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"so close, yet so far"
tw: mentions of blood
THE GAME HAD finally started. but there were a few mistakes along the way.
the darwin team had showed up 30 minutes late. and their only excuse was that one of their students had an emergency and they had to solve it before they got on the field. everyone on our team was pissed at them for being late and wasting our day.
never mind that, the game was going great and as always lynn was still playing amazingly. i was glued to looking at her, even though i had to look out for the whole team.
the darwin team was nasty and i finally understood why. shoving and pushing players when it wasn't necessary. they were aggressive to the point where i thought the game had to be stopped. they all looked older than then were supposed to be. like they had a mortgage to pay and everything. it seemed like an unfair advantage they had.
as everything seemed like it was going well, a loud thud echoed across the field as one of the darwin players, in a desperate attempt to get the ball, collided with lynn.
"oh shit" the girl stumbled back clutching her nose. the darwin coach blew her whistle and everyone stopped.
the other team stood there looking dumb like it wasn't their fault this happened, not even an apology from them. "foul! aria take her to the nurse's office!" the coach yelled. finally, i thought. i could be doing something useful for the team and it was for lynn.
the girl held her hand under her nose, as she dropped blood on herself. her nose was bleeding a lot.
"lynn are you okay?" we walk out the field. i put my hand on her shoulder as she looks at me. "i'm fine, i'm fine," she insisted, but her voice was shaky, and I could see the pain in her eyes.
"really? that doesn't look good," i replied. "ugh, i hate going to the nurse," she groaned, but she looked at me and we headed to the nurse anyway.
with one arm around her waist for support, i helped her walk across the field. i could feel her leaning into me, and i tried to focus on helping her instead of getting distracted by how close we were.
once we reached the nurse's office, i opened the door, and the nurse looked up, immediately rushing to lynn's side. "what happened?" she asked, concern washing over her face.
"she got hit in the nose during the game," i explained, trying to keep my voice calm.
"okay, let's take a look, it doesn't look that bad," the nurse said, motioning for lynn to sit on the cot. "just take a deep breath," the nurse said, gently examining lynn's nose, wiping away her blood. "it looks like it's just a little bruised, but we'll need to clean it up. have you had any headaches or dizziness?" lynn threw her head back and exhaled.
being there at that moment, made me realize how attractive she was, even if she was all bloody and throwing her head back.
she shook her head, though I could see her wince a little. "no, just a bit sore."
the nurse cleaned the blood away carefully, and i stood there, feeling a bit helpless but wanting to support her. she sat there looking over at me and smiled. i smiled back, while the nurse stood there cleaning up the red matter.
"thanks for coming with me. i appreciate it." my heart warmed from hearing those words. "you didn't have to tell me twice" the nurse finished wrapping a bandage on the top of her nose. "all good. let me just get you an icepack" and the lady left to the back of the office.
i sat next to the girl on the cot, admiring her reddish nose. "hey is it that bad?" she joked, turning her head side to side for me to see her nose. i moved closer to see, even though i could perfectly see from where i was at.
i touched her face, trying to adjust her so i could "see it better". my heart was beating fast by how close we were.
"just a bit red but you'll live" i joked back. "pretty badass though" her eyes met mine as i was still inches from her face.
"yeah?" she spoke barely above a whisper. "yeah"
the urge i had in me to keep looking at her lips was insane but i was able to contain myself. after all right now was the worst time. i bit the inside of my cheek admiring her face. "thanks aria" she whispered again, glancing at my lips. it felt like the walls were closing in on us, as if time stood still. i could sense the space between us getting narrower, as our faces were centimeters apart. it felt like our lips were about to touch but never reaching that goal. i craved for it and wondered if she felt the same way.
"here's that ice pack!" the bubbly nurse came back, breaking our moment. we immediately separated ourselves from each other as she came over and placed the cold pack on her nose. my face felt hot and beaten. i didn't know how i would act when we got out of here. "if your nose starts bleeding again, just put your head back and put the ice pack on it"
"perfect thank you" mumbled lynn as she got off the cot and i followed behind her. we left the nurse's office going back into the cold and empty hallway.
we stayed silent, not knowing what to say after what was about to happen.
i felt her looking at me, while still holding the ice pack on her nose. i looked up at the girl as she looked me up and down. we both knew to smile even though we both knew what was going to happen in there if the nurse had just come a second later.
