Boy Next Door

Marc’s Point of View

I sat in the bleachers staring at the ambulance that Danielle was being carried away in. I was so shocked by what happened that I couldn’t even move. I could feel everyone still staring at me.

Brandon, being the calmest one in the situation stood up. “We should probably go to the hospital,” he said softly. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and started to walk down the bleachers and over to the parking lot. I still sat their, not being able to move.

“Marc, you need to come with us,” Lauren said softly as she tugged on my arm. I got up and walked over to Mike’s car, where he was already waiting for me.

All of us drove to the hospital in our respective cars. Nina and Matt went with Dubi, and I came with Mike and Lauren. When I reached the car, I noticed that Lauren wasn’t in there; she must have gone with the others. I climbed in the passenger seat and we started the drive.

“Dude, I know you guys had an argument, but you need to come with us,” Mike said after a few minutes of silence. “I know she’ll forgive you. You just need to realize that you over-reacted,” he continued after I didn’t answer. “She just wanted to make sure that what happened to Matt and Taylor never happened to the two of you. She really does love you, and she still does.”

“How do you know all of that?” I asked.

“She called me after the argument and told me. All of it. Every word of it was hers.”

I watched the trees go by and thought about what Mike had said. I didn’t think he would lie about saying that Danielle said it, but it just didn’t seem like she would forgive me. I know I still love her, but I can’t see her still loving me after I over-reacted like that over a stupid question.

We pulled up into the hospital and Mike parked the car. I bolted towards the entrance. I got off looks by other patients, but blew them off. I saw that everyone else had already gotten there and sat themselves in the corner of the room. I sat myself next to Lauren and Nina and put my face in my hands. Mike came in after me and sat next to Matt and Brandon.

I didn’t think that Danielle was going to die, but I did see and hear how hard her head hit the post. I just didn’t want my last memory of her alive to be her yelling at me.

“Don’t worry Marc, she’ll be fine. She’s tough,” Nina said, assuring me.

“Yeah. We are talking about the girl who played her high school championship game with a severely sprained ankle,” Lauren chimed in.

I smiled at their efforts to clam me down.

We were sitting in the waiting room for about an hour before a doctor came in for us. “Danielle Longola,” he said, trying to get the attention of the people there for her. All six of us stood up.

“How is she?” I asked.

“She has a severe concussion, but no memory loss. We had to give her stitches to stop the bleeding, but she will be fine. You can visit her, but only one at a time,” he said.

Everyone looked at me, giving me the signal to go. “Some one else go. She won’t want to talk to me,” I said as I sat back down.

“I’ll go,” Lauren said. The doctor gave her directions to her room and then went to another room to help another patient. About two minutes later, Lauren came back out.

“She won’t talk to me. She’s only asking for Marc,” she said. At first I got happy, knowing she wanted to talk to me. It made me think she would forgive me, but then I got nervous. What if she just wanted to yell at me more? Or just break up with me?

I walked to her hospital room with both thoughts going back and forth in my head. I stopped outside the room and took a deep breath. I closed my eyes, exhaled, and walked into the room.

!^!^!^!^!
Danielle’s Point of View

My eyes opened slightly and automatically shut. The room I was in was really bright. I must have been in the hospital. I could remember my head hitting the post during the game, but nothing after that. I had a massive headache and felt insanely tired. I came to the conclusion that I got a concussion. The doctor came in shortly after and confirmed my assumption. He gave me some pain pills and asked if I was capable of handling some visitors. I nodded my head and wondered if Marc came.

Mike told me that he was positive that Marc would get over it, but I wasn’t too sure. I hoped that Marc came because I just wanted to find out if he was still mad at me or not.

Lauren came in shortly after the doctor left. “Hey. How are you feeling?” she asked.

“I want to talk to Marc,” I said. My voice was soft and kept cracking.

“The doctors said you have a really bad concussion,” she said, ignoring my request. It was a good sign, though. It meant Marc was here. If he wasn’t, she would have just told me. Maybe it just meant that he was forced to come and didn’t want to talk to me.

“I want to talk to Marc,” I said again. Knowing she wasn’t going to get anywhere in this conversation, she left the room. I hoped she would send Marc in; I needed to know if he was still mad at me.

I heard footsteps coming towards my room. I started getting nervous. He walked in the room and I could think of nothing to say, so I said the first thing that came to my mind.

“Did we win?” I asked. He let out a soft chuckle. Good, I thought to myself. He isn’t completely pissed at me.

“I don’t know. I didn’t stay till the end,” he said as he sat down in the wooden chair next to my bed. “Nice stitches.”

I really didn’t think about what I looked like. My forehead was probably extremely swollen and red. “Thanks,” I said with a roll of my eyes. After a few seconds of awkward silence, I had to bring up the subject. “I’m sorry I even asked the question. It was stupid. I should have known that you would never cheat on me,” I said.

“No, it’s my fault; I over-reacted. I should have known that you meant know harm. I’m sorry,” he said.

“It’s not your fault. I told you; I shouldn’t have even asked.”

“It’s my fault, end of discussion,” he said. He didn’t say it in a mean way; it was in a cute way. I opened my mouth to argue, but he made a hand motion, signaling me to close my mouth. “I love you,” he said as he put his arms around as best as he could.

“I love you, too,” I said as I hugged him back.