Second Chances - Unraveling Part 23

"At least, let me carry my purse, so that I don't feel like a complete invalid," I clutched it closer to me.

He laughed. "You can keep the purse. Come on," he nodded out the door. "Let's get you out of here before you wear a hole in the floor."

I followed Jared down to the main lobby.

"Stay here," he nodded to a chair. "I'll go pull the car up."

"I can walk," I said, holding my head high.

"Katy," he groaned. "I had to park pretty far away and I don't want you to tire yourself. I'll be right back. You know..." he paused.

"What?" I sighed, the fight going out of me.

"You don't have to be so tough all the time, Katy. It's okay to be vulnerable," he said softly, those brown eyes boring into me and seeing more in me, than anyone else ever had.

My lower lip trembled and I wanted to tell him that, no, I couldn't be vulnerable.

"I'll be back in a minute," he a.s.sured me. "Don't run."

"I won't," I whispered, my voice cracking as I took a seat in the hospital lobby.

People bustled around me, going about their business.

I watched through the gla.s.s doors for Jared's Toyota to show up.

When I saw the bright blue of his car, come around the curve and under the awning, I stood and scurried out the doors.

Jared came around to open the pa.s.senger door.

I looked at the ginormous vehicle and cringed. Getting inside that thing was going to kill my ribs.

"Do you mind if I lift you?" Jared asked softly, from somewhere behind me.

At this point, I didn't have much choice.

"Help me," I said.

"I'm going to lift you up," he warned. "Okay?"

I nodded.

Slowly, he swept my legs out from under me and lifted me into the pa.s.senger seat like a small child.

I reached for the seatbelt and pain lanced through my side. "Ouch!" I exclaimed.

"Hang on a second, let me get it, kitten." He pulled the seatbelt out and buckled me in. This close, his citrusy smell threatened to overwhelm me.

He pulled away and smiled. "All good?" he tapped my knee.

I nodded, hoping I wasn't blus.h.i.+ng like a fool.

We pulled away from the hospital and a rumbling started in my stomach.

"I'm hungry," I said.

Jared chuckled. "I'm starving too, that hospital food tastes like a.s.s."

"You know what a.s.s tastes like?" I laughed.

"Metaphorically speaking, of course," he shrugged. "There's a McDonald's down the road. Would that be okay?"

"At this point, I'd eat just about anything," I said, trying not to flinch every time he drove over a b.u.mp in the road.

He turned into the drive thru and I told him what I wanted.

I pulled out my wallet but he refused to take the money.

"Jared," I whined. "Please, take it," I held out the twenty-dollar bill. "You stayed the whole night with me at the hospital and now you're letting me stay at your house. This is the least I can do."

"No, Katy," he glared at me. "Put your money away, and let me take care of my girl."

My cheeks flamed at his words but I refused to argue with him anymore. I put the money away and dropped my purse onto the floor of his car.

He got the food and pulled into a nearby parking lot.

"Bagel for the lady," he said, handing me the bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. "And two chicken biscuits for myself. This is quite the feast," he winked at me.

"Tastes good to me," I said, already taking a huge bite.

He chuckled and unwrapped his sandwich. "You're easy to please."

I shrugged. "I'm not some complicated chick that's going to flip out if you forget my birthday. I don't care about those kinds of things, so eating somewhere fancy is pretty far down on my list. I've learned that it's the simple things that matter the most." I turned to face him. "When you're older, you aren't going to look back and remember that your boyfriend took you to the coolest restaurant in town. You're going to remember the time you sat and looked up at the stars."

Jared looked away and I wondered if he was remembering our 'non-date', the way I was.

He cleared his throat. "Katy... do you... see yourself... with me?" he looked up at me with those long black lashes framing his brown eyes.

"Y-yes," I stuttered.

He took a deep breath and looked... relieved.

"Good," he said, softly. "That's really good," he said a little louder. "Because I see myself with you."

I didn't really know what to say.

Jared cleared his throat. "I've uh- never," he squirmed in his seat, "dated before. So, I don't really know the proper way to go about this," he looked at me. "But I want to be... exclusive with you."

