Her Brother's Best Friend - Aching Hearts Series #2

Chapter 38 - Faults

CHAPTER 38 - FAULTS

Vanessa sat there, on the hospital bed, wearing one of her infamous mischievous grins, as if nothing had happened, as if she had indeed been sleeping only and was just about waking. She perused each of them, her big grey eyes zeroing on, on every single one of their features, till her grin faded in favor of a halfhearted frown as she tilted her head to the side while she blinked. "You guys look like crap."

Only the nurses let out a small laugh, though, the three people in question were too busy staring at the bed as if seeing a ghost. After two entire months of, respectively, grieving, co-grieving on a different level, and wallowing in sorrowful ignorance and rage, Emily, Riley and Jason couldn't believe their eyes. Those pairs of browns, forest greens and chocolate browns were fixated on the girl sitting on that hospital bed as if she'd indeed just woken from a long nap they'd interrupted with their fighting. It felt surreal.

In truth, Vanessa remembered all too well what happened, she didn't quite know how long had passed since then, but she did remember the blows and the horrible feeling, she remembered every single one of those excruciating 20 minutes, she'd counted them on purpose, to focus on something else other than that pain, she recalled the ache all too well, she almost expected to feel it between her thighs and all over her body, but other than slight soreness, her bones seemed weirdly fine.

That would be because in two months they had healed, the sole thing missing was the usage of them, which had made them feel sore indeed, but it was nothing to bother, just a bit of physiotherapy to get re-accustomed to moving her articulations would be perfectly sufficient for her to go back to her normalcy. However, a couple of scars here and there would remain, those that had cut deeper into her flesh, but Vanessa was far from thinking about it right now, actually, as of this moment, she truly couldn't care less about the details of her state, as of this moment, all she could see were those bewildered faces.

Nothing against Riley, but, if she had to be honest, when she grinned widely and spread her arms, implicitly requesting a big hug, she was silently calling for two people in particular. Only one responded, though, even betraying her own posed and impassive nature, at least enough to throw herself into her best friend's arms, not even caring about her eyes hurting as she shed her residual tears, hiding her face behind Vanessa's neck.

Vanessa who grinned wider, even while sort of grimacing, because she was a tad bit weak, after all that time spent lying in a bed unconscious, but she did hug Emily back, rubbing her scalp soothingly, more touched than surprised at her tears, because she knew her best friend enough to be sure she had cried a lot, however long the period had been.

"Hey ... Em, I'm fine." Curious how, she was the one that had undergone such heavy "incident", if so we want to call it, yet Vanessa ought to console Emily instead, who'd restarted being a flood. Apparently, the girl had consumed in two months all the tears she hasn't used up throughout her 18 years of life. Although, this type of outburst was better than the one Riley had had to endure those months, this one wasn't pained, filled with guilt, sorrow and grief, this one was filled with relief, bewilderment and even joy, because her Vane was finally back to life.

Vanessa, from her part, wasn't entirely focused on consoling her best friend, better said, she was, but the movements of her hands as she rubbed Emily's scalp and back were a little unconscious, distracted, seeing as her grey eyes focused on a pair of chocolate browns that were still so fixated on her that it seemed she was the sole thing existing in the whole universe right this moment. And she had no trouble believing that.

Jason, from his part, would never admit it, but he was overwhelmed by the too many emotions, so overwhelmed that, Vanessa was surprised to notice, his Adam apple bobbed dangerously, even underneath the thick layer of beard he'd been growing. "You're gonna cry?" She mouthed, wanting to tease him, just so he would cheer up, but it was too late, his chocolate brown eyes did gleam with unshed tears, and it took him all his strength and power of will not to give in, so that there Jason stood, clenching his fists, gritting his teeth, to disguise the fact that, simply, he was getting emotional. Over his girlfriend waking from a coma, it was pretty due, wasn't it? Not for him.