Finally Falling

33: A repeat of events

I was so occupied with thoughts about Brandon that I didn't notice when I bumped into somebody. Somebody with cropped, bristly black hair. Harris. The one who sloppily kissed me at the party and wouldn't stop when I tried to pull away.

"Funny bumping into you here."

"I go to school here," I said giving him a what-the-hell look.

"Yeah. I haven't seen you in a long time. You didn't tell me if you enjoyed the party or what happened at the party," he said taking a step closer to me.

"I have to go." There was a hand on my wrist preventing me from moving. The urge to crack his wrist was growing each second but then I thought about the consequences. I could get in big trouble and may not even be able to attend the prom that was happening in less than a month or so. I really don't give a crap about prom, but I promised Cassie and Stephanie that we would dress up and get our hair done together and I really didn't want to disappoint them.

"So you remember my name, that's a good sign."

"I also remember how to dislocate someone's knee with a single kick and that, for you, is not a good sign so I suggest that you let go of me."

He chuckled and pushed me against one of the lockers. My head hit one of the lockers and a searing pain found its way around my head and made feel like the ground was moving towards me. Things started to clear out but I couldn't see properly. Everything was blurry and I had no space to move my hands to push him away. I could knee him in his non-existent balls but I don't want my knee anywhere near that.

I remember when Brandon had me up against the wall and I could see the faint scar right beside his collarbone. I remember seeing his beautiful green eyes that were amused but hid a layer of hurt and despair behind them. I remember wanting to cup his face with my hands instead of saying 'move, Brandon'. I remember being angry at him and then instantly feeling regretful and horrible when I punched him.

Harris put his hand on my waist and I realized that I would not feel horrible and regretful if I punched him. I would probably feel regretful for winding up in the principal's office and listening to him tell me that I couldn't go to prom, but I wouldn't feel horrible about punching Harris.

"Seriously Harris, get your freakin' hand off my waist and move away from me." My head was still spinning and I had to blink a couple of times just to clear out the haze that felt never-ending.

He said something but was cut off when somebody pushed him away from me and towards the wall opposite the lockers. I couldn't comprehend what was going, the movements were too fast but I knew exactly who it was. Brandon.

Before feeling my knees give in beneath me, the last things I felt were strong yet gentle arms wrapping around me protectively; the last things I saw were a distressed looking Brandon and Harris clutching his belly on the floor before I tumbled into a void of darkness.

----------------------------------------------

I had to blink several times before my eyes adjusted to the blinding brightness of my surroundings. Everything was white. Realization poured down on me like a heavy rainfall. I was in a hospital. The same hospital I was in just a couple of days ago.

Looking out the window I saw that the sun was setting and soon the stars would come up. The skyline was painted with beautiful pink and orange streaks that ran endlessly along the horizon.

I felt a slight weight on my hand and looked down to see what it was. It was another hand, caressing my own and it belonged to none other than Brandon. He was staring thoughtfully down at the floor. He was thinking about something, something that was making the edges of his lips slightly quirk upwards.

He suddenly seemed to snap out of it and looked at me with an anxious expression. "What were you thinking about?" I asked him with a small smile. "Nothing," he said quietly.

"How are you feeling?"

"I've been better. What about Harris? Is he alright? I saw you punch him bloody to the ground."

Brandon breathed out a laugh and said,"How do you do it?" My confused look must have given him the hint that I wasn't catching on so he elaborated. "How do you be so good? How do you see the best in people? After all the shit that's happened in your life, how do you- how do you just carry on with life and try to make other people happy?" I wasn't expecting that. At all.

"You're like a candle," He said abruptly.

"Well, I have been compared to looking like a purple cabbage salad before, so you're going to have to try much harder than that," I said with a grin.

"I mean, you burn yourself up so that other people can have light."

"Brandon, you're making me sound like a saint, which I'm clearly not."

"No," he said with a small laugh, "no, you're Klumsy."

"I dropped coffee on you once. ONCE. You can not hold that against me for the rest of my life."

He gently picked up my hand, brought it up to his lips and softly kissed it. And not for the first time because of Brandon my heart went insane in my chest. And also not for the first time I realized that Brandon was erratic, full of surprises. He was squabbling with me one second, and then the next he was protecting me from any means of harm.

A nurse came in and immediately started checking my blood pressure and asking me if I was feeling dizzy or nauseated. She said that I had fainted because I had hit my head at the same spot as before and now my concussion had increased from minor. She said that the doctors want me to stay overnight to monitor if progress in healing is being made or not.

"Did you get into trouble? For, you know, fighting with Harris?"

"Not yet, everybody was distracted with calling an ambulance."

"You shouldn't have done that. You could get expelled and-"

"I don't give a flying shit about that. That bastard touched you and he should have gotten more than just a broken arm and sprained leg."

"You broke his arm and sprained his leg?" I said with wide eyes and a tiny gasp.

"Damn right I did. And I would do it a million times again for you Klumsy if anyone ever even fucking dares to touch a hair on that pretty little head of yours."

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