Recovery (Sequel to Been You)

Chapter 1: Catch Up With Me

ELYSANDRA'S POV:

I'm laying in a hospital bed in an all white room. My head is throbbing despite the extensive pain medication I know I must be on right now. Everything is blurry and the nurse told me I should be resting, but how can anyone rest when they feel as lost I do. I have no idea how I got here and this unknowing feeling is so uncomfortable, I can't stop asking Justin questions. He's about the only thing that I recognize. I don't even recognize myself. I caught my reflection going to the bathroom this morning and almost startled myself. My hair is darker, my face is rounder, and most frightening of all: I have a huge gash in my forehead.

Now, Justin is in my hospital room catching me up. There's a crowd of people outside my hospital room, but I don't recognize anyone. What are they doing here? They must be Justin's friends. He's always been a social butterfly, I know that. I need to know how, where, why I'm here. "What's the last thing you remember?" Justin asks me, probably unsure where to start. I consider this for a moment. Images flash through my mind.

"We're in your room. Your mom is downstairs making us spaghetti. We're packing up your stuff. I'm not sure what for. You ask me if it'd be weird to bring your poster of Beyoncé in a bikini with you. And that's it. I don't remember what I said, but I really hope you didn't because that is really freaking weird," I answer. He pinches the bridge of his nose. He's smiling, but his eyes are sad.

"We were packing for university. You did say it was weird, so I didn't pack it. But you brought it for me anyway. We hung it inside my closet to save me the embarrassment," Justin recaps, laughing wryly. I laugh too, hurting my head. Wait.

"We're in college?" I exclaim.

"Yeah, babe. We're in college," he answers. Babe? That's new. "I'm on the hockey team, and uh... you're not gonna believe this."

"What?" I ask curiously.

"You're a cheerleader."

"No freaking way! You're kidding!" I exclaim. What the hell? Who am I?

"That's actually how you," he stops pointing to his forehead. Oh. "Your first performance was today. You were gonna cheer at my game, but your skates were too loose," he explains.

"I was skating?" I don't know how to skate! Who let me do this?

"The guys and I taught you."

"What guys?" I ask. This is like a movie! This is so wild. Where's my popcorn?

"The guys on the hockey team," Justin answers as if I should know this. "Damn, you really did a number on yourself, baby." There it is again.

"Why do you keep calling me that? Is that something we do now?" I wonder.

"Umm," he laughs to himself, "we're kinda... We're in love. You and I have been dating for two months. You're my girlfr-"

"Okay, okay, stop," I interrupt. "We're," I confirm, gesturing between him and myself, "together?" Justin nods. I burst into laughter. What? Me? With Justin? What the fuck? When I see that his face is hurt I start to realize he may not be joking. "You're serious?" I ask softly. He nods again, bringing out his phone. He opens our text history. The messages range from sweet and romantic to raunchy and sexual. I open his camera roll, which is full of pictures of myself that I don't recognize. Oh lord.

"Ely... I know this is a shock, but we love each other. We had plans to get married, and have kids, and -"

"Justin, stop. I do love you. You're my best friend. But... I don't feel that way about you. You're great and attractive, don't get me wrong. But I've seen the way you are with girls. I don't know what happened to me where I thought it was a good idea to become a cheerleader and date you and... all of these things that I would never do, but that's not me, dude. I'm sorry, but I'd never risk my best and only friend by dating you. Without you, I have no one. I'd be alone. I can't lose you like that. You'd break my heart and you know it."

Justin looks at me with tear filled eyes and I suddenly feel bad. This is so unlike him. To cry? Over a girl? Over me? I'm not even his type. I open my mouth to apologize, but he speaks before I do. "I'm gonna go eat, I'll be back later," he rushes out, his voice breaking. He's out of the room before I can try to stop him. I rest my head back on my pillow. Shit.