Soon Fleur was semi conscious, and surrounding them were bright lights and white flashes. It pained to open their eyes; everything was painful: their head, their arms, every muscle on their body.
Inaudible voice spoke,
"Get her into surgery."
Was all they could make out, before returning to silent darkness.
God knows how long it from then till the first ring on Evelina's phone. Her ring tone sounded and Evelina couldn't bring herself to answer the unknown number. Any moment now Fleur was going to burst through the door with a warm bagel or a box of her favourite cereal and tell her that everything was going to be okay. They would cradle her in their arms until tears ran dry, just like every other time a crisis struck.
The tone cut off. Evelina half laid on the sofa crouching herself into a ball to one end; Kate was in the kitchen talking on the phone, being all happy and giggly, it made her upset- not because other people's happiness made her sad- but because that kind of happiness seemed so beyond her reach.
Then suddenly, mid thought, the phone rang again. Unknown number. Surely it wasn't a coincidence that an unknown number would ring twice, the last time she thought it was a butt dial it brought the worse news of her life, this time she decided that she would answer and face whatever was to be thrown at her from the other end of the phone.
But nothing could've prepared her for this.
"Miss Salvage?" A soft sympathetic voice called her name, "Hello, I am calling on behalf of St Georges Hospital, I am to inform you that Ms Freeman-Thomas has been in a car accident and you are the emergency contact. Are you aware of what I am saying?"
Words couldn't be form, let alone sentences. A quivering "mhmm" escaped her tightly pulled lips.
"We must also inform you that currently, Ms Freeman-Thomas is undergoing surgery and-"
Surgery? Was Fleur going to survive? How did they get into such a horrific car accident in the first place? All these questions rang in Eve's head and soon she was walking around aimlessly wondering of what to do, her breath was heavy and ragged like a broken metronome, the female voice that brought the bad news was muffled repeating "Hello? Hello?" Like a parrot.
Evelina ended call. Kate didn't ask questions when Evelina requested to go to St George's Hospital despite it being a 50 minute drive away. The car journey was quiet except for the held in painful sobs that occasionally escaped Eve's breath.
When they finally arrived Evelina ran towards the entrance of the hospital, Kate following behind her calling at her to slow down before she got herself killed. That just made Evelina ran faster, I have to see them. When she finally made it to the reception she asked for the name of her of her best friend.
Room 521
Room 521
Room 521
Evelina repeated the number in her head and out loud; she followed the signs, but after a while tears welled up in her eyes again and her vision became a blur. No matter how fast she ran, time wouldn't go any quicker . Each breath seemed to take a precious minute and each step seemed even longer, the laws of nature were undoubtably working against her.
The door stood there separating Evelina and Fleur, she had walked up two flights of stairs and she was more out of breath than when she did the Cooper Run secondary school. There was a part of her that didn't want to open the door.
But her right hand grabbed the door handle and opened into the room.
Facing her was a bandaged, and badly bruised person, the bandages were covering their face and Evelina could hardly recognise them. The only reason she knew it was Fleur was because a tuft of dirt blonde hair sticking out of the bandages. She went up to bed, the steady beat of the heart monitor gave her hope that her best friend was going to be alright. She sat on the chair besides the bed and held their hand. It was cold and fragile like a single snowdrop. She carefully placed a small kiss on their fingers and wrapped her fingers around their hand.
The same hand that drew her funny doodles in secondary school. The same hand that had been there for her through all the tough times and all the happy times. The same hand that would've comforted her when her parents didn't accept her for who she was. Through all the lonely times that she thought know one cared about her, and through the times that she was on top of the world. Fleur was there for her all the time, and know she was going to be there for them. Because she loved them, there was no denying it.
Without realising tears started to rain down her face and fell on their entwined hands as the sudden realisation hit her.
She loved them.
She loved Fleur.
She didn't waste another minute, she wanted to express her feelings to Fleur, she wanted them to know. It was now or never.
"Fleur," she began, "I've known you for years. We've been best friends for as long as I can remember. And I can't believe it took me this long to realise this," She paused, gathering as much courage as she could. "But the thing is, I love you. I love everything about you. From the way you scrunch your nose when your drawing to the way you want everything to be perfect. Heck, I even love you when you're an annoying ass person. I love everything about you. Because you're-"
Suddenly the curtain that was next to her drew back to expose a smiling Fleur.
"Really Eve?" they asked, "After all these years being the best friend that was secretly in love you; waiting for you to return the same feelings only for you go and confess your love to stranger right in front of me?" Sarcasm was so thickly intertwined with Fleur's words that Evelina wanted to hit them into a coma.
Her face turned a deep shade of vermillion, before charging at Fleur's gurney and bear hugging them. Both of their hearts couldn't stop pounding, it was as if the world was perfectly in place and no one mattered but them.
Time slowed down and they talked, as if they hadn't seen each other in years. Evelina played with Fleur's leg cast as they chatted and confirmed how they felt about one another. Soon after, the worrying and lack of sleep caught up with Eve and she snuggled into Fleur's arms- forcing the two to fit on a single bed.
Fleur was grateful. As they played with Evelina's hair, whilst she was sleeping, a calm Kate walked in. Fleur laughed a little and placed their fingers to their lips to signal Kate that Evelina was asleep.
A smiling café shop owner placed two rainbow cheesecakes on the table next to the bed and wished the newly born couple the best.
YOU ARE READING
Notre Petit Lieu
Short Story'Notre Petit Lieu' means Our Little Place, dedicated to the idea of having an intimate time with a cup of coffee or a small snack. A small place could lead to finding new people and interests, a café may seem quiet, but it's the small things that le...
