Love and Angels

seventeen

Kass

No one can explain exactly what happened. Laney's face is a wealth of black, blue, and yellow, not to mention her left cheek is swollen to twice its size, but she landed on her right. That's easy to tell from her hair matted with blood and the bandage that's been wrapped around over a thick piece of gauze.

They could've at least cleaned up the blood a little better.

The nurse knocks on the door before she walks in, holding a rag and a bowl of warm water. She hands it over to me.

"Thank you," I tell her, and she leaves without a word.

Dipping the rag in the bowl, I attempt to clean her hair as best I can. Parts of the blood-caked strands are completely covered by the bandage, and I'm not going to mess with that. I saw what it looked like the last time they cleaned the wound. You'd think they could've cleaned the hair around it, too.

The water is a light shade of pink when I'm finished, and I use the rag to lightly wash her face. It's not really dirty, from what I can tell. Her face has been cleaned, but I hope the coolness from the rag will feel nice on the swollen flesh.

I kiss her on the forehead and place the bowl and rag in the sink after rinsing them out. Just as I turn to go back to my spot in the uncomfortable leather chair, Laney's parents walk in, carrying a bag of food for me.

"They finally cleaned the gunk out of her hair?" Laney's dad asks, staring at the face of his beautiful little girl.

I shake my head. "I asked them to bring me something to clean it with."

His gaze moves to mine and he nods his head in understanding. Laney's mom hands me the bag of food.

"Sit down and eat. She wouldn't want you starving yourself while here."

I nod, taking the bag from her. My parents have been here a couple of times to visit with Laney's parents and to attempt to get me to come home. They haven't succeeded on that one yet. She's only been here a few nights—and I probably stink from my lack of showering—but no one has complained, so I don't plan to leave any time soon.

***

My hand rests firmly in Laney's as I doze in the chair beside her hospital bed. Her fingers squeeze mine, and my eyes pop wide open as I sit up abruptly. I stare into the face of the girl I love as she opens her eyes for the first time in three days. A smile plays on her lips. Well, half a smile since one side of her face is too swollen to tell.

"Hey," she croaks.

"Hey," I voice quietly as I brush a stray hair from her face.

She tries to sit up and I grab under her arms to help her. Aside from her head, she doesn't have any major injuries on her body, mostly scrapes and bruises. She winces as I move her up the bed.

Laney looks around the room and back to me. "Was someone else here?"

My brows furrow. "Just our parents and me... Well, and the doctors and nurses."

She shakes her head but stops, putting her hand to her temple. "I could've sworn I heard someone talking."

I shrug. "Maybe you just heard us."

Laney sighs. "Yeah, I guess you're right."