I snorted and his cheeks flamed. Oops. "Sorry," I said, "it's just... I don't date."

"Oh, right," he opened the wrapper of his second biscuit.

"No, Jared, what I mean is, you don't need to have the 'I want to be exclusive' talk with me. It's not like I'm hanging out with any other guys. Except for Rollo, but he doesn't count," I winked.

"So..."

"So," I blushed. "I think you're saying you want to date me."

"Yes," he chuckled. "I've never had a girlfriend before so you'll have to bear with me, while I learn."

"I doubt that you've never had a girlfriend," I scoffed.

"Never," he said, with a chuckle. "What about you? Any jealous ex boyfriends I should know about."

"I've only ever dated one guy," I whispered.

"Oh," he said.

"We dated all through high school," I took another bite of my bagel. "It uh- it didn't end well," I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.

"You wanna talk about it?" he took a sip of his drink.

"No," I answered.

"That's fine," he said, balling up his trash and dropping it into the paper bag.

He waited until I was done eating to drive to my condo.

Every time I pulled up to the building, I always hated how stark it was. It was far too modern for me, but since my mom was paying, I had no input.

Jared followed me up, and I let him in first.

I motioned to the lumpy white couch in the living room. "Make yourself at home, it shouldn't take me long to pack a couple of things."

"You better pack more than a couple," he said. "At least a week's worth."

I gulped. A week? At Jared's house?

There's no way I'd come out of this unscathed.

I grabbed my green and navy striped duffel bag from the top of my closet. I had all the new clothes I bought, in Jared's car. So, all I really needed to grab was pajamas, underwear, and my bathroom stuff.

I dropped my sweatpants and sleep s.h.i.+rts into the bag and then attacked my bathroom.

Finally seeing myself in a mirror, I did a double take.

Oh h.e.l.l.

I leaned out into the hallway and called to Jared. "I'm going to take a shower!"

I closed and locked the door, and I swear, not two seconds later there was a knock.

I opened it and said, "What?"

"Your cast, you can't get it wet," he pointed at it.

"c.r.a.p, I hadn't thought about that," I put my head in my hands. "I want a shower so bad. I smell disgusting and it would just make me feel better."

"Do you have something else you can do in the meantime? I can run down the road to the drugstore. I know they sell something you can put over a cast," he crossed his arms over his chest.

"You're a life saver!" I cried.

He chuckled. "Glad you think so, I'll be right back."

"Get some money from my wallet," I told him.

"I don't think so, Katy," he chuckled, walking away from me.

While he was gone, I finished packing my stuff and left my bag by the door.

Still hungry for some reason, I made a peanut b.u.t.ter and jelly sandwich. I was rinsing my plate when Jared knocked on the door. I let him in and took the bag from him.

I pulled out the box of cast protectors and laughed at something else I saw in the bag.

"Tampons?" I asked, pointing to the box in the bag.

Jared laughed. "Karlie needed some."

"I thought guys were afraid of the feminine aisle?" I raised a brow in question.

"Only guys that are insecure in their manhood are afraid of tampons. They're just weird little cotton things. It's not like they're going to eat you," he pointed to the bag.

I laughed and handed him the bag.

I opened the box and pulled out the plastic thing I was supposed to wrap around my cast.

"Can you help me?" I asked Jared.

"Sure," he said, expertly putting it on, checking to make sure no water could get in anywhere. I noticed, that when he had to touch my skin, he did so, lightly. He was easing me into his contact and that small gesture made me fall a little more for him. "You're good, go get your shower," he smiled.

"Thanks," I smiled back. I felt a little dazed as I walked back to the bathroom.

Jeez, now Jared was affecting my equilibrium.

I turned the hot water on and opened the gla.s.s door.

The water beating against my skin felt like heaven.

There was dried blood in my hair and it freaked me out a bit as I watched it swirl down the drain. I guess the doctors had cleaned the rest of the blood from my body, because I couldn't find any, anywhere else on me.