a/n: oooooookkkkkkkk, sorry for those of you who happened to read this before i could realize my mistake, so I'll put this chapter up for those of you who haven't; for those of you who have, the next chapter is in your honor. Enjoy:
"Oh, Blaise!" Jessi teased, closing the door. "I- I love you so much!"
"Yeah, that's cool," Dodger picked up, grinning.
"Oh, well, I guess I'll see you around..." Jess, disappointed.
"Wait, Ashley! I- I love you, too!"
"Shut up, guys. It's not like you've never loved someone," my face was heating up fast, and I hated being caught like that.
"Yeah, we've loved somebody, but we ain't never confessed like that."
"You're just loving this, aren't you Dodge?"
"Hey," his grin broadened, "You better believe it!"
"Can't you guys just let me be for awhile? Or do you have to tease me?" Neither of them answered. Jessi jumped onto the edge of the bed, and I shrunk back slightly. It was weird that Jess could be playful one second, and then real serious the next.
"You know, Dodger hasn't had any sleep since they put you in here, and I haven't had much either. We've been really worried." I was terrified to see tears in her eyes.
"I'm alright. Jess, I'm okay."
"Doc said you might not make it. He told us Saturday that you might not make it."
"I did and I'm okay."
'You might not have been, and we don't know what we would have done…. We-we can't live without you." I pulled her into a hug and she sobbed softly into my shoulder. I looked over at Dodger.
"Did he really say that? That I might not make it?" He nodded, and my heart took off at a gallop.
"I told you. We've been real worried." He took Jess from my arms and she cried instead into his chest. "I haven't been able to sleep because I was afraid you'd die or something." I closed my eyes and let my breath slowly out.
"Let's drop the subject for now. Okay? I didn't die, and unless someone plans to try to assassinate me, I ain't gonna die. But, I gotta ask, how's Austin, man? That shot was real bad and I pushed him…. How is he?"
"He's fine. I had a vet out to see him, and he's alright. He'll come out every other day to change the bandages, and he says just to not ride him 'till he heals, but he'll need lots of love." My stomach dropped.
"How bad was he hurt? I'll hill him, I will, for hurting my horse!" I was seething mad.
"Blaise, man, you ain't gonna kill no one. Austin's fine. He'll be fine, but it'll take time to heal. Just like you'll need to heal. You'll recover. Both of you will." I moved uncomfortably.
"Man, what the hell did I do? It ain't just bullet holes in me."
"You cracked some ribs when you took that tumble and they had to tape them up. It was hard 'cause of that wound, so they had to fix you up real good, and that's why you're so stiff. You're still pretty bad off, but I'm pretty sure that you'll live."
"Pretty sure?" I started to panic. "You mean I could still die?"
"Naw, but like you said, someone could assassinate you or some shit." His smile made me glare.
"Don't get my adrenalin up, man. It's bad enough to be hurtin' the way I do without havin' to laugh and worry. You're such an ass."
"Don't you know it."
"Will you be careful on them turns, man? I'm still hurtin' somethin' awful."
"Sorry, little brother. I'm just excited to have you home. Jess is boring. No offense or nothin'…."
"Watch out, Dodger," she said threateningly, "I know where you sleep."
"Oh, I'm so scared." Dodger's real sarcastic sometimes, and it gets him in trouble every time, so I wasn't surprised when Jessi punched him real hard.
I had to endure another two day stay at the hospital, and I wished I was back there as Dodger took another sharp turn. I slammed into the door and clutched my side painfully. "Damn it, Dodger! Slow down. We ain't gonna die if we go the speed limit, man!"
"Yeah, but how fun is the speed limit?"
"it's fun enough for me with hospital worthy sores, alright? In case you forgot or somethin'?"
"No, I didn't forget. I guess I'm just not used to you bein' hurt."
I was looking forward to being home, not so much of the homework I was going to have, but being home would be good enough. Dodger and Jess kept bickering as we started along our half-mile driveway. I jumped out of the car before it even remotely slowed down, and it resulted in a cussing fit from Dodger and a smarting pain in my side. I picked myself up and ran into our barn. I was so happy that I just stopped and breathed , then Austin nickered softly and I ran to him.
"Hey, buddy!" I cried happily. "How are you?" I opened the stall door to inspect his wound up close. "He got you good, didn't he? Damn if I let him live for this…." I had to let out a laugh as he nuzzled his nose into my pockets. "Hey, man. I don't got no carrots, but I'll go get some." He snorted, and I sprinted back up to the house.
"Hey, Blaise? What the hell do you think you're doing?" I whipped around and skidded to a halt in front of Ashley, then I picked her up and spun her around; man, I was just ecstatic!
"Man do I ever love you," I said, kissed her, then grabbed some carrots out of the fridge.
"Are you even going to talk to me?"
"Only if you can catch me!" I ran past her and heard her mutter, "boys!" in half-laugh half-annoyance. I nearly bowled over Dodger, and I knocked Jess down as I jumped off the porch, and flat out ran across the yard. I flew into the barn and back to Austin. "Alright, buddy. Here you go." I gave him a carrot, and then glanced over my shoulder. A grin spread wildly across my face. I patted Austin, then took off through the opposite end of the barn. Ashley's calls ricocheted through my mind, and I let out a rowdy stream of laughter.
She was fast. There was no doubt about it. But I was faster. We were both on the cross country team and in track and field, but I jumped hurdles; she didn't. The fences were taller than I could jump, but they didn't slow me down. I landed then scrambled up them. I easily out ran her by about twenty-five, thirty yards, and with it I finally realized what my coach was always saying to me: "Football is good for you. Teaches you math, and a good judgment of distance, and you always know how far you're going to go, and how fast you're going to get there. You can hold out longer, Endurance." That's what he called me; Endurance. I was MVP of the year all through middle school.
I am a total over achiever when it comes to sports. Soccer, track, football, basketball, lacrosse, you name it, I play it. I'm at every game and have never missed practice (except for once I got after school detention), but the point is, I'm a cowboy, a greaser, and a total jock. It's a way weird combination of personalities, but it's me.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw, with amazement, Ashley right on my tail. Whoa! Never expected her to catch up like that. She chased me for a while, and I finally managed to sidestep her. She flew past me and I took a nasty slide into a small tree. Damn, it hurt, but I was having too much fun, and I was too wound up and excited that I scrambled up and began running again.
Ash was quick to catch up, and she took a flying leap, tackled me, and sent us both rolling down a gentle grassed slope. And I thought hitting that tree hurt!
I could barely breathe the pain was so intense. With Ashley and her 109 pounds on my chest, cracked ribs, and wounds just made worse the small rocks digging into my shoulder and side injury.
I ended up pushing her off, gasping and swearing.
"Are you alright?" Ash was in a complete state of panic. "Ah, jeeze. Blaise are you okay?" I didn't answer her, and I was pretty sure I couldn't. I closed my eyes and tried to control my breathing.
In through my nose, out through my mouth. In the nose, out the mouth. Nose, mouth….
I think I was hyperventilation myself, or some other similar shit, because I blacked out after hearing her say my name again.
a/n: Thank you all for your reviews. Sorry for that last chapter. Sighs I messed up again. I promise I'll get better at that, but until the next chapter, I hope you've enjoyed this!
-Stephanie