Once Upon an Us {Modern AU - ASP Fanfic!!}

⤐ Chapter 3 ⬷

Just like last time, when I awoke, Finny was gone. This time I was in much better spirits, though. I knew I would be going back to our room and, since I slept off the meds from the night before, I was already feeling much better. My mind seemed to be filled with a fresh clarity that wasn't there before.

Dr. Stanpole came in a few minutes later and gave me a checkup. Apparently, I passed, and he left to make a call or something. About half an hour later, Finny arrived in the room with a bright smile on his face. A nurse walked in behind him, detached me from the IV, and told me I was good to go. I was ecstatic to leave.

When I stood up, I noticed that my legs were shaky. "Ah, yes," the nurse said, observing the tremor. "After all that immobility, it might be a little difficult to start walking again. That's why we brought your roommate down to help you!" She smiled brightly and I looked towards Finny.

He let me lean on him as we walked up to our room, Finny catching me up on all the things I missed. "So, basically, we had, like, a trillion exams and we read like a billion chapters of our book, but you're smart so you'll be fine. Also, we learned a bunch of stuff in French, but again, you're smart so it'll be a piece of cake for you!" he rambled on.

Once we finally arrived at our room, I fell face-first onto my bed. Finny fell onto his back and looked at me. I only knew this because I was staring at him. Obviously.

"It's good to be back," I sighed. Then a realization hit me. "Dude! I haven't showered since, like, Tuesday!"

He laughed. "Yeah, I wasn't gonna say anything, but you smell a little."

"Rude!" I scoffed as I sat up and threw a pillow at him. I swiftly got up and grabbed my things and started to walk toward the door. "Do you need any help walking?" he questioned, springing out of his bed, eager to help me.

"No! I can get there just fine myself," I huffed, before stumbling and falling backwards. Finny was rushed over to me and caught me just before I hit the ground. "You sure?"

I sighed and motioned for him to help me and we headed down to the showers. That wasn't even the most embarrassing part. Once we got to the showers, he didn't leave. He stayed outside my shower stall and talked to me for the duration of my shower.

You wouldn't think that would be embarrassing, but it was hard for me to focus on anything with his voice echoing throughout the room. It felt almost too personal for him to be talking to me while I was in the shower, shampooing my hair, and washing my body. But I was, and still am, an overthinker. And, man, was I overthinking.

Once I finished showering and I was dressed, we headed back to our room. My legs were feeling better, but Finny still insisted on helping me.

"So, I'm guessing you don't wanna jump out of the tree again?" Finny said, looking guilty. A chill went through my body as I tried to avoid looking afraid.

"I think I'm ready to jump again," I said, hesitantly. Finny looked shocked. "But, you almost drowned!"

"Well, maybe we could jump together! So that way, when we get to the water you can pull me up. You're strong enough, right?"

"That's a great idea, Gene! A two-person jump! I'll just pull you to the surface and we can jump again!" Finny looked so happy at the idea of us jumping together and I felt so warm inside knowing how much he cared about me.

In retrospect, that probably wasn't my best idea, but I just couldn't lose the one thing I had linking me to Finny. The one thing that was just ours. The jump. The tree. Our jump. Our tree.

"Hey Finny," he looked up at me from the computer as I spoke. "Yeah?" he asked.

"Well, this is kinda random but the thought just crossed my mind." he nodded, wanting me to continue. "So, after I jumped out of the tree, what happened? I know I fell into the water but after that? How did I get out? How am I alive?"

"Well, once you hadn't surfaced for a while, I jumped into the water to save you. Some of the other boys did, too, but I was the one who found you."

"Yeah? And then what?" I persisted.

"Well, I dragged you out of the water and pulled you to the shore," he replied. A slight pink tinged Finny's cheeks as he went on, "When I saw that you weren't breathing, I, uh, gave you CPR. I was trained in it for babysitting. Some of the others went to go get help while I was, um, doing that," he fiddled with his fingers as he spoke and didn't look in my eyes.

I tried not to look surprised or embarrassed, but the only words that I could get out were a simple, "Thank you, Finny."

"Hey, no problem. I'm sure you would've done the same for me!" His confident demeanor was back and I thought I imagined his reaction. "Well, I'm gonna head down to the common room. Wanna come with?" I shook my head "no," and he was gone.

I fell back onto my bed, shocked by what I had learned. I subconsciously brought a hand to my lips before quickly pulling it away. What am I doing? I thought to myself. I must be crazy, that's it. I must be crazy. Still, I couldn't get the thought out of my head for the rest of the day.