The Guy Who Gave Up His Jersey (New Version)

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"Juliana." I heard my name being called. I fluttered my eyes opened seeing a group of nurses around me. My eyes kept closing and my name continued to be called. I felt groggily as if I had been sleeping for days, my throat was dry and my head felt heavy.

"Can you hear me?" Greg's voice flooded over the nurses around me. It took me a moment to register I was hearing them clearly now. I opened my eyes again and nodded.

"Okay, I need you to try to wake up. Your body is still trying to wake up from the anesthetic."

I gave him a thumbs up before passing out again, ignoring completely what he had told me to do. When I woke up again I was in the hospital room again with Alejandro sleeping on a chair next to me. I tried turning my head to the side but a sharp pain stopped me from turning any further. What happened? I  remember getting pain medication and the next thing I knew I was surrounded by nurses. Did I get worse? Or did something happen to me and I don't remember?

Alejandro opened his eyes and noticed I was awake. He leaned forward and grabbed onto my hand, giving it a light squeeze.

"Hey, how are you feeling." He asked me.

"Shitty. I feel drugged up." I confessed.

"Yeah, you're on a bit of narcotics."

My mouth was dry and swallowing my own saliva was painful. "What happened?"

"You had to get a small surgery to help improve your hearing, you're going to be fine." He smiled.

"What kind of surgery?"

He remained quiet. "I shouldn't be the one telling you this. Greg wanted to explain to you in detail what had happened."

"Okay, get him please."

He nodded. "Okay, I will be back." He got up the chair and left the room. It wasn't gone long and returning he had Greg right behind him.

Greg did a quick physical check to my ears and checked my IV drip was working properly. After he did his check up he brought out a chair and explained to me what had happened. Although, the word tumor shook me up a bit I wasn't terrified about it. Greg had all my trust and I️ know the decision he made were the best ones. The tumor wasn't as large as they had thought and it wasn't pressing against other facial nerves. My hearing was going to get better with time, since the nerves were pressed for awhile, connection to my brain and ear would be on and off. It was going to take time for my nerves to stop being irritated and for my hearing to stop going in and out.

Overall, I was going to be fine. I needed to stay in the hospital for a few days to make sure the incision behind my ear doesn't get infected and my hearing wasn't getting any worse.

Apparently I had been out of surgery for four hours and my parents were exhausted so Alejandro offered to stay with me for the night so they could rest. Even though he has school tomorrow, he was nice enough to offer to keep me company.

"If you notice your hearing is getting any worse as in you can't hear anything or it stays in a low volume for a long period of time let me know. I want to keep you on high doses of pain medicine, right now you probably feel great since you're still on the last pain medicine. So, if the pain gets intolerable, let the nurse know."

"Okay." I smiled. He excused himself and left the room leaving Alejandro and  I alone again.

"You're okay? Need me to get you anything?" He asked me.

I shook my head. "I'm fine, thank you."

"I  know this might not be the best time to finish our talk we had this morning before shit hit the fan, but I  want you to hear me out for a moment." I heard him say.

I took in a deep breath, knowing very well he wasn't going to stop asking me to hear his side, so I gave in.

"Okay, I'm listening."

"I  don't want to give you excuses with what happened between Demi and I️, there isn't a valid reason why  I did what I did. Truthfully, it just happened. Demi and I useD to hook up at parties and only there. I told her the deal, I wasn't looking for anything and she agreed to it. I don't know where the sudden jealousy sparked up but I swear I haven't slept with her  in a really long time." He took in a deep breath. "I  don't want anything with her...I don't want you to think I'm trying to fool around with your friends."

When did I gain trust with this guy? Everything inside me screamed out to not believe it yet my heart told me otherwise. Whether he slept with Demi or any other girl I can't be mad at him for it. I'm not his girlfriend.

"It's okay. I believe you." I assured him.

"I...I'm sorry." He hesitated to say.

"There isn't anything to apologize for. It happened and there isn't anything you should feel regretful about."

"I regret it because if I knew we'd get this close I wouldn't have risked it." He confessed.

"Juliana...I like you and  I don't think you see that."

His confession made me snap my head quickly to the side causing a sharp pain to spring down my ear to neck. I bit down on my lip ignoring the feeling and stared at him. He admitted he likes me, right?

He must have seen the perplex look on my face because he repeated himself. "I like you."

"I heard you..." I whispered.

"I  don't expect you to feel the same way, I needed to get it off my chest..." he began to ramble on.

The whole time I stared at him speak about how I didn't have to worry about telling him how I️ felt. All he needed to do was say it out loud since he knew for some time now where his feelings truly reside at.  I wanted to ask him to stop speaking for a moment so I could process everything he was saying.

He doesn't know how long I had dreamt for him to confess something like this, now he had and I can't find the words to tell him I'm uncertain of my feelings. As stupid as it sounds, his reputation as a fuck boy is at stake here. Guys like him aren't meant to settle down and that's if his entire rambling is leading to him asking me out.

I don't want to confess I like him to when it is hard to believe he would change completely for a girl like me. Wouldn't the game go in vain if one of the legends ends a relationship? Or had my brother done that already. I felt mad at myself thinking the way I was yet I can't blame myself for the thinking badly of Alejandro.

I trust his word but to believe he'd settle down with someone was a stretch even I found hard to believe. If he was going to want to be with someone, I probably wasn't going to be his best option when I'm on emotional rollercoaster majority of the time.

"I'll give up my reputation although I have given it up awhile back. The game doesn't mean anything anymore now that we are exposed. I'm willing to risk it all for you." I heard him say.

"Are you sure you aren't saying all these things because I'm in the hospital for the second time in less than a week? You don't need to feel sorry for me and confess something not true."

"Oh, I like you. I like the way your face lights up when you get an idea or how your cheeks flush when you get embarrassed. I like how you try to see the good in people. I like you, Jules. You can't make an excuse to tell me other wise, these are my feelings."

I know that's why It makes it all real.

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