Lydia | ✔️

(24)

The first thing that Lydia was aware of when her senses started to fire up, was murmured voices arguing at a low volume. She kept her eyes closed but let her mind wander and absorb the rest of her surroundings via her senses.

She felt a throbbing pain right down the side of her body. But it was as if there was a wall of numbness that was keeping more pain on the other side, allowing a mild comfort. Not that she felt particularly comfortable. Her leg was wrapped and heavy, weighed down by something solid and an incessant beeping threatened to heighten her headache.

She let her lids flutter open and closed them almost instantly when bright white fluorescent lighting blasted her eyeballs. She knew then that she must be in a hospital. The sterile smell should have been her first clue though.

Again she attempted to open her eyes, letting them adjust to the light before she could keep them wide enough to glance around the small single room.

In the far corner beside the window she found her Mom, Dad and Nathan with — Carter. He stared at the ground as he spoke and when Lydia paid attention she became aware that he was apologising for taking her out to the strip.

"It's not his fault," Lydia murmured with a gravelly voice which had them all turn their attention towards her.

In a blurred flurry of panic and tearful sobs, her bed was surrounded, her mother clutching on to her for dear life. She glanced past Spencer's shoulder at Carter who wore a broken expression, his lids were swollen, the whites of his eyes a tinge of red. He mouthed a sorry but she shook her head, refusing to let him apologise.

"Honey, you've been out for almost twenty four hours," Spencer sobbed, still clutching her daughters shoulders but allowing her a few inches of space.

"You scared the hell out of us," Grayson mumbled, pushing her hair from her forehead.

Nathan leaned in and gave her a peck on the temple. He looked tense, like he didn't want Carter this close to his step daughter. It was a miracle that he was even in the room to be honest.

"What happened?" She asked her friend.

"What happened is that he took you to an illegal car event and you almost got killed!" Nathan snapped with a violent tone.

"I went because I wanted too!" Lydia defended, silencing the arguments that her Mother was about to start spewing. "And it wasn't his fault that I caught Allison and Riley eating each other's faces and stormed off like an immature brat. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. It's my fault!"

Her three parents had no argument for that. Although Lydia could see that it hadn't totally appeased their upset.

There was no more time to argue because a doctor strolled in, wearing his white scrubs and reading a clipboard. If the tension in the room was obvious, he didn't let it show. Instead he prattled off a number of questions and took observations. He was satisfied that she hadn't suffered from memory loss but she did have a broken leg and a lot of surface abrasions.

"You're lucky to have had this one," the doctor patted Carter on the shoulder and he dropped his gaze as though he resented the attention. "You could have suffered permanent brain damage if he hadn't been there."

"What?" Lydia murmured.

"Go ahead and tell em," the doctor smiled. "I'll be back tomorrow to see how you're doing. The nurses will continue their obs on the hour."

The room fell quiet once the click of the door signalled the doctors departure.

"What's he talking about?" Nathan questioned with his arms still folded in a hostile stance.