Brightside | ✓

34 | with a little help from my friends

Eddie had been having a bad day before Rush punched her so hard she fell flat on her ass.

He hit harder when he was unfocused—she had already been late for practice because she couldn't focus on anything that morning. To the point that Axel had offered her some of his Adderall and Eddie had to search whether that would actually kick in right away. (The answer was no.) (Also, don't take other people's drugs.)

All she could be thankful for was her mouthguard keeping her teeth from clashing together. The explosive pain in her jaw that came after made her stay down. He stood beside her while Coach assessed her. She didn't like the look he was giving her. In the midst of her pain management, she was pretty sure she told Coach to fuck off and Rush had quickly steered her out of the gym with the promise he'd drive safe.

At least Rush drove her to the hospital quickly. Someone else might've gotten a speeding ticket for their troubles, but not Rush Tua. It didn't take long for them to throw an ice pack at Eddie to keep the swelling down, but the couple hours that passed in the second room they were brought to felt like decades. Eddie hated hospitals. She hated sitting on a bed that she knew was clean but someone might've previously died on. (Maybe she could've texted Everleigh and asked what those odds were.)

"I'm sorry for what I said about hurting Axel."

Eddie looked at him. Those were the first words he'd spoken to her since he'd hit her. The car ride had been deathly silent and severely lacking his favourite female popstars blaring from the radio.

"That wasn't cool," Rush said. "And I don't want you to think that this happened because I was mad at you, or something—I didn't mean for this to happen either."

"Comes with the job." Eddie winced at each word that came out. The tightness on the right side made her feel like her jaw was fighting against being opened. The fact it could still move had made Coach rule out lockjaw before they even left the gym.

"That doesn't mean I want to hurt you—"

"Remember last year—" Eddie stopped to replace the ice on her cheek. It had been at least 20 minutes since she last had it on. It was starting to melt in the absence of a doctor. "—when I broke your nose?"

"We hadn't gotten into an argument before that," Rush said.

"You really feel bad, huh?"

"Well, I don't feel great about getting you hurt, Eds," Rush said. He stayed glued to their conversation despite how quickly his thumbs moved on his phone. "Who do you think I am?"

"Who're you texting?"

"Your boyfriend."

"He's not my—and I don't need him to come here."

Rush let out a weak laugh. "I was asking if he could pick up Laki from school. And you don't think he's going to come running here the moment he figures out where we are?"

"Don't tell him."

"He has me on Find my Phone and why the hell else wouldn't I go pick my own kid up from school?"

"Tell him you're drunk."

"At a hospital?"

"Alcohol poisoning, I don't know—"

"It's three o'clock on a Wednesday—"

"It's better than having him here—"