Too Young To Fall In Love

Was it a Dream?

I open my eyes to a brightly lit room. As my eyes adjust I see my l suspended in the air, no. I see Ava sitting at the end on the bed, painting the toes of my gimp leg.

"What the hell are you doing?" I wonder.

"Painting your toes." She answers simple. "How are you feeling?"

"I want to put on real clothes." I say and I start to tug on the IVs. "And to be unplugged, I think I'm done charging." Ava holds up my gym bag.

"I've got you covered for clothes, I'll go and get a nurse." My twin tells me.

Within ten minutes, I'm unplugged and wearing a pair of jean shorts and a KISS shirt. My leg isn't suspended anymore and it's in a brace. Twin sits beside me on the bed and I look over to her.

"None of this was a dream, right?" I wonder and she frowns.

"Afraid not." Ava says and I sigh.

"What about Nikki?" I wonder. "Was that a dream?"

"What about Nikki?" She asks confused.

"He called me Sleeping Beauty and kissed my forehead. Was he in here?" I wonder and she nods.

"He was in here but I don't know about that." Ava admits.

"Probably just a dream." I say, although I was hoping otherwise. "Where is everyone anyways?"

"Oh shit, I guess I should tell them you're awake." Ava laughs. "I'll be right back."

I watch as Ava leaves the room. I grip the sheets and hope the doctor doesn't walk in. Doctors don't sit well with me, let's just leave it at that. The door opens again and the first one in is Tommy. He runs over to me and hugs me tightly.

"You're okay, right?" He says not letting go of me.

"Other than the fact that you're crushing my shoulders." I say and he lets got.

"Oops, sorry." Tommy scratches the back of his neck.

Amanda, Mick, Vince, and Nikki all take their turns nearly crushing me and asking me if I'm alright. They all look insanely tired and like they need sleep.

"You guys look like hell." I say and they smile. "And that's coming from me and I got my ass kicked for an hour before coming here."

"You had us all worried, Princess." Vince tells me and I shrug.

"I'm going to be fine." I say and they all go quiet. "What's wrong?"

They all trip over answers but in the end all say nothing.

"Bullshit, what aren't you telling me?" I wonder.

"Evie, the doctors are saying you might not play again." Tommy tells me.

My heart breaks into a million pieces. Rugby is my life, the reason I wake up in the morning, the reason I'm still alive. I can't picture my life without it. This has to be a dream, that's all it is, a nightmare. I'm going to wake up and everything is going to be fine. I'll just pinch myself and wake up.....nothing.

I keep doing it until my wrist hurts, it's not a dream. This is real life. I may never play rugby again. I swallow the lump in my throat and look up at everyone, they all look back at me. I smile.

"At least I don't have to worry about colleges." I half smile and they all agree. "Does mom and dad know?"

"Yeah." Tommy laughs. "You're going to get an earful. They're pissed."

"This is going to be fun. When can I go home?" I wonder and Mick goes to get the doctor.

I have to stay overnight for observations and I tell everyone to go home and get some sleep. Ava and Tommy are going to stay the night here. Tommy had asked me if I was hungry (which I always am), and he went out to get me McDonalds.

"You're the best brother ever." I say as he comes in with enough food to feed a small army.

"I know." Tommy says with a huge smile.

Tommy sits between us and holds onto the biggest McDonalds bag I've ever seen. We eat the contents and stay sitting like this. We eventually fall asleep like that, our heads on our big brother's shoulders.