“He got to you just as Oreo came down onto your shoulder. I guess the pain caused you to black out, and he threw you across his lap and was the one that got you to the hospital.”
And then, everything else started rushing back. The reservations for dinner, how I’d gotten his phone number, the confessions I was going to make…
“Oh, god. Flynn. I-I-I… I need you to do something for me.”
“Anything,” he said lowly.
“I need you to call that steak restaurant in town and cancel our reservations.”
When he didn’t say anything, I slowly lobbed my head over and opened my aching eyes again. He was staring at me darkly, but I knew Flynn well enough to detect the hint of confusion wafting behind his eyes. I could see so many unsaid things that he wanted to blurt out at that moment, but my Flynn was calculating what to say.
And that made me nervous.
“Chelsea… you-”
I felt my heart began to race and it timed itself with the erratic beeping in the background. I felt someone clamp down onto my foot and start massaging it while the person drawing circles on top of my hand slowly brought it to their lips to kiss.
“Flynn?” I urged.
“You’ve been out for three days, Chelsea. Whatever reservations you had…”
Three days? I’d… been unconscious for three days!? My heart began to flutter, and I felt my hands begin to shake. There were so many things I had to do: I had to call the restaurant and apologize and explain to Flynn why I had them. I had to call work and tell them why I hadn’t come back yet. Jesus Chri-... I was due back to work yesterday!
“Calm down. Calm down. I’ll call the restaurant and explain to them what happened. No one will be mad at you there,” Flynn soothed.
And then? I felt his lips by my ear again.
“You’ve been in a medically-induced coma so your body could use the anti-venom the hospital had to filter out the venom from your brain. The snake, it bit you in your neck and seeped pretty quickly into that intelligent brain of yours.”
I snickered, and a light smile bloomed across my cheeks. Even in the most desolate moments, Flynn could always seem to make me smile.
God, how I had missed that about him.
“But, your brain still has some swelling, and you’ll have to stay in the hospital a couple more days until it’s completely gone.”
“I-... I-I-I can’t, though. I, uh, was due at-... at work tomorrow, Flynn.”
The last few words came out like a whispered plea. Like I was ready for someone to wake me up from this nightmare. I was ready to wake up and be in my own bed in Paris after kissing my parents goodbye.
I wanted out of this hospital.
“I’ve taken care of it.”
I turned my head towards the voice holding my other hand, and my eyes landed on the most comforting fac
e I could have conjured in that very moment.
“Mom,” I whispered. I felt Flynn let go of my hand, and for a split second I reached out and grasped his forearm. I didn’t want to let him go, and I didn’t want him to leave, but my mother nodded him out of the room, and I didn’t have the energy to fight. I watched him give me one more glance from the doorway, and then he slunk out of the room and shut the door behind him.
“I already called your work,” I heard my Mom say.
“Are you the reason Flynn is here?” I asked.
“Chelsea, when I-”
I heard my mother swallow hard, and that’s when my father took over the conversation.
“Hey there, honey bunny,” he soothed from my feet.