Chasing That Desire | Danny Amendola

Chapter 16

"Go Danny! Go," I screamed as The ball landed in Danny's arms and he began running.

He dodged a few guys, and kept running. Then two Charger players... Well... they charged him, one from behind, the other from the side.

They hit him at the same time, and he went flying. "Danny," I screamed as I watched him roughly land on the ground and the ball pop out from under him. "Danny! Danny! Get up!" 

My eyes went wide as he barely moved. Julian went running over to him, then got to his knees, placing a hand on Danny's back, saying something to him.

Danny didn't move, and Julian began to motion for the medical team to come out. Tears began to pull from my eyes. "Danny, be okay," I cried as they went to commercial.

My heart was racing as my breath got caught in my lungs. After a few commercials, the field appeared on the screen again. The medical team was still tending to Danny. They'd just slid him onto a backboard. "Jesus Christ."

They moved back to a replay of the hit, showing it in slow motion. He took a helmet to the back, just below his shoulder blade, and a hit to the helmet. My tears began to fall faster.

They zoomed in on Danny, showing his lips moving a bit in response to one of the medics. It made me feel a bit better. Julian was standing there as well, watching over all the commotion.

When they got Danny to the stretcher, they shifted it up and began to roll it off the field. The entire crowd was silent, the commentators weren't talking. The camera zoomed in on Danny, showing his sweaty, red face, and his brown eyes, barely open.

"Danny... Please be okay," I mumbled as I pulled my phone out of my pocket and went straight to his contact.

Juliet 9:48

Danny, please please text me when you can. I need to know you're okay. <3

I locked my phone and shakily watched the rest of the game. Sometime during the post game stuff, I fell asleep.

When I woke up, my phone was ringing. My eyes went wide as I saw Danny's name flash up on the screen.

I fumbled with my phone and pressed answer. "Danny? Oh my god! Are you okay?"

"Uh, Juliet, this is Julian. Danny's got a mild concussion. I'm bringing him home in a few," Julian's worried, tired voice mumbled. "Can you please have the door unlocked and like all of the lights off?"

I sighed, but nodded. "I-I... yeah... Sure I can. Is he okay?"

Julian sighed. "He's okay for how hard he got hit. He's been asking for you," Julian added. "It's not bad enough that he had to go to the hospital. He probably won't be able to play next week, though."

I nodded. "Oh... Okay... I'll be waiting for you guys," I whispered.

Julian hung up without another word.

I stood from the couch, and shuffled to his bedroom, where I moved the covers back, and turned the bathroom light on, while closing the door, just so there was a bit of light flooding into the room.

Then I moved into the living room, where I turned off all the lights, and flicked on the kitchen lights.

The next 30 minutes were extremely long. Julian came barging into the house, with his arm around a sick looking Danny.

I immediately hopped up, and moved to help Julian, who looked like he was struggling. "Juliet," Danny mumbled quietly as I moved up to him.

"Hi Danny, you feeling okay," I asked quietly as I leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to his stubble.

"Fine," he whispered and let out a huff.

When we got him to his bedroom, we carefully sat him down, and helped him lie back. He let out a sigh of content as his muscles visibly relaxed.

Julian looked over to me as I pulled the covers up over Danny's body, and motioned for me to follow him.

I stood up and moved into the living room behind him, carefully closing the door behind me so I wouldn't make much noise.

When we got into the living room, Julian stopped, leaned up against the couch and looked at me with sad blue eyes. "Doc said that he's gonna need to stay in bed the next two-ish days, and that someone is gonna need to wake him up every two hours or so. If—If you're unable to take the day off tomorrow and Tuesday, I can stop over here and take care of him when you're unable to stay."

I nodded. "I should be able to take tomorrow off. I'll let you know about Tuesday if I can't," I whispered. "Has he gotten sick at all?"

Julian shook his head. "He thought he was going to on the ride here, but didn't. Hes obviously been really sleepy, too. I-I... When the medics got to him, he was passed out... Then woke up and was complaining about a ringing in his ears," he said. "I-I... there's a sheet that the doctor gave me to follow for eating and drinking. I'll go grab it from my car. I'll leave my number with you, too, if you need any help."

I nodded, and leaned forward to squeeze Julian's bicep. He was clearly shaken up by what had happened.

"Thank you Julian. You're a great friend, Danny is lucky to have you," I told him, looking up into his blue eyes.

Julian had a disgusted look on his face. "No I'm not. I'm a terrible friend," he mumbled, his voice cracking. He sucked in a long breath and shook his head. "I'll be back with the papers."

He pulled out of my grip and quickly rushed to the door.

When he came back, he handed me the papers, wrote his number down, then hurried out the door. After the door was shut, I sighed and moved over to lock it.

I sighed as I turned around and made my way to Danny's room. I slid in, and quietly moved to his bed, where I sat down next to him, and brushed his dark hair off his forehead.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there," I whispered and placed a soft kiss on his forehead.

"S'Okay," he slurred as he moved a hand up and placed it on my thigh. "Di-n't want you to see -at." He flinched a bit, probably from his headache.

I sighed and shook my head, then grabbed his hand. "Shh. No need to talk. Sleep. I'll be back in a bit to check on you," I told him as I shifted to stand up, but he held my thigh tighter.

"No, don't leave," he whispered. I sighed— I couldn't say no.

I stood up, walked to the other side of the bed and slid under the covers. I gravitated toward his warmth, and draped an arm over his chest. "Goodnight Danny."

"Thank you, Jules," he mumbled sleepily, turning his head so his lips met my forehead. "I love you."

I stilled— Wait, What?

He couldn't mean it, could he? 

** Hope Y'all enjoyed! :)