“Rowan, I need you to come with me,” she says, voice quiet. Her eyes trail over my face and she gives me a small smile.
“Did something happen?” I ask, bolting out of the comfortable bed.
She nods quickly and gestures for us to leave the room. I look around and see other players trying to enjoy the space. I nod back and follow her out of the room.
“Come on,” she says, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the medical center.
My stomach drops when she leads us inside and flashes two visitor passes to the security guard. “Mags, what’s going on?”
“It’s Jacob. He was doing fine and all of a sudden he changed directions abruptly and landed awkwardly?—”
“Was it his right knee?” I ask, blood draining from my face.
“Yes,” she says, stopping in the lobby and looking at me in surprise. “How did you know?”
My mind is reeling. If he hurt his already irritated knee, he might not return to finish the match. “He told me his knee was bothering him yesterday.”
“Shit,” Maggie says, biting her thumbnail. “This is bad, Rowan. You didn’t see him out there, he looked like he was in agony,” she says. My instinct tells me to take a step closer and wrap my arms around her. Tell her everything will be fine. That our friend is strong and he’ll get through this.
But there are people around, nurses and medical staff, even Jacob’s coaches are waiting in the lobby for news. So I take a step back and stuff my hands in the pockets of my shorts, keeping my distance. Maggie stops chewing on her nail and straightens up. Realization dawns on her face and she looks at me with resignation and regret.
“Ro—” she starts, but gets cut off by Jacob’s physical trainer.
“Hey, Rowan. Jacob asked for you,” she says, motioning to the room he came out of.
I open my mouth, not knowing what to even say to Maggie, but she just squeezes my arm. “Go, we’ll talk later.”
The private room smells like cleaning supplies and lemons. I don’t know what to expect, but it’s not Jacob lying there in visible pain while Elena yells at him in Polish.
Her dark blonde hair is long and wavy, swinging everywhere as she gestures with her hands. Jacob closes his eyes andgrimaces. “I don’t know what you’re bloody yelling at me for,” he says, dejected.
“You moron, how could you make such a stupid mistake?” she asks, cheeks red from anger and—crying. Taking a step closer into the room, she looks at me with red eyes and quickly wipes her hand across her cheeks to wipe the tearstains.
“It’s not like I wanted to tear my ACL, Elena,” Jacob says in a hard tone.
Elena gives him a long stare and spins on her heels, leaving us alone in the small room.
“Fuck,” Jacob yells, hitting the side of the bed with his fist.
“You tore your ACL?” I ask, approaching him and sitting down in the plastic chair nearby.
“Just my fucking luck,” he says miserably. “They’re going to take me to the nearest hospital.”
“What happened?” I ask.
Jacob takes a moment to reign in the hurt and anger. “That little fucker noticed it. He saw I was in pain and took advantage of it. I don’t even know how I landed on it, I thought I was going to pass out from the pain.”
“Fuck. I’m so sorry,” I say, clasping his hand in mine.
Jacob sniffles and says, “You better kick the shit out of him in the finals,” he says, bright eyes shrouded in pain.
“I’ll do my best. I need to win the semi-finals first,” I say, giving him a small smile. “Text me the hospital details, I’ll stop by after the match, alright?”
“Yeah, sure. Thanks mate,” Jacob says, letting go of my hand. My heart goes out to him, but there’s nothing I can do at this moment. Once he’s out of the hospital, once he’s back in London, I can see what kind of help he needs and how I can be there for him.
“Hey,” I say, taking a step back. “This isn’t the end, okay?”
He gives me a stern nod and I walk out of the room. As soonas I do, a team is waiting to take him to an ambulance. I look around for Elena, hoping to ask why she was giving him such a hard time, but she’s nowhere to be found. I round the corner and find Maggie there, typing furiously on her phone.
