The Bestest Cuddle Buddy Ever

Obligatory Sick! Chapter 2.5

I opened my eyes, colors running together again. I was staring up at a metal ceiling with beams and commercial air ducts, tall wooden shelves stretching up on either side of me. Why the fuck am I on the ground? A face leaned into my view. It was the same guy from earlier, the one with the blond hair and the attractive stubble. He was leaning over me, saying something but I couldn't hear him. My head was ringing like a fire alarm. His lips formed the words 'Are you okay?' I tried to nod but stopped with a cringe as the back of my head flared up with pain and my headache went full-blown migraine. I closed my eyes with a whimper, ignoring this guy. I decided to name him Steve. Don't know why. I felt a hand on my shoulder and opened my eyes once more to see Steve glaring down at me, shaking his head furiously. He looked away, and I could tell he was obviously shouting to someone. He ripped off his shirt, revealing a white tee shirt underneath. He balled it up and pressed it under my head, right where it hurt the most. Pieces started to click together as someone else rushed over to hold the shirt to my head. I passed out when I picked up the box. I probably fell off the ladder and hit my head. I was probably bleeding if someone was holding a shirt to my head. Steve carefully bundled me up in his arms, and with the other person cradling my head, Steve started walking the metal stairs, carrying me out into the blissfully cold air of the floor. He carried me up the escalator to the ground floor and there we were met with Brandon and Jay. By this point, I had regained my hearing; but the ringing was still there. I kept insisting that I was fine, that he could put me down but he politely refused. I just grumbled and let these strangers coddle me. Brandon was in tears, flapping his hands like he wanted to turn into a bird and fly away from the whole situation, Jay looked bored and indifferent.

"Y/n! Why didn't you tell me you were this sick! I wouldn't have asked you to come in, oh myyy godddd, I'm so sorry!" he wailed, I winced and turned away from his shrieking voice but unfortunately that turned my face into Steve, My Hero's toned chest. I did not like this situation that I was in right now. I did not like feeling like a damsel in distress.

"Bullshit," Steve, My Hero barked, instantly silencing everyone in the vicinity. "It was pretty damn obvious that she was too sick to work the second we all saw her, but you insisted she was fine. And now you're freaking out because you have no idea how to dig yourself out of the hole you've put yourself in. You are a shit manager and a terrible person, I'm taking your employee to the urgent care center on 12th South to get her checked for a concussion. Get ahold of her emergency contact and have them meet me there so I can explain how thoroughly you've failed at your job." With that Steve, My Hero strode past my flabbergasted supervisors and through the double doors. He deposited me into the backseat of an extremely nice crossover, instructing the other employee, who I'd now realized was the teenager who'd led me down there in the first place, to sit in the back with me and make sure that I didn't sit up and to hold the shirt to his head.

In the short drive to the hospital, I learned that the teenager's name was Lauren. Steve, My Hero's real name was not Steve but Andy and my original assumption that he was not an important person was dead wrong. He was the Area Director for every one of these department stores for the vast majority of the state. So he essentially owned that multi-million dollar store that I just passed out in. Yeah, that wasn't a very fun conversation. I was so damn embarrassed, but he just laughed at me from the driver's seat and said that that's why he dresses the way he does and acts the way he does so that no one knows who he is. He was down in the area coincidentally and decided to stop by this store to see how well my company works. He said that he was impressed with the employees, but that the management was an absolute shitshow. I couldn't argue with him.

Turns out that I had split the back of my head open when I hit the ground from the top of a five-foot ladder. It wasn't a big gash, just a couple of inches but the doctor still had to stitch it up, which required him to shave the hair around the cut. I was not pleased. I was also going to be bruised on my left side for a while because the box had fallen on me. The crook of my elbow was already purple and had a suspiciously corner shaped mark. But eyyy, one thing my job is good for is workman's comp. I was not required to work for the next week and it would all be paid for. Hell yeah! The doctor had also given me some antibiotics, and anti-nausea medication for my flu. They made me sleepy as hell, so while the doctor was finishing up some paperwork with Richard in another room, I decided to lay down on the examination chair. The doctor said I didn't have a concussion and taking a good nap when I got home was probably for the best. I heard the door open quietly so I opened my heavy eyelids but that's about as far as I got. A familiar person walked into my field of view and I smiled.