things don't belong in his house, so maybe his previous dream was a reality. Harry is starting to panic, knowing he needs to open his eyes to discover what is happening. Praying that the head pain doesn't return, Harry slowly peeks his eyes open, starting with the smallest slit, just to be able to peak around the room.

He sees lots of white, a person off to the side on a lazy boy in scrubs, but all he can see is brown hair. Opening his eyes fully, he soon realises it's a hospital room. He is certain he is the patient considering he's in the bloody bed and covered in bandages. He can't work out who is asleep in the chair. He knows who he hopes for, but that would be a dream come true, so it can't be him. Maybe Gemma cut her hair and needed to borrow scrubs for some odd reason? It must be Gemma, right?

Harry has so many questions that he needs answers to but to have those questions answered, he needs to wake Gemma up. Trying to push himself up, he soon realises he has a lot of injuries meaning they have assessed and treated him while he was asleep. The most jarring realisation is that whatever happened is serious occurs while trying to push up and being unable to hold his body weight. He can move his arm, but he can't support his weight. His head screams at him that he's been asleep too long, and all the muscle progress he's made in the gym is gone. His job requires two hands to type and hold a camera, which may be a problem.

"Fuck, fuck, what the fuck happened to me?" Coughing, Harry realises how sore his throat is. How long has he been asleep? His throat feels like razor blades, so it must be over 24 hours.

"Harry?" Fuck, that's not Gemma. Looking up slowly, Harry lets his eyes travel to the seat. His breath hitches, seeing bright blue eyes staring back at him.

"Louis." Harry chokes out.

"Oh, Harry, I'll get you some water, and then we can talk? I have been the nurse in charge of assessing you and your injuries and needed to stay until you woke up. I'm sure you have a lot of questions." Louis hesitantly stands up, walking over to the sink, which Harry hadn't even realised was in his room until now.

He can see Louis taking a deep, shuddering breath, wondering if it's his injuries or that he had to stay with some random man who isn't his boyfriend. He probably feels guilty about being away from Ashton. Why is he even thinking about Ashton right now? Louis looks as fit as anything in his hospital room, who knows where his hands were while assessing him. Pity he wasn't awake to enjoy it. These are not good thoughts when he can't even support his body weight. He may never use his cock again, depending on his injuries. Harry groans out loud without meaning to. Quickly, feeling redness creep onto his cheeks with embarrassment.

"Are you okay, Harry? Was that groan because you are in pain?"

Blushing again, Harry whispers, "No, sorry, I was just thinking. Can I have that water now, please, Louis?"

Now it's Louis' turn to blush, "Sorry, sure. I'll help you, yeah?"

Oh god, how embarrassing he can't even drink a cup of water without help. "Thanks, Louis. I needed that. Can you tell me what's going on? I'm super confused."

Louis' small smile drops off his face, and he pales. "Um, yeah, I was there. Um, shit, sorry. Give me a minute, okay?"

Harry smiles at Louis. "Take your time, Louis. I'm obviously not going anywhere."

Louis doesn't smile at Harry's attempt at a joke. This must be serious. With a deep breath, Louis starts, "Harry, this has to be one of the worst things I've witnessed off the clock. How much do you remember?"

Harry says, "I was out, had a beer, and left the pub. Nothing crazy. I saw no one I knew, just had a beer, and that's it. Yup, all I remember. Nothing else."

Louis looks down. "Harry, you are rambling. Breath, love."

Love? Oh my gosh. He must remind himself it means nothing.

"You were at the pub having a beer. Niall told me what happened for you to leave like that, but if you want to pretend it didn't, that's fine; it's not important to the story. I saw you, and you looked pale and scared. Knowing how busy the pub was, I wanted to ensure you were okay. I followed you out, and shit Harry you just didn't even look up. He was on his phone and didn't see you. I was only a few steps behind you, but I tried yelling for you, but you didn't hear me at all. It was like you were in a world of your own. I tried to grab you, but it was too late. I'm so sorry, Harry, it's all my fault. Please know I will make up for it whenever I can."

Harry is feeling more confused now than he was before. "What the fuck are you talking about, Louis? That made no sense."

Louis looks up from under his eyelashes, making Harry blush again. "I know you ran because you saw me, Niall told me. I'm not sure why you left, considering I've been hoping you would call."

Wait, what? He has a boyfriend.

"When you left, you ran straight into the street. You didn't look up, and as I said, the taxi driver was on his phone and not looking either. I've never seen a body fly like yours did, Harry. You are so lucky to be alive."

Harry just stares at Louis in shock. "I was hit by a fucking taxi because I was in my head about dumb shit. Of fucking course, that would happen to me."

Harry attempts to run a hand down his face but just brushes over stitches and bandages along one side.

"I'm going to give you a quick rundown. Nothing is broken. You have a lot of deep tissue bruising, stitches in your knee, elbow, cheek, and back of your head, and bandages on the more serious cuts and burns from the road. You had a piece of glass in your knee, but that's been removed. You are going to be weak and extremely sore for a few weeks. We have charted you a round of antibiotics, anti-inflammatory pain relief, and fluids considering you've been asleep for roughly 28 hours. You will need food and lots of sleep to heal but I'll be your nurse for your entire stay, which should only be another 24-48 hours, depending on how you are going. Gemma and Niall will be back later this morning once visiting hours start. Your mum has been notified, so I'm guessing she'll be here later. So, for now, it's just us and a lot of free time."

Louis claps his hands together as if explaining all that was a weight off his shoulders. "Well fuck. I'm quite lucky, and I'm not just talking about my injuries." Harry smirks at Louis when he sees the slight red tint on his cheeks.

"I'm the lucky one." Harry swears; he hears Louis mutter as he makes his way to the door.

"I'll be back shortly. Ring the bell if you need anything, love."

Shutting the door behind himself and leaving a flustered and horny Harry to think about all the meanings of the word love and wonder if he can sneak a quick nap before Louis returns.