Categories > Original > Romance > I Hate You But I Like You

Chapter 3

by hotcheri 0 reviews

Category: Romance - Rating: PG-13 - Genres: Romance - Published: 2007-12-18 - Updated: 2007-12-19 - 3139 words

0Unrated
You know those sitcoms which are forever dissing hospital television, talking about how much it sucks? After spending a night in hospital, I was practically tearing my hair out and willing to go on Oprah and verify that those sitcoms weren’t even kidding. It’s not funny. Hospital TV is bad.

Luckily, I had something to entertain me. Dad and my little brother Jason (dad’s son with trophy wife) had visited me first thing in the morning (like I really needed to be woken up at 7am) and they brought me some breakfast, along with the news that I was in the local daily papers. According to dad, it (the article) wasn’t too interesting. It just said that some unknown guy had saved me from a certain death after I was jaywalking into the path of an oncoming car blah blah blah. I don’t see why people are making such a huge deal about this. Come to think of it, if this mystery guy that people are making such a fuss about hadn’t stopped me from crossing the road, I would have made it. I would have crossed the shit and made it back twice!

I threw the newspaper down on the floor, suddenly fuming. I hated being in this stupid hospital, even though the scratchy sheets were a thing of the past, thanks to trophy wife. I was even wearing my favorite Hello Kitty! nightshirt and had my Annie Doll cuddled up to my chest. I felt physically fit; I definitely didn’t want to be hanging around in a hospital. I wanted to sleep in my bed and watch HDTV! I wanted to cry with the injustice of it all.

Instead of crying, I popped a Valrhona chocolate into my mouth and smiled a bit. It was only 2pm, just past afternoon visiting time, and my room looked like a gift shop. Florist delivery boys had been trekking in and out of my room all day, delivering bouquets, cards and chocolates. I was living it up. Even people I didn’t know had sent me ‘Get Well Soon’ cards. It was touching. And since most of the presents were from guys, it was so obvious that as soon as I got out of this prison, I was gonna have a whole lot of ‘offers’, if you know what I mean. Not that I was complaining. Two guys from the school football team came by to ‘check me out’ during visiting hour (not at the same time though). Depending on how I feel in a few days, I might take them up on their date offers. Then move on after a few weeks. It’s awesome being me, but right now, I didn’t want anymore visitors. Doctor Macaulay had popped in at lunch with some pills which were making me feel woozy. I was planning on taking a nap. I switched off the TV, lay back in the bed and closed my eyes.

A few minutes later I heard someone opening the door and I groaned. Can’t a sick girl get some freaking rest? I sat up and squinted at the door. All I could see of the intruder was a pair of very colorful sneakers, which he was opening the door with as he came into my room backwards. It was definitely a guy though, and he was definitely sneaking in, probably cuz visiting hour was over about an hour ago. I stared as he backed into the room, obviously scanning the hallways for doctors and nurses. He was tall, too tall for Jayden, who was about the only person who hadn’t visited me today. He was wearing black baggy jeans and a red hoodie. I was intrigued. He shut the door after taking one last look down the hallway and turned around to face me. I gasped out loud. The guy who had just walked into my room was delicious. I mean, literally edible. Well, at least, from where I was sitting. Maybe the meds I was filled with were making me see things. He came closer and I started feeling light headed. Definitely the meds. There is no way that a 6 foot tall honey brown guy with very close shaven dark hair, a hot looking body from what I could see through his baggy clothes and gorgeous brown eyes could make me feel so giddy. He smiled at me, almost blinding me with a 5000 watt grin. His dimples popped into view and I am not even kidding, I was practically melting into a puddle right there!
“Hey, you,” he said easily, sitting down in the visitors chair. Shit, even his voice was sexy.
“Hi,” I managed to say, still staring at him. Now, I’m not exactly ugly, I’m actually very attractive. My girls say I look like Ciara minus the muscle. I have a body like Jessica Alba and my black hair is short, spiky and sexy, like Halle Berry’s back in the day. I know I’m conceited, but when your dad’s a multi-millionaire, I think I have the right. Anyway. What I’m trying to say is that I don’t often swoon over guys like this, but imagine how you would feel if you met Chingy. Now, what if Chingy was 3 times sexier, 5 times more manly looking (cuz seriously, ya’ll, Chingy looks like a little girl) and infinity times more edible. Uhhuh. Now you understand what I was going through. Plus, I still had no clue who the hell he was. No clue whatsoever. Oh, wait. He’s talking.

“You’re room looks like a greenhouse,” he drawled, looking around at all the vases scattered around. “Hope you’re not allergic. When my brother was sick, my mom bought him some lilies. Turns out he’s allergic. He had the nastiest rash you’d never want to see.”
“No, I’m not allergic,” I said, my eyes on his excruciatingly kissable lips. Why did God have to give him such sexy lips? If I ever felt like just grabbing someone and kissing them, it was now.
“Cool,” he grinned, showing off those dimples again. He appeared to be a) completely oblivious to how he was affecting me and b) totally comfortable in the hospital environment. Weird. Everyone I knew hated hospitals, maybe not as much as I did, but enough. “Damn, but its hot in here. Hey, you mind if I take of my jacket?”

