“Thanks to that cut on your head, now you do.” Toddsqueezes her shoulder and sticks his light back in his shirt pocket before turning to me. “Since you saw the fall, you relay that information to the doctors. Like I said, I’m okay if you want to drive her there, but make sure she stays awake the entire time.”
“Absolutely. I’ll do whatever she needs.”
“Great!” Todd turns back to Kayla and pats her knee. “Tell your momhellofor me.” He zips up his pack while Tessa tosses the used first aid supplies in the hazardous waste bin. I step to the side and thank them while they shuffle toward the exit.
From the doorway, I watch as Kayla sits up straight and loosens her hair from the usual bun. Black locs cascade around her, framing her shoulders and halfway down her back. She catches my stare. “What?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen your hair down,” I say carefully, hands in my pockets.
“It helps with the headache…” She grimaces, turning to face me.
“The girls want to see you before we go, if that’s okay.” Sarah and Harper peek around my back, and Kayla forces a smile, scrunching her nose in pain as she does. I leave them while they hug and cry and reassure one another, off to find Claire to figure out logistics. My steps echo through the long hallway connecting the infirmary to the mess hall.
To my surprise, Kyle meets me in the large dining hall with my bag and Sami with Kayla’s. Sami hands me Kayla’s car keys, and I thank her before heading out to stick the bags in the trunk. When I come back inside the dining area, I’m shocked to see Kayla sitting at a table, talking to Claire.
“Don’t worry about the cleanup or anything. I want you to get on the road and get checked out. Chase already put your bags in the car, and he’ll be driving you. We can worry about the incident reports later,” Claire says, giving way too much information to someone with a concussion. And yet, Kayla nods like she’s following every word.
“Ready?” I ask, helping her to her feet. She grabs my hand,and I slide my arm around her, gripping her waist as she finds her balance. While having my arms wrapped around her again has been high on my list of experiences, this is not the way I imagined. She sways, bumping into me, and I grip tighter. “Don’t worry, I got you,” I whisper, trying to keep my thoughts from spiraling with worry.
I load her into the passenger side, and as we head down the road, she lays her head back and closes her eyes.
I shake her arm to get her attention. “Nope. You gotta stay awake, dear.”
“Dear?Ew.” She scrunches her face, eyes still closed.
“Honey?”
“Ugh! That’s bad too.”
“Bae?” I chuckle.
“You’remaking my head hurt now,” she groans, but a smile tugs at her lips. I blast the cold air in her direction, and that gets her eyes open. “Are you going to be this annoying the entire drive?” she asks, turning her head toward me.
“Probably.”
She makes it a few more miles down the road before closing her eyes again, and I lace my fingers in hers, shaking her arm to wake her a second time. “Kayla, sweetheart, you gotta stay awake.” Her eyes pop open, but she doesn’t object to that one. She doesn’t move her hand away either until we pull up to the hospital an hour later.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
KAYLA
Iwake to a rhythmic beeping noise. My head throbs, pounds, as I pull myself up to sit. Turning toward a curtain-covered window, I make out a form dozing in the chair opposite the bed. I blink the bleariness from my eyes and clear my throat, looking for my phone and wincing when I turn my head.
“Hey, girl.” Ashlie sits up, wiping drool from the corner of her mouth.
“Where’s my phone? I should call my mom…” I croak. The dry, metallic taste in my mouth has me searching for water.
“Claire already called her. She had to finish her overnight shift, but she’s on her way back now.” She hands me a water-filled paper cup from the table by my hospital bed, and I drain it quickly.
“What time is it? What day is it?”
She grabs her phone from the chair. “Eight-thirty a.m. and Saturday,” she says, laughing and shaking her head at something on her phone.
“Care to share with the class?” I quirk the wrong eyebrow and wince again. Holding her phone out to me, she walks toward the bed. The notifications show five missed texts from Chase, with a sixth one chiming in while I hold the phone.
Chase
Thanks for staying with her.
