Falling For Your Antics (Editing)

Chapter 9- I Swear, You Were Wired Wrong

'WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?' I wrote in all capital letters, repeating myself. I had no idea why he out of all people was there, standing next to my hospital bed with some emotion I couldn't quite register displayed on his face. What was it? Concern? I thought to myself. He grasped a bouquet of pink roses in his right hand.

His eyes darted around the room, possibly trying to find an explanation to my question. A few seconds passed by, and I crossed my arms and drummed my fingers in anticipation of his answer. Finally seeming to have found one, he replied, "I heard what happened to you."

My eyes threatened to bulge out of their sockets, my face in a state of shock. I wrote again, 'What? How?!'

If he knew about it, him out of all people, that meant every one in my school had to know, too.

Seeing my panicked expression, he quickly added, "No! It's not like that, Rowan told me."

Abandoning my initial thoughts, I started to think about why she would tell him. 'You still haven't answered my question,' I wrote, not understanding why River was there at all.

Worry glazed over his eyes at the sight of me, and he sadly trailed them from my head, to my feet under the hospital blanket, and back again. Walking over to the gifts at the opposite side of the room sitting on top of a cabinet, he started to put the roses he brought me inside a delicate vase of water.

"What happened?" He asked, his back to me as his arrangement of the roses faltered..

His question confused me as he turned around to face me. With a furrowed brow, I licked my lips in concentration as I wrote, 'I thought you said Rowan told you? Or am I just going crazy.' The confusion had started to give me a headache.

He continued to cut the roses' stems and placed them in the vase before he replied. "I know what happened, something about an attacker, an anonymous person..." His eyes met mine. "But, I'm asking you what really happened."

I tried to not let the fear of the situation creep onto my face, but the instant his face turned hard I realised I had failed miserably.

"Who was it?" He rushed over to me, sitting in the chair beside my bed. "What bastard did this to you?"

I knew straight away I had completely misread the situation, that instead of River visiting me in hospital out of concern, he was only here to see who could do such damage. Because to him, if someone was dangerous, then he would have the opportunity to practice his boxing skills on them, which was one of the many sports he had mastered. How stupid, I'd thought to myself. This prick hasn't changed his selfish ways at all. Yet again, River was out for himself, again.

'Like I said', I wrote stiffly, staring back at him with cold eyes to extinguish the anger in his eyes that were burning into mine, 'they were anonymous.'

He didn't seem to buy it, but I didn't really care. Who was he to think he could take advantage of me in one of my weakest moments? And to think I had actually been close with this self-motivated person in the past, that he had turned to me when he was hurt over his break-up, and I helped him without a thought. However, luck seemed to have been on my side for once, as Rowan threw the door open and came in singing.

"I've got you some soup!"

Relief washed away all previous tension in my body, and I smiled brightly.

I clapped my hands in joy as she walked over and placed the bowl on a tray, placing it on my lap with a spoon.

"River?" she eyed him as she took a seat opposite him, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "what are you doing here?"