Your jacket? Why stop at your jacket? Take it all off, baby!

My filthy, dirty mind. I didn’t say that. Instead I said “Go right ahead.”
And watched with blatant fascination as he stood up and pulled his hoodie up over his head. The t-shirt he was wearing inside rode up some and I shucked in a breath as I caught a glimpse of his lean, hard (I hope) abs. I didn’t divert my gaze quick enough and he spotted me drooling over him, but all he did was grin. I suddenly felt like a moron as I realized that he must be a candy striper. He was obviously sent to me to keep me company and so far all I had done was slaver over him.

“So, you’re a candy striper, right?” I asked out of the blue. He sat down again and put the hoodie on his knees.
“A what?” he asked quizzically. I thought he hadn’t heard me properly.
“A candy striper. You’re volunteering here at the hospital?”
He looked confused for a second, then understanding dawned on his face.
“Oh, shit no. I don’t have enough time for that. I’m kinda busy these days,” he replied casually, before reaching down onto my bed to pat my Annie Doll on her head. “She’s cute.”
I almost couldn’t breath with his hand so close to me, and I was just wearing a nightshirt. Breathe, I told myself. Shit, how the hell can one single guy reduce you to this mess? You, Elektra West, Queen of the Palisades? Shit, it was pathetic and that’s no lie.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “She’s alright.”
The guy looked at me, slowly sucking on his top lip. On any other guy, it wouldn’t even have got my attention, but I suddenly wondered how it would feel to have him suck on my lip like that. I shook my head to rid it of these nasty, but oh so good thoughts.

“You okay?” he asked, the ghost of a smile lingering on his lips. I nodded, closing my eyes for a second. “So, you didn’t get any lasting injuries from yesterday? Coz honestly, you hit your head hard. I was just trying to get you away from the road, I didn’t think we’d fall that hard. Plus, I’m really sorry I didn’t wait around yesterday till you woke up. I wanted to, but I had some things to do. But I waited till your family came in, coz I couldn’t leave you alone. You looked a lot worse off than you were, I guess. No offence, but you looked pretty terrible. But I guess that’s worn off.”
His gaze lingered on my face for a long minute. Then he smiled.

Okay, halfway through his speech ( I can’t think of another word for what he just said) I realized that this guy was my ‘Knight in Shining Armor’. The guy who had saved my ass. And what was I doing? Ogling him like some love stoned cheerleader ogling the captain of the football team. I sat up straighter, pulling my sheets up to my chest so that he wouldn’t see my Hello Kitty! nightshirt. Not a hope.

“Oh, God. I thought they stopped making those years ago,” my rescuer chortled. I frowned. Not fair.
“Um, thanks for saving my life,” I muttered woodenly. Suddenly, I was feeling different about this guy. I still wanted to get into his pants (and how) but I wasn’t quite sure that he was the type of guy that I go for.
“You’re welcome,” he said cheerfully, probably deciding to ignore my ungracious thank you. “So, you know, I thought it was my duty to come check up on you, make sure you okay.”
“I’m cool. I’ll hopefully be outa here by tomorrow, thank God,” I said.
“Don’t like hospitals, huh?” he asked, looking slightly concerned. I nodded. “We all have our phobias. Bet you can’t tell that I’m scared of the dark.”
I laughed in spite of myself.
“Liar,” I said. He shook his head.
“Scouts honor.”
I laughed even louder.
“You’re a scout?” I asked curiously.
He gave me a mischievous smile. “I was. I got kicked out. It’s a long story.”
I giggled some more.
“I have a lot of time,” I smirked. He smiled back and I melted. He wasn’t just sexy and drop dead gorgeous, he was charming as well. Sigh.
“Yeah, I know you got time. You have bed rest, right?”
“3 days.” I made a face. I wasn’t exactly wild about spending three days at home, especially with the bad atmosphere there lately.
“Not so long. Once, I got knocked out in a football game, had two weeks bed rest. After the first day, I was ready to kill someone,” he said, bouncing up and down slightly in his chair in a kinda hyper manner.
“I can imagine that,” I muttered wryly. He looked behind him suddenly, as if he heard something. Then he turned back to me.
“Man, they’re gonna kick my ass out pretty soon. You know I sneaked in here, right? I had to lie to the receptionist that I was here to visit my poor old sick aunt who only has two months to live.” He put on an adorable puppy dog face.
“Don’t worry. The nurse is my homie. She won’t kick you out. Plus, she thinks it was romantic, you saving me like that,” I told him. I don’t know why I told him that.

