Elowen

When my eyes fluttered open everything was a mixed blur, but after I had blinked several times, everything came into focus. It took me some minutes to realize that I was in a hospital bed, the heavy medication they injected into my veins that made me feel like my brain wasn't in my skull being the main reason why.

My legs were quite snug under the baby blue blanket while the upper half of my body was elevated under a pillow. I slowly scanned the dimly lit room, trying to make out the two faces of the people talking outside of my door. The little window only allowed me to see so much. The nasally sound of Mr. Bornn's unintentionally loud voice had taken me by surprise and I was guessing that the other man I saw, hints of his white coat appearing in and out of the little window, was my doctor.

I wondered if I had seriously been sick to the point where I ended up in the hospital, unaware of what was happening around me. All I could remember was falling unconscious in class. I lost train of thought when Mr. Bornn's tall frame entered the room, closing the door behind him. He didn't acknowledge my presence, taking a seat next to my bed with a few papers in his hand and a pen. He looked over them attentively and began signing.

Not being able to move much due to my groggy conditions, I coughed, his eyes shooting up at me instantly.

"Oh good, you're awake," he said, his face appeared awkward since he was in between trying to half smile and keeping a straight face. I nodded slowly with furrowed eyebrows.

"What happened?" I asked urgently.

He sighed, putting his head down to continue signing the papers, "You have pneumonia. Your body was fighting off such a serious infection that your bodily functions malfunctioned and you passed out I guess," He shrugged casually. I looked at him strangely.

My first thoughts were of jumping into the freezing cold ocean water yesterday.

Such a . I shouldn't have done it. I knew this wouldn't play well.

I looked down at my fiddling fingers.

"But.. I-I took medicine before leaving for class."

"The doctor took some tests and found a lot of water in your system. It must have deluded the medication before it could work."

I mentally my teeth. These damn science teachers.

"Oh." I said flatly under my breath.

"Look," he rose out of his seat, shuffling the papers within his hands and placing the pen in his back pocket before looking at me paternally, "don't work yourself up too much about it. I just need you to get better. I was very worried." He placed a hand on my shoulder. My eyes widened a bit.

Who knew that my high school, pain in the Biology teacher that ended up getting a job at my university, leading to him chaperoning for my dream trip, cared for me. I was shocked yet relieved. I had hated him for thinking that he didn't care.

I nodded. "How long will I be in here?" I looked up at him, inquisitive.

"Well, Dr. Moon said that if your fever went down my midnight, you'd be out by tomorrow afternoon." He said reassuringly.

I nodded again, looking up at the clock above the door.

10:38 P.M.

Damn, was I really out for that long?

"Your mother is informed," he sighed empathetically, knowing that dealing with her would be another headache for me. He began walking towards the door. "Please call her when you get the chance. She's worried sick."

"Okay." I said knowingly.

"Well I'm gonna head out. I'll be back to get you tomorrow unless you want to take a cab or something," he tried to say nonchalantly.

He turned towards me one last time. "I guess I gotta' go over medical and illness awareness at the dorm at some point," he waved a hand languidly, trying to still sound like a teacher. I giggled at his effort, resulting in a violent cough. "How'd you even...? Eh, never mind. Night, Elowen. Please rest."

"Night." I managed to choke out before he closed the door behind him.

. . . .

I had fallen asleep again, the medication had me in and out for the past half an hour. It was extremely difficult to breathe at times and my own coughs often woke me up. I prayed that I would get better soon.

A clicking noise had caused my eyes to bat open. I looked up at the clock.

11:08 P.M.

Who in the hell? I closed my eyes quickly so that I wouldn't be bothered.

"Alright, just stay right there and act natural.." The voice whispered to someone outside, causing my eyes to shoot open.

She closed the door quietly behind her.

"Becky!" I exclaimed in a whisper, almost falling out of my bed which caused me to erupt into a cough. 

"Shh!" She hushed me with a smile, a finger over her lips with a plastic bag in her other hand as she scurried over to my side.

"Goodness, I send you to school alone once and you end up in the hospital," she spoke quietly, engulfing me in a nice hug. "You're really warm and you smell like old people." She took a seat in one of the chairs near my bed. I scoffed playfully.

"I have pneumonia."

"Geez, now what the hell did you do to get that?' She said with a pain inflicted face, taking out some takeout food from the plastic bag and placing some with a bowl on my lap.

"Chinese food? Should I really be eating this?" I chuckled before digging in.

"Answer the question." She rolled her eyes, taking a seat at the edge of the bed at my feet, watching me eat.

"I..," I looked around the room playfully before continuing with my food, "went to the beach".

"The beach? Why would you go near water before April?"

"I don't know I was.. with him." I responded with a quieter voice than before.

Her eyes widened before she broke out in a smirk.

"Oh. Boys really do make you stupid," she chuckled, patting my foot.

"Hey," I scolded, pointing the fork at her. "How'd you get in here anywhere? I doubt they're letting any visitors in," I puckered my eyebrows inquisitively.

"Bobby pin," she said holding it between her fingers, "I couldn't just wait until you got home. I was scared like crazy," her tone changed and she ran a hand through her blonde hair. Her black turtle neck made her skin look fresh and bright.

