22

Melody

Paul

Someone's scrubbing my face with a wet washcloth. Whoever it is smells like lavender, peppermint and vanilla. The scent is so familiar, but I can't place it. And then the song hits my ears.

"We're alright, we're alright.

Sun comes up tomorrow.

We'll beg steal or borrow,

a new game plan.

We're alright, we're alright

We will wait it out together.

This can't last forever,

Can it babe?"

I finally manage to pry my eyes open, and find myself staring up at Kelsey Swan. She looks tired and concerned as she scrubs dried blood off my face.

"Kelsey?" I manage to croak out.

"Hey." She smiles, and it damn near lights up her face. Beautiful. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit. How bad is it?"

"You have a concussion and a cut that required ten stitches. You also have lots of cuts and bruises, a busted nose, a black eye, and a split lip." she says, her brow furrowing slightly.

I think for a moment, trying to think of anything that can sum up the situation. Finally, I go with "ow."

Kelsey laughs a little. Her laugh is beautiful. I want to kiss her. Want to taste her lips. And yeah, normally I wouldn't be thinking this with as much urgency, but you can blame the concussion.

"Ow's the word." Kelsey smirks, her eyes still sparkling, drawing me in.

I force myself to think of anything but Kelsey. "When can I leave?"

"Whenever your mom gets here to spring you." she says, settling herself in the visitors' chair.

"Oh. I'll be here awhile then." I hate hospitals. I try to hide my disappointment, but Kelsey must see it on my face.

"Hospitals suck, huh?" She leans her elbows on her knees, smiling slightly.

"Yeah. How do you..." And then it clicks. Kelsey has both diabetes and asthma. Chances are, she's been in the hospital a few times. "Oh, wait. Never mind."

"Yeah." She smiles slightly.

"What was that song you were singing?" I'd never heard it before and it sounds beautiful. Of course, anything Kelsey sings would sound beautiful, but that's besides the point.

"You heard that?" She blushes a little.

"It was really pretty." I assure her.

"The song is called Recession Song. It's my favorite at the moment." She rifles through her backpack and comes up with her phone. She turns the brightness way down, along with the volume. And then she hits play and the music begins to flow softly through the room. And she sings along, her syrupy alto adding yet another layer to an already beautiful song.

I allow myself to drift off. It's nice to drift off to such a beautiful song, to the scent of lavender, peppermint and vanilla.

I wake when my mom arrives to get me. She looks mildly concerned as she guides me into a wheelchair. Kelsey, it seems, has left. I fight back a wave of disappointment.

Mom leaves early the next morning with orders to take it easy. Paige stays home with me, waking me up every four hours exactly. She won't let me do anything, which drives me insane.

"Kelsey's here." Paige sticks her head into my room. "Should I send her up?" I nod.

"Cool."

A moment later, Kelsey is standing in my doorway. She looks tired, but she's smiling lightly. She moves to my desk chair and turns it around, sitting backwards with her arms crossed on the top.

"How're you feeling?" she asks, concern showing in her eyes.

"Better." I smile.

"That's great. I brought you something." She rummages through her backpack and pulls out a small package. She gets up to hand it over.

I unwrap it, revealing a puzzle and a pack of jumbo playing cards. The puzzle is a 200 piece, with the Rocky Mountains on it.

"I Googled good things to do while recovering from a concussion." Kelsey smiles. "The good news, according to your mom, is that your concussion is very mild, and since you're a werewolf, it'll heal faster. So just two weeks of taking it easy as opposed to two months."

"Thank you, Kelsey." I smile at her. It's very rare that people actually remember that you need to do stuff while recovering.

"Anytime. Although I would prefer it if you avoid getting any more head injuries for a while, yeah?" she says with a joking smile.

She grabs a lapdesk from Paige's room, and asks if I want to play cards. We wind up playing Rummy. Kelsey is much better at it than I am.

We then play bullshit with Paige, and I wind up kicking both of their asses. Then Paige leaves to do homework, and Kelsey and I begin to put the puzzle together.

She stays until late. When I'm sleeping, she's hanging out with Paige. Apparently, she's the only reason Paige isn't flunking algebra. She's good at explaining things, even I learn a thing or two listening to them.

"Kelsey cooked some dinner for us. Do you wanna go downstairs to eat it?" Paige asks.

"Yeah." I answer, standing slowly and grabbing onto Paige's shoulder for balance.

It's breakfast for dinner. I have scrambled eggs, two pieces of toast and a piece of bacon. I would have eaten more, but my appetite is screwed.

She leaves after dinner, saying she needs to get caught up on her homework. She hugs both of us before she leaves. And she's even more beautiful up close.

The next few days pass in a similar fashion: lying around, sleeping for four hour intervals, listening to Kelsey tutor Paige, eating something Kelsey cooked for us. I heard Paige ask her why she liked to cook, and Kelsey's reply was very simple.

"I have OCD. Cooking gives me something to channel my focus into, instead of the anxiety inducing thoughts that are a fulltime thing."

OCD. It takes me longer than it should to remember what that is. It's the hand-washing disease, right? The one where you do certain things over and over and over again? I've never noticed any of that with Kelsey. Except...

She always carries hand sanitizer. She sometimes uses multiple layers of it in a short span of time. Her car had sanitizer wipes, and I've seen her use them to wipe down her phone, insulin pump, steering wheel. She has OCD.

I make a mental note to myself to look up OCD. To learn more about it. To be a better, less ignorant person. And then I'm asleep.

A/n: Hi, guys. It's a short chapter, but I've never had a concussion and didn't want to get anything wrong. The song Kelsey sang to Paul is called Recession Song by Barry & Michelle Patterson. It's available on YouTube, just search "Recession Song: Barry & Michelle Patterson." It's the top result. If we get to 83 reviews, I'll update Wednesday. If not, expect it on Friday. Later!

Lauren.

Guest: Thank you for your compliment! It really means a lot! I hope you enjoy this chapter; please review and let me know.

Loves to read books: Thanks! I hope you like this chapter; please review and let me know.

Guest: I have no idea if this is the same person or not, so I'm just gonna assume its two different people. The fluffy bits are some of my favorites to write. I hope you liked this chapter; please let me know.

Rachaelm1981: I'm sorry you have COVID. I hope you feel better now, and if not now, then soon. I love writing Kelsey and Paige together. I was grinning like a maniac when I wrote the Kelsey vs. Edward scenes. I hope you like this chapter, please review and let me know. And drink lots of fluids; they should help keep you from getting dehydrated while you have the fever.

marigold19: I love the ship name for Paul and Kelsey! And yeah, Bella is kinda a shitty daughter. Charlie is an awesome dad, though. Well, for the most part. (I still don't approve of how he handled the assault situation in Eclipse, though.) I hope you like this chapter, please review and let me know.

Twilightfanjm: I have a plan for Emmett and Paul. Emmett is my favorite Cullen, too. I now just remove her spam reviews. I've gotten three or four; it kinda pisses me off that she won't create an account so I can block her ass. I just remove them for the sake of those who read the reviews. I hope you like this chapter too; please let me know.