A Match Into Water

A MATCH INTO WATER:

CHAPTER 7: LET'S CHEERS TO THIS

VIC'S POV:

"What? No. I have to play the show in two days." Mike glared at me and shook his head.
"No, Vic. I won't allow it and everybody else here agrees. The doctor said you need to heal. You've got like six broken bones! You aren't leaving this damn hospital bed and that's it." I opened my mouth to speak, but Mike had already turned to walk away. I sat silently fuming. I'm the older brother. You'd think with the way Mike's been treating me that he was the oldest.
Kellin stood in the corner of the room, watching me. I sighed and motioned for him to come over. I looked at Jaime and he ushered the guys out. He looked back at me, winked, and gave me a thumbs up. My face went red and I looked away. Dammit, Jaime.
Kellin sat in the chair next to my bed. He looked at me, his eyes still red and puffy from crying. All of the stress with Katelynne was bad enough, but then I got us into a wreck. I should have been watching what I was doing, but I just couldn't take my eyes off of him.
Even with his swollen eyes and tear-stained face, he was beautiful to me. I thought I had lost him. I reached for his good hand and gripped it tightly. His eyes focused on mine and he smiled. I seemed to stop breathing. He looked down at our hands. He released his hand from mine and immediately laced our fingers.
"Vic, please don't you ever leave me. Okay?" I grinned at him.
"I promise." The small red-headed nurse made her way into my room. Kellin stood and moved out of her way. She checked all of the machines, occasionally scribbling things down on a clipboard. She finally looked at me.
"How are you feeling, Victor?" She said, politely. I looked down at my left side.
"I'm fine." Kellin cleared his throat. I looked up at him, unamused. "Well My whole left side hurts. Sort of." He cleared his throat once again. I rolled my eyes at him. "Okay, Everything hurts. A lot." He nodded his head in approval.
"Okay, I'll go get some morphine and hopefully that'll knock out the pain. It'll probably put you to sleep as well." I nodded.
"Thank you, ma'am." I glared at Kellin as she swiftly left the room to fetch my pain killers. "Happy? Look, Kells, I don't want to be here. I want to be awake and functioning. I want to leave. I hate hospitals." He shook his head as the nurse came back. She picked up one of the clear saline bags that was hanging next to me and injected a needle into it. My veins slowly began to chill. I shivered. She grabbed a blanket out of the cabinet on the other side of the room and covered me with it. "Thanks," I murmered.
"You're welcome, honey." She said as she left. Kellin sat back down in the chair and held my hand, again. We sat silently for several minutes. I couldn't find words to tell him everything. My head started to feel fuzzy and my eyes began drooping. Kellin smiled and released my cold hand. He stroked my hair softly until I fell asleep.

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I awoke slowly. I felt groggy, but I could hear voices. Mike and... Kellin. "Come on, Mike. He really wants this."
"No, Kellin. I am not letting him play a damned show. I hate that we have to cancel, but I will not risk my brother's health for a fucking concert." Kellin sighed heavily.
"I know I can't change your mind, but at least let him sit in a damn wheelchair and sing for them. He can't play a guitar. He can't walk around. Just let him sit infront of a mic and sing for a night." It grew silent as Mike contemplated letting me play. He let out a long breath.
"Fine, Kellin. He stays here until right before we have to leave, then after the set, he comes straight back. I'll go talk to the doctor. In the meantime, the rest of us are going to go clean up and get some food. You should too."
"Nah, I can't leave him all by himself. You guys go, I'll be fine." I heard footseps leave the room and then silence once again. I finally opened my eyes and looked at Kellin, my mind still all fuzzy. "Hey, Vic. You get to do the show." I gave what I knew was a dumb-looking smile.
My mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotten, making it hard to speak. "Thanks, K-Money," I mimbled. Kellin started laughing. It took several minutes before he finally calmed down.
"K-Money. That's definately a new one," He said chucking. "I like it." I just nodded and smiled. "We should probably get you off the heavy painkillers before we send you out on stage. We'll get you some mild hydrocodon or something." He said, smiling. His smile was pretty. He had perfect, straight, white teeth. Birlliance at its finest. I started to drift off, but Kellin grabbed my shoulder. "Don't sleep. We have to leave soon, baby." I grinned at his use of the word. I just smiled and l put a hand to his face. He leaned into my touch. "Your hand is really cold, Vic." I chuckled.
"Yeah, well, you're warm. Come lay with me." Kellin's eyes went wide. He shifted uncomfortably. I probably shouldn't of said that, but this morphine had me speaking even though I knew I shouldn't be. "Come on, Kells." I said, hoping to make it less awkward. He rose from his seat and cuddled next to me in the small bed. I immediately warmed up. We talked for a while about unimportant things before Mike came in. He stopped dead and stared, his mouth agape.
Kellin and I just looked at each other and laughed. My ribs began to ache and I quickly stopped laughing. Mike looked away, his face beginning to turn a light shade of red. "Uh.. Kellin... Vic... We're about to leave. Vic, you need to get dressed. I brought you some clothes. Kellin, go take a shower and change into these. He tossed our clothes at us and left the room." We looked at each other and cracked up again. He helped me up and into the bathroom and we slowly got ready for a concert.