“Really?” he asked, looking interested. “She’s the cute blonde, right? She thought I was your boyfriend when I came in wit’ you in the ambulance. Eventually, I just decided to let her believe I was.”
Huh. I wish he would let me believe that he was too.
“Yeah, she mentioned that once or twice,” I said. Actually, Nurse Adams hadn’t stopped talking about it. Last night, I almost called security to kick her ass out, just coz she wouldn’t leave me alone. She was here until 11pm.
“Oh. So, I met your family yesterday.”

Wow. Talk about changing the subject. Jeeze, anyone would think that the thought of anyone assuming we were dating was enough to give him hives. Then I pictured myself, sitting in a hospital bed wearing a hot pink Hello Kitty! nightshirt, my hair all messed up, without any makeup on, and thought it was better if he did run.
“Yeah. My brother said. I think.” I gave him an anemic smile. “I can’t really remember much about yesterday.”
“I met your dad and brother,” he said. He suddenly looked way more serious. “You got a nice dad and your brother’s cool.”
“Sometimes,” I said brightly. He hadn’t mentioned trophy wife. Even better.
“So, I really don’t understand why a seemingly nice girl like you with such a nice family would try to kill herself.”
Huh? Where did that come from? I mean, seriously!
Before I could open my mouth to say anything, he went on.
“I just had to come over and hear for myself. What the fuck were you thinking? You can’t cross the road like that, even if your fucking car is parked right across the street. You know how many people fucking die jaywalking?”
“No, but I have a feeling you’re about to tell me,” I mumbled.
He shot me a dirty look which I returned in kind.
“All I’m saying is that whatever made you wanna do what you were gonna do wasn’t worth it. I don’t know if you had a fight wit’ your boyfriend, or with your dad, but whatever it was, it’s not worth it. You can’t just decide to end it all when you feel like it. It’s not fair on the people you leave behind.”
“I was not trying to kill myself. Why the fuck is everyone thinking that I’m some kind of suicidal bitch?” I said through gritted teeth. He shrugged.
“You seemed kinda suicidal yesterday. I called out to you, you didn’t even bother looking back. You know that if I’d been a few seconds late, that car would have hit you?” he asked, speaking gentler now.
“As everyone keeps telling me. Don’t you think that if I wanted to kill myself, I would have taken 5000 valium? It’s easier than walking into a fucking car! So, you know what, screw what you think. I was not trying to kill myself. I was simply walking to my car-“ I started, getting worked up now. So he had pulled me out of the road. He had absolutely no right to talk to me like this!

“Which was across the road. Across Sunset Boulevard. You know there’s a crossing a couple of minutes up the road?” he cut in.
“No,” I muttered sullenly. He ran a hand over his face and sighed.
“There was a police officer there as well, he was gonna cite you for jaywalking. I had to come up with some lie to get you out of trouble,” he continued.
“Sounds like you lie a whole lot,” I mumbled. I couldn’t think of what else to say after an attack like that. I knew it had been careless of me to try cross like that, but give me a break! He shook his head.
“Only when I have to,” he said.

I was pissed. This guy, who didn’t even know me, had the nerve to come up in my room and lecture me. I was also pissed coz I realized that his only intention had been to lecture me, not anything else I might have thought. Or hoped.
“Well, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your words of wisdom,” I drawled sardonically. “I’ll be sure to use the proper crossings whenever I get the urge to jaywalk again. You can leave now.”

To my amazement, he burst out laughing. I scowled. I did not appreciate it when a cute guy laughed at me when I was being serious.
“Oh, I’m gonna go, alright,” he said calmly. “But, you might wanna seek some help. Coz if you think that I believe you were totally oblivious to the car that was on your ass, you must be crazier than I thought.”
So now I was crazy, huh?

“I don’t see what this has to do with you, anyway. Ever try minding your own business? You ever think that if you had left me to cross the road, I wouldn’t even be in this hospital?” I asked snidely.
“Coz you’d be dead? Yeah, I thought about that once or twice. And you know what? Some people can stand by and watch as another person goes to their death, but I can’t. So there.”
Well.
“Oh, yeah, I forgot, coz you’re some kinda superman, huh? Chivalry, gallantry and all that shit,” I taunted. He was so infuriating!
“I’m not some kinda superman, I just care,” he shrugged.
“How can you care about me? You don’t even know me!” I sneered.

Aw! He was standing up! He was leaving!
“I know enough about you to write an article about crazy chicks,” he grinned. “So, anyway, hope you get better soon and if you’re ever in Santa Monica, please don’t look me up.”

What a bitch!

Oops. I think I said it out loud. He was at the door and he turned to face me.
“You know why guys quit doing things like opening doors and pulling out chairs for women? Coz all you do is bitch about it. I saved your life. I’m not trying to rub it in or anything, but it happened and you can’t even say thank you properly. I know a place where they teach ladies how to say thank you like you mean it,” he said and was out of the door before I had a chance to throw something at him.
Insufferable bastard. Freaking gorgeous, though.
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