Reaching for Rebecca

Chapter 18

RYAN'S POV

I don't know how long she was crying in my arms, but I felt the exact moment when she fell asleep. I knew she was exhausted and telling me about her past didn't help. I pulled away a little and wiped what was left of her tears away while she slept. Her face finally looked peaceful, like last night, only this time she wasn't under a heavy sedative. It's no wonder she is so strong: she's been through so much before even dealing with that Kirk asshole.

I watched her sleep for a few minutes before realizing that was probably a creepy thing to do so I whipped out my phone to check my texts. I only had one from Matt, a few from Landon, and one from Mason.

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|Ryan Bradley > Matt - 3:02pm|
Received: Make sure Becca's drinking a lot of water and resting so the swelling goes down quicker. She might feel a little lightheaded as an aftereffect of the meds she was on too. I set up an appointment to get her stitches removed next Saturday. Let me know if anything seems out of the ordinary...
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I roll my eyes even though I'm thankful for my brother dropping everything to help a girl I just met. He seemed to understand her importance to me quite quickly without asking questions. That's why I secretly preferred Matt over Mike... Mike was obnoxious and always had to know your business while Matt just seemed to take your word or understand immediately and didn't question it.

I flipped to the next few texts from Landon. The first one came after he left Becca's hospital room last night and the later ones were from lunchtime which was obviously spent in school.

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|Ryan Bradley > Lan - 3:04pm|
Received: Let me know how she's doing when you get a chance.
Received: Hopefully everything went well and Becca gets released today like planned. Keep me updated...
Received: PS Mason has been interrogating me all day. I'm not sure what you have told him or want him to know so I told him to text you.
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I sent him a reply saying Becca is doing good and we are at home but I would call him later. Then I flipped to the last text which was from Mason.

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|Ryan Bradley > Mason - 3:07pm|
Received: Dude what's going on? Coach is starting to ask questions about you missing so many practices. Since you aren't at school today I will tell him you got the flu but text me bro.
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I decide to reply right away. Mason is a good friend and even though I haven't known him nearly as long as I've known Landon, I trust him one hundred percent. I just promised Becca I wouldn't tell anyone else about her situation though.

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|Ryan Bradley > Mason - 3:08pm|
Sent: Hey, I will explain everything soon... Thanks for talking to coach for me too.
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Looking over, I see Becca's beautiful face still resting. Alex will be home from practice soon so I text him to keep quiet on his way in. Our parents never get home until later in the evening so we usually eat dinner together and watch TV but that might have to wait today.

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|Ryan Bradley > Alex - 3:10pm|
Sent: Hey bro. Becca is over but she's sleeping so please be quiet when you get home.
Received: Ok.
Sent: Let me know when you get here and I will explain.
Received: Ryan, mom already told me that Becca was in the hospital. I asked where you were yesterday and that's all she said.
Received: You don't have to explain anything - I hope she's okay though.
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I smiled. My baby brother is such a grown up! I'll talk to him truthfully without breaking my promise to Becca: he doesn't need the entire story but he deserves to know something.

I look back to Becca and brush some stray hair away from her face. It's still but in a messy knot on top of her head from the lack of hospital conditioner but some had escaped throughout the day. I'm embarrassingly admiring her when my phone vibrates loudly on the shelf beside my bed causing her to stir.