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43. Chats

When I wake up, the light is blinding and makes my pounding head pulsate even harder. There's something on my left forearm and I can't lift it up.

I blink away some of the light and squint my eyes so I can see. I look down at my arm and see the top of a head, full of dark brown hair.

My fingers wiggle as I try to slowly shake my arm free without waking Paige, but she groans and stretches.

"Morning," Paige smiles at me and lifts a hand to rub the back of her neck.

"Morning," I smile back.

I'm in the hospital. I recognize the women bustling around in scrubs as nurses. There's an IV attached to the crook of my elbow and gauze wrapped around my head.

"You probably have a killer headache. I'll go get David." Paige goes to stand up but I move my arm quickly and seize her hand in mine.

"Don't go." I look at her through my squinted eyes and pout. "Please."

Paige looks torn and troubled and tired. I can tell that she didn't sleep well hunched over the side of this hospital bed.

"Okay." She finally speaks, her voice almost cracking.

I watch her intently as she leans over my bed and presses a button on the nightstand. It beeps and a moment later, a woman in blue scrubs is appearing at the door.

"Oh, Mr. Collins! You're up!" She says way too loud and way too cheery. I flinch.

Paige stands from the bed and I squeeze her forearm. She nods at me at then turns back to the nurse.

"Can you go get David, please?" Paige says in a whisper.

The nurse looks at her entirely confused and then giggles. It rings in my ears.

"I'm fully capable of running his labs," she grins at Paige. I realize her voice is just like screeching bells.

"I want David to do it." Paige sounds angry now and I smile to myself.

Looking offended, the nurse scurries out of the room. Paige pouts for a moment before sitting back down in the chair she had pulled beside my bed.

"Too loud," I smile at Paige and she looks up at me wearily.

I see a bunch of emotions flash across her big blue eyes- relief, fear, apprehension. Her hand raises from where if found itself tangled in my fingers and it rests on my cheek, her fingers combing through my over grown sideburns.

My head leans into her hand and I shut my eyes.

"Landon?" I hear a slight knock on the wall and I open my eyes a little. Paige removes her hand slowly and stands once more.

"Jeez, why'd they leave these lights on?" I watch David walk further into the room and hit a switch. The fluorescent lights above my bed shut off with a buzz.

"Thanks," I open my eyes all the way and rest my head against the pillow behind me.

"Alright, let's chat." David sits down in a chair opposite Paige and shuts the curtain behind him.

Paige sits down in the chair beside me and grips my hand again. I squeeze lightly.

I feel nervous all of the sudden, and Paige looks it too. David is flipping through papers on the clipboard that was attached to the end of my bed.

"Your broken rib almost punctured your lung." David announces, Paige sucks in a breath and I sit up a little. "3 more inches to the left and that gash in your head probably would have caused you to lose your long-term memory."