“Oh, shut up,” I scold with a roll of my eyes. “I was helping your sister get a drink of water to avoid her getting out of bed.”
Noah’s eyes flick right back to Tully’s. “Excuse me?” he sputters but she doesn’t respond. It’s as though she’s locked in some kind of trance with Rivers. The two of them haven’t even blinked since he walked in.
There are a million things that need to be said here, but I have to admit, what comes out of her mouth, is the one thing I wasn’t expecting. “How’s your girlfriend?”
Rivers’ eyes widen like saucers. “Fuck,” he grunts in horror. “I forgot about her.”
A grin rips across Tully’s face. “You know, that almost makes all of this worth it.”
He shakes his head as Noah and I watch on in confusion. How could they possibly be discussing this right now? Rivers pulls his phone out of his pocket and goes to text her when thinking better of it. “Fuck it,” he says, tossing the phone onto the end of my bed. “I’ll talk to her later.”
With that, he walks over to the side of Tully’s bed and takes her hand in his before leaning forward and pressing the softest kiss I’ve ever seen to her lips. “You’ve got to know how sorry I am,” he murmurs.
“It wasn’t your fault,” she tells him, tears brimming in her eyes as she raises a hand to his cheek. “You couldn’t have known that car was going to run a red light. This isn’t on you.”
Noah walks over to me and takes my hand before grabbing the stand for my drip. “Come on,” he tells me, slipping an arm around me despite the fact that I don’t need it. “Let’s give them a moment.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Noah takes me out and pulls me down on his lap in a chair just outside my room. He nuzzles his face into my neck. “Fuck, I want to take you home.”
“Seriously?” I laugh, trying to be quiet as to not disturb the other patients. “I was just in a car crash and your thinking about getting nasty?”
I feel his grin against my skin. “I meant get you out of the hospital, you dork. I don’t like seeing you here.” Oh. “Who’s the one with the dirty mind now?”
“Whatever,” I grumble, rolling my eyes. “I’m hoping they’ll discharge me soon, but I want to stay with Tully.”
“I know,” he murmurs. “I think she likes having you with her and it probably helps that you’re one of the only people who put up with her bullshit.”
I scoff and relax into his body as he falls silent, clearly with his mind taking him places it shouldn’t be. “What?” I whisper into the quiet hallway.
He lets out a sigh and before he’s spoken a word, my heart is already breaking. “I shouldn’t have done that job. Rivers was right. It wasn’t urgent. I could have waited until after school and taken you two home first, but I didn’t want to wait and I hated the thought of you looking at me that way you always do when I say I have to go.”
“Noah,” I sigh. “This isn’t your fault.”
“I know,” he tells me. “But my actions are what put all three of you in that car. If it wasn’t for me, Rivers probably would have fucked around with Alyssa all afternoon and you two would have been with me. The whole thing could have been avoided.”
“Stop,” I murmur, pressing my lips to his. “This isn’t on you. There are a million different possibilities in play here. Rivers could have taken the back streets. Alyssa could have walked home. Hell, Tully and I could have walked. This. Is. Not. On. You. Got it?”
“Just because you say it with your sharp little attitude, doesn’t make it true,” he tells me.
“You’re impossible,” I smile.
“And you’re going to give me a heart attack one day. I swear, I never want to get a call like that ever again. It will be a cold day in hell when something like that happens again.”
“Shit, I don’t know about a cold day in hell, but it was definitely cold in that car with Alyssa there. I mean, fuck. Tully nearly pulled out her hair.”
We sit and talk for a while and before I know it, the murmurs from the opposite side of the wall seem to have slowed down. Noah helps me to my feet and we head back in the room to find Rivers laying down in Tully’s bed, holding her close while being as gentle as he can, giving her exactly what she needs to feel at ease.
Noah practically forces me back into my bed before sitting at the end of it, talking to Rivers about the state of his car and from what I gather, his insurance will cover it, but it will be more like a payout rather than getting another one. I guess he’ll be back to searching for his dream car. It’s a shame. He didn’t even get to drive it for a whole week.