Hold Me Close

two : the hospital

They made small talk and Riley found out that the man's name is Farkle. She tried her best not to laugh out loud when she heard it. What kind if name is "Farkle" anyway?

Farkle would check up on her every couple of minutes to ask her how was the pain or if she needed anything.

"Can I have the address of the hospital we're going to," Riley asks while taking out her phone. "I have to call my friend and let her know."

After Farkle gives her the address, Riley dials the number.

"Hi honey," Maya says on the other end.

"Peaches." Riley smiles to herself but then she remembers she's in a car with a stranger which means now is not the time be herself. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and that little bit of movement caused her leg to throb.

"I'm going to be a little late coming home," Riley tells her. "I got in a little accident."

"What do you mean," Maya asks worriedly. If anything happened to her bright ray of sunshine, she wouldn't hesitate to murder.

"Nothing major. We'll see how the big the injury is soon enough."

"Injury? Tell me where you're going. I'll be on my way."

Riley gives her the hospital address before hanging up. She sighs and tries to ignore the intense pain in her leg. She leans her head back against the headrest, closes her eyes and tries to relax, but relaxing doesn't come easy for Riley.

Farkle taps her shoulder after he parks the car. Riley opens her eyes and turns her head toward him.

"Alright," she sighs. "Let's get this over with. I have important things to do today."

"Do you want me to carry you," Farkle asks. "I won't mind."

Riley shakes her head and opens the car door. "No, no. It's fine. I'm sure I can manage now." She swings her legs out of the car and gently presses them to the ground. That does nothing much since there are still pings of pain shooting up her leg. Riley groans quietly and exhales a deep breath.

"You okay, Riley," Farkle asks on the other side.

Riley turns around and flashes one of her big smiles. "Just peachy." She gives him a thumbs up before trying to stand again.

When she does, her injured leg wobbles and Riley yelps in pain. "Nope. Bad idea, bad idea." Farkle quickly goes to Riley but she has already fallen to her knees.

She looks up at Farkle and smiles meekly. She raises her arms as if she were a child and mumbles, "Carry me."

Farkle chuckles softly and lifts Riley up into his arms.

***

"She just has a shin splint," the doctor says to both Riley and Farkle. "Nothing major."

After Farkle checked in and waited for what felt like an eternity, they were called to go into a room to do more waiting. When the doctor finally arrived, he asked questions, which Farkle let Riley do all the answering for. Probably a bad idea since Riley was quite annoyed and she just wanted to go home to her books already. Riley would feel better if Maya were there and it added to Riley's salty mood that she wasn't there yet.

After a while, the doctor concluded that all Riley had was a shin splint; she had just pulled a muscle. Painful as hell but easily treatable and only lasts to, at most, a day. Farkle almost laughed but decided he'd rather not judging by Riley's glaring.

"I'll go retrieve the medical tape to wrap it. Stay put," the doctor informs Riley.

"Where else am I gonna go," she asks sarcastically.

Just as soon as the doctor leaves, Farkle walks over to the bed and sits right next to Riley. "Sorry about all of this."

Riley rolls her eyes. "Look, we can do this all day. I'm sorry. You're sorry."

Farkle laughs. "You don't have to buy me a new camera, you know."

"Yes I do. I broke it, I should pay for the damages."

"All I need is this memory card." Farkle takes the card out of pocket and holds it up to show Riley. "This is very important to me."

Riley takes it from him and has it in the palm of her hand. How can something so small be so significant. "What's on this thing, anyway?"

There's a pause, a short one, but still a pause. Farkle takes the memory card back from her and places it in his pocket.

"Well," Riley says. She looks up at him and is surprised to see him looking right back at her.

"Let's just say I love taking pictures of beautiful things."

There's a moment where neither of them says anything; they just stare and there's something. Riley isn't really sure what it is or why her heart is beating slightly faster than it was before, but she's sure she can feel something. She wonders whether it's just her or if Farkle can feel it as well.

"Riley!" Maya barges into the room suddenly. When she notices Riley, she sighs in relief and smiles.

"Maya," Riley cheers.

Maya pinches Riley's cheeks. "I'm glad you're okay, pumpkin." Maya looks down at Riley's leg and frowns in disgust when she sees it's red and swollen. "Who would do this to my smiley Riley?"

"It was an accident," Farkle protests.

Maya slowly turns to face Farkle, her facial expression an unpleasing frown. Without any sort of warning, she yanks Farkle from the bed by the collar of his shirt and pulls him close to her.

"Maya,"Riley exclaims.

Maya ignore Riley's plea. "What'd you do to my girl," Maya threatens Farkle. "Why would you hurt my girl? You'll regret that decision soon enough."

"Maya stop! Let him go," Riley pleads. "He said it was an accident! Besides, this was my fault. I'm the super klutz. Remember?"

Farkle squirms in Maya's grasp and she cocks an eyebrow at him in amusement. "Fine," she grumbles before releasing him. "You got lucky."

The doctor enters a moment later with the tape. He quickly wraps Riley's leg and gives her simple instructions. Don't put a lot of pressure on it and apply ice to ease the pain. She should be good as new by tomorrow.

And that was that.

Maya and Farkle helped Riley walk all the back outside until Maya pulled Riley closer to her so Farkle couldn't hold on anymore.

"I'll take it from here, thank you very much," Maya says bluntly.

"Maya, be nice," Riley mumbles. "Thanks again, Farkle."

Before Farkle had a chance to respond, Maya pulled Riley away to her car. Once they were both in Maya scoffs. "What the hell kind of name is Farkle?"

Riley laughs. "That's exactly what I was thinking!"