"Aww, did you," I cooed with my mouth full.

"It's not funny. We're basically adults, here on our own. We've got to be careful and look out for each other. People die from pneumonia ya' know."

My smile dwindled and I stopped chewing to swallow, looking down at my food, a bit embarrassed.

"Calm down, it was just a simple accident. Won't happen again," I mumbled, a bit shamefaced. Her change in demeanor caught me a bit off guard and made me feel uncomfortable.

"Mhm."

"Who's the boy?" I asked frankly, bringing up topics from this morning.

She smiled sheepishly, facing the ground and instantly playing with her hair. I almost spit out my new spoonful.

"The barista at the cafe we went to our first day here," she said proudly.

"No way! He's so hot. I'm not surprised though, he was totally drooling over you that day," I instantly commented.

"Yeah, he's alright," she said. I rolled my eyes at her cockiness. "I started visiting the cafe again in the morning before school to get a muffin and and coffee, and he just happened to be my waiter every time."

"Thanks for taking me best friend." I said sarcastically.

"Hey, you rushed me every morning so I just started letting you go on your own," she protested, holding a finger. She was so defensive.

Johnny immediately came to mind. That week I was so concentrated on becoming friends with him that I tried to show up at the same time as he did. What a creep I was.

"Speaking of boys," she smiled deviously at me before grabbing her coat and plastic bag that she placed on the chairs. She backed up towards the door, keeping eye contact with me. She turned and cracked the door open.

"Come in," she said softly. Her place in the doorway was replaced by a new face.

I froze and choked on my own saliva, bursting into coughs.

He smiled a bit before taking a seat beside me. He had no hat on, his hair looked so neatly tended to. Plus, it was then a tantalizing black, and looked like he had gotten a fresh new curled perm.

A sort of embarrassment flooded over me, having him see me in the hospital was uncomfortable, I wasn't sure enough if our relationship was to the point where this was perfectly normal.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," he smiled sheepishly.

I gulped hard, giving him an unconvincing smile. "H-how'd you know I was here?" I asked slowly.

He sat at the very edge of the chair, twiddling his fingers, looking at them.

"Becky," he mumbled. I cursed her in my head. Still not facing him, I used my peripheral vision to observe him.

His skin was absolutely glowing, his eyes carried so much sparkling life within them. His face looked like it was artistically put together. Though others would disagree, his small slits for eyes were appealing to me. I began to realize that I would get this mousy feeling whenever he was near. It was hard to look away after staring, touching him in anyway left me hesitant, and I was always planning out my actions when with him. I wasn't sure what to call it just yet.

"Thank you for coming."

"I was worried.. Really worried," his response followed quickly after. He lifted his head up, now facing me.

Worried? About me?

I tried to rearrange my hair a bit, self-consciously.

I gulped hard, his glare felt like fire on my skin. Why had I grown to be nervous all of a sudden? I was fine the other day.. Maybe it was his hair.

"Again thanks for coming, but I'm fine." I answered subtly, folding my hands on top of my thighs.

"Then, what's wrong with you?" he keenly asked.

"I have pneumonia."

His head automatically fell in a shameful way, glaring at the ground as he resumed playing with his fingers. The atmosphere that surrounded us was officially awkward and I didn't like it.

A silence fell upon us and I sat in my hospital bed looking up at the ceiling, wondering what was going through his mind.

"It's all my fault," he said in a sigh, breaking the silence. I, for some reason, knew that he would say that.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get you sick. We were just havin-,"

"No no. It's my fault. I should've taken off those wet clothes before going to bed, I was just so tired," I ended up sighing, running my hands through my messy curls, my fingers barely making it through without getting stuck.

He looked up at me slightly relieved, stress of all types lived within his thick black orbs.

After silence fell upon us once again, consisting of the two of us making little to barely any eye contact, his expression had changed after his minutes of thought.

"I-I got in trouble last night.. by my assistant manager. He will be much more strict now." He said sudden and glum-fully.

My stomach slowly began to tighten. Now I was the one nudged with guilt. My stomach tightened even more at the thought of our relationship possibly coming to an end because we weren't slick enough.

"I'm so sorry.This really is my fault. I-I know what you're thinking.. that we shouldn't be friends anymore.. I know this is all really hard but.. it'll work out. I'll make sure you don't get in trouble again, and I won't get sick anymore," I said. My voice was flat but shaky.

He began to chuckle a bit, moving from the chairs beside me, to a seat on the edge of my bed. I didn't know whether I should feel worse with his laugh or relieved. He looked at me amused, his dimples pierced through his glistening skin with much force.

"Calm down, I'm not going to leave you."

My eyes were unsteady, I tried my best to look up at him with a straight expression.

Our eyes locked mildly. Sometimes it was like we talked to each other with glances and stares. Before it was uneasy, staring into his eyes. But over time it had become so natural.

"I guess we have to be a little more careful next time," I stated, breaking the quiet.

He nodded, looking down before looking back up at me. "I guess so."

. . . . . .

"Alright, bye girl. We need to have a little talk back at the dorm," Beck waved a hand at me before parting to take the path that lead to her destination in the building.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter