Not a Love Story

Twenty-Six // Suddenly Being so Cryptic

Oliver Greene

I met my mom in the waiting room. She quickly enveloped me in a hug and kissed me on the head.

"How's Henry?" I asked.

"He's doing fine. Still really tired and a little more sore today, but he's hanging in there." she said. I nodded. "Did you sleep okay last night?" she asked. I nodded, willing my cheeks not to heat up at the thought of sharing a bed with Ben.

"Yeah, I guess." I replied, shrugging. She gave me a questioning look but didn't say anything else, undoubtedly seeing the blush rising on my cheeks. "Can we go see him now?" I asked, trying to draw the attention away from me. She nodded and we walked down the hall.

Henry was sitting up in bed, the lights in the room low as he was eating something off a tray.

"Hey, Hen." I said, immediately grinning at the sight of him sitting up.

"Hi, Oliver." he responded, his mouth full of what looked like oatmeal.

"Come on, Henry. Please don't talk with your mouth full." mom scolded, rolling her eyes but still smiling. Henry and I chuckled as he put another spoonful in his mouth.

"Is that any good?" I asked, sitting down in the chair next to his bed.

"Not really. But I'm starving." he replied. I nodded. "Do you know how the game ended?" Henry asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Really? You got majorly concussed and all you care about is the game?" I asked. Henry nodded eagerly.

"Yeah. Luke subbed in for Ben. He hasn't played yet this season, and the one time he gets to play is against the Eagles. I want to know how it ended!" Henry defended. I got up and rummaged around in the bag of Henry's stuff his friend, Cam, had dropped off this morning. I pulled his phone out and handed it to him.

"Uh-uh. No screens." mom said, snatching the phone before Henry could grab it.

"Aw, c'mon mom! I just want to see what happened!" Henry whined.

"I'll check then. Just give me your password." Henry rattled off his password and I checked his messages.

"Everyone's worried about you." I said, seeing his football group chat full of messages asking if anyone knew how he was doing and if he was okay. My eyes lingered on one response in particular, from Ben.

Greene's doing okay. he's got a nasty concussion and strained neck but he should be up and at it in about a month

"Yeah, yeah whatever. How did it end?" Henry pushed. I sighed and went to Instagram, hoping to see one of Henry's friends or teammates posts about the game. I smiled and Henry grew irritated.

"What! What happened?" he asked, exasperated.

"You guys won. Luke was a stand out and they let Cam play in your place." I said, smiling. Henry grinned.

"Awesome. He didn't mention that this morning, did he mom?" Henry asked, turning to mom. She thought for a second before shaking her head.

"No he didn't. He just asked how you were doing." Henry turned back to me.

"Can you text him for me? I was hoping they'd put him in." he said, clearly proud of his friend. I typed as he said aloud what he wanted to send. By the time the message was sent, Henry was done eating and a nurse had just come in.

"Good morning, Lara." mom said, greeting the nurse with a smile.

"Good morning. Dr. Hatcher will be stopping by soon to check on Henry and give the okay to leave." Lara responded. We all smiled and thanked her as she checked Henry's vitals and bid us goodbye, telling Henry to rest and take it easy. A few minutes later, Dr. Hatcher entered the room.