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David’s first thought upon waking up was... Who had let me drink so much?
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d woken up with this massive of a hangover. His head felt like someone had taken a hammer to and bashed in his skull. Don’t get him started on the soreness and pain that covered his body. What the hell did he do last night?
As he was trying to put the pieces together, he remembered... the drive home from the restaurant, the anticipation of getting Carrie home, then his truck being hit from the side, and the last thing he recalled was when the EMTs arrived and the way he begged them to take her first. He could only remember a few moments after that before he must’ve passed out.
His eyes flew open as the image of Carrie bleeding and unconscious next to him was now seared into his brain.
“Carrie,” his voice came out garbled.
“Sweetheart,” he heard someone nearby attempting to calm him down. “Sweetheart, breathe. Everything’s going to be fine.” His eyes flashed around the room before landing on his mother who just happened to be the one trying to get him to relax. She was leaning over his body, so all he could see at the moment was the curtain of her hair and her worried expression.
“Where am I?” he asked her, his voice just a tad stronger than before.
She reached around him before bringing her hand back and resting it on his shoulder. “You’re in the hospital. Do you remember what happened?”
“Where’s Carrie?” Please, God, please say that she was alive.
“She’s okay; she just has a dislocated shoulder. We’ve all just been worried about you.”
“Can I see her?” The words dislocated shoulder kept ringing throughout his head on repeat. He needed to see her with his own two eyes to know that she was okay.
His mom gave him a smile that was hinged with just a touch of sadness, but before she could say anything, a woman in a white coat entered the room.
“It’s so good to see you awake, Mr. Clarke. I’m Dr. Bush. How are you feeling?” she asked as she checked his monitors and the clipboard in her hand.
“I’m fine.” He couldn’t remember ever feeling this much pain in his life, but he needed to see Carrie. He needed to make sure that she was okay. He had been the one driving. If she wasn’t completely fine, then he’d never forgive himself. “Where is she?”
The doctor turned to his mom. “The girl from the accident?” His mom nodded her head before Dr. Bush turned back to David. “Last I saw her, she was in here with you. The two of you have the nurses on the floor in a tizzy.”
David swallowed past his dry throat. “She was in here?”
His mom answered. “John brought her. When she woke up, she fought to see you. She did the same when you got out of surgery. That girl is so in love with you. I promised her that I would text John the moment you woke up so she could come see you. Give me just a second.” She took her phone out and sent what looked like a string of text messages as Dr. Bush looked over David’s injuries and asked him questions regarding his pain.
“Where’s everyone else?” he asked his mom. He was surprised that his sister wasn’t here being her normal overbearing self.
“They’ve been in and out, but I told them to go home and rest. I didn’t think all of us needed to be sleep deprived.” Her joke came out flat.
“What happened to the other driver?” He had no memory of what they looked like or what happened at the crash site. His attention was so focused on Carrie that he hadn’t thought of anything else.
She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not sure. Last I heard was that they were also being examined for their injuries.”
Good, he thought to himself, they better have a damn good reason for putting Carrie into danger.
It was just a few minutes later when the door opened again. He was immediately drawn to Carrie’s beautiful brown eyes. When he examined her body for any sign of injuries, he froze at the sight of the wheelchair.
“Why are you in a wheelchair?” His eyes flew to his mom in accusation before turning back to Carrie in a panic. “You said she just had a dislocated shoulder.”
Once she was next to his bedside, Carrie quickly reached out and tightly held onto his one good hand. “Shh,” she said softly. “I’m fine. It’s just hospital policy for me to use the wheelchair. My legs weren’t damaged at all. Your mom was telling you the truth.”
He could finally breathe. “Come here,” he begged her. He couldn’t move any farther, but he desperately needed to feel her body around him. She must’ve understood exactly what he was thinking because she stood up from the chair and bent forward. At the feel of her lips against his, he felt like she was almost breathing new life into him. He wanted to have his hands around her but groaned in agony when he tried moving his broken arm.
She pulled away suddenly. “Did I hurt you? Are you okay?” Her hands fluttered over him like she wanted to touch him, but wasn’t sure where she could.
“It wasn’t you,” he reassured her. “I just wanted to touch you with both of my hands, and I was cruelly reminded I couldn’t.” He gestured to the cast that adorned his arm.
