Another Love Story

Chapter 4 (Serina)

"Damn...cow." He mumbled slowly, eyes still closed.

I looked over at him, a new flash of anger passing through me. Alright, keep it calm Serina. It was an accident. I had to keep reminding myself that to keep my head on my shoulders. It was an accident. Nobody gets into a vehicle with the intent of crashing it. I had been waiting in this room for four hours now, and my anger towards the whole situation was still just as fresh. He had alcohol in his system and so did Reagan. He put Reagan through a lot of danger. I couldn't excuse that level of carelessness with my...friend.

I tried my hardest to purge the questions out of my mind. But they were burning hotter than my anger was, and I knew it was a matter of time before the dam of questions burst out onto its unsuspecting victim. 

I crossed over the small room to his bed. Ethan was awake now. Aware of where he was, and drugs wearing off quickly. He saw the look on my face and immediately snapped from his drowsiness to reality. I must have had a look out to kill, because he went rigid, looking around to gauge how likely it was that he could escape.

I said, "We need to talk." He attempted to get out of the hospital bed, but was hard pressed to do it with his broken leg. He winced and groaned, grabbing at the cast that was holding his leg straight. If he was in that much pain then, he had a lot to look forward to in the near future. The thought didn't really comfort me, no matter how mad I was at him. I didn't like seeing people in this amount of pain, especially not a person who I used to be close with.

"Sit down it's just a talk," I stated, and pushed him back against the pillow, more forcefully than I probably should have. Reign in your anger, Serina. I took a deep breath and straightened my shoulders. I really didn't want to hurt a patient in a hospital, although it sounded pretty tempting.

He smiled politely back at me, having no other option but to take control of his own emotions. His convincing grin sparked another wave of anger, so I diverted my stare to out of some window to my right. It was probably courteous of me, not glaring daggers at him. He shifted in the bed while I collected my thoughts and calmed my nerves. I wondered if my words or lack of were more intimidating. I returned my attention to him and he flinched slightly. He wasn't smiling any longer. Definitely my lack of words.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" It was the question I wanted to ask for hours now, but I didn't actually want an answer. "Why the hell were you two alone so far away from town, and why the fuck  were you both intoxicated??" He turned red, obviously not expecting this onslaught of questions. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know any of the answers. If Reagan and Ethan were hooking up, especially like this, I didn't know how I would be able to handle the information. Why else would they be alone and both of them drunk? I swallowed hard, my vision suddenly tinging red.

"Serina, it really isn't what it looks like," He answered, his eyes pleading with me to come back from whatever other plane of anger I had just entered. "We both needed some time to not think, that was all. We didn't do anything stupid."

His words were beginning to calm me until that last sentence. "You ignorant asshole you did do something stupid! You were driving a motorcycle drunk!" I was speaking louder than I intended, Reagan was in the bed adjacent to Ethan's, and I really wanted her to sleep as much as she could. I leaned in closer and lowered my voice, "And Reagan was on the back of it." I drove the sentence in hard, hoping he understood exactly how angry I was at his stupidity.

Something Reagan did not expect: Ethan's face turned from lectured puppy, to defensive and angry. He had no right to be angry at me for speaking the truth. I opened my mouth to say just that.

"You have no idea what happened, Serina!" He matched the anger in my tone, cutting me off before I could lecture him further. "I told her we couldn't drive in those conditions, I told her we had to wait." He was balling his fists at his sides, but I noticed that tears were also forming in his desperate eyes. He hesitated before he spoke up again. "She was going to walk home in the 20 degree weather without a jacket if I hadn't intervened," he was trying hard to keep his voice level, but it was shaking slightly anyway.