The Taxi Ride

Chapter Twenty One: Not Again...

Waking up in a hospital bed was not fun. Waking up in it the day you were supposed to be discharged, was even less fun.

"What...happened?" I groggily made out, as I lifted up my left hand to brush some hair out of my eyes. I was surrounded by the beeps of a machine and the stench of medicine once more. It was dark outside my window when before it had been light. How long had I been out this time?

"I'm so, so, so, sorry," a rough voice filled with tears and guilt said. I turned my head to the right to see Victoria was sitting there, looking pensive and withdrawn. She had her head bowed and hands clasped tightly on her lap. "It was all my fault. I pushed Jake and he fell on you and now...you've got a broken foot."

At this I looked at my foot which was hanging up and wrapped in a cast.

I wanted to cry but the pain meds wouldn't let me. Instead I started laughing. "Haha, holy fuck! What are the odds. I mean, seriously what are they?" I had a broken right arm and a left foot too. "And it was Jake who fell on me this time?" I playfully tilted my head at Victoria who tightly nodded her head.

"Shit, what are you guys made of? You're built like brick houses. Is there something you're not telling me?" I hummed teasingly. Panic flashed in Victoria's eyes but she didn't say anything. "Like a secret regime? Or special strength exercises you do?" She relaxed at that, but still didn't answer my teasing.

"Get some rest Bella. And I'm truly sorry, for what I did. Really-"

I didn't like seeing a mopey Victoria. "Shut up. Don't wanna hear it," I slurred, the drugs making my speech harder to say. "Where's Jake?"

She opened and closed her mouth like she wanted to continue her apology but then took my words into consideration. "He's...he feels really bad for falling on you. He couldn't stand to be in the room right now."

"Hey," I said as I became aware of it. "Isn't it after hours right now?" I squinted my eyes at the dark of the room and noticed how quiet the whole place was.

"Yes," Victoria admitted shiftily. "So do keep your voice down."

"How did you get in?"

She deflected my question with a question of her own. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I'm cotton candy right now." My bodies sensitivity was dulled and I felt light like I had when I had woken up last time, high on pain meds from my first injury.

"Go to sleep then. Get some rest."

"Okay," I attempted to roll my eyes but it turned out to be too much effort halfway so I got tired and stopped.

"Alright. I should go. I'll ask Angela to come pick you up next time. I don't want you to get hurt anymore."

"Wait, you're leaving?" I pouted as I watched her stand up.

"Yes. You're tired and you need your rest and I've already done enough damage as it is." Victoria got up, brushing down her shirt.

"No. Please don't go." I was filled with sudden fear. The hospital was dark and I didn't want to be alone.

"Bella, I can't."

"Please-"

"I've already hurt you enough as it is."

"I want to show you I'm not mad at you. That I trust you. I know it wasn't intentional." I really didn't want Vicky looking so sad. "I hate it when you're sad."

Victoria looked conflicted, eyes flickering between me and the door, teeth gnawing on her bottom lip. Finally, after an eternity of me staring at her, she sighed, her tense figure only tensing up more. "Okay. Move over." She circled over to the left side of my bed and I scooted over to make space for her. She gingerly laid down on the covers, facing me and keeping a space between us. I didn't like that.

But I understood why she did it. I just looked at her face, observing her impeccable features. Her ruby red eyes, framed by delicate lashes. Her strong nose, high cheekbones. The crease between her brows as she worried away. I raised a hand to smooth it there, slowly trailing my fingers down to where she was still chewing on her bottom lip. God, she looked so good when she did that. I bet if I tried it I'd look like I was going crazy.

She stopped when I touched her lips with my cold fingers. "You really like my lips," she noted.

"What can I say," I murmured back, memorizing the texture of her red lips like they were going to be on a test."They're pretty." A pause as I took a deep breath. "You're pretty." I was going to hate myself later for blurting all this out, but right now I just had to get it off my chest.

This made Victoria sad for some reason. Her lips dipped down before she forced them into a neutral line. She took my hand between her two colder ones, and pressed delicate kisses to my fingertips. "Go to sleep Bella."

"Okay," I breathed out, letting my lids flutter shut. But my drug boosted bravery wasn't at an end yet. "Do you think I'm pretty?"

She took so long to answer I was already falling asleep and didn't have the power to respond. But her soft words made me happy regardless.

"You're not pretty. You're beautiful."

Then of course the next morning when I woke up, I promptly wanted to dig a hole and bury myself into it. Why had I said all those things? If Victoria hadn't known I had a crush on her before, she certainly knew now. I was going to have to come up with some sort of cover story. Or at least talk to her. I spent some time planning how to fix my verbal slip up, fidgeting in the bed.

