Strawberry Blonde

四十四

I left the locker room and the crowd roared in claps and praises for the cheerleaders who were just finishing up their performance.

I felt dizzy, not just from being hit in the stomach but from Bryan.

He...he kissed me ?

After I told him about Laurence, after he knew all of that.

I didn't know what to feel. I scoured inside myself to see if I felt a spark when he did that but their was nothing. It wasn't even small butterflies compared to the turbo engines that ignite when Laurence kisses me.

" GO GET EM HASSAN !"

I looked over to the familiar voice and Laurence was sitting close to the players with a huge grin on his face.

I felt a wave of guilt hit me.

Guilt ? I didn't even do anything wrong yet I felt as though I just sent a box of puppies down a river.

I faked a smile to him and waved.

I wish it was sincere but behind the smile I was yelling at the top of my lungs.

Bryan looked at me then averted his gaze fast.

Before I could catch up to him the game started again and the players ran to center court.

That's when I noticed. Tanner was no longer there.

The players gathered and I was a little bit farther from the tip-off spot.

Once the ball flew in the air the game commenced with players rapidly moving.

My vision traced them but they were blurring and suddenly the lights seemed too bright.

I heard a muffled call of 'are you alright ?' But couldn't turn towards the noise.

Gravity was becoming to much and the corners of my eyes filled with a creeping darkness before everything turned black.

                                ><•><

I woke up to the sound of distant voices and a smoldering light in my face.

" HASSAN !" A shriek called out startling me to my senses.

I was suddenly bombarded with dark silhouettes standing over me.

" Give him some space guys !"

My vision slowly started to clarify as I seen my mother, father and Bee slowly back away from me smiling.

" What happened ?" I asked.

" Well you had some internal bleeding that's all well and gone as of yesterday and you almost went into septic shock." A woman with curly dark hair and a spanish accent said to me.

It wasn't till I looked around I noticed where I was. The bedsheets, the tubes strapped to my arm, the small four white walls and chill of an ac.

" How long have I been in the hospital ?" I asked.

" Four days." My mother said.

My eyes widened in disbelief and when I tried to sit up to digest that information a sore pain in my stomach sent me back down.

" Hey take it easy ! We can't have you going comatose on us again, just give me one minute to check all your vitals and I'll read you the reports and you guys should be on your way !"
The nurse said while checking some machines.

" Did the team win ?" I asked groggily.

They all shared a chuckle.

" Yes Hassan the team won, they said they couldn't had done it without the lead you gave them." My mom answered.