A sad look filled her eyes as she looked at the white plaster. “You’re hurt because of me,” she whispered.
“What do you mean?” How could she possibly think that?
“You put that arm out to protect me. You wouldn’t have broken it if you hadn’t done that. Why did you do it?” The question came out nearly hysterical.
“Did it prevent you from getting hurt?” he asked. She sighed before begrudgingly nodding her head. “That’s why. I would hurt myself a thousand times over if it meant that you were safe.”
She shook her head, but he was able to witness a small smile pulling at the corner of her lips before it disappeared. “You’re a dumbass. If you died saving me, I wouldn’t be able to go on. It’s me and you. Forever.”
He didn’t have the energy to argue with her, besides... She was right. At least about them being together forever.
“I love you, sweetheart,” he whispered to her. They were words that he’d been terrified he would never be able to say again. He hadn’t realized how beautiful those three words were until she repeated them.
“I love you, baby.”
He was brought out of his Carrie bubble when John put a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m glad you didn’t die, dude.” To most people, it would seem like a heartless response to a traumatic event, but David knew his best friend too well. He could see the relief in his expression.
David rolled his eyes and let out a small laugh. “Me too, asshole.”
He wanted to ask him about the other driver because he knew if anyone had checked in on their status, it would be John. He didn’t want to add any more unwanted stress onto Carrie’s shoulders, so he decided to wait until they were alone before broaching the subject. He had more important things on his mind first.
“You’re sure that you’re okay?” he asked Carrie again.
“Yes,” she said emphatically. “I’m just sore. Considering everything that we went through, I’m extremely lucky.”
“Mr. Clarke,” his doctor hesitantly said from the foot of his bed. “You’re going to want to have a lot of rest in order to begin your healing.” She gave Carrie and John a pointed look. “And I’m sure Ms. Lewis needs the rest as well.”
David sighed, he could tell his health to go screw itself, but he couldn’t do the same to Carrie. It pained him, but Dr. Bush was right. Carrie needed to lay down, and there was no way she would be getting the appropriate rest if she stayed in there with him. He thought about having her lay in the bed, but his broken leg and arm being on opposite sides of his body made things a little difficult.
He gave her a small smile before squeezing her hand. “She’s right, sweetheart. You need to rest. I’m going to be fine, okay?” He could see the worry that was still behind her eyes. “Don’t spend any more of your energy worrying about me, alright?”
She nodded her head and bent down to give him a lingering kiss. He wished more than anything that they could prolong the feeling of their lips against each other’s, but where they were and the company that was around them weren’t the best combination for privacy. He would have to wait to have his moment alone with her—and damn it, it would be worth the wait.
~~~
JUST A FEW HOURS LATER, David was talking to his mom when John knocked on his door. Liz took one look at him before exiting the room, citing that she needed to call Phil and Angela to give them updates even though she had just done that. She seemed to sense that the two of them needed a longer talk than they’d had the chance to before.
“How’s she doing?” he asked as John sat in the chair his mom had just vacated.
“She’s good.” He seemed to hesitate before saying what was on his mind. “Dude, I can’t thank you enough for what you did for her. I saw your truck... It’s a wonder that either one of you didn’t suffer worse. I was stupid when I said that you weren’t good enough for her. There’s not a single person better suited for her than you. I will never be able to repay you for what you did, so just... thank you.”
David was briefly shocked at the momentary shining that he could see behind his best friend’s eyes, but he made sure not to let it show on his face. He reached out with his good arm, and John placed his palm in his. David gave it an appreciative squeeze that John returned.
Once John dropped his hand, he cleared his throat and sat up straighter. “I’m assuming you want to know about the other driver?”
David nodded his head. “Carrie hasn’t asked, has she?”
John shook his head. “She’s been too focused on you and her own health to think about that kind of thing.”
“What do you know?”
John took a deep breath. “In the aftermath of the crash there were a few officers that came and went out of Carrie’s room, and I heard snippets of their conversations. The man had just left a bar, and the folks there claimed that they tried to stop him.” By the disgusted look on his face, David could put the pieces together on why they were trying to stop the man from getting behind the wheel of his truck.
“He was drinking?” David’s jaw was so tightly clenched that he had to forcibly loosen it to talk.
John ran a hand through his hair before nodding. “They tested his blood alcohol, and it was 1.8.”
“How were you able to hear that?”
