One Life For Another

30

The juice spills over the sides and the drops drip onto my legs. "O no princess" Joël says while taking the glass away to me. My lip start to tremble and I turn more to Joël. "Hey it is okay" he says. He plays with my bottom lip, but then I start to cry. He pulls me into his arms and starts to stroke my back. "We really need to go home Sam" he says, "it might be taking its toll on her now." "Yes lets go home then" I hear Sam answer. The next moment Joël makes me sit up while he gets up. I look at him through my tears and reach my arms out to him. "I can't carry you princess" he say, "my shoulder hurts to much and even if I want to carry you, the doctors forbid me to do so." I stopped crying but my eyes immediately shoot full of tears again. "Sam will carry you." I shake my head, "I wanna walk." "Okay you can but you will be carried when I say so." I nod softly, knowing that he will tell Sam to carry before I even walked a few steps. I push myself up and take a few steps towards Joël. Every step hurts but I don't want to show it. I bite the inside of my lip when I take a new step. Both Joël and Sam are watching me closely. "I am fine" I lie. Joël seems to not believe in it but lets it slide. He knows that I will give in in a few minutes. But I am not thinking about giving up. Sam grabs Hailey's hand and start to walk towards the car. Joël grabs mine and we walk after the others. Their pace is faster then my tired legs can take, so I pull Joël's arm. "Walk a bit slower please" I whisper, "I can't keep up." Joël slows down and looks at me with worry filled eyes. "Are you sure that you can do this?" "I am strong enough." I lied, again. "You are lying again" Joël whispers. "I am sorry" I say while looking down. "Don't make it harder for yourself. You will only hurt yourself more if you keep walking." I sigh, "I know, but else I will look do weak." "We both are at the moment." "Yes you are right but" I fall silent and stare at the ground. "I am letting Sam carry you to the car and from the car to the house." He immediately calls out to Sam. Sam turns around and waits for us to catch up to him. "Do I need to carry Lil?" Joël nods, "She is really having trouble with walking. But she doesn't want to be carried to be honest." Sam looks at me, "Lil it is better if I do carry you." I nod softly and let Sam lift me up. My body feels heavier when I don't have to do anything. But my hand starts to feel really cold as it lost contact with Joël's warm hand. Sam walks to the car quickly and places me down in the backseat. Joël sits down beside me, letting me lean against him. My eyes feel extremely heavy and I can't keep them open anymore. I slowly fall asleep while Joël tries to wrap his arms around me.

I get woken up by a bright light, making me turn around again. My head feels heavy and like it is about to explode. In the action of turning I hit someone, the person lets out a whimper. I open my eyes and see Joël when my sight becomes clear. He is still whimpering softly, making me feel really sorry even though it was an accident. I stroke his hair, "sst it is okay, I am sorry if I hurted you." He turns a little and then he opens his eyes. "Hey princess" he says with a morning voice. "I am sorry for hitting you when I turned." "Oh don't worry baby, it is okay." "But you started whimpering as if you were hurt." "I am not hurt anywhere. At least not because of you hitting me by accident." "Are you sure that it is not my fault?" "Yes Lil, trust me. It is not your fault at all." "But it feels like it is." "Stop Lil" he says, "How many more times do I have to tell you that it is not your fault?" I turn around and pull my legs to my chest. I feel tears burning in my eyes but try to hold them back. "Baby, I didn't mean to make you feel bad or anything." I ignore him and let my tears go. Now he stays silent too, probably on the edge of crying too. We both stay silent for a while, then Joël pulls my back against his chest. I can feel his face in my neck, making me shiver softly. I get worried when he suddenly starts to cry with shocking movements. "Joël?" I whisper, "What is wrong?" "I was so scared" he cries out. "Scared for what?" "Scared that he would kill me right there." "He wouldn't do that Joël and if he did I would have killed him too." "I saw my life flash before my eyes and there were you." "I got scared by the bangs coming from the kitchen and decided to check up on you." "You came at the perfect moment. You looked like a wild beast princess. I felt so safe, like I have never felt like that." "I was furious babe. I won't let anybody hurt what is mine." "I am yours and you are mine." "You indeed are mine." "Is my baby going to be all protective?" I nod softly, "I just won't let Jayden take your life." "Thank you for being so protective princess. Sometimes a prince needs his princess in order to stay safe." I blush softly and push my legs down again. "Want to turn back around now?" He asks. "Yes, I really want you to cuddle me." "All my cuddles are for you, only for you." He loosens the hug a little so i can turn around. I turn and hide my face in his neck. "Princess?" "What is it?" "We both need to stay in bed because we have a concussion." I nod softly, "Yours is heavier then mine." "Mhm, but you had a bad trip this morning baby." "What do you mean?" "I don't think that you can remember what happend because you seemed far away. The leftover alcohol in your blood, mixed with stress, pain and being tired made you so emotional that I got really worried. You kept whimpering, whining, crying and almost throwing up. I had to keep you close, that way you stayed calmer then when I wasn't holding you." "I am sorry." "Don't be, you couldn't do anything about it." I nod softly, "Okay then." Joël strokes my back. "Try to sleep some more princess." "Alright, but you need to sleep more too." Joël nods, "I am really tired baby."