After some more coaxing, I convince Rebel and Kinsey to leave.
April and McLanely follow.
May bounces on the tips of her toes, smiling at me. “So how much of your leg is metal? Are you, like, bionic?—”
Her question is interrupted when we hear footsteps rushing back to us. The two couples return with pinched expressions.
“What’s wrong?” Riley asks, bracing herself.
“There are reporters in the hospital lobby,” April explains. “They ambushed us with questions about what happened today.”
Rebel points to the opposite end of the hallway. “Better to sneak out the back.”
April narrows her eyes. “What if the reporters have thought of that too?”
“Chance can talk to the journalists at the front to distract them and I’ll head out back and make sure the coast is clear,” May suggests.
“Good idea, squirt,” April says.
May scrunches her nose at the nickname.
Max steps forward, eyes on May. “I’ll come with you.”
She brandishes her hands in an exaggerated ‘after you’ motion.
After Max and May give the all clear, my teammates rally around me. Renthrow and Kinsey take both of my arms and help me hobble out of the hospital on high speed.
Rebel runs behind us, opening the car door for me while my teammates lug me inside.
May stows my clothes and personal items into the backseat while Riley leans over me to push my chair back and buckle in my seatbelt.
“Is that comfortable?” she asks.
“I’ve got it,” I tell her, taking the seatbelt out of her hands. Cracking another smile, I say, “It’s my leg that needs surgery, not my arms.”
“Nat, you look like you’ve lost ten pounds in ten minutes. You don’t need to smile right now,” she says quietly. “Not for me.”
I let the grin drop from my face.
My friends wish me well and promise to check up later. I give them a weak wave and settle back in my seat as Riley starts driving.
“How are you feeling?” she asks.
I close my eyes. “Honestly?”
“Preferably,” she says in a clipped tone.
I guess I deserve that. “Exhausted and drained. And a little embarrassed.”
“Embarrassed?”
“Not a fan of being taken away in an ambulance.” I turn my head to look at her. “I put so much effort into hiding my injury and not being a strain on the team. That plan totally went up in flames.”
“That’s true.” She gives me a tight-lipped smile and I sense I’m going to be in for an earful later.
But ‘later’ doesn’t come.
After parking in my driveway, Riley helps me out of the car and hands me my crutches. She holds my arm as I hobble inside. I want to pretend I don’t need her assistance, but I can’t. At this point, my eyelids are dragging down and it feels like aliens have siphoned all my energy.
