I Know It's Hurting You, But It's Killing Me (A7X Fan Fiction)

Chapter Eleven: "Pins and Needles"

            When Lyric woke up and felt an arm wrapped around her waist, she automatically started panicking. She tried to remember the details of the night before, but her pounding headache was making it difficult to think clearly.

            Looking up at the man who was holding her, she smiled when she saw the familiar face of Brian Haner Jr. That was until the memories of their conversation suddenly came to her. She recalled Brian’s suggestion to just be friends for the time being.

            With a frown on her face, she tried to slip out of his grasp without waking him up. Once she successfully did that, she padded into the bathroom in search of painkillers.

            Opening the medicine cabinet hanging on the wall, she searched through various bottles. “Prescription? No. Vitamins? No. Eye drops? No. Nail polish? No,” she said out loud, still searching for Advil. “What the fuck is this?” she questioned, pulling the pill bottle out and examining it. “Pet meds,” she muttered before shoving it back in its rightful place. Then, she finally spotted Advil, and let out a sigh of relief.

            She took two Advil from the bottle, put it back, grabbed one of the paper cups, and then shut the cabinet door. Quickly swallowing the pills, she walked back into the bedroom.

            Brian was still sleeping so Lyric decided she would go downstairs and cook breakfast for the two of them.

            About an hour later, Brian woke up to the smell of eggs and bacon. Stretching, he yawned and got out of bed.

            Not bothering to put pants or a shirt on since it was relatively warm in his house at this hour, he stumbled out of the bedroom, not waiting for his right leg to “wake up” before attempting to walk.

            He winced the “pins and needles” feeling started to fade and was taken over by a painful burning sensation.

            Brian knew better than to try going down the stairs before he regained all of the feeling in his leg and foot again, but his stomach was telling him otherwise. So taking another whiff of the delicious smelling food, he took started down the stairs.

            Of course, he made it no more than the first few steps before he missed a step and fell.

            “Fuck!” Brian screamed at the top of his lungs when he landed at the bottom with a loud thud. He had tired to catch himself, but ended up putting all of his body weight on his arm.

            A few seconds later, Lyric came running, a worried look on her face.

            Seeing Brian sprawled out on the floor, she gasped. “Oh my God. Are you okay?” She asked, becoming all motherly.

            Brian nodded. “I’m fine,” he told her. Using the handrail as leverage, he slowly stood up, but made a face as pain shot through his right arm when he applied pressure. Not wanting Lyric to see he was injured, he immediately smiled at her.

            “See. I’m perfectly fine,” he said, trying to reassure her, but the look on her face told him she wasn’t buying it.

            “If you say so,” she replied, not believing that he wasn’t hurt, but she decided to let it go. She couldn’t make him confess to being injured. “By the way, I made breakfast if you want some,” she said before walking back into the kitchen.

            During breakfast, Lyric noticed Brian was eating with his left hand, but she pretended not to notice. She just continued to eat her own breakfast.