“You’re fine.” I smiled and blew her a kiss.
“How drugged up are you?” Her eyebrow arched, her hands resting on her stomach.
“Oh, pretty fucking drugged. God, I am starving, I am waiting for the nurse to come round. I haven’t eaten since yesterday,” I said loudly, my stomach grumbling.
“Want me to go and see where the bitch is?” she said, laughing.
“I’ll give it another ten, if she ain’t here, I’ll push the button.”
“So, Conor is sitting in the waiting room, looking pretty fucking hot, if I do say so myself. He looks sad though, like really sad. Not sure if something has happened between him and Chase. They aren’t even looking at each other.” She rolled her eyes.
“Oh shit, really? Wonder if Chase sensed how Conor was being with me?” I shrugged before taking a sip of water.
“What do you mean? Did something else happen?” A confused look spread across her face as her eyes fixed on mine.
“No. Just that he rode in the ambulance with me and wouldn’t leave my side until he practically didn’t have a choice. He held my hand for as long as he possibly could as well.” My lips turned up at the corners, forming a small smile.
“What? So he was there, when it happened?” she asked, reaching back and pouring herself a glass of water out of the jug on the side.
“Yup, he took me to ballet, didn’t he.” I mumbled as I nibbled my nail. “Then I thought he was going to drop me off and go home, but he didn’t. He sat and watched me, Robyn, like, eyes on me the whole time. Then I went to practice my routine and fucked it up the first time as I couldn’t focus, cos he was there, but I needed to, I needed to be able to overcome it. Which is what I did. I literally kept my eyes on him the whole time, then I went into my final leap of the routine when I felt the snap. I don’t even know how I did it, it wasn’t like I hadn’t warmed up. I warmed up, I have practiced this routine so much, so I just don’t know what happened, I just...” My voice stopped when I realised I was crying.
“Oh, Darce, darling, please don’t cry,” she soothed as she took her feet off of me, then stood from the chair, sitting next to me on the bed, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing.
“Maybe I deserved this?” I mumbled through the tears.
“Darcey! Don’t you dare say that. You did not deserve this. These things happen. It’s sad and horrible and unfortunate, yes, but it wasn’t deserving,” she said abruptly, shaking her head before resting her chin on the top of my head.
We sat like that for a while, I didn’t want her to let me go.
“Hello, only the nurse, dear,” an older lady called out as she let herself into my room. “You hungry?”
“I’m famished.” I sniffed.
Robyn slid off the bed and sat on the chair again, her eyes on the nurse.
Nurse Cora walked over to me, smiling at me as she topped my water up from the jug.
“Sit forward, darling,” she urged me. I sat up slowly, shuffling forward, pain shooting through my leg, making me cry out.
“You okay?” she asked as she fluffed my pillows.
“Mmhmm, just moved a bit too quickly,” I said as she took my shoulders and pulled me back onto my pillows.
“What can I get you to eat?” she asked.
“Can I just have some honey on toast, please?”
“Of course. Tea?”
“Please, milk and two sugars,” I said sweetly.
“Can I have one as well, please?” Robyn asked.
“No. It’s for patients only, there is a hot drinks machine just down the hallway.” She smiled at Robyn before walking out the room. I started giggling.
“What a bitch,” Robyn cursed. “Right, well, I suppose I’ll be back in a little while. Going to hunt the drinks machine down.” She rolled her eyes as she stood from the chair. “Do you need anything?” she asked as she got to the door.
“No thank you.”
“Okay, hun, see you soon.” She waved, closing the door.
I slowly slid myself down the bed slightly, pulling the covers up to my chest when I heard the door go. I let out a low groan, throwing daggers at the door when I saw Conor standing there, his hand still gripped on the handle.
“Sorry, should I go?” he asked, hurt apparent in his voice.
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. He turned slightly as he walked in and closed the door behind him quietly.
“How you feeling?” he asked as he sat in the chair Robyn had just been in. He sat with his legs opened, his elbows resting on them and his index fingers pressed into his chin. His intense green eyes boring into mine.
“Not bad,” I admitted, shrugging my shoulders up a bit. I ran my fingers through the ends of my hair before twirling it round my finger.
“I’m glad.” He let out a sigh of relief. He took a moment, rubbing his lips together. “You’ve not left my mind,” he said quietly, making my heart skip a beat. He sat up in the chair then scooted his hips forward, so he was sitting closer to the edge of the bed as he reached for my hand, running his thumb over the back of my knuckles.
“What did the doctor say?” he asked changing the subject. He genuinely wanted to know. His eyebrows were pulled together, his stare intense.
I inhaled deeply, my chest felt like it was crushing having to think about it all again. “Erm…” I muttered, my eyes batting down to my hand in his. “Well...” I started, taking another deep breath. I didn’t want to cry.
“The surgery went well, yay,” I said a little too sarcastically, a smile forming before disappearing as quickly as it came. “But he can’t say how I’m going to heal...” I trailed off, pulling my eyes from our hands and meeting his stare.
“He can’t say if this means my dancing career is over...” As soon as the words were off my tongue, my bottom lip dropped, trembling. My eyes brimmed instantly as the burn crawled up my throat. He tightened his grip on my hand.
“I’m fine, I’m fine.” I let out a little laugh, smiling. “It’s just been a tough, long day,” I admitted, my smile fading, my eyes moving down to our hands again.
He stood from the chair, leaning over me, his thumbs wiping my tears away, then placing his hands either side of my face. His lips were close to mine, his eyes burning into me intensely as he pressed his lips onto my lips, covering mine as he kissed me delicately, teasing his tongue which I accepted, my tongue stroking his.
Our kiss was slow, intimate and intense. My belly flipped and fluttered because of him, my heart swelling and exploding deep in my chest.
He pulled away, planting soft, light kisses on both of my cheeks, kissing where the tears were. He fluttered his eyes open as he looked down at me.
“Baby girl.” His nickname fell from his mouth, his voice low and husky.
“Am I interrupting something here?” I heard Robyn’s voice boom through the room.
“No.” His voice was clipped and harsh. Conor dropped his hands from my face, snaking back as he walked towards Robyn and pushed past her.
“Okay then,” she said before shrugging her shoulders. “I guess moody Conor is back.”
“Guess so.” My voice was a little higher than a whisper.