No Plan B

6

My throat and lungs burned. I let out a choking cough and I sat up in my bed. My room was full of smoke, explaining why I felt as if clouds were hanging in my chest. I stood up and began slowly guiding myself through the clouds of smoke. I walked to the kitchen and saw a fire emitting from the room, causing the smoke to grow denser. My coughs got louder and I began looking for a phone.

I walked to the couch and looked for the house phone, coughing every few breaths. My eyes began to fog up, and my head felt light. I thought I would pass out before I got to the phone. As if God had planned, I found the sneaky phone. I quickly dialed the three digits.

The picked up quickly, "9-1-1, what's your emergency?"

I let out a big fit of coughs, "Th-There's a," I coughed harshly "fi-fire."

"Sir, what is your location?"

"991—" I began coughing again. It hurt so much more now. I began to lose consciousness, but I was dedicated to getting the firefighters over, "9917 Colby—" I started coughing again and dropped the phone and my body.

"Sir? Sir are you alright?"

>>

"His heart rate is fading!"

"1-2-3-4-5—!"

I began coughing out clouds. My chest burned terribly and so did my eyes. The lights were too bright for me, so I kept them closed.

"Heart rate stabilizing!"

People were speaking over me and the words slowly cluttered into a big jumble. It gave me a headache, and I wanted out of this room I was in. As I lasted longer in that spot, I felt as if I was moving. A car, I was in a car.

I passed out for some reason. I didn't wake up for another two hours. I was in an even brighter room. I groaned and rubbed my eyes, feeling something tug at my arm. I looked over and saw a needle in my arm, piercing a vein. I heard a small gasp from a feminine voice.

"Connie! You're awake! I'm so sorry that I talked to you so long. You never got a chance to eat, and to add on, your house burnt down and, oh, I just feel like this is all my faul—" Hayley said so quickly that my headache seemed to get worse.

"Hayley-Hayley, cool down. It isn't your fault. It's mine," I eased.

She took a deep breath and she released it, "I, um, called up Matthew. He'll be here soon."

I nodded and rubbed my eyes again my chest felt relieved, and my throat felt scratchy, but I'd recover. I shifted around on the bed and pulled the blanket up to my chin because it was so cold in that room. I had never been in a hospital before, well, for me being injured.

I heard a light knock at the door and Hayley got it. It was Matthew, worry painted across his face. He was suddenly flushed with relief when he saw me live and well. He said a small "hello" before sitting by me. He was acting more timid than usual. I replied back with a "hi".

We began talking softly. Matt kept stuttering, but that was okay. I thought it was kinda cute. Hayley had left because she had work, but Matt stayed. We talked about life, our interests, favorite foods, pretty much everything to know about a person. Soon, it was five in the morning. I was cleared to leave, but to where?

I got in normal clothes that Hayley brought for me. I was gonna spend the night at a hotel for a few until I had enough for an apartment. I allowed Matt back in so that he could drive me to a hotel, he offered.

We were in the car now, Matt was playing his music at a low volume because we were talking, but then it went silent.

"C-Connor," he began, "you wanna stay the n-night at my house? Ju-just until you get enough for an apartment?"

I looked at him. The offer was stupid amazing. I didn't want to accept it, but, to be honest, I'd rather sleep on couch than a rock. So, I accepted, "Yes, it already sounds more comfortable than a hotel."

Matt let out a soft laugh, and I smiled. It was a shy smile, but I couldn't do any better, considering I was almost a burnt marshmallow. We didn't seem to change direction, but we did pass hotels.

It was a calm car ride. Matthew was beating on the steering wheel during the drive to the beat of the song. I could tell he often listening to this station. He looked so happy and excited at the same time. He clearly had something planned.

We arrived at some sort of two story modern house, it looked like it costed about four hundred thousand. This house was obviously too big for a single twenty-five year old. He both got out and Matt led me inside and turned on the lights. "I'd imagine you're exhausted, so for the remaining hours, I'll get you to your room," he said with no stutter. He was clearly confident no that they were on his grounds. The thought of what was planned kinda made my thoughts wander to dark, dirty places.

He led me to a guest bed room and helped me get situated. He let me borrow some of his clothes for pajamas. One weird thing about Matt is that he's the only guy I know that sleeps fully clothed. He wore pajama shorts, a t-shirt that's a little too big and socks. He wore socks to bed. I didn't know anybody that wore socks to bed, but him. I found it somewhat funny, but I didn't tease him for it.

I climbed into the unused bed and sighed. It was very comfortable, and I passed out nearly immediately.

>>>

I woke up to a magnificent smell. I sat up and climbed out of the bed and walked down the stairs to find Matt cooking something involving eggs. I walked down the final steps, rubbing my eyes. I walked into the kitchen and watched as Matt dished around the eggs in the pan and then put them on two plates. He looked up and smiled. "Good morning. I made scramby eggs," Matt showed me the plate, smiling. I grinned and nodded. A pop came from the back "and toast." He slapped the two pieces of bread on the plates and glazed butter over them. He pulled out jelly, jam and syrup from the fridge and set them at the island. "Bon apetit."

My grin began to grow and I sat at the island in front of one of the plates. "This looks amazing, Matt," I complimented as I spread grape jelly on my toast.

Matt grinned just as brightly as he sat down next to me, "But does it taste amazing?" He asked, awaiting my reply. I paused and took a bite of the eggs and toast and gave a content hum.

"Fantastic," I told him and continued eating. Matt let out giddy cheers and began eating his eggs and toast. The morning was nice and quiet as we enjoyed our nice meal.

An alarm went off on Matt's phone. He turned it off. Somehow, we both had just finished once the alarm sounded. "Let's wash our dishes and get outta here," Matt said, standing with his plate and began getting the scraps he didn't get and put his things in the dishwasher.

I nodded and stood up and did the same, "You have an alarm for when you should do your dishes?" I asked him as we began heading out the door.

Matty shrugged as we walked to the car, "Yeah. It makes things a little easier."

I let out a small "hmm" and climbed inside the car so we could go to work.