In Omnia Paratus (AU) - Book 2

Up and Away

"Why was he parachuting?" Lily asked a little stunned by what we had heard from his university friends. It was a shock to all of us except me really, I knew he had done something stupid.

"Richard and I have an agreement not to talk about it since an incident back when I first joined Ashford. He's part of a group, some group of friends or to me enemies anyway. They were involved in that whole thing at the club..."

"When you got beat up pretty bad?" Matt asked.

"Uh huh. i said not very impressed that he had remembered that and that he said it aloud. "So they were a group of snotty rich kids and they would fly away on private jets and jump out of planes or go deep sea diving on 'daddy's boat' they called themselves The up and away. The name meaning they were always up in the air and going anywhere but here." I explained.

"How did we never know about this?" Lily asked a little shocked.

"It was a secret. The whole thing was of course. Nobody outside the group knew who was in the group and it was pretty secretive." I nodded.

"Wow."

"Yeah, well I never approved. When I first found out about the whole thing I told him to never speak to me about it and he didn't. It angered me so much that we just ignored it when he said he was going away with his parents when really he was going to jump out of a plane. Then I got pregnant and he left the group. Of course he must have joined again when she died." I tried to summarise the whole thing for them.

"I can't believe you didn't tell us till now. You love a bit of gossip." Matt scoffed.

"I ignored it. To me it didn't even exist." I shrugged.

"So, you know who was in this group?" Lily wondered.

"Lots. I know Honour was which was what pissed me off as well." I sighed. "I assume that his roommates also are a part of this group."

We looked over at the three of them. The two boys laughing and chatting away as if nothing was wrong at all. I couldn't take it much longer.

"They're so annoying." Lily moaned.

"Hold on a sec." I said standing up angrily. "What the hell is wrong with you two? Your friend is lying unconscious in a hospital, and you don't even care."

"Well..."

"Why the hell aren't you two lying unconscious in there, huh?" I yelled but nobody was around so it was alright, I was just making a scene in front of us not any strangers.

"Come on... Jenna." The other went quiet.

"You don't care, because if you did, you wouldn't be like this. You couldn't. You're supposed have his back you're supposed to watch out for each other on these stupid trips of yours. But no, everything's a big joke. Everything's hilarious. You're useless. Just go home. He won't even want to see you." I snapped giving up completely from even trying to reason with them. I was stressed and I had no patience for people like that.

They sulked off down the corridor. The girl got up and apologised and then left also, she probably would help them get home as they were probably drunk and couldn't drive so had to find another way.

"Well well." Matt hummed.

"I can't stand people like that. Being in hospital is serious." I grunted sitting back down and then suddenly the door opened and sat up straight.

"Jenna? Richards awake and stable so you can see him now. Maybe just the one of you though if that's alright?" A nurse said and I stood up and smiled.

"See you later Jen." Lily smiled grabbing my hand and smiling up at me before I walked out with the nurse.

- - - - -

"Right so I'll just explain briefly what's happened as I assume you haven't been told much." The nurse smiled at me as we walked on.

"I've been told nothing." I shrugged.

"So he was bleeding internally when they brought him in, and we were worried about the oxygen levels in his blood, but he's stabilized now, and they're back up to normal, so that's no longer a concern. He was also running a high fever, so we put him on some antibiotics. He has a partially collapsed lung..."

"Oh--"

"...Six broken ribs, a broken ankle, and a severe concussion. He had surgery for the lung, and that went well. They did a quick procedure, where whey make a couple of small incisions in the chest. Then they put a tube into the lung to drain the fluid from the lung." The nurse explained.

"I've had a collapse lung before it's not nice." I nodded.

"No, it's really not." She sighed. "It's serious but he's stable now."

"Alright can I see him?" I asked.

"Yeah just through here." The nurse directed me through the door and I walked in terrified.

- - - - -

I'd never seen Richard like this. Weak. The state of him laid on this bed and dried blood on his forehead and his eyes only half open. He was never ill, he was always the healthy one and suddenly he needed looking after.

"Hey." I said sitting down beside him.

"Hey." He smiled and his voice sounded rough and dry.

"You're awake. I was afraid that wasn't going to happen." I shrugged.

"Yep. It looks worse than it is I promise." He tried to reassure me but the fact he took twice as long to say that sentence that he usually would, already worried me a lot.

It went quiet between us. The elephant in the room was doing dance and neither of us wanted to acknowledge it. I couldn't think let alone talk to him at the moment. This was worrying me so much, I didn't know what to do.

"I'm so sorry about all this." Richard suddenly blurted out.

"It's okay." I nodded.

"No, it's not okay. I was showing off. I knew it wasn't safe from that cliff. I was so drunk, I was lucky I pulled my chute at all." He sighed.

"But you're going to be fine, and I will be here as long as you want me to be. I've located the gift shop and the good cafeteria, "good" being a relative term." I joked and smiled.

"But exams--"

"Richard I finished my last exam three days ago." I sighed.

"Oh. Well I'm glad you're here." Richard smiled up at me and leant forward and grabbed his hand. It was bruised and probably had blood on it but I grabbed it anyway and held it for while as he fell asleep probably exhausted.