The hospital let me out the next day, and this time it was Angela who was waiting to pick me up. Victoria and Jake were nowhere to be seen. I was kind of disappointed.

"Omg Bella," Angela gasped out as she saw me hobble out of the hospital on a crutch. "What the hell happened to you?"

"I got caught in a fight," I grimaced as I admitted this.

"Between who? Godzilla and King Kong?" She honestly looked appalled at my injuries but this wasn't anything new. I had been super clumsy in high school. If it wasn't a bruise than it was a twisted ankle, or a cut, or a broken bone. I had thought I had outgrown it when I had gone to college and been generally wound free for months, but I had been wrong. My clumsiness followed me around everywhere.

I managed a dry chuckle at her words as she rushed over to help me amble over to her car more quickly. "No. It's...a long story and I kind of want to sleep. I'm still on pain meds and they won't cover me from the pains of having to tell you the embarrassing tale of how I got like this."

Angela nodded her head in compassion but I could still see the curiosity burning behind her eyes.

The drive home was filled with chatter from Angela's end as she filled me in on what happened while I was gone. Not much, but the fight between Jake and Victoria had gotten some traction online. It was dubbed 'Gingers Have No Souls: Red Head Attacks Star Athlete'. That title was just disgraceful. I felt mad on Victoria's behalf. It was entirely one sided!

I wondered if the school would get involved with the fall out from the fight. Hopefully not. I didn't want either Jake or Victoria to get in trouble.

Angela dropped me off at my room, helping me get inside. My roommates weren't there, but Victoria was, reading one of my textbooks at my desk. She inhaled sharply when she saw me hobble in and got up to her feet to help me.

"I'll take it from here," she told Angela, who nodded her head. Angela was still pretty intimidated by Victoria's good looks and aura and didn't really talk when she was around.

"See you later, Bella. Call me if you need anything else." Then she left.

Victoria helped me over to the chair, her hands gentle on me. I sort of wished Angela had stayed, because I still felt awkward about asking Victoria those questions. And on touching her lips. I know she had admitted to thinking I was beautiful, but I cornered her into answering that. And then there was also the unresolved conclusion of that kiss at the bar and the kiss at the hospital. I didn't think I was brave enough to ask this. While still on pain meds, they weren't nearly as strong a dose.

Still, I had to say something to her.

"Uh, sorry."

"Sorry? For what? Why ever would you want to apologize to me?" her voice was aghast and her face seemed to get a bit paler.

"I um, kind of molested your face when I was high on drugs and I wanted to apologize for making you uncomfortable."

Victoria gave me a small smile at this. "Don't worry. I don't mind."

"Uh, good. And also please forget all those stupid questions I asked." Now I was flushing and I had hunched up my shoulders to try to hide my face.

"Done and done," she assured. "But, I should be the one apologizing to you. After all I did-" and here she went again, bashing on herself.

I grasped her hands in my good one, squeezing tight. "I already told you, I hate to see you sad."

"Then what do you want me to be? Glad? Ecstatic, to see you hurt?" Suddenly her voice had taken on a sharper tone, her eyes hardening. "Your pain does not bring me joy!"

I was taken a back by her vitriol but I powered on. "Victoria, this isn't something new. I've always gotten hurt before. I'm clumsy by nature and it was bound to happen to me sometime sooner or later. I've just accepted the fact that I'm super clumsy. Why, in high school I had to miss so many days of classes just because I had injured myself."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" she growled out. I didn't like her being mad any better than I liked her being sad.

"No, I suppose it won't make you feel better. But at least its supposed to make you understand why I'm not mad at you. Why I'm not bothered. So please, don't let this bother you either."

Victoria didn't look happy at all at my suggestion. "You're not mad at me?"

"No."

She raised a skeptical brow.

"I'm really not," I assured her, with almost a laugh.

She sighed heavily, breaking eye contact and looking at the wall, nibbling on her bottom lip. I was really beginning to like it when she chewed on her lip. It was cute and endearing on her.

"I still want to make it up to you. To make things right," she admitted, looking back at me.

"Then you can do that by helping me out. Giving me a hand, or helping me get to classes."

"But what if I hurt you again-"

"You won't. What happened was a freak accident. But it's fine. It was all those months of not getting hurt karma saved up and then exploding and resulting in that magnificent bitch of an accident."

She still didn't look happy but there was a glimmer in her eyes that gave me hope that I could get things back to being how they were pre-accident.

"Alright," she said softly, resigned, and squeezed my hand back gently.

A/N: Soooo, I might have a slight addiction to somewhat fluffy hospital scenes.