Six years ago Billie Sampson made a choice. She made a choice and she chose skiing over home, over friends, over a social life, and over her childhood sweetheart Patrick. At first it had seemed like the right decision but now that Billie was injured...
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I sat there perched on the edge of his bed talking quietly until he eventually fell back asleep; his head and leg were killing him so eventually he needed more painkillers and they made him
drowsy. I found a piece of paper in my bag and left him a note on his bedside table,
Be back in the morning to get my knee scanned, call if you need me to bring you anything, Billie ❤️
By the time I got home on the bus it was late. I let myself into the dark house and quietly got some leftovers from the fridge in the dark and ate quietly standing in the kitchen before sneaking upstairs to go to bed without waking up any of my roommates. I was up early again to take the bus back to the hospital since apparently all MRIs happened at stupid-o'clock in the morning. I went and lay in the scanner for 20 minutes and then I worked my way through the maze of hospital hallways to Jackson's room. I knocked and then opened the door.
"Hey buddy" I said walking in, "How we doing today?" I asked. He looked worse, his bruising had darkened and he had dark circles under his eyes. He just looked at me. "That bad huh?" He nodded.
"It hurts" He said quietly obviously trying not to breathe too heavy to keep his cracked ribs still.
"Aw Jacks" I said sadly, "Can I do anything?"
"Nah the drugs should kick in soon" he sighed.
"Is it the leg?" I asked and moved to sit in the chair beside his bed, his leg was being elevated, suspended above him so it drew attention.
"Concussion" he sighed and closed his eyes, "the headaches and dizziness is unreal, I threw up twice already."
"Shit that bad?" I sighed, bad concussions could be career enders.
"Can't even look at my phone" he groaned.
"Shall I read your text messages to you?" I teased
"But could you?" he asked and so I spent the rest of the morning squeezed beside him on his hospital bed, next to his good leg of course, reading and replying to all his concerned text messages while he lay there with his eyes closed. "Do you ever wonder if it's all worth it?" Jacks whispered sometime later.
"If what's worth it Jacks?" I replied quietly,
"The no social life, the hard work for nothing ... the concussions."
"I've been thinking about that a lot lately" I sighed, "I wonder if I would be happier or more settled in life if I'd gone the more traditional route. I could be engaged by now for all we know!" Jackson actually almost laughed at that one.
"But then you wouldn't have met me" he said and bumped me with his elbow
"So I guess it's all worth it then" I smiled.
He reached down and laced a hand in mine. His phone buzzed in my other hand, I could see the name on the screen but couldn't read the message unless I opened it.
"It's Reagan" I said, "Did you tell her? Do you want me to open it?" I didn't think I wanted to see what it said, didn't want to see what their conversations were like.
"I haven't told her" He said squeezing my hand slightly but his eyes were closed again, the dizziness was probably back, "We aren't really talking anymore, you can open it though."
I tapped in his pass code, I'd memorized it from the amount of times I'd had to open it all day, I opened the message and tried to resist the urge to read through their conversation.
"I heard you had a crash??" The message read, "Are you ok?" There was second message sent right after that said "I know we're not speaking but please just let me know you're ok" I read the messages out loud to Jackson and he kept his eyes closed, "I guess you can tell her I'm ok" He sighed but he didn't seem too thrilled to hear from her.
I typed back a quick "I'm ok." and hit send. Jackson's eyes were still closed and I knew that I probably shouldn't but I couldn't help glancing up a bit further on the messages between him and Reagan.
"Are you with her again?" Reagan's messages from only a few days ago started. She sent another message right after, "Don't even think about talking to me again if you're with her."
She must have been talking about me, I'm not sure who else she could have been talking about.
"You broke up with me. You don't get to ask who I'm with" Jackson responded. I hadn't known that, hadn't known that she had ended things with him I had always thought that when they ended things it was because of his inability to commit.
"I miss you" she replied and my heart stopped for a second,
"I'm done Reagan" He replied
"We're never done" She replied,
"No R. We're done for good this time." Jackson responded and that was the last message between them before today. I couldn't help but admit to myself that I was a little relieved, almost happy that things were done between them. I told myself it was because they weren't good together, that she wasn't good for him.
Jackson's eyes snapped open and I quickly closed his phone.
"I left my car at the hill" He said as if he'd only just thought of it.
"I can go get it" I offered, "I'm sure it's fine though"
"If you can find my keys you can use it until I'm out of here" He said
"How long until you go home?" I asked.
"They haven't given me a date yet, they're still worried about my leg." He paused for a second, "And my brain." He sighed and closed his eyes again. "And they don't feel comfortable sending me home alone" He almost mumbled.
"I can come home with you" I said quietly without even thinking, I'd take care of him, I didn't mind.
"I can't ask you to do that" He said and he leaned his head gently against my shoulder.
"You're not asking" I said gently, "I'm offering."
"You'd have to take care of me, make me food, help me wash..." He trailed off glancing up at me.
"I don't mind Jacks" I said and I meant it; if it mean that he could go home earlier and spend less time in the depressing hospital then I'd do it no questions asked.
"I wanted to at least take you to dinner before you helped me wipe my ass" He laughed
"You can buy me dinner after" I said laughing, not knowing if he was joking or not.
