My Little Earthquake

The first thing I did when I woke up was convince the nurses to let me see Pete. I was told he had come out of surgery while I was supposed to be “resting” last night. But honestly, can anyone really rest when people are coming in and out of your room every hour to check on you, plus the commotion in the hall ways constantly? No, you can’t. That and the constant mini nightmares of the gun in my face weren’t helping either.

Long story short, it was a long ass night.

The only way to describe how Pete looked was tired. The bags under his eyes said it all. His eyes were closed when I came in, so I quietly sat in the chair next to his bed. I was flooded with emotion from seeing him like this. I don’t want to sound vain, but he was in this position because of me. If he hadn’t of pushed me out of the way he’d be fine right now.

I reached out and grabbed his hand on the bed as tears started filling my eyes.

I don’t know how long I sat there before he stirred, “Hey,” I whispered when his eyes met mine, “How you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been shot,” He croaked, but the smile was evident on his face. He took in my hard stare, “Too soon?”

“Very,” I snapped.

He rolled his eyes, “Don’t be so serious Emma, it doesn’t look good on you.”

“I’m sorry,” I whipped my tears, “So what’s the verdict?”

“Well sitting up hurts like a bitch right now. I’m going to be stuck in here for a few weeks, and stuck at home even longer after that.” He shrugged, then winced, “But I’m told I’m lucky, and inch closer to the right and I wouldn’t be walking out of here.”

“I’m sorry this happened.” I sniffed.

“Are you mental? How is this your fault? You didn’t push me in front of the bullet, I jumped into it.”

“You didn’t have to do that though.”

He rolled his eyes, “Are you really going to argue with me about this? I wasn’t going to stand there and let that guy shoot you. No bloody way.”

I whipped away more tears trying to get them to stop, “I don’t know how to thank you.”

“You don’t have to worry about it, I didn’t do it so I could hang it over your head.” He sighed, “I did it because I care about you. I always will. I didn’t have a choice when it came to pushing you out of the way, it was just a go-to response.” He reached up and whipped some tears form one of my cheeks.

“When did you become such an amazing person?” I chuckled.

He snorted, “I always have been, I just hid it well.”

The tears were calming down, I smiled, “Can I hug you?”

“Of course, just watch out for my side, yeah?”

I stood up and carefully put my arms around his neck, and he put one arm around me and rubbed my back soothingly.

I pulled back and sat back in my chair, “So where are your parents?”

“I kicked them out for a few hours, my mom was hovering” he rolled his eyes, “you know how she gets.”

“I don’t blame her, her babies in the hospital.” I cracked a smile.

He laughed, “Yeah, well her baby is almost 20, and don’t need to be smothered, I’ve got nurses for that.”

I rolled my eyes, “So is anyone else coming to see you? Where’s the girlfriend?”

“Ashley’s on her way, she’s been in France for a work thing but mom called her last night and she couldn’t get a flight until this morning so she’ll be here tonight.” I had met her once at the store, and I can just tell how much she cared about Pete. I hope he knows. I haven’t talked to him much about his relationship with her out of respect, but I was really happy for him.

“That’s good. That girl loves you.”

He smirked, “You think?”

I nodded, “Diffidently.”

“That’s good, because I think I love her too. Might even tell her now.”

“You should. We all need to stop wasting time. It’s like we forget we’re only on this planet so long.” I glanced at his side when I said that.

“Speaking of,” he said getting my attention, “Harry came to see me last night.”

I looked at him shocked, “He did?”

“Yeah, like an hour after I got out of surgery. Being in a boy band really lets him abuse the system doesn’t it?” he joked.

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” I rolled my eyes, “What he say?”

“It was kind of awkward, I won’t lie, but he thanked me for ‘keeping you safe.’ His words not mine.” He smiled, “That guy loves you.” He said, stealing my own words.

I blushed and looked down, “I know. I’ve been an idiot.”

“Yeah you have,” he laughed.

I glared, “thanks.”

He shrugged, “I hope you’ve seen the error of your ways.”

“I totally have. Now I’ll spend all my time groveling at his feet in forgiveness.”

“Trust me, you’re already forgiven.”

“You think?”

He nodded, “Oh yeah. I can tell by the things he said about you last night, and the kid cried a bit, yeah? That’s love.”

“What all did he say?”

He smirked, “Oh Emma, wouldn’t you love to know.”

“Oh come on!” I smiled.

“Bro code, can’t say.” He pounded his fist against his chest, “But just know that that guys loves you. More than I ever could.”

I stood up and kissed his cheek, “I should get going. I’m getting released soon. But call me if you need anything okay?”

“Cake,” he said, “I need cake.”

I rolled my eyes, “Okay, I can get you cake.”

“You can make me cake.” He shot.

I rolled my eyes, “Fine, I’ll make you cake. I’ll see you later.”

*****

“See Haz, I don’t you she was fine.” Mayra said as I walked into the room. She was lounging on my bed and Harry was pacing across the room, but stopped when he saw me.

“Hey, I didn’t know you were here.” I let Harry pull me into him. God if felt so good to be back in his arms.

“Where were you?” He mumbled into my neck.

His breath ticked, “I went to see Pete.”

“How’s he doing?” Mayra asked, she also motioned to a stack on clothes on the bed, “There are for you by the way.”

“Thanks,” I kissed her check and grabbed the clothes, “He’s good. Cheeky as ever.”

“I’m glad he’s okay,” Harry said as his hands made their way to my waist.

I caressed his cheek and pulled out of his grasp, “I’m gonna change real quick then we can get out of here.”

I changed into the clean clothes but all I could think about was how much I wanted a shower.

“Alright, let’s go sign me out!” I exclaimed as I exited the bathroom.

Harry immediately crossed the room to me and grasped my face between his hands. His thumbs rubbed up my cheekbones and he stared into my eyes. I was almost hypnotized by him, everything else around me fell away. His eyes darted down to my lips before he gently pressed his to mine. I graciously accepted his kiss.

As I reached up to try and deepen the kiss Mayra cleared her throat, “As much as I love that you two are back together, this is awkward for me to just watch.” Harry and I pulled away and I blushed over at her, “Let’s get home then you can do this all you want in your own room!”

“Sorry,” I said to my friend. She just rolled her eyes at me playfully and started for the door.

I went to follow, but Harry grabbed my hand and pulled me back into him and kissed me once more, “I’ve missed this.” He said against my lips.

“I have too. But we can do this as much as you want once we get home, let’s go.” I tugged on his hand to follow.

“I’m holding you too that, my love.”

I looked over my shoulder at him, “I hope you do.”