Don't Give Up On Us

I lifted my heavy eye lids and looked around. The bright room making it even harder for my eyes to be kept open.

I cleared my throat.

"Valarie?" A soft voice said.

I forced my eyes open again to see who it was. A pair of green eyes filled with worry looked back at me.

He stood up and practically ran to the side of the bed.

"Valarie?" He repeated. "Can you hear me?"

I nodded.

"You're at the hospital. Do you know why?"

I tried to remember but my mind was blank.

"No," I answered, my voice hoarse and quiet. "What happened?"

"Um..." John turned around and saw Jordan walk in.

Jordan's eyes lit up when he saw me. "Valarie! You're awake!"

I made a groaning sound and gave him a weak smile.

John walked out for a moment with a look of relief.

Jordan sat at the edge of the bed and placed his hand on mine.

"How are you feeling, babe?"

"Tired." I said, my eyes falling shut.

"Yeah that's the drugs." Jordan explained.

"I like drugs." I heard myself say.

Jordan chuckled. "I bet you do,"

He stayed quiet for a bit.

"Are you in pain?"

My eyes opened slightly. "What happened to me?"

"Uh..." Jordan trailed off trying to find the right words.

Garrett walked in with John who was holding a big bouquet of flowers and a "get well" balloon. The extremely guilty facial expression on John's face as he got closer triggered something. A random flash in my mind appeared and my eyes widened and my jaw dropped.

I felt this burst of energy. "You fucking idiot you shot me?!"

I reached to attack him but a sudden excruciating pain took over my whole right arm.

Loud beeps came from a near machine.

"AH!" I immediately retracted and looked down at myself, noticing the big patch on my shoulder.

Tears streamed down my face because of the pain.

The room erupted with "Valarie, no!" and "Don't move!" followed by "Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" from John.

I shut my eyes and cried out, holding my throbbing arm.

John hesitated but got closer and looked at me.

"Valarie," He said softly, moving a piece of hair from my face as I sobbed. "Shh, I know it hurts, I know you hate me right now and I'm really sorry but please stop. Stop moving or you'll make it worse."

I looked up at John and if I weren't mistaken he quickly wiped a tear that escaped his apologetic green orbs.

I focused on his eyes and my sobbing died down.

The nurse ran in. "What happened?!"

John seemed startled. "Oh, uh, she moved her arm."

The nurse quickly checked the machines.

She had short, brown curly hair and was probably in her mid thirties. Her name tag that said Tracy was barely hanging on her dark blue scrubs. Her big brown eyes watched every machine around me as she shook her head. She looked at John with suspicion.

"Why is she moving her arm? She should be asleep," She turned to me. "Honey do you need anything?"

"More drugs, please." I told her, my voice weak from pain.

She chuckled. I was serious.

"We gave you enough. Just don't move around too much," She looked at John and looked back at me. "Do you want some time alone to sleep?"

I shook my head.

"Well, if you need anything," She pointed at a button that was next to me. "Give me a call."

She stared at John once more and left.

"What is her problem?" John asked when she was out of sight.

"She thinks you shot Val on purpose," Garrett said.

John looked at him.

"I heard her talking."

"Well it wasn't my fault anyway." John said shaking his head.

Garrett gave him a weird look. "You shot her, how could it not be?"

John gestured to me. "She shouldn't have been slapping me just as I was ready to pull the trigger! She scared the shit out of me!" He squinted his eyes as he looked at Garrett. "And where were you? Why didn't you warn me that Val was there? I could've stopped if you did."

"What?! Are you seriously trying to blame this on me?" Garrett pointed at Jordan. "What about Jordan? He's the one she was looking for!"

"Hey! You guys persuaded me to go! And I was taking a piss at the time! You could've warned John!"

"But you should've never went!"

"You should've payed attention to notice Val!"

"John should've looked around before he pressed the trigger!"

"Who does that before shooting something?!"

"Everyone!"

"No you asshole!"

"Says the one shooting young women!"

"Go suck a-"

"Hey!" Tracy called out as she barged in. "You, you, and especially you, get the hell out of this room!"

"Excuse m-"

"Out!"

"Val-"

"I called her," I admitted. "You guys wouldn't shut the hell up, so..." I pointed to Tracy.

They all walked out in shame.

She faced me and smiled.

I smiled back. "Thanks."

"Anytime."

She fixed my pillow and walked out.

I looked at the patch on my shoulder and sighed, feeling my eyes getting heavy.

* * *

"Don't wake her up."

"I have to, ass, the doctor needs to check up on her."

I felt a light tap on my face.

I opened my eyes and looked startled at Garrett who was in my face. I looked around and the guys were all staring at me.

"What?" I asked feeling uncomfortable.

They all looked away.

"We were trying to figure out who would have to bathe you." Garrett blurted. "We were thinking probably me-"

"The nurse dumbasses." I told them as my cheeks became hot.

"I told you." Jordan said.

"But if you had to choose between John and I, who would you choose?" Garrett asked.

"John, no contest."

Jordan's eyebrows connected. "Why?"

"Because Garrett, bless his heart, would most likely end up saying or doing something stupid."

"Like?"

"Like bringing up that he bathed me in a random conversation."

Garrett laughed. "True."

"John would probably keep everything to himself," I looked at Jordan who didn't seem too happy with that. "But that won't happen." I quickly added.

A tall man walked in with Tracy and smiled. "Hello Ms. Daniel, I'm Dr. Sanders and I'm just here to check up on you. How are you feeling?"

"Pretty weak." I stated.

"Ah yes, that always happens with a gun shot wound," He put his hands behind his back and walked to me. His blond hair and blue eyes shining. "Ms. Daniel, do you know how lucky you are?"

I shrugged with my left shoulder.

"You were shot right in the shoulder,"

I noticed John shift uncomfortably.

"A clean shot through the shoulder would inherently mean the projectile would have passed through some bone," He began to pace, still making eye contact with me. "Now if this did happen it could have caused the slug to deviate, break up inside the body, or splinter the bone and thus cause more injury. But, miraculously, it somehow missed your shoulder pocket and it didn't take too long to get you good as new."

"Wow, thank you so much, doctor."

"Don't mention it," He chuckled. "Now all I need you to do is get your beauty rest, that won't be difficult for you anyway."

I couldn't help but smile a little.

"Goodbye doctor!" Jordan and John said in unison. John looked at Jordan and quickly tried to hide his jealousy.

Dr. Sanders stared at them with a questioning look. "Um, well, remember give yourself time to heal. Don't rush into anything." He tapped my left shoulder with a smile and left.

"What was that about?" I asked John.

"I just, uh, wasn't getting a good vibe from the guy."

Jordan eyed John but stopped when he noticed that I saw.

A distant walkie talkie was heard down the hall.

"Jordan, was that jealousy I sensed?" I teased him.

"Maybe," He answered. "But why did John..."

Jordan trailed off as the sound of a walkie talkie got louder and we heard a voice that asked "Where is she?"

"Over in that room." Someone responded.

Heavy boots got closer and there was a knock on the already opened door. "Hello, Valarie Daniel?"

"Uh, yeah that's me."

"Good evening," He entered the room, the light making the big badge on his uniform shine. He took off his sunglasses.

I looked at the guys in confusion.

"Oh my apologies, my name is Officer Patterson. I have a couple of questions to ask you if that's alright."