The Story of Us

Ch. 11 Numb

Ch. 11 Numb

 I drift in between reality and my dreaming world.

 I am unaware of time as it passes, but I feel sensations. A car whizzing across the road. A violent, jittery stop. Gentle but strong arms carrying me out of a car, and the swish of clothing. A soft bed underneath my body. Something cool being lain down on my forehead. And then—

I opened my eyes slowly to the bustle of a hospital. Beside me sat a window overlooking trees and a busy road. The sun was setting. My fever seemed to be becoming progressively better. My head no longer ached, and there was only the dull sensation of cold stirring within me.

I sat up, and a cool icepack fell from my forehead and onto my lap. I stared at it for a while before placing it onto the stand next to me. The door clicked open and a male nurse walked in. He smiled through his deep brown eyes at me and placed a cup of water with a white pill into my hand.

“Hi,” he said. “Just take this pill for you fever and you should be okay. A young man brought you in a couple of hours ago, said you had vomited and fainted. Don’t worry—it was only due to your fever. All you needed was some proper care in bed. Anyway, are you feeling better?”

I nodded slowly and swallowed the pill. The cool water raced down my throat and I said, “Yeah. Where are my parents?”

The male nurse paused for a moment. “The young man told me that your parents went off camping and said that there was no need for the hospital to contact them. He’s waiting outside if you’d like a better explanation.”

I opened my mouth to reply, and then closed it as I pondered his words. My mother had left me? They probably had reached the camping site by now and would be wondering where we were, which meant that she had most likely called Liam. He explained what had happened, but my mother hadn’t come back. I wondered why. It was probably because she was still mad at me for faking my fever at first.

I slid down back into bed and placed the cool ice pack back onto my head, smiling inwardly. I was smart to have deducted that much from the situation.

~~~~~~~~~~

                There was something warm over my hand.

                I slowly peeled open my eyes, having drifted off into sleep. I looked up at Liam’s attentive face as he watched me.

                “Hi,” he said, glancing down nervously at his hand enveloping mine. I didn’t try and pull away. “Are you okay?”

                I nodded and sighed. “Yeah.”

                “You’re Mom called a couple hours back. Wanted to know why we weren’t at the campsite. I told her what happened and that we were coming in the morning, so is that okay with you?” Liam asked.

                “Sure,” I paused for a moment and said, “Liam, are you okay?”

                “I’m fine.” He said, looking slightly puzzled. He suddenly hesitated for a second, as if realizing that I was asking about his confession, and said, “So, what do you think?”

                “Of your…uh…” I trailed off, seeing him nod, and shifted uncomfortably in my bed. “I don’t know. Even if I did love you back—and I’m not saying that I do—we still couldn’t be together. You’re going to be a superstar once you move into Beverly Hills. You’re probably going to forget about me.”

                His grip tightened on my hand. “I will never forget you. and we can be together. You can move together with me or something.”

                I shook my head. “I want to stay close to my Mom, Liam. I can’t move all the way to California. Look at reality, Liam. We come from two completely different worlds. I know it sounds completely cheesy, but you’re famous. I’m a nerd. It’s not going to work out. Maybe we can just keep up a letter-type of communication like friends.”

                “But don’t you love me?” Liam asked, hurt. “I’ve loved you throughout my whole entire life, even when I moved away for three years.”

                I smiled and tilted his face towards me, gently kissing him on the cheek. It was a friendly, sweet gesture. “I’m sorry. I love you Liam, but not in that way.”

                There was a pang in my heart and an inner voice whispered within me, Liar. I shut out the word and gently pulled away from him. It was then that I finally noticed a loud roar of a crowd just outside the door. My eyebrows furrowed into a frown.

                “What is that?” I asked.

                “Paparazzi,” Liam said, answering a bit hesitantly.

                Oh. Well there was a cliché twist. Paparazzi! Of course. Hysteria bubbled within me, but I forced it down my throat. Panic wasn’t going to help us in this situation.

                Which also meant that escaping this place was going to get a lot harder.