He shrugged but didn’t seem remarkably sorry. “I was sitting out in the hall and was quiet. I don’t even think they knew I was there.”
“Where is he?” David wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but he needed to know where the scumbag was that got behind the wheel of a car and put his girl in danger.
“He’s dead. Succumbed to his injuries just a few hours after everything happened.”
David felt the smallest, tiniest, amount of pity at the loss of life, but with everything that Carrie and he had gone through—and still were going to go through—it was hard not to feel a smidge of relief. If it made him a bad person then so be it, but at least now there was one less person on the road willing to drive while intoxicated.
He had only one more request for John. “Let me be the one to tell her.”
He knew that once everything settled down, Carrie would get curious, if she wasn’t already, and he wanted to be the one to break the news to her. She was more softhearted than he was. There was no telling how she would take the news.
~~~
DAVID HAD A BIT OF restless sleep that night. He wanted to turn around and sleep on his side or his stomach like normal, but his leg made it a little more than difficult. He kept his cursing silent though so he wouldn’t wake up his mom, who refused to leave him overnight. He loved her, but there was no way that she was getting any better sleep than he was while using the small armchair that was in the corner of the room.
The morning brought some much-needed good news.
“Aren’t you supposed to be resting?” he asked when Carrie knocked on his door. His eyebrows came together in confusion when he noticed that she was walking on her own two feet and no longer wearing the hospital gown. She was dressed in a pair of worn-looking sweats and what suspiciously looked like one of his sweatshirts.
With her hair up in a messy bun and her face clean of makeup, he’d never seen anyone look more beautiful.
“They sprung me, and I convinced John to go home for a few hours. I didn’t want to leave without seeing you first.”
He gave her a large smile before lifting his good arm. She didn’t hesitate before climbing on the bed and, careful of his leg cast and the many wires that were stuck to him, laid her head against his chest. He was glad that his mom was currently updating his family in the waiting room so he had this moment alone with his girl.
“You had me so scared,” she whispered brokenly.
His heart was ripped to shreds at the fear that laced her voice. “I was scared too,” he admitted. He’d known that he was taking a chance when he demanded that the EMTs save her first, but he’d known that if he somehow survived and she didn’t that he wouldn’t be able to live with himself. He’d done the one thing he could and would do it over and over again if it ended with the same result.
They were quiet for a few moments, just basking in each other’s presence when she took a deep breath. “No one’s said anything about the other driver. Do you know if they were okay?” He didn’t know how to answer that even though he’d been thinking of the best way to approach the subject, but she took his prolonged silence as confirmation of her fears. “Oh.”
He felt a few tears fall on his chest. “Why are you crying?” he asked her gently.
She sniveled before wiping her nose on the back of her hand. “It’s just horrible that he died.”
Again, she made him feel nothing but confusion. “He was drinking and then got behind the wheel. He almost killed both of us, and you feel sorry for him?” His voice was full of the bewilderment he felt.
“He was still a person,” she told him. “Someone out there loved him—whether it was a wife, sister, or mother. No one deserves to die in such a tragic way.”
He shook his head in amazement. “You never cease to amaze me. You know that, Carrie Lewis?”
“I want to know who he was. Is that okay with you?”
He shook his head. “You don’t need my permission. I’ll support you in everything you do.”
When the police came just a few hours later, they didn’t tell them anything they didn’t already know. They relayed the same information that John had overheard. When they asked if either one of them had questions, David shook his head, but Carrie asked in a quiet voice, “What was his name?”
They looked at her as if they were worried about her reasoning. “We normally don’t give out that kind of information.”
“Please. I just want to tell their family that we’re okay and that we don’t blame him. If I write them a letter, can you send it to them, at least?”
David’s amazement was shared with the officers as they looked at Carrie like they thought she was lying. Eventually, one of them nodded their head.
“If you drop it off at the station, we can give it to them. There’s no assurance that they’ll read it, though.”
“It’s okay. As long as they get it is all that matters.”
Once they were alone again, David gave Carrie an incredulous look. “Sometimes I can’t believe that you’re real...”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“No,” he told her. “It’s a very good thing.”
He sometimes couldn’t believe that someone like him was able to have someone like her in his life. A person as pure as sunshine itself. He’d spend the rest of his life proving that he was worthy of being in her life, and that was just fine with him.
He wouldn’t have it any other way.