The Beautiful Game

Chapter Forty-One - Lou

He's fine. He's lounging next to me, back against the headboard, watching the movie and chowing down on the huge bag of paprika chips I'd brought. Carter was fine.

Dread had filled my entire body when he'd lay motionless on the football field, the staff moving around him in a frenzy, blocking him from view. I couldn't speak, Ella just rested a comforting hand on my lower back as a helpless feeling flooded in, I was all too familiar with the sensation.

How many times had my dad told me he was fine?

Even in the depths of his cancer, his face, once full and sun kissed, was so skinny and drawn. His voice, which had once boomed through our house with his huge laugh, now quiet and raspy from vomiting. He'd simply squeezed my hand, and asked about my day, his eyes would usually fall shut as I talked, exhausted and lulled by the high strength pain meds he was taking.

"I can feel you looking at me." Carter mumbles around a mouthful of chips, smirking as I blush beside him. He washes them down with a drink and turns towards me, his movements seeming easier since he'd taken the anti inflammaties. He thought he'd done a good job hiding it earlier but I'd caught his wince when he'd sat down on the bed. He was human after all.

"How's your head?"

"Which one?" He wiggles his eyebrows and grins suggestively.

"Carter." I fight the smile as I chastise him. Concussions were serious.

"Lou, it's fine." He rests his finger under my chin. "Better than fine."

"There better not be crumbs on my chin."

"Maybe? Let me check." He leans in, tucking his face into my neck, his hair brushing my face as he kisses and nibbles my skin. I try to push him away as gently as I can, laughing and kicking as he tickles me. He finally relents and looks up at me, a dreamy smile on his face.

"You're ticklish."

"You're a dead man." I frown as hard as I can despite how frickin cute he looks right now, hair dishevelled.

"Is that how you talk to all of your patients?"

He leans back and I can finally take a deep breath, regaining my composure.

"Only the annoying ones." He reaches into the snack bag and pulls out a chocolate, popping one into my mouth. He laughs as I chew it, still frowning at him.

"Did you always know you wanted to be a surgeon?" He surprises me with the question.

"No." He faces towards me fully now, pulling me so we're lying down, mirroring one another, heads resting on the pillows.

"Really? That surprises me."

"What do you mean?"

"You strike me as a girl who knows exactly what she wants. I'd have thought you were a child running around with a stethoscope."

"I wanted to be a palaeontologist." Carter furrows his brow as he thinks.

"Dinosaurs?"

"I was scarily obsessed with them when I was little." Carter grins at me, it's infectious, and I find myself grinning back and continuing. "I watched the Jurassic Park films more times than I'd like to admit."

"So it wasn't a stethoscope, it was a T-Rex."

"His name was Steve." Carter laughs so hard it shakes the mattress beneath us. "I loved him so much, that was until my brother Noah 'accidentally' ran over him with his bike."

"No!"

"Yep. I cried so hard. My dad made Noah use his allowance to buy me another, but it wasn't the same."